24-Pounder Flank Howitzers, Pattern 1844 in Wilmington, NC

Jun 7

Two 24-Pounder Flank Howitzers, Pattern 1844, cast in 1858 by West Point Foundry and marked with the initials of Robert Parker Parrott (the inventor of the Parrott rifle) are displayed in front of the old Wilmington Light Infantry building in Wilmington, North Carolina. The flank howitzer was intended to protect US Army seacoast fortifications from infantry attack. In service the howitzer would have been mounted on a wooden casemate carriage (an example of which can be seen at Fort Alcatraz - pictured below. The website StarForts.com also shows mounted examples of this type at Fort Knox in Maine.)

The Howitzers are marked “No 17” and “No 19” on the upper portion of their muzzles. They are marked “BH” (for inspector Benjamin Huger) on the lower portion of the muzzles. On their left trunnions they are marked “1858” and on the right trunnions “RPP” over “WPF".”

“The Big Guns: Civil War Seacoast, Siege, and Naval Cannon” (by Olmstead et al.) notes that of 577 howitzers of this type that were manufactured, 258 survive - an astoundingly high proportion. The book also has a good description of the piece and its use alongside a cutaway drawing of the type (pg. 18-19). According to the registry in the appendix of the same work, West Point Foundry Numbers 13, 15, 16, 18, and 21 are in Concord, New Hampshire.

The howitzers are marked “US” above the trunnions.

The two howitzers are mounted on decorative iron mounts. The mounts are marked with the letters “WLI” (Wilmington Light Infantry) and the years 1853 (the founding of the unit) and 1909 (likely the year of the installation of this display).

The Wilmington Light Infantry was active during the American Civil War, but I do not know what connection these two howitzers have to the WLI before, during, or after the war. Given the huge number of this type howitzer that has been preserved as memorials, I speculate that these two cannon were what was available from US Army surplus stocks at the time that the display was created.

On the Wilmington Light Infantry building are a memorial plaque to the Wilmington Light Infantry noting its service in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II and a memorial to USS Maine which notes that it was cast from material taken from the ship. An historical marker on the building notes that following it’s service as the WLI Armory, it was the public library until 1981. Nearby on the street is a Historical Marker about the 1898 Wilmington Coup, an event in which members of the Wilmington Light Infantry were active participants.