There are hundreds of cannons at Gettysburg, many of them flanking monuments and markers. Such is the case with this artillery piece. The carriage, wheels and other tube carrying mechanisms all look well tended to and in good shape, sporting what appears to be fresh paint. The firing tube has a green patina from constant exposure to the elements. I peered into the bore and saw no rifling grooves which makes this a smoothbore weapon. Most of the Union armaments are 3-inch ordnance rifles, these two Napoleons an exception. The muzzle contains a worn registry stamp which contains manufacturing information. I was able to read the information upon close inspection and discern the original identity of this weapon.
I learned the man who made the tablets which accompany the cannons also had a hand in restoring these cannons as well. Gettysburg National Military Park has hundreds of these historic artillery pieces on its field of battle. Their carriages, sights, and caissons, however, have been restored. Much of the restorative work came from Major Calvin Gilbert who owned the Gettysburg foundry.
Calvin Gilbert owned a foundry which bore his name in Gettysburg. This man was responsible for creating all of the cast iron battery tablets (including this one) at this park. His work did not end there as his foundry created many of the carriages for the historic cannons at Gettysburg. Although almost all of the cannons are from the Civil War, their carriages, sights, and caissons have been restored at his foundry in the early part of the 20th century. GIlbert was in his 70s when he did this work and completed work at other battlefields as well.
The two Napoleons and the 9th Massachusetts Battery Monument are located on Wheatfield Road. If entering off of Route 15/Emmitsburg Road, part of the newly adopted Pennsylvania Byway system, the monument is .26 miles on the left or north side if traveling east along the road. The Peachfield is also just to the west of this position. Parking is available at small, cutout shoulders along the road, some wide, some narrow. Be sure to stay off the grass or you will be tickete by park police. I visited this monument on Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 12:38 P.M. I was at an elevation of 570 feet, ASL. I used a Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos. The monument and cannons faces southwest.
My SOURCE for all things weapons at Gettysburg provided me additional information about this weapon which did not appear on the muzzle. I used red to designate that data. I learned each armory is unique in that it has a different pattern in which the registry information is displayed on the muzzle. The Revere Armory is unique in the arrangement of their muzzle stamp, too. The rest is as it appears exactly on the muzzle, starting at the top, 12 o'clock position and moving clockwise.
REVERE COPPER CO. ......1247 lbs ......1862 ......T.J.R. ......No 90 ......FDY #107
REVERE COPPER Co. stands for the Revere Copper Company out of Boston, MA and the foundry responsible for producing this weapon. 1247 lbs represents the total weight of the bronze firing tube which was very heavily in comparison to the lighter and newer 3-inch ordnance rifle of 1861 which weighed about four hundred pounds less than the Napoleon and was just as accurate and deadly. 1862 is the manufacture date which means in this year the foundry were still producing the older 1857 design from seven years earlier. T.J.R are the initials of an unbelievably famous (and somewhat controversial) Union Ordnance Officer responsible for inspecting the cannon before he Union Army took possession of it. No 90 is the registry or registration number, a way for the army to keep track of its weapons obtained from the foundry's commissioned to do so. FDY #107 is an internal control number specific to the foundry.
