First Bull Run Long Tom

[Andy Cardinal]

https://civilwarwiki.net/wiki/File:30pdr-parrott.JPG
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The Gun: 30-pounder Parrott rifle first manufactured in 1861 at the West Point (NY) foundry. Altogether, gun and carriage weighed 6,500 pounds. 10 horses were needed to pull it. More on the 30-pounder can be found here:

Hvy.Arty 30 pdr. "Army" Parrott Rifle | Artillery Profile

Fredericksburg NMP, ©Mike Kendra, Sept 28, 2013 The 30 pdr. Parrott saw service as early as the First Battle of Manassas. A Union 30 pdr. Parrott with Company G, 1st U.S. Artillery fired the opening shot of the battle. The gun was given the nickname "Long Tom" by it's loving crew. Due to the...

civilwarwiki.net

Obviously the gun was designed for service within fortifications and was only rarely employed in the field. However, a 30-pounder, known as "Long Tom" by its crew, accompanied McDowell's army to Bull Run and fired the first shot of the battle. The gun was also nicknamed "President Lincoln's baby maker."

"Long Tom" was assigned to Battery G, 1st U.S. Artillery. Lt. Peter Hains, freshly graduated from West Point, commanded the gun. "It was a great gun -- a thirty-pounder Parrott rifle, drawn by ten horses as green as could be, horses from the farm that had not been trained even to pull together," Hains wrote. "There were five riders or drivers, one man to each pair, and six men rode on the caisson and limber as cannoneers."

This and the following excerpts are from an article written by Haines which appeared in The Cosmopolitan in 1911. The article can be found here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=53JAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA388

According to Hains, "The piece weighed six thousand pounds; a huge casting reinforced by a breech band to stand the strain of the discharge. The shot was more than four inches in diameter and over a foot in length, weighing about thirty-three pounds. Upon the rear of the projectile was shrunk a soft metal band with a hollow opening about a sixteenth of an inch wide all around the base. The gas from the discharge was expected to fill this opening and swell the band to make it take the rifling of the gun."

Lt. Hains (Wikipedia)
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Opening the Battle:

"Long Tom" was selected ti fire the first shot of the battle. As Lt. Hains wrote: "'Three shots at daylight will be the signal for the fight to begin,' came the word," Hains remembered, "and as my giant gun was the loudest speaker of the whole united armies, it was chosen for that sacred duty. I would open the fight between the armies of the North and South."

Inexplicably, "Long Tom" led the advance during the early morning hours and contributed to the delay of Heintzelman's and Hunter's divisions as they made their flanking march. "I unlimbered the gun and waited," Hains wrote. "It was loaded with a percussion shell and was trained upon a house across Bull Run at about a mile and a half range." There Hains and the crew waited. "A little after six o'clock ... the order came. I sighted the rifle carefully, and the men grinned their delight. Then I stood back. 'Fire!' came the order. Across the little stream, true to it's destination, sped that first shot. I saw it strike fairly upon the side of the house, and the smoke and dust that followed told of its excellent work.... I followed that shot with two others, and to the signal had been given to McDowell's army that they were to begin hostilities. The first big battle of the Civil War had begun."

To Be Continued...

 

[Andy Cardinal]

During the Battle:

Not surprisingly, it was very difficult to maneuver the gun due to its massive size. Hains unlimbered at first to the right of the road. "Every few minutes that hot morning orders came: 'Bring the gun up here -- this is the place for it," or "Send the gun over to that rise where it can do so and so"; all equally impossible. I received not less than a score of orders, not more than three of which I could obey by any possible chance." From it's position on the right of the Warrenton pike, the gun fired whenever Confederate infantry came into view on the other side of Bull Run. "The country being mostly open and of a rolling nature," Hains wrote, "I could often get a food shot in and those shells certainly made things uncomfortable wherever they struck. The piece was amazingly accurate, and all i wanted was to see something to fire at."

As the fighting raged on the other side of Bull Run, a Confederate battery opened up on Long Tom. "We began at once to work on them," Hains wrote. "A few shrapnel placed carefully among them stirred them up, and their fire slackened. Then we hammered them hard with repeated shots, and before the hour was out they were either destroyed or had dragged their tiny guns out of action." During this time the Confederates were driven back to Henry House Hill. Victory appeared imminent. "By one o'clock we had done all we could, and the firing for us was nearly over, as there was no chance to take an active part in the advance. Officers began to congratulate themselves. The talk among the men was that we had won the day."

 

[Andy Cardinal]

The Tide Turns:

Throughout the afternoon the tide of battle began to turn. Hains wrote that all knew when Ricketts's and Griffin's batteries were captured. "Word came flashing along that our right had given way," Hains wrote.

