The 9-Inch Dahlgrens of Webster, New York
Two 9-Inch Dahlgrens, Numbers 694 and 704, are displayed Webster Rural Cemetery in Webster, New York
Two US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren Shell Guns are displayed at Webster Rural Cemetery in Webster, New York. The two cannons are:
9-Inch Dahlgren Registry Number 694 manufactured at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1863. Weight as manufactured is 9,281 pounds.
9-Inch Dahlgren Registry Number 704 manufactured at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1863. Weight as manufactured is 9,248 pounds.
According to the Cemetery’s website, the two Dahlgrens are on loan from the New York State Museum. The Cemetery website has a very complete description of the two cannons on the “About Page” and notes that the cannon originally came from Sackets Harbor.
In the summer of 1864, twenty 9-Inch Dahlgrens were sent to the Sackets Harbor Navy Yard. Of the twenty, eleven are known to survive to the present day, including the two in Webster. See the post on this page about the 9-Inch Dahlgrens of Sackets Harbor.
The Dahlgrens are displayed on concrete mounts which closely resemble wooden Marsilly carriages used to mount 9-Inch Dahlgrens on the broadsides of US Navy sloops and frigates during the American Civil War. As can be seen in the photos below, much of the ironwork on the concrete carriages matches that which would be seen on a genuine carriage. The cemetery website does not indicate when these two cannons arrived at the cemetery or who made the mountings.
The Type: The 9-Inch Dahlgren could fire either a solid round shot weighing about 90 pounds or an explosive shell weighing around 73 pounds. The shell, a spherical projectile cast with a hollow core for filling with three pounds of gunpowder, was designed to imbed itself in the side of a wooden ship before exploding. Few wooden ships could survive the damage caused by more than a handful of such hits. The 9-Inch Dahlgren was the standard heavy broadside cannon aboard the heavy frigates and sloops of the US Navy during the American Civil War.
9-Inch Dahlgren Number 704 at Webster, New York on its Concrete “Marsilly Carriage” and a wartime photo taken aboard USS Hunchback. The concrete mounting is a fairly good facsimile of the original carriage with much of the ironwork matching.
