Artillery in the USA: Massachusetts: Fort Devens, Foxboro, Gardner, Georgetown, Gloucester, Hamilton, Hanover, Haverhill, Hingham, Hinsdale, Holbrook, Holyoke, Hudson, Hull, Kingston, Leominster, Lowell, Lynn, Marblehead, Marion, Marlborough

‍Fort Devens, 94th Division Headquarters

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3336982)

60-pounder BL Mk. I Gun, Camp Valcartier, Quebec ca. 1914.

(Doug Culver Photo)

Ordnance BL 60-pounder Howitzer, inside Fort Devens in front of the US Army Reserve, M.G. Harry J Malony Building, of the 804th Medical Brigade on Saratoga Blvd.

The British Ordnance BL 60-pounder was a 5-inch (127-mm) heavy Field Gun designed in 1903-05 to provide a new capability that had been partially met by the interim QF 4.7-inch 72 cwt Gun.  This highly accurate heavy artillery gun threw shrapnel and explosive shells approximately 9,150 metres, a range that was later extend by munitions development.  This was the Canadian army’s main heavy gun throughout the First World War.  It was designed for both horse draft and mechanical traction and served throughout the main theatres of the First World War.  The BL 60-pounder remained in service with British and Commonwealth forces in the inter-war period and in frontline service with British and South African batteries until 1942 being superseded by the BL 4.5-inch Medium Gun.  Two Canadian BL 60-pounder Howitzer batteries were still active on the Western Front at the end of the war.

(Sf46 Photo)

3-inch M1905 Field Gun.  Present in June of 2000, this gun has been relocated.

The M1902, a.k.a. M1905 3-inch gun (76.2-mm) was the U.S. Army’s first steel, rifled, breech loading, quick-firing field gun. The features of rifling, breech loading and springs to absorb the gun's recoil and quickly return it to the firing position combined to improve the range, accuracy, and rate of fire of the gun, allowing it to be used more effectively in operations with infantry. These new capabilities allowed the gun to provide accurate indirect fire on targets not in a direct line of sight, which provided crucial firepower for infantry attacks.  It was also one of the first artillery guns to have an armoured shield to protect the crew from small arms fire.

The gun fired 3inch (76-mm) Shrapnel or Explosive Shells that weighed 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms). This was of a heavier poundage than the older guns, in its role, could cope with (the use of steel provided this benefit) meaning that the M1902 could fire a shell (when taking note of the use of tighter rifling) at a greater muzzle velocity at a greater accuracy than any other field gun of American origin to that point. It had a muzzle velocity of 1,700 ft/s (520 m/s) with an effective range of 6,500 yards (5,900 m), and a maximum range of 8,500 yards (7,800 m). The maximum rate of fire was 15 rounds per minute.

(Author Photo)

US M1897 75-mm Field Gun.  This gun is equipped with rubber tires indicating it was modified after the First World War. No. 1 of 2.  Similar to the photo of this one in the Louisiana National Guard Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.

US M1897 75-mm Field Gun.  This gun is equipped with rubber tires indicating it was modified after the First World War. No. 2 of 2.

Based on the French 75 field gun, it was horse-drawn during the First World War or equipped with the M2A- split-trail, truck-towed field carriage in the Second World War.   Both versions saw combat at different times.

French 75-mm field gun being fired by Battery C, 6th Field Artillery.  This gun fired the first shot for America on the Lorraine front.  (NARA Photo 530744)

The French 75-mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece adopted in March 1898. Its official French designation was: Matériel de 75-mm Mle 1897. It was commonly known as the French 75, simply the 75 and Soixante-Quinze (French for "75"). Initially, the French 75 had been designed as an anti-personnel weapon system for delivering large volumes of time-fused shrapnel shells on enemy troops advancing in the open. After 1915 and the onset of trench warfare, other types of battlefield missions demanding impact-detonated high-explosive shells prevailed. By 1918 the 75s became the main agents of delivery for toxic gas shells. The 75s also became widely used as truck mounted anti-aircraft artillery. They were also the main armament of the Saint-Chamond tank in 1918. The French 75 is widely regarded as the first modern artillery piece.

