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The Artilleryman | Winter 2015 | Vol. 37, No. 1
CONTENTS 4
PUBLISHER’S PLATFORM
6
U.S. HOTCHKISS PERCUSSION FUZE
8
MORRIS ISLAND, SC – CONFEDERATE BATTERIES .SILENCED IN 1863
14
THE TALE OF A GUN – IX-INCH DAHLGREN FP NO. 513.
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RAISING OF THE GUNS OF THE CSS PEE DEE
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LOOKING FOR THE FRENCH 75 MM MODEL 1912
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THE CASEMATE MUSEUM, ARTILLERY, AND THE LINCOLN GUN AT FORT MONROE, VIRGINIA
The 1863 patented Hotchkiss percussion fuze illustrated. By CW04 (Ret.) John D. Bartleson Jr. USN.
The Confederate batteries on Morris Island, South Carolina. By Joan Wenner, J.D.
It’s not just a cannon. It’s a story! By Lawrence E. Babits, .Christopher F. Amer, Lynn Harris and Joe Beatty.
The story of the guns of the CSS Pee Dee and the.Confederate Navy Yard at Mars Bluff. By William E. Lockridge. The story behind the quest to find the French 75 mm gun. By Thomas Batha and Glen Williford.
Tour Fort Monroe with travel guide and photographer. By Roy Stevenson.
46
NEWS FROM THE U.S. ARMY ARTILLERY MUSEUM
47
THE REFERENCE DESK
48
CLASSIFIED ADS
What’s new in the museum. By Museum Curator Gordon Blaker.
2
C.S. 6.4-inch Brooke shell from the CSS Pee Dee. By Jack W. Melton Jr.
The Artilleryman
Consultants: Lawrence Babits, Thomas Bailey, (CWO4 Ret.) John D. Bartleson Jr. U.S. Navy, Craig D. Bell, Jack Bell, Jim Bender, Col.(Ret.) John Biemeck, Glenn Dutton, David Gotter, Butch & Anita Holcombe, Les Jensen, Mike Kent, Lewis Leigh Jr., William E. Lockridge, Donald Lutz, John Morris, Michael J. O’Donnell, Hayes Otoupalik, Bernie Paulson, Bruce Paulson, Lawrence E. Pawl and Matthew Switlik.
Founding Publisher: C. Peter Jorgensen Publisher: Jack W. Melton Jr. Editor: Peggy M. Melton Book Reviews: Peter A. Frandsen Advertising: mail@ArtillerymanMagazine.com Webmaster: Carson Jenkins Jr. Graphic Designer: Squeegie Studios InDesign Guru: Neil Stewart
Contact Information: Jack W. Melton Jr. LLC dba The Artilleryman
96 Craig St., Suite 112-333 East Ellijay, GA 30540 (706) 940-2673 (BORE) Email: mail@artillerymanmagazine.com Website: ArtillerymanMagazine.com The Artilleryman is published quarterly by Jack W. Melton Jr. LLC. ISSN 0884-4747 (Print), ISSN 2380-8519 (Online). The office of publication is at 96 Craig Street, Suite 112333, East Ellijay, Georgia 30540. (706) 940-2673. Contributions of editorial material and photographs are welcomed at the above address. Subscription rates: $25 per year in U.S. and Canada; $42 overseas. U.S. bank checks or credit cards.
Subscribe online at www.ArtillerymanMagazine.com. POSTMASTER: Send address change to The Artilleryman, 96 Craig Street, Suite 112-333, East Ellijay, Georgia 30540.
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About the Cover: Glenn Dutton operates the excavator lifting and moving the Selma made Confederate VII-inch Brooke rifle to high ground. One of three cannon that were once part of the armament of the CSS Pee Dee gunboat. On this spread is the VI.4-inch Brooke rifle being raised from the Great Pee Dee River. Photography by Jack W. Melton Jr. Readers are invited to send high-resolution photos for consideration on the cover. If we use your photo you’ll get a free year’s subscription.
Printed proudly and responsibly in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. The information contained herein is for the general history and background of our readers and The Artilleryman assumes no liability for loading or shooting data which may be published in this magazine. The circumstances surrounding the loading and discharge of firearms mentioned are beyond our control and are unique to the particular instance being described. We hereby disclaim any responsibility for persons attempting to duplicate loading data or shooting conditions referenced herein and specifically recommend against relying solely on this material. Readers are cautioned that black powder varies according to grain size, type, date of manufacture and supplier, and that firing of antique or replica ordnance should not be undertaken without adequate training and experience in procedures and loads.
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guns of the CSS Pee Dee on September 30, 2015. Hundreds of spectators, a few politicians, a team of archaeologists and a group of reporters from local papers and TV stations were there to document the event.
Cannon Accidents Lowellville, Ohio
Jack W. Melton Jr., Publisher
Two Issues?
Every subscriber was sent two copies of the Winter 2015 issue: one to keep and one to give to a friend who shares the same interest. What a great way to promote our hobby within a target audience. I appreciate that you, the subscriber, are my best marketers! Please note that there is a subscription/renewal sheet included with your magazine in every poly bag. It will clearly state on the back of the subscription sheet in red when your renewal is due. I would like to hear feedback from you regarding the types of articles, time periods and layout of the magazine. Since my interest and area of knowledge is about the American Civil War, I tend to focus on that time period. If you want articles on different time periods, subject matters, battles and leaders, or anything else you’d like to read please email me at mail@artillerymanmagazine.com or call at (706)-940-2673. I had to leave the Letters to the Editor and The Artillerist Bookshelf columns out of this issue to make room for the two articles on the current story of the CSS Pee Dee’s cannon recovery. My wife, Peggy, and I were invited to participate in the recovery of the 4
The Artilleryman
Published July 19, 2015, from WKBN First News 27. Saturday was a night filled with parties on East Grant Street in Lowellville, Ohio, not too far from the Mount Carmel Festival. But the fun was interrupted by a blast around 10:30 p.m. when someone set off a homemade cannon in the park across the street from Brock Donatelli’s house. Police say the cannon was packed too tightly with black powder and that the explosion had the effect of a pipe bomb, blasting shrapnel across the street. Three people were taken to the hospital with injuries, including one man who was grazed in the head and another who needed 39 stitches in his leg. Donatelli helped that victim by putting a tourniquet on his leg.
Lamoka Lake, Pennsylvania Published September 7, 2015, from the Star-Gazette. A Pennsylvania man has died after a cannon exploded near Lamoka Lake. James D. Whitney, 81, of Austin Pennsylvania, sustained fatal injuries after a homemade noise cannon was set off and exploded in Tyrone Saturday, Star-Gazette’s media partner WENY News reported. The Schuyler County Sheriff’s Office said the homemade device’s shrapnel hit and killed Whitney while at a Taylor Road residence, WENY News said.
Hardaway’s Battery
In the NSSA Hardaway’s Alabama Battery represents one of the two batteries from that state originally attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. Here it is shown during the artillery competition at the 2014 Spring National Match, and after winning that competition with a reproduction smoothbore 3-inch Ordnance rifle. The unit has been a very strong competitor, winning the smoothbore competition at both the Spring and Fall NSSA Nationals in 2015.
Photograph courtesy Hardaway’s member Fred Gaede.
Long Bay Salvage LLC specializes in the recovery and restoration of authentic Civil War Cannon with an emphasis on 10-Inch Columbiads, offering discerning collectors and museums the opportunity to own what has become a rare piece of Civil War history. Long Bay Salvage also works with historical entities (government and private) to recover and conserve large historical artifacts with a specialty in large field and naval artillery pieces.
www.LongBaySalvage.com
Civil War photograph courtesy Library of Congress and colorized by CivilWarInColor.com
PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION
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glennjdutton@aol.com rperdue1@sc.rr.com ArtillerymanMagazine.com | Vol. 37, No. 1
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A
fter struggling to understand the British Armstrong E Metal Time Fuze from my article in Vol. 36, No. 3, Summer 2015 issue of The Artilleryman magazine, I thought it was time for the simplified Hotchkiss fuze. This fuze was patented by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss on June 17, 1862, United States Patent No. 35,611, and also on February 24, 1863, United States Patent No. 37,756. The final version that was delivered to the battlefield eliminated the solid lead plunger for a brass sleeve filled with cast lead that also secured the brass restraining wire and percussion cap nipple.
The bird’s eye view of the percussion cap nipple reveals the unique design. Made of brass it will not corrode as do the iron nipples and provided a firm and stable mount for the percussion cap. The inventor, in his second patent admitted the failures of his solid lead plunger which at times would cant, if impact was not straight on the shell nose, and bind itself on the inside of the fuze body and would dud the fuze. The brass sleeve in the second patent provided a smooth surface and straight slide to the fuze’s anvil cap. Collectors will find single and double patent dates stamped on the fuze head.
The brass restraining wire suggests two purposes in the patent. It reduced accidental firing of the fuze while loading and handling. This is accomplished by aid of a lead cone shaped plug that wedges the wire tight against the fuze body. Secondly the wire end that protrudes beyond the bottom of the fuze body could be bent outward toward the fuze body to provide additional resistance to plunger movement during the downward angle to impact. The operation is simple; at firing the cone plug drops into the shell by setback and at impact the plunger (also known as a striker or slider) strikes the percussion cap against the anvil.
