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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY |
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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY |
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 | 32-pounder seacoast gun of 62 hundredweight. Total length, 127.75 inches; weight, 7000 pounds; total production, unknown; known survivors: 11. The survivors were among 19 issued for monuments from Castle Williams during the fiscal year ending 30 June 1901. Little more is known of them except that they are obviously of American manufacture, probably circa War of 1812. They are distinctive in having triple fixed front and rear sights, one centered and the other two about 70 degrees left and right of center. Registry Numbers of survivors range from 47 to 70, but they have no marking for foundry or year. |
 | 32-pounder seacoast gun, Model of 1829. Total length, 125.2 inches; weight, 7479 pounds; total production, 1,222; known survivors, 51. This model was produced from 1829 to 1839 by Bellona, Columbia, Fort Pitt and West Point foundries. It has a single reinforce 57 inches long and a breeching ring. Survivors evidence that several in Confederate hands were rifled, but not always banded, during the Civil War. |
 | 32-pounder seacoast gun, Model of 1845. Total length, 125.7 inches; weight, 7250 pounds; total production, 182 by Alger, Fort Pitt, Tredegar and West Point foundries; known survivors, 19 of which three are rifled with nine right-hand grooves but not banded. There is no known survivor or reproducible photo of the similar but slightly slimmer 32-pounder seacoast gun, Model of 1840 of which a total of 50 were made by Bellona, Columbia and West Point foundries from 1841 to 1843. Its average weight was 6,967 pounds due to first reinforce and base ring diameters each 1 inch less that those of the Model of 1845. The thickness of its breech and knob length were slightly less than the Model of 1845, making its total length 125.2 inches. Both models are identical forward of the end of the first reinforce. |
 | 42-pounder seacoast gun, Model of 1831. Total length, 129.4 inches; weight, 8687 pounds; total production, 167 by Bellona, Columbia and West Point foundries from 1831 to 1840; known survivors, 8. Its single 52.2-inch reinforce and breeching ring are distinctive features. |
 | 42-pounder seacoast gun, Model of 1839. Total length, 129.3 inches; weight, 8486 pounds. Total production, 14 by Bellona, Columbia and West Point foundries from 1839-1841. The Models of 1839 siege and seacoast guns, seacoast howitzers, and siege and seacoast mortars were prototype patterns that were further refined to become the Models of 1840. Usually, only a single Model of 1839 tube of each type was cast by two or three foundries. An exception to this quantity occurred with the 42-pounder gun, Model of 1839. Bellona Foundry, through some error or misunderstanding, produced and Army Ordnance accepted 12 Model of 1839 guns in 1841 against an order for Model of 1840 guns. The 42-pounder gun pictured here, West Point Foundry Registry No.1 at nearly inaccessible Battery Bienvenue LA, is the only known surviving Model of 1839 iron tube of any type. |
 | 42-pounder seacoast gun, Models of 1840 and 1845. Total length, 129 inches; weight, 8500 pounds. While orders, inspections, and deliveries are recorded as two separate model years with separate series of Registry Numbers, there is no dimensional difference between the two models. The only disparity is that Model of 1840 are lathe-turned only at critical components (muzzle, breech, trunnions and rimbases) while Model of 1845 are fully lathe-turned. Total production: 40 Model of 1840 by Columbia and West Point foundries from 1841 to 1845; 318 Model of 1845 by Alger, Bellona, Fort Pitt, Tredegar and West Point foundries; known survivors, 3 Model of 1840, 29 Model of 1845. More than half of the known survivors were rifled by both sides (some also banded) during the Civil War. |
 | 42-pounder seacoast gun, Confederate, banded. Same specifications as immediately above. Tredegar Foundry cast four of this type for State of Georgia early in 1861 and four more for the Confederacy later that same year. Bellona Foundry probably also made a few. The only known survivor is that pictured here, Tredegar No.1217, cast on 2 May 1861 and having a marked weight of 8445 pounds. Typical of large Tredegar cannon, most of its surface is as-cast with only critical areas lathe-turned. It was later banded by Eason Brothers (so marked) of Charleston SC, but it is not rifled. |