The 6.4-Inch Brooke at Historic Tredegar
A Double Banded 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle is displayed outside of Historic Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia where it was originally manufactured in 1862.
A Double Banded 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle is displayed outside of Historic Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia where it was originally manufactured in 1862.
According to information in Olmstead et al., the Brooke in Richmond is marked with the Tredegar foundry number 1633 and as weighing 9,400 pounds as manufactured. These numbers were not visible to me as I photographed the cannon.
According to Daniel and Gunter, Number 1633 was cast at Tredegar on or about July 26th, 1862.
Chase and muzzle of the 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle at Richmond
The 6.4-Inch Brooke
The 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle is a cast-iron rifled cannon with reinforcing bands made of wrought iron at the breech. The type was produced for the Confederacy at Tredegar Iron Works and the Selma Naval Gun Foundry.
The 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle is a cast-iron rifled cannon with reinforcing bands made of wrought iron at the breech. The rifling is “seven-grove rifling of right hand twist and triangular grooves.” . The design of the Brooke seems to have inherited traits from the Dahlgren, which had been manufactured by Tredegar prior to the war, including the large cascabel breeching jaws and provision for an elevating screw as well as mounting brackets for the rear sight on the breech and the forward sight above the trunnions.
The first 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifles were manufactured for CSS Virginia to supplement the 9-Inch Dahlgrens on the ship’s broadsides. 6.4-Inch Brookes also were mounted on the broadsides of CSS Atlanta and CSS Tennessee. Both CSS Albemarle and CSS Neuse carried two 6.4-Inch Brookes mounted as pivot guns fore and aft in their two-gun casemates. Other CSN ironclads as well as unarmored ships also carried the type. CSS Peedee mounted a 6.4-Inch Brooke in addition to her 7-Inch Brooke and 9-Inch Dahlgren.
John Mercer Brooke and others sometimes called them “32-Pounders” or “32-Pounder Rifles” because they had the same 6.4-Inch caliber as the old 32-Pounder smoothbore. In period lists cataloguing the armament of various ships and forts, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether a listed cannon is a purpose-made 6.4-Inch Brooke or a conversion by banding and rifling of an older 32-Pounder smoothbore. Occasionally they were called 100-Pounders in imitation of the similar 6.4-Inch Parrott Rifle, but this does not seem to be a common designation of the Brooke.
Aboard ships, the 6.4-Inch Brooke could be found mounted on Marsilly carriages like the 9-Inch Dahlgren which was similar in weight. Some ships would also mount the type on a pivot mounting. In fortifications ashore, they would typically be mounted on a barbette carriage.
Trunnion of the 6.4-Inch Brooke at Historic Tredegar in Richmond, Virginia
The Richmond 6.4-Inch Brooke is a bit different from other surviving Brookes
The bands of Brooke Rifles are composed of several wrought iron rings, and the individual rings can easily be seen in the Richmond Brooke. However, the “standard” 6.4-Inch Brooke has five rings in the inner band and three rings in the outer band. (As far as I am aware, all of the other surviving Double Banded 6.4-Inch Brookes conform to the 3-band ring standard.) As can be seen in the photos, the Richmond Brooke has four rings in the outer band.
I wonder if this Brooke wasn't originally manufactured as a single banded rifle. Tredegar Number 1610, cast in June 1862 at Tredegar, is a single banded 6.4-Inch Brooke which was captured aboard CSS Atlanta and survives at the Washington Navy Yard. Atlanta's two 6.4s both weight around 9,100 pounds. All of the other surviving Double Banded 6.4-Inch Brookes (whose markings survive) are marked as weighing 10,420 to 10,800 pounds.
Also, in his journal entry of October 26th, 1862 John M. Brooke lists the cannons which he has designed to that date which were:
"7-Inch Rifle, single banded, 15,000 lbs. weight
6.4-Inch Rifle, single banded, 9,000 lbs.
7-Inch Rifle, triple banded, 19,000 lbs.
Solid shot smoothbore 8-Inch, 12,000 lbs.
Double banded 7-inch with brass trunnions, 15,000 lbs.
One double banded 6.4, weight about 12,000"
The example at Richmond, which seems to predate the journal entry, is closer to the single banded in marked weight.
Careful measurement of the piece in regards might also be able to settle whether this Brooke was originally intended to have a single band. According to Olmstead et al., the double banded 6.4-Inch Brooke had "a slightly heavier chase and shorter trunnions relocated 1.61 inches toward the breech" to maintain an acceptable preponderance.
A Double Banded 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle is displayed outside of Historic Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia where it was originally manufactured in 1862.
The Performance of the 6.4-Inch Brooke
In the same October 26th, 1862 journal entry, Brooke writes: "One of the 6.4 Inch Rifles designed by me, such as the Merrimac had onboard in addition to the 7 Inch Rifles of similar pattern, [CSS Virginia's Brookes were single banded], was fired with wrought iron bolt shot at a target composed of 3 layers of 8x2 inch plates bolted to oak 17 inches thick. The experiments were very satisfactory, with 8lbs. [of powder] a bolt of 85 [pounds] broke through two plates, cracked the 3rd and also broke the timber. With 12lb. charge penetrated all three, glanced slightly upward, and passed through the wood, but partially, in the wake of a preceding shot. The bars or plates were 8 ft long, the course next the wood vertical, the outer courses horizonal. The bolts were designed by me and were cupped at the base. The cupping causes the base of the bolt to take the groves of the rifle perfectly. Both shot were set up considerably by the shock, but that fired with 12lb charge least. I observed that the gases were cut off most effectually in the groves, the space opposite the lands being powder marked."
In a letter dated 17 October, 1864 Brooke wrote to Officers Commanding Batteries:
“Charges of VII inch Brooke Rifles, Double Banded:
With shell, shrapnel, grape, or cannister - from 8 to 10 pounds
With wrought iron bolts - 10 to 12 pounds
With wrought iron bolts, only to be used in close action with Monitors - 13 to 14 pounds.
In all cases the smallest effective charge is to be used. The high charges strain the guns, and their employment is only justified by such emergencies as arise in contact with iron clads.
Charges of 6.4 inch Brooke Rifles, Double Banded:
With shell, shrapnel, grape or canister - from 7 to 8 pounds.
With cast iron bolts - 8 to 10 pounds
With wrought iron and cast iron bolts in close action with Monitors - 12 pounds
The same rule as regards high charges of VII inch rifle applies to the 6.4 inch rifle.”
The 6.4-Inch Brooke in Richmond, Virginia. The James River is visible in the background.
The mounting bracket for the rear adjustable-for-range sight can be seen on the breech of the Brooke. The large “jaws” for a breeching rope enclosed by a removeable block held in by a pin (whose head can be seen on the top of the cascabel) also are inherited from the Dahlgren.
As in a Dahlgren, an elevating screw passes through the cascabel of the Brooke.
This view of the top of the tube shows the mounting block for the front sight above the trunnions - again like a Dahlgren.
“A.D.B.” shows that this Brooke was inspected by Alexander M. DeBree
Brooke journal quotes from: Brooke, George M. Jr. ed. Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy: The Journal and Letters of John M. Brooke. University of South Carolina Press, 2002.
Additional information from: Olmstead, Edwin, Stark, Wayne E., Tucker, Spencer C. The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon. Museum Restoration Service, 1997.
Tredegar records in: Daniel, Larry J. and Gunter, Riley W. Confederate Cannon Foundries. Pioneer Press, 1977.
The Brooke at Tredegar