The US Army adopted the French 75-mm field gun during the First World War and used it extensively in battle. The US designation of the basic weapon was 75-mm Gun M1897. There were 480 American 75-mm field gun batteries (over 1,900 guns) on the battlefields of France in November 1918. Manufacture of the French 75 by American industry began in the spring of 1918 and quickly built up to an accelerated pace. Carriages were built by Willys-Overland, the hydro-pneumatic recuperators by Singer Manufacturing Company and Rock Island Arsenal, the cannon itself by Symington-Anderson and Wisconsin Gun Company. American industry built 1,050 French 75s during the First World War, but only 143 had been shipped to France by 11 November 1918; most American batteries used French-built 75s in action.

The first US artillery shots in action in the First World War were fired by Battery C, 6th Field Artillery on 23 October 1917 with a French 75 named "Bridget" which is preserved today at the United States Army Ordnance Museum. During his service with the American Expeditionary Force, Captain (and future U.S. President) Harry S. Truman commanded a battery of French 75s.

During the 1930s most M1897A2 and A3 (French made) and M1897A4 (American made) guns were mounted on the modern carriage M2A3 which featured a split trail, rubber tires allowing towing at any speed, elevation limit increased to +45 degrees and traverse increased to 30 degrees left and right. Along with new ammunition, these features increased the effective range and allowed the gun to be used as an anti-tank gun, in which form it equipped the first Tank Destroyer battalions.  (Wikipedia)

Foxboro

XI-inch Navy Dahlgren Gun mounted on a concrete stand, Rock Hill Cemetery in Foxboro.

Gardner

(Daderot Photos)

3-inch breech-loading (BL) landing howitzers of the 1870s/1880s generation.  No. 1 of 3, grouped around the central monument in Monument Park.

(Daderot Photos)

3-inch breech-loading (BL) landing howitzers of the 1870s/1880s generation.  No. 2 of 3, grouped around the central monument in Monument Park.

3-inch breech-loading (BL) landing howitzers of the 1870s/1880s generation.  No. 3 of 3, grouped around the central monument in Monument Park.

Georgetown

M37 Gun Motor Carriage (GMC) Self-Propelled Gun (SPG). This vehicle is located at the VFW in Georgetown, along Highway 133.  The M37 mated the gun of the M4 Sherman 105 series with the chassis of the M24 Chaffee light tank.

Dodge M37 3⁄4-ton 4x4 truck (G741) VFW Post 7608, 435 Andover St.

(Allen Tanner Photos)

8-mm Hotchkiss Model 1914 Machine Gun, mounted on a tripod stand in front of the war memorial.  The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France purchased 7,000 Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine guns in 8-mm Lebel, and used them extensively at the front in 1917 and 1918.

(Army Heritage and Education Center Photo)

8-mm Hotchkiss Model 1914 Machine Gun being operated on a range near Froissy, Oise, France, by a US Army Machine Gun Team from Company 1, 2nd Brigade, Machine Gun Battalion, 1st Division, 10  May 1918.

  (Allen Tanner Photos)

6-mm Colt-Browning M1895 as-operated machine gun, mounted on a tripod stand in front of the war memorial.

The Colt–Browning M1895, nicknamed "potato digger" because of its unusual operating mechanism, is an air-cooled, belt-fed, gas-operated machine gun that fires from a closed bolt with a cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute.  Based on a John Browning and Matthew S. Browning design dating to 1889.  The M1895 was the first machine gun adopted by the United States military, and it saw service with the Army (who never formally adopted it), and the US Navy/US Marines, and was adapted to use in many roles.  It was mounted on tripods, horse-drawn carriages, boats, aircraft, and even armored cars. The US Navy was the first to begin testing, as early as 1893, with a version chambered in the Navy's 6-mm cartridge

(US Army Photo)

One of the later versions of the Colt-Browning M1895 machine gun is demonstrated by a US Army operator. The gun is shown mid-action, with the operating lever extending downward below the front of the barrel.

Gloucester, Stage Head, Stage Fort Park

This area has been fortified and manned intermittently from 1635 until the Spanish–American War.  The works were also known variously as "Gloucester Fort", "Eastern Point Battery", "Fort Conant" and other variants of these names.

4.2-inch (30-pounder) Parrott Rifle, 4296, No. 391, 1865, weight 4,291 lbs, R.M.H., mounted on a concrete stand, No. 1 of 4 guns in this fort.

(Allen Tanner Photo)

Cast iron possible 32-pounder smoothbore muzzleloading, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 2 of 4 guns in the park.

(Allen Tanner Photo)

XI-inch Navy Dahlgren Gun, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 3 of 4 guns in the park.

(Allen Tanner Photo)

Cast iron possible 12-pounder smoothbore muzzleloading gun, No. 4 of 4 guns in the park.

