The 3.5-Inch Blakely at Marion Square
“3.5-Inch Blakely, Type 9” on display at Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina
Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina was the site of a fortification called the “Horn Work”. First built during the Seven Years War, it remained incomplete until hastily finished to form part of Charleston’s defenses during the American War of Independence. The fort was placed on a narrow point on the peninsula. (The strategic location is why the the South Carolina Military Academy, later The Citadel, was established there. The original campus, now a hotel, is still present.) Although only a small fragment of the original fort remains, in the last few years the site has received a number of markers describing the Revolutionary War significance of the site. Flanking a flagpole are two curious pieces of artillery. One is the breech of a 24-pounder, possibly from the 18th century. The other is a 19th century muzzle-loading rifled cannon that Warren Ripley very provisionally identified as a “3.5-Inch Blakely, Type 9” in his book Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War.
As Ripley explained (pg. 153-154), he had doubts about the origin of this piece. When he examined it in the 1960s, it was (somewhat crudely) marked “Blakely’s Patent” on the reinforcing band. It had been recovered from a marsh around 1900 by fisherman in the vicinity of Morris Island. By the time Ripley photographed it, it was located at the Municipal Yacht basin. Ripley estimated that the bore had originally been 3.5-inches. He described the rifling as more like a Brooke than a Blakely. He noted that, quite unusually, the vent is not through the reinforcing band but behind it. These traits, along with its somewhat rough appearance, led Ripley to believe that it was either an early prototype Blakely or a locally made attempt to imitate Blakely’s designs.
The Civil War service of this piece is not known. Major Edward Manigault’s account of the fighting on the islands south of Charleston (edited and published by Warren Ripley as Siege Train) mentions 3.5-inch Blakelys several times - these rifled cannon being used to defend against US Army and US Navy attacks from land and sea. Whether this piece was one of the ones mentioned by Maigault probably cannot be known.
The single fragment of the walls of the Horn Work.
Display about the Horn Work
Display showing location of the Horn Work on Charleston’s peninsula and the British siege works.
The Blakely and the 24-pounder fragment displayed on the site of the Horn Work near the original 19th century campus of The Citadel
