Tell me more! What Cannon Are Described? "Those Monster Guns"

lelliott19

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While looking for something else, I ran across this brief mention of "Those Monster Guns" arriving at Charleston, SC in late August or early September 1863. What kind of cannon are being described that weighed 44,000 pounds, had a 13 inch bore, and a projectile weighing 651 lb "without the steel point."
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Yorkville Enquirer. (Yorkville, SC), September 09, 1863, page 2.
 
This article is referring to two 12.75" Blakely Rifled guns that were imported from England to the Charleston defenses and they were the largest rifled guns used in the Civil War on either side. These two pictures will give you some idea of their size and the size of their rounds. Photos LoC. To the best of my knowledge they were never fired in anger and were destroyed when Charleston fell. However, there is reported to still be a 600# section in the attic of a home on the Battery from when the gun located there was exploded to keep it from falling into Union hands. The largest rounds visible in photo #1 are for these Blakely Rifles and a crane was required to load them.
Blakeley#1.jpg
Blakeley#2.jpg
A picture of the breech is located in the background of photo#1 and a portion of a barrel is in photo #2.
 
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Here are a few photos from the LOC of those sling carts that @redbob mentioned.
View attachment 365651
View attachment 365652
Wow, amazing, thank you. I have never seen one of these. When Redbob said that the used these, I pictured rolling one of these uphill and down and how many horses it would take and how you would slow one down on an incline. Look at the size of the brake shoes!
 
Now that is cool! Looks like two flatcars, connected together by that frame holding the gun. The frame appears to articulate slightly between the two cars, too. Is there a location associated with this photo? The RR is the PRR so could this be near Pittsburgh where the guns would have been cast?
 
@lelliott19 et al,

I think you have to have an actual JPASS membership, not just the free download registration.
There seems to be a drawing of one of the guns mounted within.
UvF9lAt.png

Charleston's Civil War "Monster Guns," the Blakely Rifles​

C. R. Horres, Jr.
The South Carolina Historical Magazine
Vol. 97, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), pp. 115-138 (24 pages)
Published By: South Carolina Historical Society

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27570151
 
While the Union was developing 20" Smoothbores (two still exist), the largest thing in general use was 15"ers.
Working from my long-faded memory, I recall some of my Carolinian ancestors probably had more muscle in their arms than the more preferred acute muscles in their heads. They were maritime salvage experts. A yankee gunboat had been sunk near the shore North of Charleston.

Sneaking around at night, the men were able to relieve the wreck of its' cannon, then transport and mount them on The Battery in their charming coastal city.

They remain on The Battery to this day, and I had the thrill of touching them there a few dozen years ago.

My genealogical notes are not available at this time. Can someone provide specifications for those tubes? Bore diameter, weight, design type, and which USN boat gave up these prizes? Also, were they then fired as defense of the Confederacy?
 
Working from my long-faded memory, I recall some of my Carolinian ancestors probably had more muscle in their arms than the more preferred acute muscles in their heads. They were maritime salvage experts. A yankee gunboat had been sunk near the shore North of Charleston.

Sneaking around at night, the men were able to relieve the wreck of its' cannon, then transport and mount them on The Battery in their charming coastal city.

They remain on The Battery to this day, and I had the thrill of touching them there a few dozen years ago.

My genealogical notes are not available at this time. Can someone provide specifications for those tubes? Bore diameter, weight, design type, and which USN boat gave up these prizes? Also, were they then fired as defense of the Confederacy?
They were from the USS Keokuk (probably one of the worse designs of the Civil War) and were recovered by the Confederates by cutting the tops of the turrets off and removing the 2 11" Dahlgrens, all under the noses of the Federals. Drawing from NAVSOURCE
USS_Keokuk_h59546.jpg
 
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Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken at Charleston, South Carolina, during the late 19th Century or early 20th Century. The gun is mounted on an iron seacoast artillery carriage.
This gun was salvaged from the USS Keokuk after she sank as a result of battle damage received during the 7 April 1863 ironclad attack on Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor. It was subsequently employed by the Confederates.
Copied from the book "The Battery, Charleston, S.C."
via
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-k/keokuk-k.htm
h01978.jpg
 
Note that the muzzle swell of the gun was modified to fit through Keokuk's gunports. You can see the flat triangular spot on the muzzle where the swell was filed down. Probably speaks to the general low quality of the Keokuk's construction...
 
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