Hamilton

(John M. Sullivan Photo)

German First World War 7.7-cm Feldkanone 16 (7.7-cm FK 16), (Serial Nr. unknown), Patton Memorial Park.

(John M. Sullivan Photo)

US Model 1897 3.2-inch BL field gun mounted on a wheeled gun carriage, Patton Memorial Park.

M4A1(75) Sherman tank, Patton Memorial Park, 330 Bay Road.

Hanover

(Santee1821 Photo)

Two United States Navy 12-Pounder Bronze Dahlgren Boat Howitzers are displayed in Hanover, Massachusetts on either side of a monument “Erected by the people of Hanover in grateful memory of her sons who died in the War for the Preservation of the Union - 1878”. The two boat howitzers appear to be mounted on original carriages which have had their wheels replaced at some point.

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(Santee1821 Photos)

Registry Number 255 manufactured by Ames Manufacturing Company, Chicopee, Massachusetts in 1863.  “J.A.D” - Inspected by John A. Dahlgren.  Weight: 774 pounds.  Preponderance: 75 pounds. Mounted on Carriage No. 490.OF.571.

(Santee1821 Photos)

Registry Number 417 manufactured by Ames Manufacturing Company, Chicopee, Massachusetts in 1865.  “J.A.D” - Inspected by John A. Dahlgren.  Weight: 767 pounds.  Preponderance: 74 pounds. Note: “Preponderance” is the force with which the breech end of the cannon pushes down on the elevating mechanism when the cannon is mounted on its carriage. According to the research of Wayne E. Stark, 12-Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer Number 255 was carried aboard USS Aster during the American Civil War (The Big Guns, pg. 191).  Mounted on Carriage No. 472. OF.575.

‍Haverhill

(Lawrence Mirsky Photos)

US Army 3-inch M1905 Field Gun, Grand Army of the Republic Park (G.A.R. Park).

(Allen Tanner Photos)

US M5 3-inch Anti-Tank Gun, Hayes Blvd and North Main Street.

(Allen Tanner Photos)

4-inch Slide Mk. VII Model 4 Naval Deck Gun, Hilldale Ave cemetery.

Hingham

(Author Photo)

37-mm M3 Anti-Tank Gun, No. 2 of 2, similar to this one in the National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.  

The 37-mm Gun M3 was the first dedicated anti-tank gun fielded by United States forces in numbers. Introduced in 1940, it became the standard anti-tank gun of the U.S. infantry with its size enabling it to be pulled by a jeep. However, the continuing improvement of German tanks quickly rendered the 37-mm ineffective, and by 1943 it was being gradually replaced in the European and Mediterranean theaters by the more powerful British-developed 57-mm Gun M1. In the Pacific, where the Japanese tank threat was less significant, the M3 remained in service until the end of the war. Like many other light anti-tank guns, the M3 was widely used in the infantry support role and as an anti-personnel weapon, firing high-explosive and canister rounds.

(US Army Photo)

37-mm M3 Anti-Tank Gun, No. 1 of 2. Park near the Town Beach.

Hingham

(Woodlot Photo)

57-mm Gun M1A1, dated 1942, at the Grand Army Memorial Hall, similar to this one at the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum, Camp Shelby, Forrest County, Mississippi.

The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6 pounder, was the primary British 57-mm anti-tank gun, in service during the middle of the Second World War, as well as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles.  It was first used in North Africa in April 1942, and quickly replaced the 2-pounder in the anti-tank role, allowing the 25-pounder to revert to its intended artillery role.  The United States Army adopted the 6-pounder as their primary anti-tank gun under the designation 57-mm Gun M1.

Hinsdale

(David Pelland Photos)

Bronze 12-pounder Napoleon Model 1857 smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun-Howitzer, (Federal Gun with muzzle swell used in the Civil War), mounted on a wheeled gun carriage, Hinsdale War Memorial.

Bronze 12-pounder Napoleon Model 1857 smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun-Howitzer, (Federal Gun with muzzle swell used in the Civil War), Hinsdale War Memorial, near the intersection of South Street (Route 8) and Maple Street (Route 143), dedicated in 1923.  The cannon was used in the siege and battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana.

Holbrook

(Allen Tanner Photos)

Bronze 12-pounder Napoleon Model 1857 smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun-Howitzer, No. 351, H.N.H & Co., 1,223 lbs, C & S 1861, No. 1 of 2 in the Town Common.

