BuOrd 32-Pounders in Townsend, Massachusetts

Jun 18

32-Pounder Bureau of Ordnance Gun of 4,500 Pounds as displayed in Townsend, Massachusetts.

Photo Credit: All of the photos in this post were posted by a user in the Facebook Group “Big Cannon Project.” They are reposted here with the permission of the photographer.

The Townsend, Massachusetts Memorial Hall displays two cannon on its front lawn. These cannon are described in The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon as “32-Pounder Bureau of Ordnance Guns of 4,500 Pounds” (Olmstead et al. pg. 85). In Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War, they are referred to as “Dahlgren, Shellgun, 32-Pounder of 4,500 Pounds, Model 1864” (Ripley pg. 103).

Here the 32-Pounder refers to the caliber (6.4 inches) of the smoothbore shell gun and the “4,500 Pounds” refers to the weight of the barrel.

These shell guns, along with a similar 8-inch of 6,500 pounds, were intended as light armament for ships unable to carry the larger 9-inch Dahlgrens, though The Big Guns records the post-war opinion of Admiral Dahlgren that it would have been better to produce a shortened and lightened version of the 9-inch for this purpose. In any event, most of these 32-pounders were not delivered until after the war and saw little active service. However, the post-war photos of USS Santee seem to show the ship armed with either the 32-pounder or 8-inch of this type.

It seems unclear whether these cannon were designed by Admiral Dahlgren or were instead designed by others according to his principles. They certainly resemble Dahlgren’s guns - except at the breech where they have reverted to elevation by quoin rather than by screw.

There are a large number of these 32-pounders preserved in New England - often as a part of monuments to US Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines of the Civil War. A unite aspect of one of the Townsend guns is that it still has a lock installed upon it’s breech. This seems to be quite rare among preserved US Navy guns, and it demonstrates how locks were installed upon Dahlgrens.

Preserved alongside each of the 32-Pounders is a stack of shells. The holes where the fuses would be screwed in may be seen.

Again, many thanks to the photographer for sharing these photographs and granting permission for them to be shared here.