Body Threads Per Inch: 12 Thread Diameter: 1.05 inches Head Diameter: 1.17 inches Overall Length: 2.24 inches 6
The Artilleryman
Brass percussion cap nipple for the Hotchkiss percussion fuze patent no. 37,756. The groove allowed the molten lead to bind it in the striker’s lead casting.
B
y the construction of the hammer [plunger] in the manner herein shown and described, I obtain the following advantages: First, in the invention patented by Smith and Stetson, the hammer, being made entirely of soft metal, was liable, if soft enough to secure the effect desired, to be so changed in form as to become wedged in the fuseplug, and thus defeat its object by not moving with sufficient freedom to cause an explosion on the impact of the shell; by the use of the surrounding tube I am enabled to secure all the advantages of the lead hammer without this liability to failure; second, for the same reason, I am enabled to use a heavier hammer in the same space than could be before used, as pure lead could not be used alone on account of the liability above referred to; third, my improved hammer is very simple and cheap, requiring no fitting, and holds the nipple and retaining wire very securely.
– Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, patent no. 37,756
U.S. Hotchkiss brass percussion fuze for rifled field artillery projectiles. The brass anvil cap is .713 inches in diameter, .396 inches thick with a thread pitch of 18 threads per inch. Stamped on the face of the anvil cap is “JUNE 17.1862 FEB. 24.1863 PATENTED”. The brass slider is cut from a tube and has a brass safety wire that is .074 inches in diameter. A brass wire and nipple are inserted into the cylinder and lead is cast around them. A small percussion cap rests on top of the nipple. The slider is .629 inches in diameter and the brass cylinder is .860 inches long.
Text and illustrations by John D. Bartleson Jr., author and illustrator of the 1972 field guide for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel titled Civil War Explosive Ordnance 1861-1865 with radiographs.
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efore the Civil War, Morris Island, South Carolina looked much like any other unused coastal port at the entrance of Charleston Harbor. However in 1863, wrote one observer, “it became the
deadliest sandspit on earth and almost sunk by the sheer weight of explosives and human misery.� For the North to win the war, Federal power had to take Charleston since it was one of several important Atlantic gateways to the Confederacy not only for its defense but regular resupply of its armies.
Charleston, South Carolina. View of Forts Wagner & Gregg on Morris Island, evacuated by Confederates, September 6, 1863. Wartime photograph by Sam A. Cooley. Courtesy Library of Congress.
T
o do this large siege guns had to be placed on the nearest dry land which was Morris Island that already had an abandoned fort, Fort Wagner. The Confederates a year later bolstered the fort with palmetto logs and sandbags and set up various defensive batteries (including the now famous Battery Wagner). It was
armed with a 10-inch Columbiad, its largest gun firing a 128-pound shell, a half a dozen 32-pounders, and some ordinary fieldpieces. The heretofore ‘fort’ Wagner spanned an area between the Atlantic on the east and an impassable swamp on the west. The 1,700-man garrison had its land face protected by a water-filled trench 10 feet wide and 5
feet deep, surrounded by buried land mines and sharpened palmetto stakes. Union Rear Admiral Samuel Du Pont had launched a naval attack through the mouth of Charleston harbor in April of 1863. His nine-ship squadron faced heavy fire from fortifications that guarded the narrow channel, and his ships sustained numerous hits. Du Pont turned the ships around.
Rear Admiral Samuel Du Pont, United States Navy. Courtesy NARA.
U.S. Fleet offshore near Morris Island, South Carolina. Hass & Peale, photographer. Created/published July or August 1863. Courtesy Library of Congress.
10-inch Columbiad smoothbore cannon located in Confederate Fort Johnson, Charleston, S.C. This cannon was most likely manufactured by Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia. Note the ax marks that disabled the wooden carriage. Wartime photograph by George N. Barnard. Courtesy Library of Congress. ArtillerymanMagazine.com
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n the Spring of 1863 the Union ironclad flotilla failed to reduce the Confederate’s Charleston Harbor defenses (despite the fleet’s best efforts and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles’ “constant obsession” with Charleston) to force the city’s surrender much the same as New Orleans had fallen. Interestingly when one of the Union ironclads was sunk, and adding insult to injury, its 11-inch Dahlgrens were salvaged and added to the Charleston Harbor defenses. The Confederate combined army-navy offensive would at that time not be cracked.
Detail of Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, Charleston S.C., showing Confederate Fort Wagner being shelled by the Union fleet. Also shown is the daylight assault of Gen. George C. Strong against the heavily-defended fort. Strong’s forces were quickly repulsed and with great loss of life. Courtesy Library of Congress.
T
he Southern batteries, as indicated on the map, managed to fire 2,206 shots, 439 of which hit the various Federal ships, mostly monitors, that participated in the assault. Ninety of these shots hit the Federal fleet including 19 below the waterline while other hits jammed their turrets. Only one broadside armored frigate remained after the engagement. The slow-firing Federal ships were only able to fire 139 rounds. The Gregg and Wagner batteries would not be evacuated until September 1863.
Map depicts the siege of Fort Wagner, Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, S.C. Details include the locations of swamps, marshes, sand ridges and the elaborate earthworks and trenches constructed by Union troops under Gen. Q. A. Gillmore as they prepared to lay siege to the fort. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren would shortly assume command to pursue the capture of Charleston, which he accomplished in a matter of a few days by a massive bombardment in September 1863. When at last the coastal fortifications were taken, Federal guns would also pound Fort Sumter “down to a heap of masonry.”. On August 22nd a Union 8-inch Parrott rifle fired the first of sixteen rounds into Charleston after General P. T. Beauregard refused or ignored a notice to evacuate Morris Island and Fort Sumter. As considerable “Greek Fire” rained down, an embedded British illustrator and journalist spent a scary evening taking bets on where the next shell would land. A day to clear the city was given amid constant Confederate mortar shelling in reply though with reportedly too-long fuses it would be to no avail. On September 5th, Britain had detained two unfinished ironclads being built in Liverpool for the Confederacy. Southern troops would evacuate Batteries Wagner and Gregg on Morris Island on September 6. The next day, September 7, 1863, Union soldiers assaulted the batteries only to find them abandoned due to a combination of a massive Union naval bombardment, a lack of fresh water from a well contaminated by decomposing Union bodies from the previous unsuccessful attacks on Battery Wagner, and no food supplies arriving by boat from the city. Most of the operable cannons were withdrawn in the movement. Confederates on Morris Island for the most part had
Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Courtesy National Archives.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, U.S. Navy, standing by a Dahlgren rifle on the deck of the U.S.S. Pawnee in Charleston Harbor, S.C. . Courtesy Library of Congress.
wide experience in coastal warfare and the defense of Battery Wagner along with service on other nearby sea islands but were unable to respond to the overwhelming Federal force that would ultimately silence its artillery. The overall Union campaign had lasted some sixty days, with both sides having “learned valuable military techniques.” Southern forces shifted its military activities upriver out of range of the North’s guns. Within twenty years of the War Between the States, the remnants of the fort and batteries at Morris Island had been washed away by erosion. The May 9, 1985, Charleston News and Courier reported it together with its approaches had washed into the ocean. Longtime history and maritime writer Joan Wenner, J.D. has been published several times in The Artilleryman as well as America’s Civil War, Military Heritage, Pennsylvania Heritage and others. Comments are welcomed at joan_writer@ yahoo.com
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Morris Island, South Carolina. Headquarters of field officer of the trenches, Second parallel. Note the barrel torpedo and scattered projectiles in the foreground. Haas & Peale, photographer. Courtesy Library of Congress.
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uring the early summer of 2009, the South Carolina Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) at the University of South Carolina (USC) and East Carolina University (ECU) investigated two cannon barrels and recovered VI.4 (6.4-inch) and VII-inch (7-inch) diameter Brooke rifle shells and friction primers from the Great Pee Dee River in Marion, South Carolina. These artifacts were found at Mars Bluff – the site of a Civil War Confederate navy yard immediately upstream above the bridges where the Wilmington and Manchester RR and modern route 301 crossed the Great Pee Dee. The gunboat CSS Pee Dee, built and armed at the Mars Bluff Navy Yard, was scuttled there on either March 15 or March 18, 1865.1 One cannon was an IX-inch (9-inch) Dahlgren smoothbore that, when traced through its career, sheds light on Confederate ordnance acquisition, ordnance personnel, and transportation networks.
