24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer at Petersburg, Virginia
24-Pounder Boat Howitzer Number 388 at Petersburg, Virginia
24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer Number 388 is displayed at the Petersburg National Battlefield. According to the research reflected in Olmstead et al., this particular boat howitzer was aboard USS Granite City when that ship was captured by Confederate infantry and artillery at Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana. I do not know what subsequent Confederate service the howitzer saw nor what brought it to Petersburg (where it has been since at least the late 1960s when Ripley was gathering information and photographs for his book).
USS Granite City had been a blockade runner which had been captured by USS Tioga in the Bahamas on March 22nd, 1863. Taken into US Navy service, she was armed with six 24-Pounder Boat Howitzers and one 12-Pounder Rifle (presumably a Dahlgren Boat Rifle). She was part of the ill fated Sabine Pass expedition in September of 1863 but avoided capture.
In April of 1864, USS Granite City and USS Wave were ordered to Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana to recruit "refugees" (which I assume to mean formerly enslaved individuals) into US Navy service and assist the US Army in gathering cattle. On May 6th, 1864, while USS Granite City and USS Wave were at anchor, they were taken under fire by around 250 Confederate Infantry and an artillery battery. USS Granite City was the first to surrender followed by USS Wave an hour later.
Informed of the capture of these two vessels and the relatively small number of sailors KIA, the initial reports of Admiral Farragut to Secretary Welles are not complementary on the actions of the volunteer officers commanding the two captured ships. Farragut wrote of the volunteer officers that "they had come to the conclusion, as most gentlemen do, that there is no danger in the enemy's country so long as you do not see it. They were lying without steam or any precaution against attack, and the enemy, about 300 infantry and 4 pieces of field artillery, opened upon them at the distance of perhaps 100 yards. They say that each vessel made a most gallant defense; but finally had to surrender, having so many killed and wounded, while the letters (sent by some of those captured under a flag of truce) show that there were only 10 wounded on board the Granite City, two of whom have since died, and 8 wounded on board the Wave, all flesh wounds. This was the desperate fighting that caused them to surrender. The enemy was on shore without cover of any kind. It is very mortifying to see my vessel behave so badly, but I have none else but these volunteer officers to send in them."
In February of 1865, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Benjamin W. Loring, late commander of USS Wave, wrote a report while at the Washington Navy Yard (presumably he had been exchanged or otherwise released from capture). In the report he underlines the difficulties of operating in unfriendly territory without enough soldiers or sailors to secure the land around them. He also in which his heaviest gun, a 32-Pounder, was destroyed by an enemy shot and his rifled cannon could not be fully brought to bear. His ship's boilers were holed by cannon fire. His own howitzers were able to inflict heavy casualties on the infantry when they made the mistake of seeking to pass the ship's broadside. Loring reported that his ship had been struck by "65 artillery shot, besides grape, considerable of which was used". Upon examination of his vessel he found damage including, "starboard engine disabled; one gun struck at the muzzle and split; two shot through the boilers; two through the steam drum, boats and davits cut away; the upper decks were cut into chips; several rooms were stove into one..."
Loring states in his first of two reports following his release that he was "much aggrieved" to learn that he was "remembered only as disgraced" when he thought he had "done his duty well."
The capture of USS Granite City and USS Wave at Calcasieu Pass is covered in the "Official Records - Navies" Series 1, Volume 21 beginning at page 246.
Breech of 24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer Number 388 at Petersburg, Virginia
24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer Number 388 was manufactured by Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts in 1863. As manufactured it weighed 1,314 Pounds. It's preponderance is 90 pounds. It is displayed on a concrete pedestal which doesn't allow the visitor to see that it uses a loop rather than trunnions.
As previously noted, USS Granite City was armed with six 24-Pounder Howitzers and one 12-Pounder Rifle (presumably a Dahlgren Rifled Howitzer). USS Wave's armament is only recorded as "six guns" in the entry in the Official Records. Her commander's report mentions two of the guns aboard specifically: a Sawyer Rifle and a 32-Pounder. He also mentions howitzers aboard - which may well have comprised the balance of his ship's armament. It is interesting to note that on these small converted steamers, Dahlgren's howitzers which he had designed to use aboard ship's boats were instead used as the main battery.
While I do not know the Confederate service of this particular piece, it would seem plausible that it was brought to the Petersburg area for use in the defenses there.
24-Pounder Howitzers on the poop deck of USS Vermont at Port Royal, South Carolina. Library of Congress photo: https://www.loc.gov/item/2013645546/
24-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer mounted on a slide at the National Museum of the United States Navy. Photo provided by “Glenn from Canada” via Flickr and used with the photographer’s permission.
