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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY |
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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY |
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 | 24-pounder flank howitzer, Model of 1844. Total length, 69 inches; weight, 1480 pounds; total production, 577 from 1846 to 1864; known survivors, 269. These howitzers were essentially an iron copy of the 24-pounder bronze field howitzer, Model of 1841, without handles. The howitzer pictured is mounted on a restored upper flank carriage. It was among the first 300 cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. from 1846-49. It differs slightly from the final 277 made by Alger and six other foundries in that it has a 1.06-inch wide chase ring whose rear edge is located 7.0 inches behind the muzzle face. Those made after 1849 have an 0.8-inch wide chase ring whose rear edge is located 5.5 inches behind the muzzle face. All have a cylindrical 12-pounder chamber. |
 | 24-pounder Confederate flank howitzer. Total length, 69 inches; weight, 1504 pounds; total production, 9 by Tredegar Foundry in 1861 & 1862; known survivors, 4. Tredegar foundry numbers 1218, 1219, 1220 & 1221 were cast together on 27 May 1861. All four were shipped to Fort Morgan AL on 22 July 1861. Amazingly, all four survive at three locations. The surface of this tube exhibits the cost- and time-saving as-cast surface utilized by Tredegar for most cannon they cast during the Civil War. |
 | 24-pounder Confederate flank/siege howitzer. Total length, approximately 68 inches; weight, unknown; total production, unknown but small. This unmarked howitzer was recovered from CSS Georgia where it served on the forward spar deck. It is unmarked but is known to have been cast at the Savannah foundry of Alvin N. Miller. Its rimbase separation is such that it could have been originally cast as a flank howitzer. |
 | 8-inch siege howitzer, Model of 1840. Total length, 61.5 inches; weight, 2600 pounds; total production, 50 by Columbia, Fort Pitt, Tredegar and West Point foundries from 1841 to 1862; known survivors, 17. Chamber is cylindrical 12-pounder. From 8 August 1861 through 26 February 1862, Tredegar Foundry cast 24 8-inch siege howitzers presumed to be of this pattern. Two of them, known to have been utilized to defend the southern approaches to Charleston SC, survive at Washington Navy Yard. One is battered beyond readability of any markings; the other lacks the usual markings and has only a small "62" on upper muzzle face. |
 | 8-inch siege howitzer, Model of 1861. Total length, 60 inches; weight, 2550 pounds. Total production, 171 by Cyrus Alger and Fort Pitt Foundry 1862-65; known survivors, 82. The cylindrical chamber of the Model of 1840 was abandoned for this model in favor of the same stretched hemispheroidal bore bottom used in the Model of 1861 8-inch mortar. |