John A. Dahlgren
John A. Dahlgren invented and developed both rifled and smoothbore cannon for the U.S. Navy. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1826 and commenced his career as an ordnance officer at the Washington Navy Yard in 1847. In 1863, Dahlgren was promoted to rear admiral and assigned to command the Federal South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.2. Dahlgren created bronze boat howitzers and rifles, castiron rifles, and cast-iron smoothbores3. The Mars Bluff IX-inch Dahlgren falls into the smoothbore shell and shot category that Dahlgren first produced in early 1850. Eventually, the IX-inch, and a bigger XI-inch version, would become the main smoothbore shell guns of the U.S. Navy4. Easily recognized by their “soda-water bottle” shape, Dahlgren XI-inch cannon saw service aboard monitor ironclads, and the IX-inch broadside guns were on a variety of ships during the war5. Dahlgren’s design and research are an important chapter in naval ordnance history, as he was the first to incorporate shell guns on a large scale6. Dahlgren’s cannon were primarily shell guns, but they also fired solid shot, a key weaponry consideration for the ironclad warfare during the Civil War7. His guns were the product of an age of experimentation. The IX-inch Dahlgren was the typical broadside smoothbore utilized by the U.S. Navy during the war8. In 1860, there were five major cannon-producing factories in the United States. Two were located in what became the Confederacy: Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, and Bellona Foundry in Chesterfield County, just south of Richmond, Virginia. The three major Union facilities were: West Point Foundry at Cold Spring, New York; Fort Pitt Foundry at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Cyrus Alger Works in South Boston, Massachusetts9. While all five produced a great many guns, Fort Pitt is the foundry that produced the IX-inch Dahlgren recovered at the Mars Bluff Navy Yard.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, U.S. Navy. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Fort Pitt Foundry
Most Dahlgren cannon were cast at the Fort Pitt Foundry. The foundry, under various owners, had been in operation since 1803 and was possibly the largest foundry in the United States. By September 1864, the foundry had produced more than 3,000 cannon since the Civil War began. Included in that total were some 600 IX-inch navy guns of circa 9,200 pounds, among which was number 513, the Mars Bluff Dahlgren. At the time of its manufacture, John M. Berrien was the navy inspector at Fort Pitt Foundry, a position he held from 1862 to 1864. Berrien’s initials went onto the left trunnion, a typical place for Union inspectors to mark a tube10.
The IX-Inch Dahlgren
The IX-inch Dahlgrens, as a class, were 131.5 inches overall, with a bore length of 107 inches. The trunnion diameter and length was 7.25 inches. The tube weighed from 9,000 to a little over 9,200 pounds11. Throughout the war, when some 1,185 IX-inch guns were produced, not one burst: a remarkable testimony to a well-designed and useful weapon12. The Mars Bluff IX-inch Dahlgren was not fully recorded, because it was still partially embedded in the river bottom ArtillerymanMagazine.com
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FP No 513 is stamped on the breech.
Left trunnion of No. 513 stamped with inspectors initials J M B, IX-inch Dahlgren, Mars Bluff, South Carolina. The first USS Miami was a side-wheel steamer, double-ender gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was launched at Philadelphia Navy Yard on November 16, 1861, and commissioned there on January 29, 1862, Commanded by Lieutenant Abram Davis Harrell Her armament consisted of one large Parrott rifle, one IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbore and four 24-pounder smoothbore guns.
IX-inch Dahlgren gun crew on USS Miami, 1864. Photograph by Matthew Brady. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
and any excavation was subject to rapid filling. The poor visibility and rapidly moving river water were other obstacles. This particular gun is marked “J M B” (for John M. Berrien) on the left trunnion and “FP No 513” on the breech13. Both marks are consistent with a late 1862 production date at the Fort Pitt Foundry14. Precise measurements of the cannon must wait until the tube undergoes conservation. The gun number was initially reported as 573 but corrected to no. 513 after recovery. There is an additional number found stamped on the visible (left) lock clevis. The number is stamped on brass, which filled a slot that accepted the hammer lock. The stamp reads, “IXIN No 513.” Again, this number was first reported, as 518. The Dahlgren shell guns had two vents and associated hammer, only one being used to fire the charge at any one time. The vent and lock clevis on one side, usually the left, was filled with brass, while the other held the hammer lock and was used to fire the charge. When the active vent became sufficiently enlarged because of blow back, the left vent was opened, a hammer lock fitted to the clevis, and the right vent, and presumably clevis, sealed with brass16.
Left hammer lock with IXIN No 513 stamped in brass of hammer lock clevis, IX-inch Dahlgren, Mars Bluff, South Carolina.
Interpretation, or How Did the IX-Inch Dahlgren Get to Mars Bluff? While the presence of Confederate-manufactured Brooke cannon makes sense on a Confederate site, how did an IX-inch Dahlgren, the typical Union gun, get to be there? One answer is, by capture. The marking on its breech, “No 513,” suggests that the gun tube was probably cast in late 186217, while the initials “J M B” on the left trunnion indicate that it was inspected by John M. Berrien. This dating leads to several questions, because the production date means that this tube was not one of over 1,000 guns captured at Norfolk when the Federals abandoned that navy yard on April 20, 186118. While these captured guns were shipped all over the Confederacy19, the Mars Bluff barrel was manufactured at least a year after Norfolk was abandoned by the Federals. The date suggests that this barrel was issued to a U.S. Navy ship after mid-1862. The ship was eventually captured, abandoned, or sunk, and Dahlgren No. 513 was recovered by the Confederates. Only three U.S. Navy vessels meet these qualifications: USS Eastport, USS Indianola, and USS Southfield20. Each vessel has its own interesting story that includes IX-inch Dahlgrens, destruction, or capture by Confederate forces. USS Eastport was a steamboat built at New Albany, Indiana, in 1862. In initial service, the Eastport was described as “fast and powerful”21. The vessel was captured at Cerro Gordo, Tennessee, by Federal forces on February 6, 1862, while being converted to an ironclad by the Confederates22. After conversion, the vessel was armed with four IX-inch Dahlgrens, two rifled 60-pounder Dahlgrens, and two 100-pounder Parrott rifles and served as an army gunboat until January 9, 1863. On April 1, 1864, while participating in the Red River expedition, the Eastport was damaged by a torpedo placed by crewmen of CSS Missouri. It sank but was refloated and moved some 60 miles downstream, where it sank again23. Machinery and guns were removed before the vessel was blown up on April 26. Some Eastport cannon were captured when USS Champion No. 5 was taken by Confederate forces on April 2725. Two Eastport Dahlgrens were later issued to CSS Missouri, including one marked “F. P. 572”26, the cannon barrel produced immediately prior to what was thought to be the Mars Bluff Dahlgren. The Missouri was launched at Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 14, 1863. Remaining above the Red River obstructions, the eight-gun vessel never saw action, but its crewmen were instrumental in sinking the Eastport. The Missouri surrendered on June 3, 1865 – the last Confederate ironclad to surrender in home waters27. USS Indianola was built for the U.S. Army and launched September 4, 1862. After a transfer to the navy on January 12, 1863, the vessel served on the Mississippi River. After a gallant fight, the Indianola surrendered on February 24, 1863, ArtillerymanMagazine.com
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Rudimentary muzzle sight used only in setting up the rifle on the IX-inch Dahlgren gun. and was destroyed by Confederate forces to avoid recapture eight days later. As a U.S. Navy vessel, the Indianola was armed with two XI-inch smoothbores and two IX-inch smoothbore Dahlgrens28. While Confederate salvage attempts were under way, a riverboat altered to appear as a Union ironclad warship approached the Indianola on February 25, 1863. The Confederates panicked and blew up the ship. After almost two years of intermittent attempts, the Indianola was refloated by the U.S. Navy. No specific records about the Indianola’s weapons have been found, beyond noting that the XI-inch guns were fired at each other to disable them. It is a very remote possibility, given the date of sinking, that one IX-inch Dahlgren was salvaged and sent to South Carolina29. USS Southfield was a Staten Island ferry converted to a warship by the U.S. Navy. When taken into service on December 16, 1861, the Southfield was armed with a 100-pounder Parrott rifle and three IX-inch Dahlgrens. Later, at least two more IX-inch Dahlgrens were added to the vessel30. Although the vessel was armed early in 1862, later upgrading took place in the North Carolina sounds, most probably after Union forces learned of CSS Albemarle’s construction and launching in 186431. The Southfield was sunk on April 19, 1864, by CSS Albemarle as part of the attack on Plymouth, North Carolina, that led to retaking the town32. The Confederates were unable to raise the Southfield, so it was used as a guard post in the river and then as an obstruction blocking access to Plymouth. During the interval, the Southfield was subjected to salvage, and all guns were reported as raised33. Commander J. W. Cooke, the officer in charge of raising the pieces, requested orders for their disposition because, he stated, “I have no projectiles for them”34. Federal forces reported that the Southfield’s guns had been raised by May 24 and that one had already been sent to another location while two were still on the dock, 18
The Artilleryman
indicating that they were almost certainly being shipped upstream35, either to Fort Branch or to a railroad depot, possibly at Weldon, for trans-shipment elsewhere. Surviving records and archaeological recoveries suggest that no IX-inch Dahlgrens arrived at Fort Branch36, so the Southfield guns must have gone elsewhere. Although the dates of initially arming Southfield decrease the likelihood that its original cannon were manufactured after 1862, the later armament upgrading suggests that cannon manufactured after mid-1862 were probably utilized. Because it was a probable source of the Mars Bluff Dahlgren, a search of the Southfield’s records should be made to determine the Dahlgren foundry numbers. Both Eastport and Indianola present problems as the source of the Mars Bluff Dahlgren. These vessels were stationed in the trans-Mississippi West, which would have required getting a 9,000-pound cannon tube across the Mississippi River to an operating rail line. After Vicksburg was captured in July 1863, no Confederate-controlled rail lines connected the western and eastern rail networks. The two Brooke rifles, delivered to Mars Bluff, South Carolina, in late 1864, had a circuitous trip from their birthplace in Selma, Alabama, to the deck of CSS Pee Dee. The route presumably used to transport these cannon to Mars Bluff involved shipping by riverboat to Montgomery and then by rail to La Grange or Columbus, Georgia, where transfer to a different width track was necessary. From La Grange, the next stop would be Atlanta and then Augusta. There was no direct line from Augusta to Mars Bluff, so the cannon would have been sent to Charleston or Branchville, South Carolina, and put on the Manchester and Wilmington Railroad, which crossed the Great Pee Dee River at Mars Bluff 37. The difficult trans-Mississippi western logistics make it seem far more likely that Dahlgren Fort Pitt No. 513 came from the Southfield. After being landed at Plymouth, it then likely went by river to Weldon, then south on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad to Wilmington. From there, the Wilmington and Manchester line brought it to Mars Bluff. While this scenario has the benefit of a less convoluted journey, Confederate abilities to move war materiel to even isolated locations should not be underestimated.
