"3 Civil War cannons raised from Pee Dee River" Topic
4 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please use the Complaint button (!) to report problems on the forums.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Ironclads (1862-1889) Message Board Back to the ACW Media Message Board
Areas of InterestAmerican Civil War 19th Century
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Recent Link
Top-Rated Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article
Featured Workbench ArticleThe modeler himself shows how he paints Guilford Courthouse in 40mm scale.
Featured Profile ArticleIf you were a kid in the 1960s who loved history and toy soldiers, you probably had a WOW figure!
Featured Book Review
|
Tango01 | 26 Oct 2015 9:20 p.m. PST |
"A team of archaeologists from the University of South Carolina have raised three Civil War cannons from the Pee Dee River in Mars Bluff, South Carolina. The cannons were the armament of the Confederate gunboat CSS Pee Dee which launched in January of 1865 and was deliberately scuttled by her crew just a month later when defeat seemed imminent. With the impending arrival of General William Tecumseh Sherman's army fresh from putting Columbia to the torch, the crew jettisoned the ship's guns into the river, dismantled the boat, set it on fire and set it adrift down the river. The three cannons are two Brooke rifles, a 6.4-inch and a 7-inch, and a 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbore which was originally a Union weapon. The cannon was salvaged from the wreck of the USS Southfield after it was sunk by the formidable Confederate ironclad ram CSS Albemarle during the Battle of Plymouth on the Roanoke River in Plymouth, North Carolina, on April 19th, 1864. The Albermarle had been commissioned literally two days earlier and would cut a deadly swath through the Union Navy until she was brought down in October of 1864 by Lieutenant William B. Cushing in a raid so daring it belongs in a Dumas novel. The Southfield‘s Dahlgren was transported by train to the Mars Bluff Naval Yard where it was mounted on the Pee Dee. It wasn't mounted on a traditional carriage, however, which one of the reasons the cannons are of particular historical significance. All three of the Pee Dee‘s guns were swivel mounted so they could turn a full 360 degrees. The Pee Dee was the only ship ever built at the Mars Bluff Naval Yard. The Confederacy had no navy when the war began. The naval yard was one of a few constructed inland, safe from Union interference, with the aim of producing vessels that could harry the Union blockade choking Confederate shipping…"
See here link Amicalement Armand |
EJNashIII | 27 Oct 2015 8:50 p.m. PST |
"It wasn't mounted on a traditional carriage, however, which one of the reasons the cannons are of particular historical significance. All three of the Pee Dee‘s guns were swivel mounted so they could turn a full 360 degrees." What is so significant? Fairly common during the period. |
Tango01 | 28 Oct 2015 10:36 a.m. PST |
|
Charlie 12 | 12 Nov 2015 4:13 p.m. PST |
True enough, EJ. The guns are historically significant, but not for the reason in the OP. Of course, if the mounts had survived (after 150 years? Not likely!), then they would have had a real find. |
|