• Type: Rifled Breech-Banded 1839 18-pdr. Iron Smoothbore
• Current Disposition: Unknown
• Special Notes: Whistling Dick began life as a iron smoothbore Model 1839 which had been rifled. The gun got it's name from the whistle it made every time it was shot; a shrill sound which could be heard above the boom of all other artillery pieces.

One of the most famous cannons of the war was "Whistling Dick", a banded and rifled 18-pounder Confederate siege and garrison weapon. The gun was part of the river defenses at Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863, and is credited with the sinking of the Union gunboat Cincinnati.

Men from the Seventy-Seventh Illinois reported that the rebels had one gun which made a peculiar whistling noise every time it was fired, and from this circumstance the soldiers called it "Whistling Dick." Whenever a shot from this gun passed over their heads with that familiar sound, some men would yell, "Lay down," while others would exclaim, "There goes your goose!"

A Yankee doctor aboard the Union gunboat Cincinnati wrote to his wife that the gun "has been a great bar to our progress. It goes by the name of 'Whistling Dick', a sobriquet given it by our boys from the peculiar noise it's balls make as they hurtle through the air." The Cincinnati, a turreted ironclad of the largest class carrying 14 guns, had planned to silence the gun forever, but instead was sunk by Confederate batteries on May 27, 1863 with the likely help of Whistling Dick.

According to Major Samuel Lockett, chief of Confederate engineers, the gun had no permenant location but was moved from place to place along the water front as needed. "Whistling Dick" disappeared after the surrender of Vicksburg and remains unaccounted for today. What actually became of this famous gun has been a source of debate ever since.

For a long time a 7.5-inch gun located at West Point was thought to be old Whistling Dick. However, a historian from the National Park Service named Edwin C. Bearss correctly identified that cannon as the "Widow Blakely". This weapon, now properly titled, is on display at Vicksburg where it gained its name. The disposition of Whistling Dick however, went back up for debate.

In 1886, John G. Cashman, editor of the Vicksburg Evening Post, wrote that following the surrender of the city the gun was taken down from Wymans hill by the Yankees and placed near the waters edge where fuller's woodyard was located in later years. 'They probably designed carring it off as a trophy - it was nearly useless as a gun, having a crack in its muzzle," - the Post reported, "but our informant is almost certain that it was never removed and is now lying under about 10 feet of mud, most probably."

In 1900, a minister named Reverend A.P. Leech of Columbus, Ohio told a story about the disposal of Whistling Dick. Leech, who was a sergent in Co. "K", 35th Mississippi Infantry during the siege of Vicksburg claims that a fourteen man detail was sent to make away with the old gun. Leech told his story to a local reporter and historian named Tom Lewis. Lewis was convinced of the accuracy of the story and said that several veterans in Vicksburg would vouch for the account.

The detail sent to dispose of Whistling Dick was under the command of a Lieutenant - his last name was never mentioned, it is not believed that even commanding officers knew what was on foot. Leech's story continued: "It was the third of July, 1863 and somewhere between 10 and eleven p.m. I remember it was very dark. We marched to the courthouse and there took a secret oath not to divulge the secret to the Yankees. It was not until we reached the courthouse that we all knew the purpose for which the detail had been gotten together. We marched silently to the river and there at the foot of the street - either Grove or Jackson - found two small coal barges lashed together, end to end, and decked over. We then went up on the hill and silently sneaked 'Dick' to that point and ran him aboard the barge. There was a long rope tied to the gun carriage on which the men hauled, while the Lieutenant and I worked the wheels. The tail of our barge was pointed out in the river, and after getting the old gun safely on board, shoved out into the stream After getting out some distance, we silently dumped the old gun into the still waters."

There are several different theories as to why the rounds from Whistling Dick made such a distinctive whistling sound. The first theory is that erratic rifling in the gun caused the shells to whistle. Another theory is that the muzzle had been damaged and the barrel had been cut down about a foot or so, which may have accounted for the whistling sound, but it is believed today that the incorrectly identified "Widow Blakley" and its shorted muzzle may be the source of this theory.

The last theory on the whistling sound comes from the account of A.P. Leech who claimed to have helped dump Whistling Dick in the waters near Vicksburg. In his statements to Lewis he mentioned that, "We also dumped all the ammunition, some five or six cases, over after 'Whistling Dick'. We all remarked the peculiar shape of these projectiles which were square-cut, with pointed ends. It was this peculiarity that caused the hoarse rasping, whistling sound as the projectile dashed through the air."

We may never learn more about "Whistling Dick", unless someone discovers the current disposition of this famous cannon.