Conclusions
The story told by any artifact is never complete. Instead, the artifact serves as a mnemonic device that provides clues beyond a single artifact or class. Such is the case with the Mars Bluff IX-inch Dahlgren. Instead of being just a cannon, it tells a story that led researchers trying to trace its origins to the study of Confederate rail networks, Union artillery production, and Union naval vessels captured or sunk by the Confederacy. For several reasons, Dahlgren No. 513 was not initially
removed from the site, among them the facts that the high water and fast current made any recovery effort dangerous and that recovery and ensuing conservation would be expensive during a financial recession. The cannon’s information was recorded; in conjunction with documents relating to its manufacture, the information provided a fairly complete history of the gun, narrowing its probable origin down to one of three Union vessels. Because the universe of IX-inch Dahlgrens is known with some certainty, the cannon could be used to provide baseline information that increased knowledge without jeopardizing the artifact. In this case, the ability of a single artifact to shed information on the past without removal from its archaeological context demonstrated the value of in situ preservation, despite the incorrect rendering of the numbers. After the USS Southfield was proposed as the source for Dahlgren No. 513, Jim Spirek, now South Carolina State Underwater Archaeologist went to the National Archives and inspected the records for the USS Southfield, in part because his MA thesis dealt with excavating the ship. The ship’s records confirmed that Fort Pitt No. 513 was assigned to the Southfield as part of an upgrade in 1864. On 29 September 2015, Spirek guided Dahlgren No. 513 out of the Great Pee Dee River during recovery operations. Tube No. 513, along
with the Selma VI.4 and VII-inch Brooke rifles are now undergoing conservation at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, Charleston, South Carolina.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the following, without whom development of this information would not have been possible. First were the students in East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies 2009 Field School, who at times worked alongside staff of the Maritime Research Division of SCIAA in the wildly dynamic Great Pee Dee River. The students excavated and drew the artifacts, often recording data in zero visibility in this hostile environment. The project was developed by staff of the Maritime Research Division and Office of State Archaeologist at the University of South Carolina’s South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology through a grant from the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation of Florence, South Carolina. Finally, there are those far more knowledgeable than the authors who helped with artifact identification and artillery history. Four stand out: Bill Lockridge of Mint Hill, North Carolina; Glenn Dutton of Mars Bluff, South Carolina; Les Jensen of the United States Military Academy Museum, West Point, New York; and
Just raised IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbore shell gun cast at Fort Pitt Foundry, No. 513, Mars Bluff, South Carolina. From the CSS Pee Dee gunboat.
Jeff Johnston, Mariners Museum, Norfolk, Virginia. Also I would like to thank Meredith Babb of University of Presses of Florida for allowing the reprint of this article “From These Honored Dead” and Jim Spirek for his checking on the numbers at the National Archives. Any errors are those of the authors. LAWRENCE E. “Larry” BABITS received his BA and MA from the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. from Brown University and has extensive experience in military and maritime archaeology. He was named George Washington Distinguished Professor of History by the NC Society of the Cincinnati in 2003. Babits, a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians, taught classes in method and theory of nautical archaeology, material culture, archaeological field schools, living history, and various military topics. Among the numerous publications that he co-authored are: “Long, Obstinate and Bloody” the Battle of Guilford Courthouse; Fields of Conflict: Battlefield Archaeology from the Roman Empire to the Korean War; “Fortitude and Forbearance” The North Carolina Continental Line in the Revolutionary War 17751783; Southern Campaigns; A Devil of a Whipping – The Battle of Cowpens; Maritime Archaeology – A Guide to Theoretical, and Substantive Contributions; and Underwater Archaeology 1998. End Notes:
1. Leah Townsend, “The Confederate Gunboat ‘PeeDee.’ South Carolina Historical Magazine, 50, no. 2 (1959).
2. Eugene B. Canfield, “Civil War Naval Ordnance,” in U.S. Navy,
Naval History Division, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Washington, DC: GPO, 1968). 798. (hereafter cited as Canfield).
3. Warren Ripley, Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War (New York: Promontory Press, 1970), 87-88 (hereafter cited as Ripley, Artillery); Spencer Tucker, Arming the Fleet (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989), 200-201, 203. (hereafter cited as Tucker).
4. John C. Reilly, The Iron Guns of Willard Park (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1991), 53 (hereafter cited as Reilly).
5. Canfield 1968: 800; Ripley 1970: 92; Reilly 1991: 53.
6. John A. Dahlgren, Naval Percussion Locks and Primers (Philadelphia: A Hard, 1853, repr. Bloomfield, Ont: Museum Restoration
Service, 1995); John A. Dahlgren, Shells and Shell Guns (Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1857, repr., Kessinger Publishing, n.d.) (hereafter cited as Dahlgren); (Tucker, 1989), 214.
7. Tucker 1989: 215.
8. John M. Coski, Capital Navy: The Men, Ships, and Operations of the James River Squadron (New York: Savas Beatie, 2005), 78 (hereafter cited as Coski); Tucker 1989: 218, 254.
9. Jack Bell, Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordnance (Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 2002), 3 (hereafter cited as Bell)
10. Ripley 1970: 358; “A Great Cannon Foundry.” Scientific Ameri-
2009.
14. Ripley 1970: 358–59.
15. See Borgens, Amy, Robert Gearhart, Sara Laurence, and Doug
Jones, Investigations and Recovery of USS Westfield (Site 41GV151)
Galveston Bay, Texas. Draft report prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by PBS&J, Austin, TX, 2010: 176, fig. 63.
16. Canfield 1968: 800.
17. James C. Hazlett, M. Hume Parks, Edwin Olmstead, Field Artil-
lery Weapons of the Civil War, (University of Delaware Press, et al. 1997): 243.
18. U.S. Navy, Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865. (Washington,
DC: Naval History Division, GPO, 1971), 1: 9 (hereafter cited as CWNC).
19. George M. Brooke, Jr., Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy
(Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 2002), 40 (hereafter cited as Brooke).
20. W. Craig Gaines, Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks (Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008), 63-64 97, 128 (hereafter cited as Gaines).
21. Gaines 2008: 63–64; U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 2: 27. 22. U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 2: 18, vol. 6: 223. 23. U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 4: 33, 43–44.
24. Gaines 2008: 63–64; U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 6: 223. 25. U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 4: 48.
26. J. Pearce, P. Frazer, T. Dunlop, “List of all stores found aboard CSS Missouri,” ORN, vol. 27: 241-242.
27. U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 3: 66, vol. 5: 103, vol. 6: 271.
28. Paul H. Silverstone, Warships of the Civil War Navies (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1989), 155 (hereafter cited as Silverstone).
29. U.S. Navy 1971, vol. 3: 34, vol. 5: 8.
30. USS Southfield: An Historical and Archaeological Investigation of a Converted Gunboat. MA Thesis, Program in Maritime Stud-
ies, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC., 55 [hereafter cited as Spirek].
31. Silverstone 1989: 102.
32. Robert G. Elliott, Ironclad of the Roanoke: Gilbert Elliott’s Albemarle (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing, 1994), 179 (hereafter cited as Elliott); Silverstone 1989: 102.
33. Spirek 1993: 98.
34. Cooke. J. W., Letter from Commander J.W. Cooke 1864. In Official
Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion Series 1, volume 10:86
35. Elliott 1994: 222.
36. Philip Shiman, Fort Branch and the Defense of the Roanoke Valley 1862-1865 (Hamilton, NC: Fort Branch Battlefield Commission, 1990), 51; Brooke 2002: 184; Elliott 1994: 190, 222.
can 1011 no. 11 (10 September 1864): 105 (hereafter cited as Scientific
37. Robert Black, The Railroads of the Confederacy (Chapel Hill: Univer-
11. Ripley 1970: 370; Field Notes, 2009 Summer Field Project, Ms. n
Selma Naval Gun Foundry, Book I and Book 2, Naval Records Col-
American).
File, Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC [hereafter cited as Witting 2009].
12. Tucker 1989: 223, 233.
13. Field Notes, 2009 Summer Field Project, Ms. n File, Program in
20
Maritime Studies, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.; Wittig
The Artilleryman
sity of North Carolina Press, 1952); Selma “Records of Operation,” lection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, Record Group 45, National Archives Building, Washington, DC: National Archives Building,
CIVIL WAR HERITAGE PRESERVATION The North-South Skirmish Association held its 132nd National Competition October 2-4, 2015 at Fort Shenandoah near Winchester, Virginia. Member units competed in live-fire matches with original or authentic reproduction Civil War period muskets, carbines, breech loading rifles, revolvers, mortars and cannons. It is the largest Civil War event of its kind. Despite the continuous rain of hurricane Joaquin, the stalwarts who braved the storm competed with their usual gusto and enjoyed the competition and camaraderie.
