6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle at Fort Pulaski
6.4-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle on Display at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Georgia
A 6.4-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle is mounted on the parapet of Fort Pulaski between two 4.5-Inch Blakely Rifles. The only visible marking on the Brooke is “1863” upon the right trunnion. Otherwise the piece is heavily pitted. The individual rings of the banding are visible as the bands are not spaced as closely as many Brookes. The Brooke is mounted on a reproduction center-pintle Barbette carriage. A portion of the broken elevating screw remains in place.
The Brooke was not mounted in Pulaski during the war. However, the type did serve in the Savannah area. Two have been recovered from the wreck of CSS Georgia and are now undergoing conservation. Two 6.4-Inch Single Banded Brooke Rifles were carried aboard CSS Atlanta (along with two 7-Inch Single Banded Brookes). CSS Savannah likely carried the type as well.
The wartime service of this Brooke is not definitively known. It was purchased from the Knight Scrap Iron Company for $50 in 1939 and brought to Fort Pulaski. I emailed the National Park Service staff at Fort Pulaski and was told that the history of the piece prior to 1939 was not know other than the Brooke was said to have been used as part of the Confederate defenses of Savannah.
A member of the “Civil War Artillery” Facebook group pointed me to two late 19th or early 20th postcards depicting a Brooke at Fort Beauregard (also called Fort Thunderbolt) near Savannah. In one of the postcard photos, gaps in the banding identical to the Fort Pulaski Brooke may be observed. This would make it seem very likely that the Fort Pulaski Brooke and the Fort Beauregard Brooke are the same cannon.
The postcards may be seen here::
https://www.flickr.com/photos/liveoakpl/4711315383/in/set-72157624172174125/
https://savannahga.pastperfectonline.com/Photo/CA66B75E-D742-45F9-890E-691588329660
National Park Service photo captioned: “A double-banded Brooke rifle, once part of the Civil War defenses of Savannah, awaits its turn to be placed on the terreplein of Fort Pulaski in 1939. The National Park Service purchased the 10,200 pound cannon from the Knight Scrap Iron Company for $50.00!”
Library of Congress Photo showing an 8-Inch Brooke Rifle mounted on a wooden center-pintle barbette carriage overlooking the James River in Virginia. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011646163/
12-Pounder Field Howitzer, Model 1841, on the Parade Ground at Fort Pulaski. The Brooke Rifle (and two 4.5-Inch Blakely Rifles) are visible upon the parapet in the background.
