The Citadel’s Cannons

Jul 28

Two 2.9-Inch Parrotts (10-Pounders) at the Citadel. Also in this photo are an F-4C Phantom (64-0816) and an M4A3 Medium Tank ("Sherman")

6-Pounder Bronze Field Guns, Pattern 1841 on display at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina

Six cannon from the American Civil War are displayed on or near Summerall Field at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. Two are 6-Pounder Bronze Field Guns, Pattern 1841. The Citadel acquired these two 6-Pounders in the 1880s, and all or nearly all markings have been polished smooth in the last 140 years. The two cannons were subject to a restoration in 2014 which gives them the appearance of newer production - really only the muzzle giving away their age. In the 1950s or 1960s, these two cannons were nicknamed “Pixie” and “Dixie” after the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon mice of the same names. While these two cannons are now retired from active use, I believe the the Palmetto Battery of The Citadel continues to fire new production 6-Pounders (and 105mm howitzers) at parades.

An article about the 6-Pounders including historic photos of the guns: https://romeocompany.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/the-shining-of-the-sentinels-a-homecoming-2014-special-report/

Nearby are two 2.9-Inch (10-Pounder) Parrott Rifles. The date of 1861 may be seen on the trunnion of one of the Parrotts. I suspect that these two Parrotts, like the 6-Pounders, were acquired sometime after the school reopened in 1882. Certainly by the 1880s both 6-Pounders and 2.9-Inch Parrotts were quite obsolete and suitable only for drill purposes.

3.3-Inch Parrott Rifle displayed at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina

Near Summerall Field are two other notable pieces. One is a relatively rare 3.3-Inch Parrott manufactured in 1861. As the Registry included in the Appendix of The Big Guns notes, the Union Committee of New York ordered an unknown number of these 3.3-Inch Parrotts in 1861. The 3.3-Inch was produced from the same block as the 2.9-Inch Parrott, and, other than the larger bore, is visually quite similar. Another 3.3-Inch Parrott may be found in South Carolina in the city of Kingstree beside the Williamsburg County Courthouse.

7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina

The other gun is a 7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle which was recovered during dredging operations of Charleston Harbor in 1929. The October 27th, 2005 edition of The Post and Courier contains a article about this Brooke connecting it to the wreck of the ironclad CSS Palmetto State.

These six cannons are only a portion of the military artifacts displayed on and around the campus of The Citadel.