The 9th Virginia Cavalry won the musket match with a solid time of 462.2 seconds for the five-event program, beating the reigning national musket champion 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry by just 13.5 seconds. A total of 98 soggy eight-member teams participated in this N-SSA signature competition. The 111th Ohio Volunteer Infantry triumphed over 62 other teams in winning the carbine company match. Harlan’s Light Cavalry won both the smoothbore musket match and the breech loading rifle match. The 21st Virginia Cavalry won the four-event revolver team match and the Washington Blue Rifles finished first in the single shot rifle match. In the artillery competitions, 26 guns braved the weather and participated in the cannon matches. The winners included Hardaway’s Alabama Battery (gun #1) in the smoothbore class; the 6th Virginia Cavalry in the rifled class; the 3rd U.S. Infantry in the howitzer class and the 1st Maryland Cavalry in the rifled howitzer class. Twentythree mortars competed in that match with the Hazelwood Volunteers taking the gold medal. The N-SSA is the country’s oldest and largest Civil War shooting sports organization with over 3,200 individuals that make up its 200 member units. Each represents a particular unit or regiment and proudly wears the uniform they wore over 150 years ago. The 133rd National Competition is scheduled for May 20-22, 2016 at Fort Shenandoah, just north of Winchester, Virginia For more information about the N-SSA, contact Public Information Officer, Bruce Miller, at (248) 258-9007 or spartan70@sbcglobal.net or visit our official website at http://www.n-ssa.org.
Photo by John Parker-NRA. Crew members of the 3rd Maryland Artillery load their six pound smoothbore in preparation for firing during the cannon matches at the North-South Skirmish Association’s 132nd National Competition held in October. In the foreground is a 3-inch Ordnance rifle of the 15th Independent Battery, Ohio Light Artillery. Twenty-six guns braved the weather and competed in that match. The 133rd National will be held May 20-22, 2016 at the Association’s home range, Fort Shenandoah, near Winchester, Virginia. ArtillerymanMagazine.com
| Vol. 37, No. 1
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Consignments
For Our Important March 2016 Firearms Auction
We are now accepting consignments for our Upcoming March 2016 Sale. Over the past couple of years, we have generated some tremendous successes for consignors of quality artillery and are currently looking for prime examples to include in our next auction. Our company has handled more fine artillery in recent years than any other auction firm in the world. We are also the world’s leading auction house for high-end, rare and expensive firearms. We do not sell the greater number of arms in a year, we sell the greater number of expensive arms in a year. Whether you have a single item or an entire collection, please contact us to learn how our firm can serve you.
We are the world’s leading auctioneers of rare, high-grade, quality firearms. We do not sell the greatest number of firearms in a year, we sell the greatest number of expensive firearms in a year.
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Rare & Historic U.S. Navy Light Bronze 12-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer and Orig. Carriage (est. $50-60,000)
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Elegant Spanish 1803 8-Pound Bronze Field Gun (est. $35-45,000)
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Confederate VII-inch Brooke double-banded rifle, No. 46. Cast at the Selma Naval Gun Foundry on April 12, 1864. The weight is +/- 14,500 pounds.
Union IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbore shell gun, No. 513. Cast at Fort Pitt Foundry in June 1862. The weight is +/9,200 pounds.
Confederate VI.4-inch Brooke double-banded rifle, No. 53. Cast at the Selma Naval Gun Foundry on April 29, 1864. The weight is 10,620 pounds.
THE SHIPYARD
The story of the guns of the CSS Pee Dee and the Confederate Navy Yard at Mars Bluff, near Florence, South Carolina, begins in late fall 1862 when representatives were directed by Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory to identify sites suitable for such purposes and to take such action as necessary to construct vessels for the use of the new nation’s navy. The requirements for a navy yard were relatively few. First, there had to be reasonable access down the Great Pee Dee River leading to the Waccamaw River opening into the Winyah Bay for access to the Atlantic Ocean. Second, there had to be a good supply of timber suitable for the construction of ships e.g. pine, cypress, oak, etc. Third, there had to be a sufficient supply of labor available to meet the needs of a shipyard, and lastly there needed to be sufficient infrastructure (land, rail, roadways, communications, mail, etc.) to facilitate the work anticipated. Flag Officer D. N. Ingraham, the CSN commander at Charleston, ordered Lt. Alphonse Barbot to undertake the task of identifying suitable sites along the rivers of South Carolina. Eventually, Barbot determined that a 10-acre site known as Bird’s Landing would become the new Mars Bluff Shipyard. It not only met the needs of the navy, but it was available. The land itself was owned by Joseph Bird. Bird was more than willing to lease the property to the navy and negotiated an agreement that included the use of timber, construction of numerous buildings, a sawmill, waterwheel, a rail spur and numerous other improvements needed to construct period vessels. An agreement was signed by CSN Lt. William M. Dozier, Captain S. Thomson and Bird in March 1863 providing annual rental to Bird in the amount of $200. To reconcile the fact that work had been underway on the shipyard since January, the agreement was backdated to the 1st of that month. By letter dated 16 December 1862 Dozier had been ordered by Mallory “to complete the gunboat from the construction of which you are ordered in the shortest possible time”. Effectively that order arguably designated Dozier as the shipyard’s first commander. By April 1863, the new shipyard had progressed to the point where actual construction of vessels could begin and the building of the ship to be named the CSS Pee Dee commenced. Ultimately the shipyard served in the construction of four vessels (to one degree or another) including the CSS Pee Dee, two torpedo boats between 60-80 feet in length (likely of the Graves design) and a side wheel steamer about 128 feet in length.
CSS PEE DEE COMMISSIONED
The gunboat was designed by Acting Naval Constructor John L. Porter, CSN, in 1862, from a design originated by Matthew. F. Maury. Lt. Edward J. Means, second commander of the naval yard, supervised initial construction. Lt. Van Rensellaer Morgan superseded Means and it was 26
The Artilleryman
during his tenure as the third commander of the shipyard that the new gunboat was fitted out and placed into service. The new vessel was placed under the command of Lt. Oscar F. Johnston, CSN. The gunboat never ventured far from the place of her creation. From her commissioning in April up to the end of her service life the CSS Pee Dee was more of an exercise in doing something rather than fighting anything. Never challenged nor even exchanging fire with anyone or anything representing the Union she spent most of her time in service fighting seasonal discomforts, insects and boredom. The new gunboat was commissioned on 20 April 1863, eventually entering service on the 15th of January 1865. Specifications for the gunboat were those for a Macon-class wooden-hulled gunboat. As commissioned, the new gunboat was to be used for the defense of the waters along the southern coast of the state. The Union Navy had already proven that it was capable of landing troops and engaging naval vessels at coastal locations ranging from the waters of Virginia to distant Texas. The Confederate Navy was hard pressed to maintain control of the many harbors, bays, inlets and rivers along the Carolinas. These waterways were vital to blockade runners providing critical war materials to the ever struggling southern war machine. Failure to protect the critical points of marine access would hasten the already inevitable defeat of the new nation. The gunboat now known as the CSS Pee Dee was to be 150 feet in length, have a beam of 25 feet, and draw about 9 feet of water when loaded according to some early accounts. The motive power for the gunboat came via two steam engines. These were manufactured by the Confederate Naval Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia, and turned a pair of iron propellers. The speed of the boat would have been limited to about 9 or 10 knots – about average by 1865 standards. Built primarily for use in shallow coastal waters her accommodations were sparse for the crew of approximately 91 men. Like those serving on so many of the vessels of the Confederate Navy, much of their time would likely have been spent ashore or on an adjacent purpose-built tender in quarters more practicable to their needs.
GUNBOAT ARMED & PROVISIONED
Varying accounts indicate that originally the CSS Pee Dee was to be armed with four 32-pounder smoothbore guns in broadside while other sources indicate these were to be augmented by two IX-inch (9-inch) Dahlgren smoothbore guns on deck pivots. The weapons were to be obtained from those captured in place at the outset of the war or repurposed after seizure from Union ships. Eventually this plan for arming the boat was superseded by one that called for a much upgraded armament package employing a pair of John M. Brooke-designed double-banded rifles made at the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works
Confederate VI.4-inch Brooke rifle, S-53, cast at the Selma/Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works, Selma, Alabama.
Rudimentary muzzle sight used only in setting up the rifle. S 53 stamped on top of rear sight base.
Left trunnion is stamped: VI.4IN / 1864
Right trunnion is stamped: VI.4IN / 10620 / S 53 ArtillerymanMagazine.com
| Vol. 37, No. 1
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Confederate VII-inch Brooke rifle, S-46, cast at the Selma/Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works, Selma, Alabama.
Left trunnion is stamped: VII IN
Right trunnion is stamped: VII IN / 1864
Breech showing the double reinforcing bands and rear sight base.
CSS PEE DEE GUN DATA
28
TYPE
BORE
FOUNDRY
CAST DATE
TUBE #
WEIGHT LBS.