About the Inspector
Thomas Jackson Rodman (July 31, 1816 – June 7, 1871) was an American artillerist, inventor and innovator, ordnance specialist, and career United States Army officer. He served as a Union Army general during the American Civil War, in which he was noted for his many improvements and innovations concerning the artillery used by the Union forces. Rodman worked many armories including Alger, Hooper & Revere, to name a few. Throughout the American Civil War, Rodman was commander and superintendent of the Watertown Arsenal, located along the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. As the American Civil War ended in 1865, Rodman was rewarded for his service with three brevet promotions in the U.S. Army, all occurring on March 13, making him a brevet brigadier general. On March 7, 1867, Rodman was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. He died on duty at Rock Island on June 7, 1871, and was buried on June 17 in the arsenal's National Cemetery. SOURCE
About the Foundry
The Revere Copper Company was the business that operated North America's first copper rolling mill. It was started by Paul Revere in 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts and developed a commercially viable process for manufacturing copper sheets. Revere Copper Company of Boston, Massachusetts produced more 12-pdr light field guns during the Civil War than any other source. All told, Revere delivered 443 Napoleons against Federal contracts. Revere’s guns matched the specified pattern with one variation. While the first gun produced by Revere lacked handles, at least one of the first production batch of six had them. All later Revere guns lack handles.With all the guns produced, Revere Napoleons are familiar to most battlefield stompers. One good spot to see and compare Revere guns is Malvern Hill on the Richmond Battlefields. I could find no evidence linking the 1801 company to the 1861 company to the 2012 incarnation but I can only assume they are all one and the same as there are no others by this name to be found. The Wikipedia article makes no mention of the Revere Company's endeavors into cannon production. SOURCE
About the Gun
The twelve-pound cannon "Napoleon" was the most popular smoothbore cannon used during the war. It was named after Napoleon III of France and was widely admired because of its safety, reliability, and killing power, especially at close range. The Federal version of the Napoleon can be recognized by the flared front end of the barrel, called the muzzle-swell. Confederate Napoleons were produced in at least six variations, most of which had straight muzzles, but at least eight catalogued survivors of 133 identified have muzzle swells This bronze gun does not have that flare. Casting of these bronze Napoleons by the Confederacy ceased due to lack of resources and in January 1864 Tredegar began producing iron Napoleons. Just before this in early 1863, resources were so scarce, Robert E. Lee sent nearly all of the Army of Northern Virginia's bronze 6-pounder guns to Tredegar (another foundry) to be melted down and recast as Napoleons. SOURCE
Commonly referred to as the "Napoleon", this bronze smoothbore cannon fired a twelve-pound ball and was considered a light gun through each weighed an average of 1,200 pounds. This powerful cannon could fire explosives shell and solid shot up to a mile and charges of canister up to 300 yards with accuracy. The Napoleon was a favorite amongst some Northern artillerists because of its firepower and reliability. Two Union batteries armed with Napoleons at Gettysburg were very effective in holding back Confederate infantry attacks and knocking down opposing southern batteries. Battery G, 4th U.S. repeatedly slowed Confederate infantry attacks against the Eleventh Corps lines on July 1, while Captain Hubert Dilger's Battery G, 1st Ohio Light Artillery almost annihilated two Confederate batteries with accurate and punishing counter-battery fire at long distance. Most Union Napoleons were manufactured in Massachusetts by the Ames Company and the Revere Copper Company. SOURCE
12-pounder bronze gun, Model of 1857 Specifications
| Tube Material |
Bronze |
| Tube Weight |
1,227 lb (557 kg) |
| Powder Charge |
2.5 lb (1.13 kg) |
| Range (5° Elevation) |
1,619 yd (1,480 m) |
| At Gettyburg |
142 |
The monument, marks the position of the 9th Massachusetts Battery on July 2, 1863 and reads as follows:
(Front):Ninth Mass.
Battery
Captain Bigelow
July 2, 1863.
Killed - Wounded
2 Officers 1
3 Non-Comm Officers 6
5 Enlisted Men 13
10 Total 20
80 Horses
(Back):9th Massachusetts Battery
Capt. John Bigelow
1st Position left gun Wheatfield Road
4.30 to 6 p.m. July 2, 1863
Shelled Confederate batteries on Emmitsburg Road also the enemy around Rose Farm Buildings. Enfiladed with canister Kershaw's Brigade C.S.A. moving across field in front from Emmitsburg Road to woods on left where battle was raging in front of Round Tops
6 p.m. alone in field Graham's Brigade 3d. Corps forced from Peach Orchard had retired by detachments
By "Prolonge Firing" retired before Kershaw's Skirmishers and Barksdale's Brigade C.S.A. 400 yards.
2d position angel of stone wall near Trstle's House where the battery was halted by Lieut.-Colonel McGilvery and ordered to hold enemy in check until line of artillery could be formed 560 yards in rear was without support and hemmed in by stone wall enemy closed in on flanks men and horses were shot down when finally overcome at 6.30 p.m. Lieut.- Colonel McGilvery had batteries unsupported in position near the Weikert House covering opening in lines between Round Tops and left of 2d Corps 3/4 mile occasioned by withdrawal of Graham's Brigade
7.15 p.m. Willard's Brigade 2d. Corps and later Lockwood's Brigade 12th. Corps came to support of artillery
8 p.m. the enemy finally repulsed
This place is crazy-ridiculous with monuments, memorials and markers (oh my!), as well as cannons, rifles and guns. The Peach Orchard and Wheatfield Road are a collective and veritable outdoor museum. Allow a minimum of one hour to walk around and fully understand and appreciate the history presented here.