Artillery in the USA: Connecticut: Scotland, Seymour, Stafford, Stafford Springs, Stonington Village, Suffield, Tavern Island, Terryville, Thomaston, Torrington, Trumbill, Union, Wallingford, Waterbury, Westport, Windsor Locks, Woodbury

Artillery in the USA, Connecticut

Scotland, Seymour, Stafford, Stafford Springs, Stonington Village, Suffield, Tavern Island, Terryville, Thomaston, Torrington, Trumbill, Union, Wallingford, Waterbury, Westport, Windsor Locks, Woodbury

Scotland

(CraiginCT Photos)

US 155-mm Howitzer, M114A2 carriage Serial No. 5499, dated 1956, SJS.  Located near the town center.

Seymour

(David Pelland Photo)

4.2-inch 30-pounder Parrot Rifle, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 1 of 3.  Three of the four corner positions around the Soldiers Monument, French Memorial Park Spruce Street, are occupied by 11 ft. 4 in. long cannon mounted on cut stone.  The fourth corner has a triangular pile of cannonballs on a cut stone base.

(David Pelland Photo)

4.2-inch 30-pounder Parrot Rifle, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 2 of 3, 1864 by the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, N.Y.  Soldiers Monument, French Memorial Park Spruce Street.

4.2-inch 30-pounder Parrot Rifle, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 3 of 3.  Soldiers Monument, French Memorial Park Spruce Street.

Stafford

(David Pelland Photo)

57-mm M1A1 Anti-tank Gun, Stafford Wall of Honor.

Stafford Springs

(Dave Pelland Photos)

32-pounder Model 1864 (6.2-inch) Dahlgren Shell Gun, 4,500 lbs, mounted on a concrete memorial in Stafford Springs Cemetery on Monson Road (Route 32).

This 32-pounder Model 1864 (6.2-inch) Dahlgren Shell Gun, 4,500 lbs, was dedicated in 1897, and bears an inscription on its south (left) face reading, “A tribute to the patriotism of the men who went to the defence of the country from Stafford in the War of the Rebellion.  The present bequeaths to the future the remembrance of the heroic past.”  The west face has an inscription reading, “Veterans 1861-1865.”  The north face bears an inscription reading, “Erected by Winter Post No. 44, G.A.R., assisted by the Woman Relief Corps, and the Sons of Veterans in honor of their comrades.  Dedicated 30 May 1897.”

Stonington Village

(David Pelland Photos)

(Waymarking Photo)

Cast-iron smoothbore muzzle-loading 18-pounder Gun, 35 cwt, No. 1 of 2, flanking an historical marker in the center of Cannon Square.

(Coastal Connecticut Life Photo)

(Friends of Fort Washington Photo)

Cast-iron smoothbore muzzle-loading 18-pounder Gun, 35 cwt, No. 2 of 2, cast in Salisbury, Connecticut, flanking an historical marker in the center of Cannon Square.

The 1830 obelisk, topped with a naval shell, stands in the borough of Stonington’s Cannon Square.  An inscription on the monument’s north face reads, “These two guns of 18 pounds caliber were heroically used to repel the attack on Stonington of the English naval vessels Ramilies, 74 guns, Pactolus, 44, Dispatch, 20, Nimrod, 20 and the bomb ship Terror, 10 August 1814.”

Suffield

(Dave Pelland Photo)

Cast-iron smoothbore muzzle-loading possibly 24-pounder Gun, mounted on a concrete stand behind the Civil War Memorial.

Tavern Island

(Mercury Press Photo)

Cast-iron smoothbore muzzle-loading  possibly 24-pounder gun mounted on a wood naval gun carriage, heavily corroded.

Terryville

(John Banks Photos)

10-inch Rodman Gun, (Columbiad, 10-inch, smoothbore, seacoast, Model 1861), weight 14,980-lbs, No. 631 FPF, PA149, 9987 on the muzzle, mounted on a concrete stand.

Thomaston

(Dave Pelland Photo)

Possibly a Bronze 12-pounder Napoleon Model 1857 smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun-Howitzer, (Confederate Gun with straight muzzle used in the Civil War), mounted on a wheeled gun carriage beside the Civil War memorial.

(Dave Pellman Photo)

German First World War 7.7cm Infanteriegeschütze L/27 (Infantry Gun L/27), beside the Civil War memorial.

Torrington

(Dave Pelland Photo)

155-mm M114 Howitzer, Coe Memorial Park.

Trumbull

(David Pelland Photos)

M114 155-mm Howitzer, Beach Memorial Park.  A 1994 plaque on the howitzer expresses a wish that someday all weapons of war will have their breaches and barrels welded shut.

Union

(Dave Pelland Photos)

3.67-in 20-pounder Naval Parrott Rifle mounted on a concrete Civil War Memorial stand with plaque and cannon balls in front.