DAHLGREN
IX-INCH SB
FORT PITT
JUNE-1862
FP-513
+/- 9,200
BROOKE
VII-INCH RIFLE
SELMA
12 APRIL 1864
S-46
+/- 14,500
BROOKE
VI.4-INCH RIFLE
SELMA
29 APRIL 1864
S-53
10,620
The Artilleryman
in Selma, Alabama. Brooke was Chief of the Confederate which was still on the ways being planked), the shipyard Navy's Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. These two and the railroad bridge. rifles comprising a VI.4-inch (6.4-inch) and a VII-inch (7Contrary to Hardee’s orders, Lt. Means had no inteninch) were capable of firing projectiles well over four miles tions of destroying the shipyard or the railroad drawbridge with unparalleled accuracy. Adding to this deadly accuracy downstream of the shipyard. Means’ nature dictated that was the effectiveness of the armor piercing wrought-iron he preserve the bridge and much of the shipyard inasmuch bolts also designed by Brooke late in 1861. The flat nosed as they would be much needed by the local populace folcylindrical bolts were capable of penetrating over 8 inches lowing the end of the war. of iron plating making them exceptionally dangerous for any opposing ironclads. These two superb rifles were complimented by a IX-inch Dahlgren shell gun that had been in service onboard the defeated Union ship USS Southfield. The latter tube is number “FP No. 513” produced at the Fort Pitt To prevent the capture of the nearly new gunboat it Foundry at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1862. The USS Southwas apparent to all that the boat would have to be scuttled. field had been lost on April 19, 1864, during an engagement Upon return to the shipyard after the Cheraw adventure with the Confederate ram CSS Albemarle near Plymouth, the gunboat had been grounded by falling water with the North Carolina. The ever resourceful and weapons-hungry stern near mid-stream and the bow near the river’s bank. Confederates quickly re-purposed the lost Union gun(s). To free the gunboat, it had to be off-loaded. To accomplish Eventually, these three large guns were placed on deck this, the guns, ammunition and other stores were thrown mounted pivots aboard the gunboat. Carriages were conoverboard. The gunboat was then maneuvered downstructed at the Charlotte Navy Yard. The VII-inch Brooke stream below the railroad bridge and there burned to the rifle was situated as the forward deck pivot gun and would waterline. That the destruction of the boat was undertaken have been the gunboat’s primary weapon. The IX-inch per the orders of Hardee must have offered little solace to Dahlgren shell gun was placed amidships while the VI.4those who had labored so hard to bring her to life. inch Brooke rifle was fitted as the rear pivot gun. These three large naval guns were supplemented by one of several 24-pounder Dahlgren boat howitzers captured by CSA Salvage of the gunboat dates back to 1865 when Acting General Wirt Adams on a Union gunboat near Yazoo City, USN Ensign Sturgis Center was dispatched to survey and Mississippi in early 1864. Ammunition for the Brooke guns salvage materials at the shipyard. His report to Lt. Cmdr. likely came from several sources but most notably the Robert L. Law dated 20 October 1865 leaves little doubt Richmond Naval Ordnance Works & fabricated under the that the shipyard had been an impressive endeavor. Subsupervision of Lt. Robert D. Minor. The ammunition for sequently, around the turn of the century, portions of the the IX-inch Dahlgren would most likely have been taken vessel were removed from the river by The U.S. Corps of from the stores of the USS Southfield at the same time the Engineers to facilitate navigation. guns were removed or elsewhere manufactured by a CS In 1925, The United Daughters of the Confederacy Ordnance facility. Small arms, fuel, food and miscellaneous sponsored an effort leading to the propellers together with ship’s supplies would have either come from the CS Navy their shafting being removed to the south grounds of the stores or procured locally. Florence Public Library. Afterwards, in 1954, Frank Martin The CSS Pee Dee made one brief sortie of about 56 miles of Florence and E. C. Godfrey of Darlington removed upriver to a point near the large Confederate depot at the boiler along with some 36 feet of the ship’s hull and Cheraw, South Carolina during the last week of February relocated those elements to a site alongside Highway 301 1865. The purpose was to support CSA General Hardee in defending that city against the invading troops of General William Sherman. Faced Contact us for a catalog sheet. Drawings with dimensions with the 10,000 men under Sherman’s of carriages, limbers, ammunition chests and more. command, Hardee prudently ordered a full and rapid retreat. In the process, the retreating Confederates abandoned huge quantities of powder, guns, food and stores. Hardee’s parting orders to Johnston were to return to the shipyard and to destroy the CSS Pee Dee along AOrdP434@comcast.net • (810) 987-7749 with the two torpedo boats (one of
CSS PEE DEE SCUTTLED TO PREVENT CAPTURE
SUBSEQUENT SALVAGE EFFORTS
Artillery Drawings
Antique Ordnance Publishers PO Box 610434 Port Huron, MI 48061
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| Vol. 37, No. 1
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Eastern Carolina University (now retired) together with Dr. Lynn Harris, Assistant Professor, ECU as Co-Principal Investigators during the 2009 Field School, and a number of university students representing ECU and FMU. Shipyard property owners Glenn Dutton and Rufus Perdue have also contributed substantially to this work.
FINAL RETRIEVAL OF GUNS & FUTURE PLANS
Glenn Dutton, son Tanner Dutton and Rufus Perdue. in an attempt to attract tourists. Later still these same components were purchased by Alan Shaffer and relocated to a site near Dillon, South Carolina, to become yet another attraction. This effort also eventually failed and the abandoned pieces of the once proud gunboat disappeared into a land fill as part of the construction of Interstate 95. In 1958, a further effort was made to survey the wreck and specifically to recover the guns of the famous gunboat. The chairman of the Florence County Historical Commission, E. N. Zeigler, together with other local and state representatives petitioned the U.S. Navy to undertake this recovery effort. The field work was performed by E.O.D. Team 28 over a period of several days but produced little physical evidence beyond what had previously been known. The end of this effort was announced in The Charleston News and Courier newspaper of Friday, August 29, 1958. Beginning in the 1970’s, efforts by Ted Gragg (who later collaborated with Bob Butler, Ronnie Sommersett and numerous others eventually operating under the banner of The CSS Pee Dee Research and Recovery Team) produced much useful material. These early efforts were ultimately licensed by the Maritime Research Division (MRD) of the South Carolina Institute of Archeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) in the form of an Intensive Survey License to fully investigate the river bottom at the shipyard site. This work in turn resulted in the recovery of numerous artifacts of significant historical interest.
RECOVERY PROCESS COMMENCED
The most recent efforts leading to the recovery of the gun tubes began in 2009 and involved SCIAA, East Carolina University Program in Maritime Studies (ECU), and Francis Marion University (FMU) Conservation Facility with project funding from “The Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation” (DBLF) of nearby Florence. These efforts have been led by and significantly contributed to by Dr. John Leader, State Archeologist, Dr. Chris Amer as former Head of the MRD, his successor, James D. Spirek, Dr. Larry Babits, Director of the Program in Maritime Studies at 30
The Artilleryman
After many years, the time finally arrived for recovery of the most sought-after artifacts of the CSS Pee Dee. The notice came from SCIAA that the guns would be removed from the river on the morning of Tuesday, September 29th, 2015. Among those invited dignitaries and guests was the great grandson of CSN Commander Catesby ap R. Jones. He is Mr. Catesby ap Catesby Jones (90 years) of Selma, Alabama, who still lives in Selma. He is also one of only two individuals living who have physically touched each and every one of the known eighteen surviving Selma-made Brooke guns. At 10 o’clock the retrieval process began when Dutton positioned the excavator on the bank adjacent to the location of the VI.4-inch Brooke rifle No. 53. The lifting straps were attached to a pre-fitted harness and the tube was raised from a long wet immersion to dry ground after 150 plus years. Handled with great care the giant gun tube was expertly lowered onto the ground and then positioned on cribbing pending preparation for transport to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on Wednesday. Then the IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbore shell gun No. 513 gun and the VII-inch Brooke rifle No. 46 were hoisted onto the grounds of the old shipyard. In less than an hour, all three recoveries had been accomplished – work that had been so anxiously awaited by so many for so long. The guns were kept wet until the news media and others present had the opportunity to view these historic cannon. By about 1 PM, the process of preparing the cannon for transport had begun and most of the guests had departed. At long last the lost guns of the CSS Pee Dee were back on dry ground. All three tubes were subsequently removed to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday, September 30 where they will undergo conservation. Following that restorative work the guns will be placed on public display in Florence at the new Veterans Administration facility there. William E. Lockridge is the author of a book detailing the role of Selma, Alabama during the war of 1861-1865. His research has been underway for over 10 years and represents the most detailed study thus far undertaken on that place during the war. That research has included a very detailed examination of the Selma/Confederate Naval Gun Foundry & Ordnance Works and the story behind the production of the best large cannon produced anywhere in the world at the time – the double banded Brooke guns which are
so much a part of the story of the CSS Pee Dee. He has touched each of the 18 surviving Selma gun tubes (along with Catesby ap C. Jones) during his field work and has become one of the most informed sources about those big guns! He can be reached at welhunter@aol.com.
Bill Lockridge being interviewed by an ABC 15 News reporter.
