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CAST IN 1781
in Salisbury CT, This Eighteen
Pound Cannon at Stonington CT
repulsed a 600 British Marine
invasion force on 08-10-1814,
Saved by the Citizens of
Stonington in 1826, from
government salvage, and thus
memorialized, they have been at
the center of THE GLORIOUS TENTH:
Stonington's Own Holiday and are identical
to the Fort Washington Cannon.
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One
of Fort Washington's Three
18-pounders, that are in good
condition. Markings are as
follows: No 36, 30-0-17; No 40,
30-0-16; No 45, 30-0-13.
At Present, knowing the TWO
18-pounders at Stonington, CT were
Cast in 1781 in Salisbury CT
during the Revolution, and since
Fort Washington's Three
18-pounders are of same cast,
conclude these Cannon were
also cast in 1781 in Salisbury CT
during the Revolution. All
mounted on iron seacoast top
carriages - Forged @ West Point
Armory in Cold Spring, New York http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Point_Foundry
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Fort Washington-
Artillery Pieces -- CAST Circa 1781 during the
Revolution War, 220 + years old Cambridge.
FORT WASHINGTON, 95 Waverly St., November
1775. built by Volunteer Soldiers of the
American Revolution by ORDER OF GEORGE
WASHINGTON in November 1775. In a letter to
Joseph Reed-November 1775, GEORGE WASHINGTON
stated "I have caused TWO Three Gun Half
Moon Batteries to be thrown up for occasional
use," The Second Three Gun Half Moon
Battery is obliterated along with all other
extensive Siege Works constructed by the
British and American Armies during the Siege
of Boston – April 19, 1775 to March 17,
1776. FORT WASHINGTON is the OLDEST surviving
Revolutionary fortification from the
Revolution, built by American Soldiers, and
the only surviving Revolutionary fortification
from the Siege of Boston.
Acquired by city and
restored in 1857, at which time 3 18-lb.
cannons from Fort Warren (see also Fort
Warren, MA) were installed, and an elaborate
granite and iron fence was designed by
architect John R. Hall. Municipal: HABS. The
site was added to the National Historic
Register in 1973.
The Three Gun Half Moon
Batteries” and other minor works are shown
on the excellent map of Henry Pelham, made for
the British in 1775 and 1776, and may well
have been assumed by them as of much greater
importance than was actually the case. At the
time these little fortifications were
constructed Knox was on his way to
Ticonderoga, to get the best of the cannon
which were there and at Crown Point, and it
was essential that the troops be trained in
constructing works in which the guns could be
mounted promptly when they were received.
The best statement
about the transfer to the city of the Fort
Washington property seems to be that contained
in the Historic Guide to Cambridge, compiled
by members of Hannah Winthrop Chapter, DAR, in
1907, on page 179. It is as follows:
The three gun battery
at the foot of Allston Street retains the
semblance of a fort, and is called Fort
Washington. The land where this battery was
thrown up had been held in common from the
close of the Revolution till 1857, when it was
deeded to the city by the following persons:
Edmund T. and Elizabeth Hastings, Mary E.
Dana, Joseph A. and Penelope Willard, John and
Hannah B. Bartlett. A fund of $800 was also
turned over to the city, by these people who
cared for this plot of historic land. The
conditions named in the deed were as follows:
"that the above premises when suitably
enclosed and adorned by said city, shall
forever remain open for light, air, and
adornment, for the convenience and
accommodation of the owners of estates in said
Pine Grove, and of the Public generally."
The city accepted this
gift and with the assistance of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts proceeded to
restore this battery to its original
condition, to build a substantial fence around
it and to erect a flag-staff. The secretary of
war gave three thirty-pounder guns, and the
Secretary of the Navy gave the gun carriages.
The state legislature voted to appropriate the
sum of $2000. “provided the city of
Cambridge shall appropriate a sum sufficient
to complete the said fence at a cost of not
less than four thousand dollars and said Fort
Washington shall always be accessible to the
public, and that “said city shall always
keep the fence proposed to built, in good
repair.”
THE GUNS standing in
the embrasures are 18-pounders and Cast during
the Revolution. They are of the SAME cast as
the TWO 18-pounders at Stonington CT, that
repulsed a British Invasion force on August
10, 1814. The TWO 18-pound Cannon at
Stonington CT were Cast in 1781 in Salisbury
CT during the Revolution. There are also Two
18-pound Cannon at Mt Defiance in Ticonderoga
NY which are also from the Revolution and also
of the Same CAST.
The Three 18-pounders
were among those over-age cannon which were
removed from the original Fort Warren, on
Governor's Island, when a new Fort Warren was
built on George's Island. Mr. Marcus Morton,
of Cambridge, learned by correspondence with
the Historical Section of the Chief of
Ordnance in Washington, in 1942, that the guns
Carriages were cast by the West Point Foundry,
on Hudson River, only the carriages) and he
discovered in the city records that it cost
the city the sum of $13.50 to bring these guns
from Governor's Island to Cambridge!
