The Six-Pounder (left) and 12-Pounder Howitzer (right) of the Edenton Battery preserved in Edenton, North Carolina

Update: A gentleman made a comment on the Facebook post about these cannons that one or both are replicas after the originals were returned to their respective historical sites. I am looking for what information I can find on this.

I recently passed through Edenton, North Carolina, a charming county-seat town on Albemarle Sound. I wanted to take a break from the road, so I visited the original Chowan County Courthouse - a beautiful example of Georgian public architecture built in 1767 and still in limited use as a courthouse. On the tour, it was pointed out that the original bell of the courthouse was recast during the Civil War as a cannon, and that cannon along with another from the same battery has been returned to Edenton in recent years. The two cannon are a six-pounder gun and twelve-pounder howitzer which were both part of the Edenton Battery. Both #1531 (the 6-Pounder named "Edenton") and #1533 (the howitzer named "Saint Paul") were cast in 1862 at Tredegar using bronze from the bells of the Chowan County Courthouse and St. Paul's Church respectively. Two other pieces #1532 (another 12-pounder howitzer) and #1534 (a six-pounder) were cast as well for the battery from other bells from Edenton* - neither of these other two pieces are known to still exist. Both cannon are marked with their foundry number and “EB” on their muzzles. Both are marked “1862” on their left trunnions and “JRA & CO, TF” on their right trunnions. As the plaque between the two field pieces states, the battery saw service with the Army of Northern Virginia before returning to North Carolina. In North Carolina, the battery served both in a field artillery role as well as supporting the defenses on Smith Island (now better known as “Bald Head Island”) before being evacuated to the mainland following the fall of Fort Fisher. As the plaque states, the howitzer was captured in February of 1865 in Brunswick County, but the six-pounder was present at the Battle of Bentonville before being surrendered with the Army of Tennessee in April of 1865.

Edenton also displays several cannon from the 18th century. These cannon were shipped from France in 1778. There is a story that the North Carolinians who had ordered the cannon did not have the agreed amount tobacco on hand to complete the purchase on arrival and the ship’s captain left the cannon on the bottom of the harbor rather than on the wharf in protest. Three of the cannons are mounted overlooking the harbor. (According to an article online they are 18-Pounders - one of Swedish and two of British origin.) A plaque on one of the cannons notes that these antiques were mounted in defense of Edenton in 1861, and the US Navy spiked and broke the trunnions off these cannons in 1862. I wonder if that action of US Bluejackets wasn’t of benefit for the health and safety of the good people of Edenton. Given that these seem to have been second-hand cannons in 1778 (like the 18-pounders which burst aboard John Paul Jones’s Bonhomme Richard), possibly submerged for a time, and then left untended for another four score years, I would doubt their integrity in 1862!

Edenton is a wonderful place to visit in coastal North Carolina for it’s beautiful location, good people, good food, well preserved 18th century buildings, and these fascinating pieces of antique ordnance.

*According to the list of Tredegar cannon included in: Daniel, Larry J. and Gunter, Riley W. Confederate Cannon Foundries. Pioneer Press, 1977.