This approximately 10-foot long, 32- pounder gun was cast at the Columbia Foundry Georgetown, D.C., for the United States Navy in 1821. It was originally part of the armament of the USS Columbia, until the ship was decommissioned in 1848. After that date the cannon was stored st the Norfolk Navy Yard. Confederate Troops captured it there in 1861. In the fall of that year, the cannon was moved to Fort Livingston, a masonry fortification that guarded the entrance to Barataria Bay, on Grand Terre Island, Louisiana.The carriage on which the gun presently rest resembles a Navy truck carriage, without the wheels. When transferred to Fort Livingston, the 32-pounder was mounted on a seacoast, front pintle, barrette carriage. The weight of the cannon is marked as 59.1.0, which translates to 6,636 lbs. It fired a 32-pound cannonball up to 1,901 yards, or two-thirds of a mile, with a six-pound charge of black powder.The cannon is on loan to the people of Grand Isle from the Louisiana Division of Archaeology, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
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