Of course guns of this
size would never have been placed by
Washington at this insignificant earthwork,
even if the Americans had had enough large
cannon. These particular guns are, therefore,
out of place in any such work as this little
"half-moon battery”, but as they have
now been there for some 150 years and as they
were presumably given, to the city with the
understanding that they were to be kept there,
it would be inappropriate to remove them.
Besides, smaller pieces would probably have
been "borrowed" from such an open
space long before this time. These
18-pound Cannon, Cast during the later part
(1781) of the Revolution, are a testament to
the art, will and ingenuity of the American
Iron Industry which manufactured these weapons
in that Freedom and Liberty be realized!
These cannon are
identical, except for the numbers and weights,
marked upon them. They are numbered 45, 36,
and 40; and their weighs are shown as 30-0-13,
30-0-17, and 30-0-16, respectively, (in cwt.,
qrs., and lbs.). Those figures correspond to
3375, 3377, and 3376 pounds. The bore is
approximately 5 5/8 inches; the diameter of a
18-pound sphere of cast iron is 5.1 inches;
the excess diameter of the bore (called
windage) was usually about ¼ inch, or a
little bit more, to allow for irregularities
in the bore of the guns and the casting of the
balls. The next larger standard size for
cannon of that period was 24 lb., which would
require a bore of at least 5.9 inches
Fort Washington's Three
18-pounders at are in good condition.
Markings are as follows: No 36, 30-0-17; No
40, 30-0-16; No 45, 30-0-13. At
Present, knowing the TWO 18-pounders at
Stonington, CT were Cast in 1781 in Salisbury
CT during the Revolution, and since Fort
Washington's Three 18-pounders are of same
cast, conclude these Cannon were
also cast in 1781 in Salisbury CT during the
Revolution. All mounted on iron seacoast
top carriages - Forged @ West Point Armory in
Cold Spring, New York - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Point_Foundry
. The Iron seacoast top
carriages probably date from the War of 1812
and came from Fort Independence in Boston.
John M. Gould - http://webspace.webring.com/people/fu/um_10874/neart.html,
wrote the following:
As to the 18 pounders in Cambridge, I
feel pretty confident they came from the
original Fort Warren which was on Governor's
Island in Boston Harbor. This fort was renamed
Fort Winthrop when the new Fort Warren was
built on George's Island sometime around the
1850's
As the 18 pounders were an old design which
would have been at the Old Fort Warren - which
goes back to at least the early 1800's but
they would not have been at the new Fort
Warren as 18 pounders were obsolete by the
1850's. This is a subtle but important
difference.
Also keep in mind that even though the new
Fort Warren had been built, the old Fort
Warren (Fort Winthrop) was still under
government control and they were probably
trying to find ways to dispose of the old guns
at that fort. Possibly made in late 1700's.
Stonington Village -
Two 18-pounder guns of 35 cwt. These two
18-pounders defended the village from
bombardment by a British Squadron in August
1814. These pieces are very similar, if not
identical, to the three 18-pounders in Fort
Washington Park in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
THE GLORIOUS TENTH:
Stonington's Own Holiday.
The WAR OF 1812: These
Guns were instrumental in August 1814, in Repulsing
the British Invasion of Stonington,
CT http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~wcarr1/Lossing2/Chap38.html
The
repulse of the British at Stonington was one
of the most gallant affairs of the war (of
1812), and the spirit there shown by
the few who conducted the defense caused Hardy
and his commanders to avoid all further
attempts to capture or destroy Connecticut
sea-port towns. The assailing squadron
had about fifteen hundred men, while the
number actually engaged in driving them away
did not exceed twenty. It was
computed that the British hurled no less than
fifty tons of metal on to the little peninsula
during the three days, (August 9th to 11th, 1814). The
loss to the British was twenty lives, over
fifty wounded, and the expenditure of ten
thousand pounds sterling. The affair
spread a feeling of joy throughout the whole
country, and the result was a deep
mortification of British pride. The
impotence of the attack was the point of many
a squib and epigram.
At about six o’clock
in the morning August 9th 1814, some bold
volunteers came over from Mystic, among whom
was the now (1867) venerable Captain Jeremiah
Holmes, who had been a prisoner in a British
war-ship some years before, and had learned
the art of gunnery well. He and
his companions made their way to the battery
on the point, when Holmes took charge of the
old 18-pounder. At that moment the
Dispatch was making her last tack preparatory
to anchoring. Holmes sighted the gun, which
was double-slotted with solid round balls, and
at a favorable moment gave the word to fire.
Both shots struck the hull of the brig.
She at once cast anchor, with springs on her
cable, and opened fire with 24-pound shot.
The Terror sent shells in quick succession,
while Holmes and his companions kept the old
iron cannon busy. These Cannon
were OLD in 1814, 33 years OLD, see
http://stoningtonhistory.org/index.php?id=56
THE GLORIOUS TENTH: Stonington's Own Holiday.
"FRIENDS
OF FORT WASHINGTON-Preservation for the 21st
Century", Cambridge,
MA 02139