Hains and his battery were still positioned in the field on the right side of the Warrenton Pike. They watched as Union lines began to give way on the other side of Bull Run. "I had received no orders to pull out, and remained silent there, waiting for developments, hoping with a desperate hope that we might at least be able to form a rearguard action with that gun and hold the Confederates back. Late in the afternoon General McDowell came riding up.

'What are you doing there with that gun?' he asked.

'Awaiting orders, sir,' I answered.

'Get it out, get it out quick,' he said, and rode on.

 

[Andy Cardinal]

Conclusion:

Image from https://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/tag/peter-hains/​

The crew limbered the gun and the ten horses began to drag it back toward Centerville. "By this time everything was in confusion. The road was massed with all sorts of debris, wagons, guns, knapsacks, clothing, and everything that a green man sheds quickly in the desperate heat of a day when panic has its cold hand upon his heart." During the retreat, Hains found that the team couId not pull the gun if it could not go in a straight line. Whenever they had to move around an obstacle or go around a curve, they found it nearly impossible to move.

They stopped at a well to get water. Hains was taking a drink when "I noticed a couple of squadrons of cavalry right across the road in the field opposite.... While I looked I suddenly became aware that the cavalry a few yards distant was not Union cavalry." Hains tried to form a defense but the cavalry charged. "The men about me began firing now with a will, recognizing that the enemy was upon us. Still, half of those present had not realized that we had met an enemy." The cavalry charge was beaten off and the retreat continued. The cavalry reappeared and charged again, wrecking the rest of Carlisle's battery. "Old Tom" still moved on. "Finally we came to a steep hill. Here the road was so hopelessly massed with stuff that we could go no farther.... The men lashed the sweating, panting animals again and again. But the great gun refused to move up the incline. All the time men and wagons had been streaming past us. Now, as the daylight was failing, the road was deserted, and we soon found that we were getting to be the last of the rout."

Hains rode to the rear and found a brigade commander (he didn't specify which) and asked for a regiment to pull the gun to safety. The brigade commander promised to send them, and Hains returned to the gun. No one came. Angry, Hains found the brigade commander and asked for the men. The brigade commander told him, "Too late now -- too late," and marched away with his men. Hains considered dying with his gun, but eventually decided to abandon it. The crew spiked it, and Old Tom fell into Confederate hands.

 

[Andy Cardinal]

Found this on youtube:

 

[lelliott19]

In April 1863, we find "Long Tom" with his mate, inappropriately named "Laughing Charlie" <I'm guessing no one laughed when Charlie was fired in their direction?> at Suffolk https://civilwartalk.com/threads/lo...named-cannon-at-suffolk-va-april-1863.158109/

 

[Will Carry]

At the Battle of Fort Macon, which guarded Beaufort Inlet in North Carolina, the Union landed three 30 pounder Parrot Rifles on the island. The men in the fort were powerless to stop them and had to surrender less the rounds from the Union guns penetrate the powder magazine. Fort Macon had the following guns in place:

• 2 10-inch Columbiads
• 5 8-inch Columbiads
• 1 5.82-inch rifled Columbiad
• 4 rifled 32-pounders
• 18 32-pounders
• 18 24-pounders
• 6 32-pounder carronades

The Union forces were behind sand dunes which protected them from this array of weaponry. Fort Macon was a brick fort which could not withstand the Parrot Rifled guns. If you are ever at Emerald Isle Fort Macon is a must see.

 

[unionblue]

@Andy Cardinal ,

Thank you for this very informative and interesting thread!

I've always been respectful of the big guns and like learning about them.

Thanks again.
Unionblue

 

[Andy Cardinal]

@Andy Cardinal ,

Thank you for this very informative and interesting thread!

I've always been respectful of the big guns and like learning about them.

Thanks again.
Unionblue

Thank you @unionblue , I had fun finding out more about it as I was not familiar with its role at Bull Run. I'd love to know more about who thought it would be a good idea to take Long Tom along.

As @lelliott19 and @Will Carry have pointed out, there are references to the gun after the Confederates captured it up to as late as 1864 that I've found. I hope to work on including some of those references as time goes on.

 

[JeffCSA]

Good stuff right there. Thanks. Interestingly enough, in this area (East Tennessee-Cumberland Gap area) the Confederates had a big gun names Long Tom. It was dumped over a cliff to prevent capture. Has not been seen since. Many wondered if it had been found and sold for scrap years ago. Just don't know anything about this one.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

It was a great gun -- a thirty-pounder Parrott rifle, drawn by ten horses as green as could be, horses from the farm that had not been trained even to pull together," Hains wrote. "There were five riders or drivers, one man to each pair, and six men rode on the caisson and limber as cannoneers."

Being a rider and driver, what a "treat" that had to be for green horses and maybe not so green riders! I can't even imagine the chaos of that scene but I sure would have liked to have seen it actually!