• Type: 10-inch Dahlgren Rifle
• Bore Diameter: 10 inches
• Projectiles: 128 lb. Projectiles
• Current Disposition: Unknown
• Special Notes: This gun, named in honor of Frances, the wife of Confederate Army General Leonidas Polk, was located at Fort De Russy, KY. It accidentally exploded in a demonstration for Gen. Polk, killing ten men and wounding Polk.

This huge 10-inch Dahlgen gun, named "Lady Polk" in honor of Frances, wife of Confederate army commander General Leonidas Polk, was first fired during the November 7, 1861, Battle of Belmont, Missouri. Used against the Union troops from accross the Mississippi River at Fort De Russy, Kentucky, the rifled cannon fired 128-pound, pointed projectiles with flanged copper plates attached to the bottom. The flanges fit into grooves of the rifling, which added a spin to the projectile and increased its range and accuracy.

On the first attempt to load the cannon, though, the crew found the rounds slightly too large for the bore. However a little filing on the flanged plate quickly solved the problem. After a few rounds had been fired, the cannon barrel heated and expanded so that no more filing was necessary. The cannon and crew performed well in battle and their fire aided in forcing the Union troops to retreat. The last round loaded into the gun was never fired.

Four days later, Polk visited the gun emplacement during an inspection tour and the officer in charge, Captain W. N. Keiter, offered to fire the loaded round to demonstrate the weapons range and accuracy. With Polk and his aides standing by, Kieter assembled the eight man gun crew. The men took their positions around the great Dahlgren, a primer was inserted into the vent, and upon Keiter's command the lanyard was pulled.

Ten of the thirteen men standing around the Lady Polk were instantly killed as she exploded with a flash and roar and engulfed the emplacement in a dense cloud of smoke and dust. "Great God, they are blown to atoms!" cried one of the first men to rush to the scene. Another described what was left of the gun crew: "Here were an arm and a severed head, over there a memberless trunk of a human body disemboweled." Polk was found lying unconscious beside his dead horse, but he recovered and continued to serve for two and one-half more years, until he was killed at Pine Mountain, Georgia, by a Union shell that tore through his chest.