The 32-Pounders of Old North Cemetery, Weymouth
Four US Navy 32-Pounders of 51 Hundredweight surround a Monument dedicated to the Soldiers and Sailors of Weymouth, Massachusetts who died during the American Civil War. The monument was dedicated in 1868 and lists each man by his unit and the circumstances of his death. The fearsome toll taken by disease during the war can clearly be seen etched in stone. The cannons were likely placed later in the 19th century.
The Breechloading Rifle of Columbus
This little breechloading rifle was manufactured in 1863 by engineer W.J. McAllister using the wheel shaft of the sunken riverboat John C. Calhoun at the Columbus Naval Ironworks Company. Warren Ripley measured the bore at 2.75 inches. Ripley also gives the length overall as 61.25 inches, though he states that this doesn’t include the breechblock link (pg. 181).
US Navy Ordnance of the 1845/1846 System
In May of 1845, a board of US Navy Captains recommended a system of ordnance for the navy. Their report called for the Navy to standardize on the 32-Pounder. The deficiencies of this system would cause John Dahlgren to design a replacement - which became the Dahlgren guns with which the US Navy fought the American Civil War.
8-Inch Rifle Number 45 of USS Lancaster
US Navy 8-Inch Muzzle Loading Rifle Number 45 of USS Lancaster at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. This is one of four 8-Inch Rifles which were carried aboard USS Lancaster in the 1880s which are displayed at the stadium. Previously these 8-Inch MLR were displayed beside the aircraft carrier Yorktown. Before that they were at the Charleston Navy Yard.
10-Inch Brooke Smoothbore S87 at the National Civil War Naval Museum
A 10-Inch Double Banded Brooke Smoothbore, S87, is displayed at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. This gun was cast in 1864 at Selma, Alabama. In November of 1864 it was shipped for delivery to Commodore Ingraham commanding the Charleston Squadron of the Confederate Navy. However, neither this gun nor the 11-Inch Brooke displayed next to it reached Charleston due to transportation disruptions at the end of the war.
The US Army 42-Pounders of USS Cairo
The US Army 42-Pounders are displayed aboard USS Cairo in Vicksburg, Mississippi. One is a Pattern 1831 and two are Pattern 1845. All three were rifled for service during the American Civil War.
US Army 32-Pounder Seacoast Guns, Pattern 1845, in St. Augustine
Two US Army 32-Pounder Seacoast Guns, Pattern 1845, are displayed in Plaza de la Constitución in Saint Augustine, Florida. These cannon was cast at Tredegar in Richmond in 1846. They are registry numbers Number 5 on and 27 on their muzzles. Both of these cannons have been rifled. As manufactured they weighed 7, 215 pounds and 7,256 pounds.
7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle S111 at the National Civil War Naval Museum
7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle, S111, is displayed overlooking the Chattahoochee River at the National Civil War Naval Museum. S111 is regularly used for firing demonstrations, and it is likely the heaviest original Civil War artillery piece which is still regularly fired. S111 was cast at the Selma Naval Gun Foundry on November 23rd, 1864.
8-Inch Rifle Number 44 of USS Lancaster
US Navy 8-Inch Muzzle Loading Rifle Number 44 is one of four of the type displayed outside the Patriots Point Soccer Stadium in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. All four are mounted on original circa 1880 US Navy carriages which came off of USS Lancaster.
US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle of USS Stettin
A US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle, Registry Number 119, is on displayed at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. It was manufactured by the West Point Foundry in 1862, and its original weight was 3,544 pounds. It is displayed alongside four 9-Inch Dahlgrens. All five cannons show signs of being ex-bollards.
13-Inch Mortars in Phillipsburg, New Jersey
Four US 13-Inch Mortars, Pattern 1861, are displayed in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Three may be found around a monument in the town square. Another is found in the nearby St. Phillip and St. James Cemetery on Fillmore Street. All four are mounted on original iron carriages.
10-Inch Columbiads, Pattern 1844, in DuBois, Pennsylvania
Two US Army 10-Inch Columbiads, Pattern 1844, are displayed in Rumbarger Cemetery in DuBois, Pennsylvania. These two Columbiads were cast at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1854.
US Navy 32-Pounders at Fort Pike
US Navy “Gradual Increase” 32-Pounders cast in 1820 and 1821 survive at Fort Pike near New Orleans, Louisiana. They were likely among the nearly 1,200 heavy guns seized at Norfolk in 1861. They are known to have served on USS Columbus.
The US Army 24-Pounders, Pattern 1819, at Fort Branch
Two US Army 24-Pounders, Pattern 1819, are among the extraordinary collection of original cannons at Fort Branch near Hamilton, North Carolina. Along with the other cannons, they were thrown into the Roanoke River to prevent capture at the end of the American Civil War. All of the cannons were recovered from the Roanoke River in the 1970s.
32-Pounder of 57 Hundredweight at Vicksburg
A US Navy 32-Pounder of 57 Hundredweight is displayed on “Cannon Row” at Vicksburg. It’s form present state points to an active career. It was cast as USN Registry Number 647 by Bellona Foundry near Richmond in 1849. During the Civil War it was rifled and banded by the Confederates. It’s muzzle was damaged and then shortened.
42-Pounder, Banded and Rifled, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
A US Army 42-Pounder, Pattern 1845, Seacoast Gun which was banded and rifled during the American Civil War is displayed in front of the Civil War Memorial in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The 42-Pounder, which weighed about 8,500 pounds in its original, unbanded smoothbore state, was a popular cannon for conversion into a rifle by both North and South. As Olmstead et al. points out, of the 29 known survivors of the type, just over half have been rifled and/or banded.
This 42-Pounder was cast by West Point Foundry in 1859. It is registry number 126 (as seen on the muzzle face).
Photographs of Surviving Confederate Columbiads
This post includes photographs of the majority of surviving Confederate Columbiads. The Columiad, particularly the 10-Inch Model, was one of the most powerful heavy cannons available to the Confederacy, and this type of cannon was in high demand anywhere the US Navy might strike.
US Navy 32-Pounder of 42 Hundredweight Number 244 at Vicksburg
A 32-Pounder of 42 Hundredweight, US Navy Registry Number 244, is displayed on “Cannon Row” at Vicksburg National Military Park. This cannon was manufactured at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1845. It is marked as weighing 42-2-20 (or 4,780 pounds). Six similar cannons can be seen mounted on USS Cairo, also at Vicksburg. Together, the seven examples at Vicksburg form a majority of the known examples of the type.
The 6.4-Inch Brooke of CSS Tennessee at Naval Station Norfolk
A 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle which was captured aboard CSS Tennessee is displayed at Naval Station Norfolk alongside an identical 6.4-Inch Brooke from CSS Albemarle.
The Tennessee Brooke was manufactured at Tredegar in June 1863 and was sent to Richmond Naval Ordnance Words for banding and rifling in August of 1863. Its registry number is 49 and its Tredegar Foundry Number is 1853 (Olmstead et al. pg. 219).
The 32-Pounders of 41 Hundredweight of USS Saratoga and CSS Chattahoochee
Two US Navy 32-Pounders of 41 Hundredweight are displayed at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. These two chambered cannon were cast at Cyrus Alger and Company in 1842 for use aboard the sloop of war USS Saratoga. They were subsequently used aboard CSS Chattahoochee.