The Text of Sgt. Binder's Medal of Honor

From the Naval History and Heritage Command.

"BINDER, RICHARD, Sergeant USMC.  Born 1840, Philadelphia, Pa.  Accredited to Pennsylvania.

On board the USS Ticonderoga during the attacks on Fort Fisher, 24 and 25 December 1864; and 13 to 15 January 1865.  Despite heavy return fire by the enemy,  and the explosion of the  100-pounder Parrott rifle which killed8 men and wounded 12 more, Sergeant Binder, as Captain of a gun, performed his duties with skill and courage during the two days of battle.

As his ship again took position on the 13th, he remained steadfast as the Ticonderoga maintained a well-placed fire upon the batteries on shore, and thereafter, as she materially lessened the power of the guns on the mound which had been turned upon our assaulting columns.

During the action,  the flag was planted on one of the strongest fortifications possessed by the rebels."

--Old B-Runner

USS Roanoke-- Part 23: Not a Successful Ironclad Monitor

Initial plans called for four turrets on the new monitor, but only three were placed.    Her masts, rigging and everything except smokestack was removed above the gundeck.  Little to nothing was done to reinforce the hull which proved to be a major problem.

Those three turrets, however, mounted some really heavy pieces of artillery:  two muzzle loading 15-inch Dahlgren, two 11-inch Dahlgrens and two eight inch 150-pdr. Parrott rifles.  No turret had two of the same two caliber guns, however.

Commissioned 29 June 1863.

Her initial commander as an ironclad was Captain Benjamin F. Sands (who was also at the battles of Fort Fisher while in command of the USS Fort Jackson),  He reported that on the trip from New York to Hampton Roads that the ship rolled heavily that it would be impossible to use its guns.

On 14 July, Sands test fired his guns for the first time and three of the guns dismounted because of the bad recoil.  It was decided that the Roanioke would serve only as harbor defense for Hampton Roads, where she spent the rest of the war.

She was decommissioned in 1875 and sold for scrap in 1883.

--Old B-Runner

USS Roanoke-- Part 21: General Characteristics as Frigate and Monitor

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS (as a frigate)

Length:  263.8 feet

Beam:  51.4 feet

Complement:  674

Armament:  

One 10-inch Dahlgren gun

Twenty-eight 9-inch Dahlgren guns

Fourteen 8-inch Dahlgren guns

***********************************

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS (as a monitor)

Complement:   347

Armament (in three turrets)

Two 15-inch Dahlgren guns

Two 150-pdr.  Parrott rifles

Two 11-inch Dahlgren guns

--Old B-Runner

Fort Zachary Taylor-- Part 4: All Those Buried Cannons

Then, the former  marine and civil service engineer Howard England began to unearth  Civil War cannons  buried within the walls of Fort Taylor.  In 1899, when  Army engineers removed the top two levels of he fort in order to build the Osceola and Adair Batteries, they built the batteries over the casemates (gun emplacements).

Nearly 200 Rodman, Columbiad and Parrot cannons  were buried with in the battery walls.  Many were excavated and are on display today, but others are still buried, some of them are embedded and some are partially visible in the stone walls of the batteries.

Howard England is the man responsible for the preservation of Fort Zachary Taylor, for his continued work over a ten year period that uncovered the largest collection of Civil War armaments in the United States, including cannons, guns, a desalinization plat and thousands of cannonballs and projectiles.

This earned Fort Zachary Taylor the protection of the U.S. government as a National  Historic Landmark in 1973.

Thanks Mr. England.  --Old B-Runner

USS Marblehead-- Part 1: Robert Blake's Ship Was a 'Ninety-Day Gunboat'

I have been writing about Medal of Honor recipient Robert Blake, a former slave, contraband and then Union Navy seaman.  He was on the USS Marblehead when his deeds warranted the honor.  His captain was Lt. Cmdr. Richard Worsam Meade III at that time.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Marblehead was a  Unadilla-class  gunboat built for the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.  The Unadilla-class are often called "Ninety-Day Gunboats" for the speed with which they were built.  There were 23 of them built and they participated in most coastal operations during the war, capturing at least 146 blockade runners.  An effective cost outlay for the Union.