Catesby ap Catesby Jones, Parker Lockridge and author William Lockridge touching the massive VII-inch Brooke rifle that was just raised from the Great Pee Dee River at Mars Bluff, Marion, South Carolina. ArtillerymanMagazine.com
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T
he 75 mm Model 1912 field gun was built by Schneider et Cie of St. Chamond, France. Its purpose was to replace the standard (and later famous) Model 1897 75 mm gun in French horse batteries. While it fired the same ammunition as the Model 1897, the Model 1912 had a shorter barrel and was of lighter construction. Due to the shorter barrel (31 calibers instead of 36), the range of the Model 1912 was reduced to 8,175 yards. Once the Great War began, it
was realized that this was not going to be effective and no more were produced after 1914. In late 1917, the Schneider company shipped a single Model 1912 Schneider Creusot field gun, serial number 337, with a carriage to Aberdeen Proving Ground for evaluation. It was received in January 1918. Some test firings were completed in the spring, and it was deemed to function satisfactorily for its class and weight. However, since it was a lighter gun
Period Ordnance photograph of the M1912 Schneider 75 mm field gun. 32
The Artilleryman
than was desired for general use, it was not subjected to extensive testing or further consideration. By 1918, the United States was already producing the French Model 1897 75 mm gun domestically as well as purchasing all available in France. They had adopted and were producing domestically the U.S. Model 1917 75 mm gun. This was simply the British 18-pounder adapted to the French 75 mm round. Finally, they had designed and were producing their own
Model 1916 75 mm with the advanced split trail carriage. What interest would the U.S. Ordnance Department possibly have had in another 75 mm field gun that needed to be manufactured (as opposed to drawing from sufficient on hand stocks)? Our guess would be none. This turned out to be an unsolicited offer by the manufacturer, (Schneider), sent through their U.S. agents in hope (albeit a long shot) of a contract. In September 1918, the 75 mm Schneider Model 1912 along with four car loads of miscellaneous, non-standard equipment was turned over to the Treasury Department. The purpose of this temporary transfer, authorized by Washington, was to be used in conjunction with the Forth Liberty Loan drive. The assembled weapons were divided up and sent around the country. Three years later, no written invoice of the return transfer from Treasury to the War Department could be found. A physical survey of various depots did disclose that most of the rest of the ordnance was back in War Department possession. Enter the Framerican Industrial Development Corp. of New York City. Acting as agents for Schneider & Cie, builders of the Model 1912 cannon, they initiated correspondence seeking its return. Numerous surviving documents indicate the lengths they went to retrieve their property. At one point, they indicated that if the gun could not be found that they should be reimbursed for its monetary value.
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Returned ordnance following WWI illustrating the problem facing officials trying to locate one unique cannon.
This price was set at $7,500. This is probably closer to the real reason for this quest. Obviously, they had no use for a cannon that had been obsolete since at least 1914. Europe was awash in surplus artillery after the war, and there was little potential market for older weapons. As the correspondence carries on, we find that the Model 1912 cannon belonged to the French government and that they were pressuring Schneider & Cie for its return. It was the French government that requested that Schneider return or pay for it. (June 5, 1924). The European Settlement Agreement of November 20, 1919, dealt only with accounts and
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claims between the French government and the War Department. This case amounted to a claim between “Nationals of France” (Schneider & Cie) and the War Department which was not covered by the previously cited agreement. Finally, on May 5, 1925, the U.S. agents for Schneider & Cie, Framerican Industrial Corp. of New York City invoiced the Chief of Ordnance for the amount of $7,500. This caused yet another investigation to be initiated where the pertinent details of the
Closeup top view of the breech date, Model 1912 Schneider, No. 337.
gun’s history were again recounted and still not found. The Ordnance Department thought this invoice was actually fair and that the government should pay for the gun. (The obvious problem here is that the price demanded is for the cost of the gun when new rather than the value of the gun ten years later.) On December 14, 1926, Aberdeen was once again directed to search for the missing gun. Also at this time we find that both the Government Accounting Office and the Comptroller General had refused payment. It is also clarified at this time that Schneider & Cie “on their own initiative presented the material for demonstration…” Schneider was then advised to pursue the matter in the U.S. Court of Claims. On July 21, 1927, the U.S. Military Attaché in Paris forwarded still another demand for payment. The tact this time was that “as a matter of national pride and ordinary justice, every effort be made to either find the cannon or submit a bill before Congress for settlement”. The Office of Chief of Ordnance in Washington requested the Aberdeen Proving Ground send a photograph of the cannon so that the search could continue (November 16, 1927). Aberdeen furnished the photo and then the correspondence trail goes cold. The gun was never found, and we don’t know if Schneider was ever paid for it. But we do now know where it ended up: it is now and apparently has always been a memorial piece located in Jamestown, NY., at the Fenton History Center.
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Tom Batha, a retired federal employee, has been a student of military history with emphasis on ordnance for over 40 years. He has published one book on the subject. Glen Williford is a long time historical researcher of American field and coast artillery who has written extensively on the subject including nearly a dozen books.
It is pretty evident that it must have been mixed in with the thousands of surplus captured foreign guns, obsolete, or non-standard U.S. guns that were available for donation in the early 1920’s. It is in rather forlorn condition today with heavy rust and corrosion extant. The shield apparently disappeared a long time ago but the wheels at least, have recently been restored. In reading through this file, it is amazing to see the length the Schneider company went to (probably under pressure from the French government) recover the gun. It is equally astounding to witness the effort the Ordnance Department exerted, repeatedly, for over a decade to find the missing cannon. Finally, it is astonishing (to us at least) that someone in Washington didn’t explain to the French that we had purchased millions of dollars in equipment from them for the sole purpose of evicting the Germans from their country, and they could forget about one cannon.
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The Artilleryman
Finally found, the missing French 75 mm Schneider-Creusot field gun! Located on the grounds of the Fenton History Center, Jamestown, NY. Photography by Jim Glor.
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The Casemate Museum, Artillery, and the Lincoln Gun at Fort Monroe, Virginia By Roy Stevenson
A
tour of Fort Monroe, Virginia, gives visitors a great insight into Union machinations during the American Civil War. With a history spanning
from 1607 to 2011, when it was deactivated, the fort is considered one of the U.S. military’s most storied bases and remains the largest stone fort ever built in the United States.
F
ort Monroe remained the only pre-war fort in the Upper South that stayed under Union control for the entirety of the Civil War. And, in fact, it was such a major focal point and Union base for army and navy operations throughout the Civil War that it would prove to be a thorn in the side of the Confederate Army. With the Casemate Museum, General Lee’s Headquarters, the Jefferson Davis Memorial Park, the truly impressive Lincoln Gun (more about that soon), and three battery sites, the fort offers enough to keep military history buffs interested for several hours. And antique weapon and artillery aficionados strolling around its sizeable grounds and ramparts will find the Casemate Museum and the behemoth Lincoln Gun of great interest. I start my tour in the Casemate Museum – a great place to get a crash course in the fort’s history. Outside, I see a grey U.S. 3-inch Ordnance Rifle resting on a reproduction gun carriage.
U.S. 3-inch Ordnance Rifle Model 1861, No. 597 Made in 1863 for Union forces by the Phoenix Iron Co., in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, this field gun has a 3-inch bore and is 73.3 inches long. Weighing in at 816 pounds, this piece could fire a 9-pound shell 3,972 yards.
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As the museum’s name indicates, it’s built into one of the casemate walls. It’s a hot, sunny, humid Virginia day and the museum’s underground red brick walls and curved ceiling provide a cooling shade, and the air conditioning is especially welcome. The early galleries are dedicated to showing why and how the fort was constructed. It’s located on the waterway where the James River and the Atlantic Ocean converge at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. This strategic position controlled the harbor, which in turn provided safe anchorage for warships and merchant ships. Discovered by colonists of the London Company in 1607, the point, located on the southern tip of the James Peninsula, was originally named “Point Comfort”. The fort would eventually be named in honor of President James Monroe. I see an 8-inch British Siege Mortar on display, one of the oldest guns at the fort. This piece was manufactured at the Woolwich Arsenal for the British Army. During the War of 1812 the Americans at Fort George, Canada, captured this piece in May 1813. It was fired in anger by American forces against the British at Plattsburg, New York, in September 1814.
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8-inch British Siege Mortar After American naval forces had defeated the British naval forces on September 11, the British land forces retreated to Canada. Having a captured Woolwich piece at Fort Monroe is ironic, as Fort Monroe was to become the training school for U.S. artillerymen. I learn that construction of the stone fort began in 1819, to be completed 15 years later. The fort has seven fronts, with ten feet thick walls and a surrounding 8-foot deep moat. Originally it could accommodate 380 guns but later expanded to a 412-gun capacity. In its time, the fort has had 14 batteries, with primarily 12-inch mortars, 10-inch disappearing guns, 8-inch Barbette guns, 6-inch pedestal guns, and 3-inch masking parapet rifles.
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In peacetime, it was manned by 600 men and in wartime, 2,625 men. Fort Monroe has been continuously occupied since 1823. Interestingly, Second Lt. Robert E. Lee, who was to prove the South’s most capable general in the Civil War, was an engineer here from 1831 to 1834. Lee worked on the moat, the counterscarp, and the water battery. The fort was also used as an arsenal in 1832, and by 1841 it was one of the four manufacturing arsenals in the country. Fort Monroe was used as a Union base for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and from where amphibious expeditions to capture Confederate ports were launched. It was on the Confederate route to Richmond. Major General George McClellan used Fort
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Monroe as his base for the Peninsula Campaign. And it served as the base from whence army-navy operations against Fort Fisher in North Carolina were launched. Lincoln visited the fort in 1862 and 1865 and the former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was imprisoned here after the war. Next I come to a series of guns, black painted, and mounted on olive green gun carriages. Mannequins of artillerymen stand by the guns, neatly dressed in uniform. There’s not much information about these guns, so I move on.
