Loved or Hated, the Swamp Angel is easily the most famous cannon of the American Civil War. In the summer of 1863, Fort Sumter, after two years of being pummeled by federal artillery, still defiantly protected the city of Charleston, SC. Union Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, stationed on Morris Island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, wanted to locate a battery to fire on the city so that he could force its capitulation without having to capture the harbor forts. On August 2, Gen. Gillmore ordered the construction of a battery at a site 4.5 miles from the city. The Swamp Angel is the nickname given to the piece of heavy artillery used at this site.
ARTILLERY PROFILE
WEIGHTS & MEASURES
NOTES
The "Swamp Angel", which fired from the marsh near Morris Island into Charleston, may not have been brand new when it arrived at the man-made firing platform known as the "Marsh Battery". After the 22nd shot, which was the 6th shot on the 2nd night of firing, the reinforcing band slipped, and the crew was forced to continue firing with a "compromised gun barrel". The barrel burst at about 1 am, on the gun's 36th shot, throwing the breech completely off in one direction, and the barrel forward off it's trunnion mount, 4 of the gun's crew were hurt, none seriously.
MONUMENT HISTORY
HISTORY OF THE SWAMP ANGEL
Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, Photo by USAMHI
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
Swamp Angel after bursting, LOC, 1863
4.2 inch Parrott on a Siege Carriage
Also Rumored to be Nicknamed "Swamp Angel"
in the Marsh Battery at a Later Period
LOC, 1863 or more likely 1864
Remains from a gun, possibly the Swamp Angel,
perhaps remains of 2 different guns?
from Charleston, SC, LOC, 1863
Postcard from 1900's showing early monument
Corners of N. Clinton Ave. and Perry Street
Note: Drinking trough at base for horses!
at Cadwallader Park, Trenton, NJ, Photo ©Michael Kendra, 2002
FOR FURTHER READING
ARTILLERY PROFILE
- Model: Burst 8-inch Army 200-pdr Parrott Seacoast Rifle, Model of 1861
- Type: Muzzleloading Seacoast Rifle
- In Service With: 11th Maine Infantry, Marsh Battery, United States Army, near Charlestown, SC
- Under Command Of: Lieutenant Charles Sellmer
- Purpose: Coastal Defense
- Invented By: Robert P. Parrott
- Current Disposition: Mounted as a Monument in a City Park, in Trenton, New Jersey
- The "Parrott" Reinforcing Band has been Lost
- Location: Cadwallader Park in Trenton, New Jersey
- Map Coordinates: 40°14'15.0"N 74°47'16.7"W
- US Casting Foundry: West Point Foundry, Cold Spring, New York
- Casting Date: 1862
- Tube Composition: Cast Iron Tube, Wrought Iron Reinforcing Band
- Muzzle Markings: No.6 8IN. W.P.F. A.M. 16,577 1862
- Registry Number: No. 6
- Foundry Number: 585
- Inspectors Mark: (A.M.) Alfred Mordecai, Jr.
- Purchase Price in 1862: $2,200.00
- Bore Diameter: 8 inches
- Tube Length: 163 inches
- Tube Weight: 16,577 lbs.
- Carriage Type: Barbette Carriage (8,000 lbs)
- No. of Crew to Serve: 25
- Rate of Fire: Once every 7 to 8 minutes
- Rifling Type: 11 rifle grooves, right gain twist, 1 turn in 23'
- Standard Powder Charge: 16 lbs. No. 7 Black Powder
- Service Charge Used: 16 lbs. or 20 lbs.* Black Powder
- * (20 lbs. as per Col. Charles Selmer's Report, Commanding the 11th Maine Infantry at the Marsh Battery, as found in The Story of One Regiment: The Eleventh Maine Infantry Volunteers, Press of J. J. Little & Company, 1896, Page 142. )
- Muzzle Velocity: 1,234 ft/sec. (using a 150 lb. shell, with a 16 lb. charge)
- Effective Range (at 35°): 8,000 yards (4.5 miles)
- Projectile Flight Time (at 35°): Not Recorded (est. 30 to 40 seconds)
- Projectiles: A mix of 175 lb. shells loaded with "Greek Fire" and 150 lb. standard shells.
- Recorded Service:
- 16 Shots Fired Early Morning Hours of April 22st, Target: City of Charleston, SC
- 20 Shots Fired Night of April 23rd, Target: City of Charleston, SC
- 36 Shots Fired Total, gun disabled/burst on final shot
- at least 10 shots prematurely exploded in barrel or in flight
- Records Broken: 3
- Longest-ranged Artillery Bombardment To Date
- hit targets ranged 7,900+ yards or 4.48+ miles distant
- First Time Artillery had been Aimed by Compass Bearing Alone
- Gun aimed by taking a compass bearing of St. Michael’s church’s steeple, and using bearing to aim gun
- First Deliberate Use of Shelling of Civilians as a Military Tactic
- Even if Charleston, SC was a Military Target, it WAS filled with civilians
- Longest-ranged Artillery Bombardment To Date
NOTES
The "Swamp Angel", which fired from the marsh near Morris Island into Charleston, may not have been brand new when it arrived at the man-made firing platform known as the "Marsh Battery". After the 22nd shot, which was the 6th shot on the 2nd night of firing, the reinforcing band slipped, and the crew was forced to continue firing with a "compromised gun barrel". The barrel burst at about 1 am, on the gun's 36th shot, throwing the breech completely off in one direction, and the barrel forward off it's trunnion mount, 4 of the gun's crew were hurt, none seriously.