Stats:

691 tons

158 feet long, 28-foot beam

9.6 feet draft

screw steamship with sails

10 knot speed

114 crew

Armament:

One 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore

 two 24-pdr. smoothbore

two  20-pdr. Parrott rifle

--Old B-Runner

CSS/USS Diana-- Part 3: Built in Pennsylvania, Ended Up In Texas

From the 290 Foundation  "CSS Diana"

The Diana was initially built  as a side-wheel steamer at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the Monongahela River in 1858.  Subsequently, along with steamers Bayou City and Neptune No. 2, she was offered for charter or sale at Galveston, Texas, in September 1861 by the Houston Navigation Company.

She remained listed as  a steamer of that company on 19 December 1861 when taking the seized Federal life boat Francis in tow for San Jacinto, Texas.  Under Captain Blakmen, she was tasked to carry the crew of the CSS General Rusk from Houston to Galveston on 20th January 1862.

Both the Diana and Bayou City were eventually fitted out as semi ironclads, increasing their displacements from 239 tons to 245 tons respectively before being used as gunboats by the Texas Marine Department for the defense of Galveston Bay.

One-inch of iron protected the Diana's bow and much of her deck was protected by tightly-packed cotton bales  She was fitted with five Parrott guns, also mounted on the forward deck.

The one picture I saw of the Diana with cannons, showed one aft and one forward.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Tallahassee-- Part 1: The Stats

From Wikipedia

Builder:  J&W Dudgeon, Cubitt Town, London, England.

First Occupation:  Blockade Runner

Commissioned:  July 20, 1864

Fate:  renamed CSS Olustee (raider)  and CSS Chameleon (blockade runner)

**********************

Displacement:  700 tons

Length:  220 feet

Beam:  24 feet

Propulsion:  two -- 100 h.p.  steam engines, two propellers, masts and sails

Speed:  15 knots

Complement:  120

Armament:

one rifled 32-pdr. forward
one rifled 100-pdr. amidships
one heavy Parrott aft

--Old B-Runner

John S. Griscom, USN-- Part 3: Killed by Exploding 100-Pdr. Parrott Gun at First Battle of Fort Fisher

John Griscom was on the USS Mackinaw at the First Battle of Fort Fisher as an acting ensign, likely in command of the 100-pdr. Parrott cannon on the ship.

At the first battle, Rear Admiral David D. Porter reports that 20,271 projectiles were fired at Fort Fisher and Union naval casualties mounted to 20 killed and 63 wounded.  Also reported was that six 100-pdr. Parrot guns exploded killing and wounding men.

The explosion of the Parrott gun on the USS Mackinaw resulted in one officer being killed and five men wounded.  That one officer would have to be Mr. Griscom.

The Mackinaw was listed as having two 100-pdr. Parrott  rifles.

Also:  four 9-inch smoothbores, two 24-pdr. smoothbores, one heavy 12-pdr and one 12-pdr. rifle.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, June 19, 1864-- Part 2

Continued from June 19.

The Alabama mounted 8 guns to the Kearsarge's 7.  Yet, Captain Winslow of the Kearsarge enjoyed a superiority in broadside including two heavy XI-inch guns while Semmes had but one heavy gun, an VIII-inch.  Perhaps his greatest advantage was superior ammunition, since the Alabama's had deteriorated during her long cruise.

Furthermore, Winslow had protected the sides of his ship and the vulnerable machinery by hanging heavy chains over  the sides from topside to below the waterline.  Kearsarge's complement was 163.  Alabama's was 149.

From Wikipedia:

CSS Alabama:

220 feet long, 31.8 foot beam
Complement 145 officers and men

Armament:

six 32-pdr cannons
one 110-pdr. cannon
one 68-pdr. cannon

USS Kearsarge

201.3 feet, 33.8 foot beam

Armament:

two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore
four 32-pdr. guns
one 30-pdr. Parrott rifle

--Old B-Runner

154th Anniversary 2nd Battle of Fort Fisher This Saturday-- Part 1

From the December  23, 2018, Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News  "Fort Fisher program includes speakers, cannon fire."

January 13-15 marks the 154th anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher which took place in 1865.  A commemoration will be held from 10 a.m.  to 4 p.m. January 12.  It is called  "...And How We Suffered:  the 154th Commemoration of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher."

Outside, re-enactors will show infantry tactics and demonstrations firing the 32-pounder cannon, 12-pounder Napoleon and 10 pounder Parrot rifle.

Beginning at 10 a.m., there will also be two Junior Reserve activities for children.  The N.C. Junior Reserves helped defend the fort with boys under the age of 18.

