Blakely Cannon

Blakely Cannon (HM16YE)

Location: Raleigh, NC 27601 Wake County
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Country: United States of America
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N 35° 46.88', W 78° 38.339'

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Inscription
Fawcett, Preston & Company of Liverpool, England, cast this 4-inch, 18-pounder rifled cannon in 1862 and sold it to the Confederacy. It was part of a "flying battery" of field artillery stationed at Fort Fisher that protected Confederate commerce vessels, called blockade-runners, that traded at Wilmington, North Carolina. This cannon participated in the fight for the blockade-runner Hebe, which ran aground near Fort Fisher on August 18, 1863. As the USS Minnesota and other Union gunboats shelled the Hebe five days later, a party of sailors landed and captured the Confederates' flying battery, including the Blakely cannon. Rear Admiral S. Philips Lee, commander of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, later sent the Blakely to Washington, D.C., as a trophy of the U.S. Navy's service on the blockade of Wilmington.

Fawcett, Preston & Company cast many Blakely patent cannons. This specific example, however, does not bear the "Blakely's Patent" stamp. The gun actually resembles a Federal 3-inch ordnance rifle more than a Blakely, even though it is indeed a Blakely model.

The N.C. Museum of History would like to thank the Naval Historical Center, Washington Naval Yard, Washington D.C., for the loan of the Blakely cannon; Joe Schwarzer and Dennis Schurr for locating the gun; and East Carolina's Constructors, and William Prentice for their assistance in conserving the cannon. Special thanks also go to Ken and Martha Howard for funding the conservation.
Details
HM NumberHM16YE
Tags
Placed ByNorth Carolina Museum of History
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, September 4th, 2014 at 12:40pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17S E 713397 N 3962267
Decimal Degrees35.78133333, -78.63898333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 35° 46.88', W 78° 38.339'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds35° 46' 52.80" N, 78° 38' 20.34" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)919
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 2 W Edenton St, Raleigh NC 27601, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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