Wallingford

(Dave Pelland Photo)

Civil War Gun.

‍

Waterbury

(George Lynch Photo)

(733rd Field Battalion Photo)

57-mm M1A1 Anti-tank Gun, Waterbury War Memorial.

(Waymarking Photo)

German First World War 21-cm Morser.

(Raechel Guest Photo)

German First World War 7.7-cm FK 16 Field Gun.

(Michael Herrick Photo)

8-inch Siege and Garrison Mortar, in front of the Waterbury Soldier's Monument, located at the intersection of West Main Street and Church Street.

Westport

(Valerie Bueti Photos)

(Dave Pelland Photos)

Cast-iron smoothbore muzzle-loading 24-pounder gun mounted side by side with a 2nd gun on a concrete memorial, No. 1 of 2.  Markings corroded, donated by the U.S. government.

(Faith Schachne Photo)

Cast-iron smoothbore muzzle-loading 24-pounder gun mounted side by side with a 2nd gun on a concrete memorial, No. 2 of 2.  The monument was dedicated in 1901.

Several monuments on and near Westport’s Compo Beach mark the starting and ending point of the invasion of Danbury by British forces who landed there on April 25, 1777.  The British brought about 2,000 troops to Westport, who planned to destroy war supplies being stored about 20 miles north in Danbury. The British spent the night in Weston before reaching Danbury on April 26, where they destroyed food, medicine and ammunition (but didn’t do a great job of destroying a cache of rum, which they drank instead).  Warned of the pending arrival of local militia, the British evacuated Danbury and retreated south, engaging in battles in Ridgefield and Westport before sailing away on April 28. The British suffered more than 200 casualties in the fighting, and the Americans had 20 men killed and 40 wounded.  Westport marks the battles with three monuments. At the intersection of Compo Road South and Post Road East, a boulder bears a plaque reading “Here occured the first engagement between the Continentals and the British Troops when they invaded Connecticut April-25-1777.” The plaque was dedicated in 1914 by the Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution.

‍

Windsor Locks

(Dave Pelland Photo)

Civil War Gun, mounted on a concrete stand in front of the Memorial Hall.

‍

Woodbury

(Library of Congress Photo)

32-pounder Model 1829 Gun with Blomefield pattern breeching ring, mounted on a wheeled siege carriage during the Civil War.

(Dave Pelland Photos)

32-pounder Model 1829 smoothbore muzzleloading Gun with Blomefield pattern breeching ring, No. 1 of 2 with the Soldier's Monument on the South Green.

Five-man gun crew posing with their 32-pounder Model 1829 smoothbore muzzleloading Gun mounted on a barbette during the Civil War.  (Library of Congress Photo)

32-pounder Model 1829 smoothbore muzzleloading Gun with Blomefield pattern breeching ring, No. 2 of 2 with the Soldier's Monument on the South Green.  The 32-pounder smoothbore M1829 gun was produced from 1829 to 1839, and was the most widely produced 32-pounder in America, cast in a number of different models and lengths.  The Navy purchased at least 2,947 of these guns in ten different types.  Well suited for shipboard use, the Model 1829 was often used by the Army as a seacoast gun in coastal forts.  With the introduction of ironclads during the Civil War, the 32-pounder was unable to penetrate these new heavily armoured targets and had to be replaced in service.

Harbor Defense Command

Harbor Defense Command was a military organization of the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps designated in 1925 from predecessor organizations dating from circa 1895.  It consisted of the forts, underwater minefields, and other coast defenses of a particular harbor or river.  Harbor Defense Commands were disestablished in 1950 along with the Coast Artillery Corps.

(US Army Photo)

155-mm M1918 Gun on a Panama Mount, served by a gun crew of the 241st Coast Artillery at Sagamore Hill near Cape Cod Canal.

Harbour Defense Commands originated as Coast Artillery Districts, to control groups of forts constructed under the Endicott Plan, beginning in 1895.  A 1909 reference shows that districts could include (depending on size) a Battle Command (later Fort Command), Fire Command, Mine Command, and Battery Commands.  In 1913 the districts were redesignated as Coast Defense Commands, called "Coast Defenses of..." the area protected.  At this time Coast Artillery Districts became regional commands, each controlling several Coast Defense Commands.  Several of these commands were disarmed and disestablished between the First World War and the Second World War; some of these were rearmed in the Second World War with "Panama Mounts", circular concrete platforms for towed 155-mm guns (see photo above).  In 1925 the Coast Defense Commands were redesignated as Harbor Defense Commands, called "Harbor Defenses of..." the area protected.  After the Second World War all of these commands were disarmed within a few years, and they and the Coast Artillery Corps were disestablished in 1950.  (Wikipedia)

‍