The OLD Fort!!  --Old B-Runner

USS De Soto-- Part 5: Service On Mississippi River and Off Texas

In early July 1862, the USS De Soto made a run up the Mississippi River carrying letters and passengers to the Union ships participating in the Siege of Vicksburg.  Then, it was back to  the Gulf and patrolling off Texas between Sabine Pass, the Brazos River and Brazos Santiago at the mouth of the Rio Grande River.

In early October, it returned to New Orleans for temporary repairs to its boilers.  But a backlog of work and lack of funds there caused Farragut to have to send the De Soto to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for extensive repairs.  The ship arrived there 18 November and the repairs lasted two months.

During this time William M. Walker was promoted from commander to captain.  The De Soto's battery was altered and now mounted one 11-inch Dahlgren, one 30-pdr. Parrot rifle, six 32-pdrs and two 12-pdr. smoothbores.

It left Philadelphia 3 February 1863 and stopped at Havana and Santo Domingo before arriving in key West 15 February.

--Old B-Runner

Parrott Rifles At Fort Fisher

From the Nov. 13, 2010, To the Sound of Guns Blog.

The USS Susquehanna  received two 8-inch Parrot guns mounted fore and aft.  Before Fort Fisher, it exchanged them for 6.4-inchers.  One burst in action.

The USS Colorado, Wabash and Minnesota, sister ships of the USS Merrimack (which became the CSS Virginia) all used 8-inch Parrotts during the war.  All three were at Fort Fisher (and any one of them mounted nearly as many guns as in the entire fort).

During the first attack, an 8-inch on the Colorado crashed after firing a Schenkel round.  Fortunately, the gunners had detected it early enough to prevent casualties, but this added even more to Admiral Porter's distrust of rifled guns.

The USS Pequoit fired 115 rounds from its 8-inch Parrot in the first battle.  The 6.4-inch gun on the USS Kansas burst during the first attack after firing 150 rounds.

Dixon wrote, "The bursting of the guns (six in all) disconcerted the crews of the vessels."  A total of 45 sailors were killed or wounded from this.  The admiral begged that the Navy not get anymore.

I Guess You'd Call This Friendly Fire of Sorts.  --Old B-Runner

The Fate of Two Captured Guns

With the threat posed by the CSS Albemarle against the North Carolina town of Plymouth in 1864, the Union sent an 8-inch and a 6.4-inch Parrott rifles to that spot.

When the Confederates captured the town, they immediately took those guns away.

The 6.4-inch was shipped to Fort Fisher and the Confederate Navy received the 8-inch.

Old B_R'er

Farragut's Cannon in Cincinnati

Yesterday, I arrived in Cincinnati and that night went to the newly redeveloped Washington Park downtown for a concert featuring two popular local bands.  While walking around, I espied off in the distance what appeared to be a 19th century naval cannon.

Obviously, I had to check it out.  Turned out to be a 30-pdr Parrott cannon that had been on one of Admiral Farragut's ships at the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay in Alabama.  Unfortunately, it did not say what ship.  A plaque by it said that it had been in Washington Park since 1870 and had been acquired by the War Department and had been a gift to the city by T.W. Seig of the 6th Ohion Infantry regiment.

It had been restored in the mid-1970s using anonymous donations and volunteer labor and was rededicated Aug. 5, 1997, 133 years after the Battle of Mobile Bay.

After I got back to Denny's, I went online but could find no new information about it.

Sure would like to know what ship it was on.

Old B-Runner

Unexploded Shell Found at Fort McAllister-- Part 2

Sometimes, extra shells were fired off by ships, but a person has to wonder how come the Patapsco missed by a mile.  However, Civil War shells were notoriously flawed.

When fired,, the shell base sometimes would fracture and the shell would go erratically.  Also, sometimes the fuse would twist and the powder would not be ignited when it struck.

These Parrott shells had a range of 3-5 miles and were made of cast iron and made at West Point Foundry in Cold Springs, New York.  Even though called a 200-pound shell, they actually weighed 145 pounds because it was a shell, filled with gunpowder and not a solid shot or bolt, which would have then weighed 200 pounds.

The shell will undergo preservation and is the fourth unexploded Parrott one found in the Fort McAllister area.

So,When You Go Walking Around a Civil War Battlefield, Watch Where You Step.  --Old B-Runner