Question of the Week: 7/25-7/31/22

Do you have a favorite cannon on a battlefield?

(Could be a cannon and its location or the actual type/size of artillery piece)



21 Responses to Question of the Week: 7/25-7/31/22

  1. Yes, several years ago during Park Day at Chancellorville, my daughter and I helped paint one of the cannon by the Chancellor House site, specifically the one closest to the parking area. This will forever be known as “our cannon”.

  2. The Dictator at Petersburg comes to mind. I’m also partial to the various coast artillery pieces still emplaced at various forts.

  3. I like “Cora” at Gettysburg. She is located at the Trostle farm as part of Bigelow’s 9th Mass Battery.

  4. The one at the Railroad Redoubt in Vicksburg facing in the general direction of the Iowa Memorial. Every time I go to Vicksburg I photograph it with the Texas Memorial in the background.

  5. I love them all! The one cannon that I will always remember is a 20 Pdr Parrott rifle (tube #338, WPF) at a roadside location just S. of the Parker’s Crossroads Battlefield Park. I spotted that big ol’ gun as I was driving by and just had to stop. As I approached the gun, I could see a bunch of grass or straw sticking out of the barrel. To my surprise, it appeared a bird had taken up residence in the muzzle. Brought a smile!

  6. Any one of four named Mathew, Mark, Luke, or John of the Battery that were with Jackson during the Valley campaign. They now sit at what used to Jackson’s Arch at VMI. (Alumnus ’63)

  7. The British-made two Whitworth breechloaders used by the Confederates on Oak Hill at Gettysburg

  8. “Artillery Hell” Stephen D. Lee’s artillery battalion location at Antietam. You can see 4 different types of cannon on display there now. And you can stand right were Alexander Gardner stood when he took that picture of the carnage, with the Dunker Church in the background.

  9. The two Dahlgren 11-inch cannons mounted in the USS Monitor and used in The Battle of Hampton Roads. It’s not so much the guns themselves as it is the use of a rotating turret on a warship back then that I get a kick from.

  10. Gibbs Battery on the North Face of LRT because of its role in the late fighting on July 2 involving the retreat of Union forces from the Wheatfield towards Plum Run

  11. The triple banded Brooke rifle located at Fort Moultrie. The only survivor of the three that were made.

  12. Frankly the cannons at Vicksburg. The fact that I was a seasonal ranger at VNMP and part of the artillery crew when not manning the Shirley House might be the reason.

  13. The Iron 12 pounder in the Tredegar Iron Works (ACWM) in Richmond, VA , Between November 1861 and June 1862 Tredegar produced at least 30 Iron Field Howitzers, only 14 are known to have survived. Due to bursting 12 pounder Iron Howitzers, General Lee along with Col. Gorgas issued orders in late 1862 to terminate the manufacture of 12 pounder Field Howitzers.

  14. all the bronze guns (Napoleans?) with the beautiful patina in their many shades of green.

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