Rodman Smooth Bore - Civil War Era - Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West, FL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 24° 32.865 W 081° 48.622
17R E 417927 N 2715113
At the time of my visit the cannon were stacked together because of reconstruction of the gun mounts.
Waymark Code: WMW0X1
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 06/24/2017
Views: 1
County of display: Monroe County
Location of display: Dekalb Ave. & Fort St., Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West
"Union troops took control of Fort Zachary Taylor early in the Civil War and maintained it through the duration of the war. They made use of the fort's impressive artillery, including 10-inch Rodman and Columbiad cannons to detain blockade-running ships seeking to supply the Confederacy. In 1968, a large supply of Civil War-era guns and ammunition were discovered in the Fort's buried arsenal. In fact, Fort Zachary Taylor held the largest collection of Civil War-era cannons in the United States." ~ Fort Zachary Historic State Park
"The Rodman gun is any of a series of American Civil War–era columbiads designed by Union artilleryman Thomas Jackson Rodman[1] (1815–1871). The guns were designed to fire both shot and shell. These heavy guns were intended to be mounted in seacoast fortifications. They were built in 8-inch, 10-inch, 13-inch, 15-inch, and 20-inch bore. Other than size, the guns were all nearly identical in design, with a curving bottle shape, large flat cascabels with ratchets or sockets for the elevating mechanism. Rodman guns were true guns that did not have a howitzer-like powder chamber, as did many earlier columbiads. Rodman guns differed from all previous artillery because they were hollow cast, a new technology that Rodman developed that resulted in cast iron guns that were much stronger than their predecessors." ~ Wikipedia