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ArtillerymanMagazine.com
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Then I find the cell where Jefferson Davis was imprisoned in 1865-67. Davis did not, apparently, take too well to the idea of being shackled. Various accounts tell of him violently resisting the shackling, and sobbing, “Oh the shame, the shame!” His captors relented and after five days, the shackles were removed. Other rooms in the casemate are decorated as they were back in the day, as officer’s quarters and soldiers barracks. Further along the museum, I read that this fort was the official Artillery School of Practice, from 1824 to 1834. Eventually renamed the Artillery School of the United States Army (1868 to 1898) the cream of the
U.S. 12-pounder howitzer.
Entrance to Jefferson Davis prison cell inside Fort Monroe.
Bed where Jefferson Davis slept during his imprisonment. 42
The Artilleryman
United State’s artilleryman crop was educated here on the fine art of blowing things to smithereens. A variety of field, siege, and seacoast guns, mortars and howitzers were used in training. The reader board tells me that instruction included loading and firing procedures, the development of fuses, weights of charges, and calculation of velocities and ranges of weapons. Officers were trained in mathematics, military history and law. The class of 1869 consisted of 35 enlisted men and 17 lieutenants. Notable artillerymen who taught here included William F. Barry, an 1861 West Point Cadet, who co-authored the 1860 Instruction for Field Artillery. He was chief of artillery under Major Generals McClellan and Sherman during he Civil War. George W. Getty, also a West Point Cadet, served gallantly as an artillery officer and was wounded during the Battle of the Wilderness. He commanded the school from 1877-83. John C. Tidball graduated from West Point in 1848 and commanded artillery batteries at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Spotsylvania. He wrote the Manual of Heavy Artillery Service. He served as post commander from 1883-88. Another gallery shows scale models of 12-inch Seacoast Mortars built in
Officer’s quarters and soldiers barracks.
8-inch Breech-Loading Rifles (model 1888) 1895 for coastal defence. The mortars, weighing 13 tons and with a length of 141.1 inches, could fire two different high explosive projectiles. One weighed 1,046 pounds and the second weighing 824 pounds. The maximum range at 45 degrees elevation was 12,019 yards. These mortars were designed to drop on the deck of attacking ships, to penetrate the engine room, magazine, or other critical interior areas. Needless to say, they inflicted catastrophic damage when they found their target. Another model depicts the fort’s three 8-inch Breech-Loading Rifles (model 1888). With a total length of
278.5 inches, and the tube weighing 14.5 tons, these beasts could fire a 316pound high-explosive shell, for 11,019 yards. At 5,000 yards, it could penetrate 6.8 inches of steel armour plate. In 1907, the U.S. Army’s Artillery Corps was officially separated into two branches: Coast Artillery and Field Artillery. The field artillery moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the Artillery School at Fort Monroe became the Coast Artillery School. By 1945, the Coast Artillery School’s function had changed to that of antiaircraft defense, and the artillery school moved to Fort Winfield Scott, California in this new role. Having completed our museum visit, we walk through the tree-lined grounds and across the Jefferson Davis Memorial Park. This small park’s only remnant of war is the gunnery track for a 15-inch Rodman gun. We visit General Lee’s quarters, a three-story brick house in the shade of a huge tree. Other batteries available to visit are the Seacoast Batteries, the Water Battery, and the Battery Gatewood. Finally, we come to the 49,099pound Lincoln Gun. You can’t miss it. It’s enormous and lies across two large concrete stanchions on the edge of the central green. This giant black barrel of destruction was cast in 1860. Originally named the Floyd Gun, it was renamed
General Lee’s quarters inside Fort Monroe. ArtillerymanMagazine.com
| Vol. 37, No. 1
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The 15-inch Lincoln Gun
15-inch projectile located in front of the Lincoln Gun. after President Lincoln in 1862. This was the first 15-inch Rodman gun, made by Thomas J. Rodman. Proofing this gun took considerable fires, about 500, according to records, including firing 318-pound shells with 40-pound charges. It took a team of seven men to run the gun into the battery, and four to traverse it. Three men were necessary to load the gun, but five were preferred. The gun’s recoil was 68 to 77 inches, and the crew could fire one round off every 4-5 minutes, remarkably efficient handling for a gun of this magnitude! This piece eventually saw action against the Confederate batteries on Sewells Point near Norfolk, Virginia. This brute could fire a 300-pound projectile more than four miles. Fort Monroe is now a National Monument, and deservedly so. It’s seen a lot of history and served well. It’s a splendid place to visit for Civil War and artillery fans. Casemate Museum: Phone 757-788-3391 Fort Monroe, Casemate 20, Bernard Rd. Open year round, 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Dec. 25 & Jan. 1. Roy Stevenson is a professional freelance writer based in Seattle, Washington, specializing in travel and military museums, memorials, history, vehicles, fortifications, artillery, weapons, aviation, signals and communications. He has more than 125 military articles published in the U.S.A, U.K, Scotland and New Zealand. To see more of his military articles go to www.Roy-Stevenson.com.
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Right trunnion stamped F. P. F. / K. R. & Co. These stand for “Fort Pitt Foundry” and “Knap, Rudd and Company”. These markings on the right trunnion are visible in the wartime photograph located in the Library of Congress.
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Left trunnion stamped with the manufacture date of 1860.
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It took a team of seven men to run the 15-inch Lincoln Gun into the battery and four to traverse it. For scale, my friend Ryan, from the Hampton Visitor’s Bureau, stands beside it. He is 6 feet tall. ArtillerymanMagazine.com
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News from the U.S. Army Artillery Museum In July, we installed a large panel telling the story of the “Caissons Go Rolling Along,” the Field Artillery Song. Alongside the panel is a case containing the M1889 campaign hat worn by the songwriter, Lt. Edmund Gruber. The song was inspired by his regiment’s march through a mountain range in the Philippines in 1904. Another addition is nine Question and Answer panels which address common visitor questions. The top hinged panel has a question, for example: Is the Armored Fighting Vehicle a tank? It’s alongside a photo of the M8 75mm Howitzer Motor Carriage. Raising the top panel reveals the answer on the bottom panel. The topics are 1. Blade fuller 2. Jodphurs/Breeches 3. Dolphins 4. Muzzle Swell 5. Wheel Dish 6. Tank vs. SP Artillery 7. Buffalo Soldier 8. Muzzle Brake 9. Artillery Implements of the Civil War. In August we added three stereoscopes which allow visitors to view three-dimensional images of artillery from the Civil War and World War I. The World War I balloon gondola we added last quarter is now manned by a mannequin dressed as a balloon observer. He is wearing the original flight suit we obtained. The mannequin’s outfit is completed with original WWI headphones and binoculars.
Question & Answer Panel: Is this Armored Fighting Vehicle a Tank?
Gordon A. Blaker Director/Curator US Army Artillery Museum 238 Randolph Road Fort Sill, OK 73503 (580) 442-1819 http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMuseum Gordon.a.blaker.civ@mail.mil Stereoscopes – Artillery photos in 3-D
The Field Artillery Song panel with Lt. Gruber’s Hat. 46
The Artilleryman
The answer
Balloon Observer
By Jack W. Melton Jr.
Confederate 6.4-inch Brooke Shell Diameter: 6.34 inches Bore Diameter: 6.40 inches Cannon: VI.4-Inch Brooke Rifle or Rifled 32-Pounder Overall Length: 11.31 inches (no fuse) Weight: 53.2 pounds (empty, disarmed) Construction: Shell Fusing System: Time or percussion Sabot Material: Copper, Brooke ratchet Sabot Height: 1.15 inches to top of ratchet Located in the nose is a brass or copper threaded fuse bushing for either a percussion or time fuse adapter. The copper sabot has ratchets (similar to radial stair steps) that correspond to the ratchets cast into the iron projectile body and is held in place by a central bolt. Some of this caliber and pattern have been stamped into the upper bourrelet Lt RDM / RNOW for Lt. Robert Dabney Minor who was supervisor of the Richmond Naval Ordnance Works. This shell was recovered from the Great Pee Dee River in Marion, South Carolina, along with a few more examples. They were part of the ordnance that was thrown overboard when the CSS Pee Dee gunboat ran aground. See cover story regarding the Raising the Guns of the CSS Pee Dee.
Iron bolt and washer on the bottom secure the copper sabot to the base of the shell body. The bolt head measures 1.07-inches square. Stamped into the copper sabot is BROOKE. The letters are .20-inches high.
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Artillery Goodies For Sale 1. Used 6-Pdr. Gun, Tube made by SBR, Carriage by PBO, implements and trailer $13,000 1. Steel mold for a 3-inch Parrott Bolt: $750 2. Steel 12-Pdr. Round Shot Mold: $750 3. King howitzer, steel barrel on split trail carriage. Complete with sponge & rammer: $3,000 4. Type II Ordnance Rifle pendulum hausse (with the diamond shaped apertures): $300 5. Bronze US Golf Ball Mortar: $300 delivered 6. Steel CS Model Golf Ball Mortar: $200 delivered 7. Steel CS Mortar, 3-inch bore on wooden bed: $450 delivered 8. Steel 12-Pdr. Mortar on wooden bed: $1,800 Call or email for more 9. 6-Pdr. Solid Shot, Zinc: $15 details and pictures. 10. CS Steel 12-Pdr. Mortar on oak bed, new: $1,600 11. Used US Artillery Captains Frock Coat, Excellent Shape Size 46: $125
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The Artilleryman
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