12 lb Napoleon - Fort Clinch State Park - Fernandina Beach, Florida
Posted by: gparkes
N 30° 42.287 W 081° 27.257
17R E 456498 N 3396973
Fort Clinch is maintained and interpreted as a Civil War fort. In the center of the fort is a 12 lb Napoleon Cannon.
Waymark Code: WMANAF
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 02/02/2011
Views: 54
An information card near this cannon reads:
M1857 12-pound Gun-Howitzer, "Napoleon"
1861
Named for its developer, Emperor Napoleon III of France, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, the 12-lb. Napoleon was the most commonly used gun of the Civil War. This gun, serial number 15, was made by the Ames Company in 1861 and is one of the estimated first thirty-six produced. The distinctive handles on top of the barrel were eliminated from all later Napoleons soon after the beginning of the war.
A visitor to almost any Civil War battlefield will have a Napoleon on display. The pure amount of remaining Napoleon cannons demonstrates the sheer numbers of cannons around during the war. In its part, it was responsible for a share of the 630,000 American's who died shaping this nation into a united country.
Fort Clinch was established as a Florida State Park in 1935. Almost immediately, this became a project for the CCC. Fort Clinch is maintained to interprete 1863 after the United States Union Army seized control of the fort.