(Allen Tanner Photos)

Bronze 12-pounder Napoleon Model 1857 smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun-Howitzer, No. 205, H.N.H & Co., 1,289 lbs, T.J.R., 1863.  No. 2 of 2 in the Town Common.

Holyoke

IX-inch Dahlgren Shell Gun, Serial No. 199, mounted on a concrete stand in a small park in downtown Holyoke.  A plaque on the gun reads: "Dahlgren Shellgun No. 199, discovered in Springdale Park May 1979, restored 1979, mounted 1980, by Holyoke, Inc.  Used as broadside guns on mid-19th Century Warships, these guns could fire a 32-pound shot 1,756 yards.  Obsolete by the mid-1880's, they were given to communities for ornamental purposes".

Hudson

(Pinterest Photo)

German First World War 15-cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 (15-cm sFH 02), (Serial Nr. TBC) heavy field howitzer, facing the Assabet River in Liberty Park.

3-inch field gun M1902 (76.2-mm), reported to be in Liberty Park (TBC).

Hull

(US Army Signal Corps Photo)

3.2-inch M1885 BL Field Gun with crew, Spanish American War era.

The 3.2-inch M1885 BL field gun has two hoops that have been shrunk onto the breech end of the gun, while later models have a single hoop.

(Naval History & Heritage Command Photo)

3.2-inch M1897 Gun crews, 6th US Artillery, Spanish American War.

3.2-inch M1897 breech loading rifle.  The barrel is marked 1895, No. 368 (868?), 796 lbs. 3.2-inch, M1897 on one trunnion. Veterans’ Memorial Park.

Cast Iron 24 pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun, (ca. 1775 - 1815), weight (corroded), Serial No. corroded. No. 1 of 2, removed from Fort Adams in the 1980’s. Fort Revere Park.  This Rifle was the US Army's first steel, rifled breech loading field gun.  It was the Army's primary field artillery piece in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War from 1898 to 1902.

Cast Iron 24 pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun, (ca. 1775 - 1815), weight (corroded), Serial No. corroded. No. 2 of 2, removed from Fort Adams in the 1980’s. Fort Revere Park.

(USN Photo)

USS Pivot firing its forward 3”/50 caliber gun.

3-inch 50-caliber Naval gun, Mark 22 Mod 0, dated 1942, Fort Revere Park.

The 3″/50 caliber gun in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 3 inches (76-mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long (barrel length is 3 in × 50 = 150 in or 3.8 m).  Different guns (identified by Mark numbers) of this caliber were used by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard from 1890 through the 1990s on a variety of combatant and transport ship classes.

Cast Iron 24-pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading replica Gun, mounted on a wooden naval gun carriage. This gun came from the USS Constitution (made for the ship’s restoration of 1907).  Inside a small park/ traffic circle by the waterfront.

Kingston

(Kerry Van Ham Photo)

German First World War 7.65-mm MG 08 machine gun, mounted on a Stand, No. 1 of 2. First World War Memorial, Corner of Route 3A and Green Street.  Similar to this one on display at Taber, Alberta.

German First World War 7.65-mm MG 08 machine gun, mounted on a Stand, No. 2 of 2. First World War Memorial, Corner of Route 3A and Green Street.

The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in the First World War and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war.

Leominster

(Jason Freedman Photos)

German First World War 10.5-cm leichte Feldhaubitze 16 (10.5-cm leFH 16) light field howitzer (Serial Nr. TBC), mounted on a wheeled gun carriage, captured during the First World War.  This field howitzer is on display at the southwest corner of Carter Park.  VFW Post No. 1807 presented it to the town on 13 Sep 1931.

(arthurpolaroid Photo)

Bronze 6-pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun, mounted on a wheeled iron carriage, located on the Town Common.

M60A3 Main Battle Tank, Johnny Ro Veterans Memorial Park.

Lowell

10-inch Rodman Gun, (Columbiad, 10-inch, smoothbore, seacoast, M1861), weight 14,980-lbs, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 1 of 2 in Edson cemetery beside the cenotaph,

10-inch Rodman Gun, (Columbiad, 10-inch, smoothbore, seacoast, M1861), weight 14,980-lbs, mounted on a concrete stand, No. 2 of 2 in Edson cemetery beside the cenotaph,

