Old Iron at Courthouse

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
While my wife shopped I went to a museum at a courthouse. This big boy was on the lawn. Anyone want to tell us what I saw?

big boy 1.jpg
 
I did not measure the bore diameters. I have images of the end of each piece that would give that. But hate to post them before we at least get a guess or two. I thought our cannon detectives might have a guess.

The large one weighs 9702 pounds the short one weighs only 2564 pounds.
 
No in the old courthouse in Charlotte MI. The old courthouse is now a museum.
 
The short one is some kind of short howitzer? Maybe an 8 inch Siege Howitzer Model 1861? The weight would be about right.
 
While my wife shopped I went to a museum at a courthouse. This big boy was on the lawn. Anyone want to tell us what I saw?

View attachment 156747

could it be whatever your wife does she make's sure there are some big guns around for you to gaze at? it'll also be a lot more difficult for you to complain about her bills (bad pun intented).
 
The big one is most definitely a 6.4" or 100 pounder Parrot Rifle. All of the evidence is on the muzzle. W.P.F. stands for West Point Foundry, 9702 is the weight, No. 76 is the foundry registry number, 1862 is the year cast. I would be willing to wager that on the trunion face are the letters R.P.P for Robert Parker Parrot (3rd in the West Point class of 1824), the man who invented the gun and also served as the U.S. Army inspector at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, N.Y.

The bottom one is indeed an 8" siege howitzer which was cast in two very different shapes. This piece was inspected by Richard Mason Hill who was also an inspector at the West Point Foundry. He was 7th in the West Point class of 1861 (June).
 
Info on the guns can be found in Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War by Warren Ripley, pages 50-52 and 116. Also great info on the Parrott rifle found in West Point Foundry of the Images of America series. Identifying the inspector from the initials can be done at a number of places, I like to use Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War (3rd edition) by James C. Hazlett, Edwin Olmstead and M. Hume Parks. This book is the Bible for field artillery but since both of these monsters were too big for the field the info on the guns was found in the Ripley book.
 
The big one is most definitely a 6.4" or 100 pounder Parrot Rifle. All of the evidence is on the muzzle. W.P.F. stands for West Point Foundry, 9702 is the weight, No. 76 is the foundry registry number, 1862 is the year cast. I would be willing to wager that on the trunion face are the letters R.P.P for Robert Parker Parrot (3rd in the West Point class of 1824), the man who invented the gun and also served as the U.S. Army inspector at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, N.Y.

The bottom one is indeed an 8" siege howitzer which was cast in two very different shapes. This piece was inspected by Richard Mason Hill who was also an inspector at the West Point Foundry. He was 7th in the West Point class of 1861 (June).

I can see the "R" on the turnion but the other letters are unclear in the photo.
 
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