MONUMENT HISTORY
- Gun Tube Acquired: Recovered as scrap iron by Phoenix Iron Works in Trenton, NJ in 1877
- Built: As a Memorial in February 1877
- Memorial Construction of: Trenton Brownstone
- Rededications: 1915, moved & rededicated on April 12, 1961, 1994, August 24, 2013
- Original Location: Corners of North Clinton Avenue and Perry Street, Trenton, NJ until April 12, 1961 (Civil War 100th Anniv)
- Current Location: Cadwallader Park in Trenton, New Jersey
- Questionable Future Disposition: three former mayors each proposed sending the cannon back to Charleston as a symbol of reconciliation with the South, but never followed through because of resistance from citizens and Civil War enthusiasts.
- Additional Artifacts: As of 2011, the Gunners Quadrant and the Gunners Level from the Swamp Angel were owned by, and on display at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room in Columbia, SC
HISTORY OF THE SWAMP ANGEL
The Marsh Battery Construction
Undoubtedly the most famous action taken by the 1st New York Engineers was the construction of the “Marsh Battery.” MG Gillmore requested that batteries be constructed that could take the fort and the city under fire. The first officer assigned the task declared it impossible, but Colonel Edward Serrell, commander of the 1st New York Engineers, would have none of it. He assumed personal responsibility and conducted a series of experiments to establish the capability of the soil (mud) to support weight. After careful consideration of the results of these trials Serrell believed the soil could be stabilized enough to receive the weight of a siege piece. A plan was presented to Gilmore for the construction of a battery on 2 August 1863. It was immediately accepted and several days were spent setting up support activities to supply lumber and other materials. Construction of the battery began on 10 August.
The construction began with a rectangular frame of sheet piling driven by a lever activated ram. The first measure to reinforce the soil was “a thick stratum of grass”. This was covered by two layers of tarpaulin followed by “15 inches of well rammed sand”. A platform of three layers of 3 inch pine planks topped off the position. The work was declared prepared to take an eight inch Parrott rifle on the 17th. The final tally of material used in the construction of this battery, all of which had to be transported by hand over a mile on a four foot gangway makes the seven day work a marvel. Materials included:
13,000 sandbags 123 pieces of 15-18” diameter pine logs (Piling) 5000 feet 1” boards 8 Tarpaulins 18X28 feet 9156 feet of 3” pine planks 300 pounds 4” spikes 300 pounds 7” spikes 600 pounds of assorted iron pieces 75 fathoms of 3” rope
This material list did not include the materials that were used to build the gangway. The battery was completed with a service road to the edge of the river.
Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, Photo by USAMHI
Actions Against Charleston
On August 17, the platform received its gun - a 16,700-pound Parrott rifle made at New York State's West Point Foundry. It was immediately christened with "Swamp Angel". With an 8-inch-diameter bore, 11-foot bore depth, and a 16-pound powder charge, it was capable of firing a 150-pound projectile the 8,000 yards to the heart of Charleston.
On August 21, Gillmore sent a message demanding that Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, commander at Charleston, immediately evacuate the Rebel posts on Morris Island and Fort Sumter or suffer the shelling of the city. Receiving no reply by midnight, Gillmore ordered the shelling to begin. The gun had been carefully sighted by using the known bearing of the steeple of St. Michael's Church, which could not be seen at the Marsh Battery because of a grouping of trees on James Island, and at 1:30am on August 22, the first shot was fired. Alarm bells and whistles were heard immediately. Fifteen more shots were fired before daylight, 12 of them filled with an incendiary fluid known as "Greek Fire".
The next night, August 23, 20 more shells were fired at the city. On this night a number of the shells exploded inside the gun, causing the breech reinforcing band to come loose on the sixth shot. The gun continued to be fired, with the crew of the gun taking cover outside the gun emplacement on each shot. On the last discharge, the Swamp Angel burst, the breech being blown out of its reinforcing band, and the gun thrown to the top of the parapet. Three men were injured in the explosion, but not seriously. No other guns were placed in the battery. The physical damage to Charleston was minimal, and its citizens remained defiant.
Trenton, NJ Gets a Cannon Barrel / Markings are Identified
After the war, it is believed that the gun was junked and was to be sold as scrap iron. This gun, along with some others were purchased by Charles Carr of Phoenix Iron Company of Trenton, NJ, and when the shipment of scrap arrived, one of the workers, who has served in Charleston recognized the broken gun, and a plan to save the gun was hatched.
