The Mystery Brooke at The Citadel
Tucked between some bushes in front of Bond Hall at The Citadel is a Brooke Rifle. There is nothing identifying the cannon, and unless you know a bit about Civil War cannons, it sits quietly as a rusty mystery.
7-Inch Brooke Rifle displayed at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina
The cannon, though badly corroded after spending sixty years in Charleston Harbor and nearly a century outside at the Citadel, is quite clearly a Double Banded 7-Inch Brooke Rifle.
According to an article published on October 27th, 2005 on the front page of the Post and Courier, the Brooke was salvaged from Charleston Harbor in 1929 during efforts to dredge the harbor.
The Post and Courier article quotes a journal kept by Henry Fowlers Rivers, Jr., an engineer supervising the dredging project, who notes that the Brooke was first thought to have been recovered from the wreck of CSS Chicora. However, Rivers interviewed John Morrison of Charleston who stated that the site that the Brooke had been salvaged from was were CSS Palmetto State was destroyed.
The Brooke now at the Citadel was one of three cannon pulled from the harbor, though the two others were lost in the salvage process. The 2005 article claims that one of the two which were lost has been located by a diver, but, as far as I know, it remains on the bottom of Charleston Harbor.
7-Inch Brooke Rifle at the Citadel
The mounting point for the blade sight can be seen on the tube above the trunnions
7-Inch Brooke Rifle at the Citadel
Model of CSS Palmetto State on display at the Museum at Market Hall in Charleston, South Carolina
1897 Illustration of Palmetto State from the US Navy History and Heritage Command
