8-Inch US Navy Bureau of Ordnance Shell gun of 6,500 pounds in Burlington, Vermont
US Navy Bureau of Ordnance 8-Inch Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds displayed at Battery Park in Burlington, Vermont
A US Navy Bureau of Ordnance 8-Inch Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds which served aboard USS Monongahela may be seen at Battery Park in Burlington, Vermont. This type of cannon, along with a similar 32-pounder of 4,500 pounds, had been developed by the Bureau of Ordnance in 1864 under the direction of Henry Wise. The shape is very much like Dahlgren’s other cannon. However, the elongated cascabel with provision for an elevating screw of the larger Dahlgrens has been replaced by a simple ring cascabel for a breeching rope. As can be seen in this photo, the elevating screw is under the breech of the cannon rather than through the cascabel as in 9-Inch and 11-Inch Dahlgrens.
The example in Battery Park is the best preserved example that I have seen of the type - all of its markings are clearly visible and not obscured by paint nor by any rust besides an appealing patina on the tube and carriage. It is mounted on an original post-war Marsilly carriage for use as a broadside cannon on a ship. The cannon was manufactured by Seyfert, McManus, and Company in 1865. It is registry number 97. The cascabel is marked “264” - likely a Foundry number. The actual weight of the tube is 6,394 pounds. The carriage is marked as weighing 815 pounds.
The 8-Inch cannon now displayed in Burlington is recorded as serving aboard USS Monongahela from 1884 to 1894. (Logbook entry for 1884 and 1894). The logbook entry for 1893/1894 records the armament of USS Monongahela as being 8-Inch Smoothbores Registry Numbers 86, 93, 94, 95, 96, and 97 which were all manufactured by Seyfert, McManus, and Company. USS Monongahela was built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1862. The veteran ship had seen action at Port Hudson and Mobile Bay. During the American Civil War, USS Monongahela was armed with two 11-Inch Dahlgrens and a 150-Pounder Parrott Rifle as well as 32-Pounders of 57cwt and smaller guns. Postwar, Monongahela carried a main battery of two 11-Inch Dahlgrens, eight 9-Inch Dahlgrens, and one 60-Pounder Parrott (1877 Logbook). Beginning in 1877/1878, the 11-Inch Dahlgrens were replaced with 8-Inch Muzzle Loading Rifles (1878 Logbook.) USS Monongahela’s service as a cruising warship of the US Navy ended in 1879. In 1883, her engines were removed and she began service as a sail supply ship for the US Navy (DNFS Entry). In this stage of her career, she carried two 8-Inch guns (96 and 97) and a 12-Pounder boat howitzer. In 1890/1891 she was refitted again as a training vessel armed with six 8-Inch guns (including number 97) as well as two modern 57mm (6-Pounder) rapid firing guns and four 37mm Hotchkiss rotary cannon (1891 Logbook). In 1894 Monongahela relieved USS Constellation at the United States Naval Academy as a practice ship. Number 97 seems to have been removed from the ship prior to the transfer to Annapolis, and by 1895 all of the ancient 8-Inch smoothbores had been removed (1894 Logbook and 1895 Logbook).
8-Inch Smoothbore Number 97 is mounted near an overlook of Lake Champlain and by a historical marker which reads: “Here in June 1813, a Vermonter, Lieut. Churchill, and men built a parapet and set up a battery. On Aug. 3 a British gunboat and 2 sloops, 1½ miles offshore, began a cannonade. This attack was repulsed in 20 minutes by the American Battery and by 2 of Commodore Macdonough's armed scows.” As can be seen in the photos, it was raining on the day of my visit, but the overlook was still beautiful.
US Navy “Apprentices of the Fourth Division at small arms drill, on board USS MONONGAHELA (1863-1908), at Newport, Rhode Island, circa June 1891.” Note the 8-Inch smoothbore at right. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-45000/NH-45886.html
US Navy apprentices aboard USS Monongahela circa 1891. Note the 8-Inch smoothbores visible in the photo. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-45000/NH-45884.html
USS Monongahela as an US Naval Academy Practice Ship in the 1890s. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/19-n/19-N-10000/19-N-12118.html