Notification was given to the New Jersey Adj. Gen. William J. Stryker, who served in the Charleston campaign in 1863, and he helped to setup a plan to put the Swamp Angel up as a monument in Trenton for public display. A spot was found at a busy intersection in town, the gun was welded back together without it's reinforcing band, which had been lost or perhaps removed on purpose, no-one knows for sure, and the completed gun-tube was placed atop it's newly created street-side monument in 1877.
When road changes required the movement of the original monument, a new location at Cadwallader Park was found, and a new, smaller stone base was built for the gun, which was rededicated on April 12, 1961. However, by that time, it was getting very difficult to read any of the markings on the barrel, between the years of wear and tear, some abuse from being treated as scrap, and many layers of paint, you couldn't see any numbers or identifying marks on the gun.
In the 1970's, cannon expert Warren Ripley disputed the identification of the Swamp Angel, knowing that at least 3 other guns had been burst at Charleston in similar incidents, and that there was only a 1 in 4 chance this particular tube was the correct gun.
In recent years, two well respected artillery researchers, Edwin Olmstead and Wayne Stark, removed enough paint to clearly read the Registry No. as "6," agreeing with Gillmore's description of the 8-in Parrott rifle in the Swamp Battery, so the identification may now safely be regarded as conclusive. Today, the gun is relatively well preserved, with 70% of the muzzle markings revealed and protected.
The black & white photos below show the "Swamp Angel" in battery, and after it was thrown forward on it's parapet after bursting, these photos are from the Library of Congress. The color photos were taken by Michael & Ami Kendra in June of 2002 in Cadwallader Park, Trenton, NJ.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
Swamp Angel after bursting, LOC, 1863
4.2 inch Parrott on a Siege Carriage
Also Rumored to be Nicknamed "Swamp Angel"
in the Marsh Battery at a Later Period
LOC, 1863 or more likely 1864
Remains from a gun, possibly the Swamp Angel,
perhaps remains of 2 different guns?
from Charleston, SC, LOC, 1863
Postcard from 1900's showing early monument
Corners of N. Clinton Ave. and Perry Street
Note: Drinking trough at base for horses!
at Cadwallader Park, Trenton, NJ, Photo ©Michael Kendra, 2002
FOR FURTHER READING
- The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast and Naval Cannon, by Olmstead, Edwin, Stark, & Tucker, Alexandria Bay, NY: Museum Restoration Service, 1997.
- Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War, by Olmstead, Hazlett, & Parks, Univ of Delaware Press, 1988.
- Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War, by Warren Ripley, Battery Press, 1984.
- The Story of One Regiment: The Eleventh Maine Infantry Volunteers, Press of J. J. Little & Company, 1896, Page 139.
- The Artilleryman, Vol 34, No. 4, Fall 2013. "200-pdr. 'Swamp Angel' Parrott Rifle's Firing On Charleston Commemorated", with historical info provided by D. Martin, Ph.D, pages 7-8.
150 years ago: Colonel Serrell probing the marsh
Earlier this week I mentioned examinations aimed at place a battery in the marshes behind Morris Island in late July 1863. Let me follow that up with details about how the engineers surveyed the m…
markerhunter.wordpress.com
8,800 days’ worth of work: Constructing the Marsh Battery
Time for me to catch up on the story of the Swamp Angel of the Marsh Battery. At the end of last month, I wrote about the reconnaissance by Colonel Edward Serrell into the marshes behind Morris Is…
markerhunter.wordpress.com
150 years ago: “The Swamp Angel broods in his gloom”
In the early morning hours of August 22, 1863, a single shot fired from an 8-inch Parrott rifle at the Marsh Battery opened up another chapter in the operations on Morris Island. There’s a lo…
markerhunter.wordpress.com
The Swamp Angel at 150
Last Saturday (August 24), Trenton, New Jersey rededicated the “Swamp Angel” in Cadwalader Park. From New Jersey Online: The massive, eight-ton cannon named Swamp Angel was memorialize…
markerhunter.wordpress.com
Trenton celebrates 150th anniversary of Civil War cannon
The eight-ton cannon known as Swamp Angel was used during the siege of Charleston, S.C., in August 1863.
www.nj.com
The Swamp Angel
The following text is excerpted from the award winning book, Gate of Hell, Campaign for Charleston Harbour, 1863, By Stephen R. Wise, University of South Carolina Press, 1994 with the gracious permission of the author. Wise is the director of the Museum at Parris Island and a member of the Board...
www.battlefields.org
8-inch Parrott Rifle, Part 1
The next larger Parrott rifle to discuss is the 8-inch model. As related on the table presented before, the Army and Navy had different designations for the weapon (bottom of the third data column…
markerhunter.wordpress.com
HISTORIC CASED ARTILLERY TOOLS USED ON THE FAMOUS CIVIL WAR CANNON "SWAMP ANGEL". - James D. Julia, Auctioneers
Lot 2512. HISTORIC CASED ARTILLERY TOOLS USED ON THE FAMOUS CIVIL WAR CANNON "SWAMP ANGEL". (37557)
www.morphyauctions.com
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