The Cannons of Freeport: The Trubia Rifle and Hartford’s Parrott

Nov 4

The “Trubia Rifle” - an 8-Inch Muzzle Loading Rifle produced at Trubia in Spain in 1874. Displayed in Freeport, New York. Additional images of the Trubia Rifle below. *Photos provided by a friend of the author.*

Two 19th Century muzzle-loading rifled cannon sit about a half-mile apart on Long Island in Freeport, New York. I asked a friend who was travelling through the area to stop and take photos of USS Hartford’s 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle. She sent photos of what was clearly a cannon, but not at all a 30-Pounder Parrott. A quick internet search indicated that it was a 8-Inch Rifle captured during the Spanish American War and presented to the Dandridge B. P. Mott Post No. 527 of Grand Army of the Republic on July 4th, 1902. As can be seen in the photos above, it is displayed beside another marker commemorating the location of the first public school in Freeport which opened in 1820.

The Freeport Encyclopedia reports that the cannon “was made in Spain at the Trubia Arms Factory in 1874. The gun was captured by the United States Navy at Murro Castle, Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.” It is marked with the number 378, and weighs about 12,040 pounds. I do not know anything for certain about its construction other than to observe it looks similar to American rifles which were produced by combining a cast-iron tube with wrought iron reinforcing bands. The trunnions appear to be on their own band.

The 30-Pounder (4.2-Inch) Parrott Rifle seems to have been dedicated on July 4th, 1902 as well. It is a typical US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle. It was manufactured in 1863 at the West Point Foundry. It’s US Navy registry number is 240, and it weighed 3,470 pounds as manufactured. It is noted as having served on USS Hartford in both The Big Guns (pg. 186) and the accompanying historical marker. It is thought to have been present at the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Since my friend did not send photos of the Parrott, the photos of the Parrott are from the entry in the Historical Marker Database and Wikimedia and are used here according to the terms of those sites.