20-pounder Parrott Rifles (Reproductions) - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 48.635 W 077° 14.146
18S E 308620 N 4409125
There are two reproduction, wrought-iron rifled cannon mounted on cast-iron carriages to the north and south (left and right) of the Battery B, 1st New York Artillery Monument.
Waymark Code: WMGH1N
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 03/05/2013
Views: 4
There are hundreds of cannons at Gettysburg, many of them flanking monuments and markers. Such is the case with these artillery pieces. The two 20-pounders are reproductions as evidences by the absence of an identifying foundry muzzle stamp. The guns point due west. The carriage, wheels and other tube carrying mechanisms all look well tended to and the tubes have been recently painted, at least as of 2008. They are both shiny and black. The heaviest rifled guns on the field at the battle were the 20-pdr Parrott rifles.
The Parrott rifles and the 15th Massachusetts Infantry Monument are located on the left or west side of 
Hancock Avenue (RD310) if traveling north along the road at the beginning of an area called The Angle. The sculpture is flanked on either side by two reproduction 20-pounder Parrott rifles, and then further out are these flank monuments. This monumentation is part of a string of monuments that extend a hundred feet or so south and north (west of this position) across the green field to the United States Regulars Monument (MN235) and beyond. All totaled, there are about 1080 feet of green fields with a line of monumentation spread across it representing the line of union regiments who defended Cemetery Ridge at The Angle against Longstreet's assault also referred to as Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, the final day of the Great Battle. 
Parking is plentiful and is available road-side at intermittently enlarged shoulder cut-outs, usually marked with white striping. Be sure to keep vehicles off the grass or you will be ticketed by park police. I visited this monument on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at approximately 3:48 P.M. I was at an elevation of 581 feet, ASL. I used a Canon PowerShot 14.1 Megapixel, SX210 IS digital camera for the photos.
About the Rifles:
I have found about a dozen or examples of the 20 Pounder Parrotts present at Gettysburg, including these two replicas. Parrotts came in sizes ranging from an 8-Pounder up to a 300-Pounder, but only two sizes were used at Gettysburg — the 10 pounder and 20 pounder models. In the actual armies at Gettysburg, there were eighteen of these guns present — 6 in the Army of the Potomac, and 12 in the Army of Northern Virginia. The barrel of a 20-Pounder Parrott typically weighed around 1800 pounds, making it one of the heaviest guns used by Civil War field armies. Trunnions measured 4.62 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches long. Because of such, the 20-pdr Parrott used a modified 32-pdr Field Howitzer carriage. Dressed out for service, the gun on its carriage with limber weighed in excess of 4400 pounds. This rated the weapon among the heaviest designated for field service, requiring an eight horse team.
About the Battery:
The 1st New York Artillery, Battery B was also known as The Empire Battery. During the battle of Gettysburg, it served as a member of Hazard’s Brigade in the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. The battery was commanded by Captain James McKay Rorty (1837-1863). Rorty was a book canvasser in New York City, a job he described as "crippling my intellect". He wounded at Fredericksburg and killed on July 3 during the final day of battle of Gettysburg. Rorty was buried close to where he fell. A few weeks later Richard Rorty, James' brother, came to Gettysburg and returned his body to New York, where it was laid to rest among many other Irish heroes of the Civil War in Calvary Cemetery. Under Rorty's limited command, 114 men (and 20-pounder Parrott rifles) were engaged at Gettysburg and among them 10 men were killed and 16 were wounded.
The central monument represents the position this Artillery unit took on July 3 when defending this position along Cemetery Ridge against the Longstreet's Assault or Pickett's Charge. The inscriptions on the monument read as follows:
(Front):Battery B
1st New York
Light
Artillery,
Artillery
Brigade,
2d Corps.
(Back):Position held
afternoon of
July 3d 1863.
Casualties;
Killed 10,
Wounded 16.
(Left):Mustered
into service
Aug. 31, 1861.
participated
in 78 days
of battle.
Mustered out
of service
June 16, 1865.
(Right):Organized at
Baldwinsville
Onondaga Co.
New York.