This memorial, established in Lowell's Edson Cemetery in 1905, honours the memory of veterans of America's Civil War and the Spanish-American War.  The entire memorial consists of a large granite structure, several cannons and anchors and a flag pole, all located around and near the final resting places of veterans of the two wars.  The memorial is located inside Lowell's Edson Cemetery, having been purchased from the City of Lowell by the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association in 1905 for one dollar.  Originally, the granite monument that serves as the centerpiece of the memorial had the metal figure of a Civil War soldier mounted on top, but the soldier figure is no longer in place.  (Wikipedia)

(Catherine of Chicago Photo)

(Emw Photo)

13-inch Seacoast Mortar, Reg. No. 1172, 1863, weight 17, 280-lbs.  This mortar was transferred from the Portsmouth, NH Navy Yard to the city of Lowell in 1913 but not mounted until December 1915.  It is located between the Pollard Memorial Library and Lowell City Hall along Merrimack Street.

Lynn

3-inch field gun M1902 (76.2-mm), standing in the center of a traffic rotary in Lynn, Massachusetts. The rotary (named the Donald J. Aliferis Memorial Rotary) lies at the entrance to Nahant, at the intersection of the Lynnway, Nahant Road, and Lynn Shore Drive.  Parking is available off of neighborhood streets.   A plaque in front of the gun states: "Freedom - Patriotism - Humanity.  The M1902 was used during the Spanish-American War and is dedicated to honour and commemorate the valor and patriotism of the men of the city of Lynn, who served in the war with Spain, the Philippine Insurrection and the China Relief Expedition from 1898–1902, under the auspices of General Joseph P. Sanger Camp 15, United States War Veterans Department Massachusetts".  

The 3-inch M1905 Field Gun, based on the M1902 was the US Army’s first nickel steel, rifled, breech loading, quick-firing field gun with a recoil mechanism.  The difference is mostly seen in the face of the breechblock.  The features of rifling, breech loading and springs to absorb the gun's recoil and quickly return it to the firing position combined to improve the range, accuracy, and rate of fire of the gun, allowing it to be used more effectively in operations with infantry. These new capabilities allowed the gun to provide accurate indirect fire on targets not in a direct line of sight, which provided crucial firepower for infantry attacks. It was also one of the first artillery guns to have an armoured shield to protect the crew from small arms fire.

The M1902/5 was used from 1905-1917.  During the First World War, the Army used the French 75-mm gun instead of the M1902s, which were mostly kept in the United States for training.  Very few of the M1902s were used in combat in Europe.  They were phased out of active service in the 1920s.  The gun fired 3-inch (76-mm) Shrapnel or Explosive Shells that weighed 15 pounds.  It had a muzzle velocity of 1,700 ft/s (520 m/s) with an effective range of 6,500 yards (5,900 m), and a maximum range of 8,500 yards (7,800 m).  The maximum rate of fire was 15 rounds per minute.  (Wikipedia)

It is similar to this M1905 preserved with the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery School, 5 Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick, Canada.

(Author Photo)

The 3-inch M1905 Field Gun.

Marblehead, Fort Pickering

(Magicpiano Photos)

Fort Pickering, 17th-century historic fort site on Winter Island in Salem, Massachusetts.

Fort Pickering operated as a strategic coastal defense and military barracks for Salem Harbor during a variety of periods, serving as a fortification from the Anglo-Dutch Wars through the Second World War.  Construction of the original fort began in 1643 and it saw use as a military installation into the 20th century.  Fort Pickering is a First System fortification named for Colonel Timothy Pickering, adjutant general of the Continental Army and secretary of War in 1795.  Today, the remains of the fort are open to the public as part of the Winter Island Maritime Park, operated by the City of Salem.

Winter Island at the time of English settlement in the early 17th century was an island separated from the mainland, held as common land by the Proprietors and used as a fortification and for fishing activities.  The old fortification which was named Fort William then renamed Fort Anne (for then Queen Anne), was rebuilt around 1706 under the direction of the Royal Engineers who had originally been sent by King William III to fortify the colonies.  It was known as Fort Number Two in Patriot hands during the American Revolution.  In 1794, the City of Salem ceded the fort to the federal government and a new fort was constructed in its place.  Major repairs to the fort were conducted in 1796 and a restoration in 1799. Later in 1799 it was renamed Fort Pickering in honor of Timothy Pickering, then Secretary of State of the USA.

The fort received its fourth military restoration in 1814.  During the 1800s the island was used primarily for fortification and in 1864 the City of Salem again ceded the island to the federal government in support of the Civil War efforts.  It was also called Salem Barracks in that war.  The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.  In 1994, the National Register designated the entire collection of cultural resources at Winter Island and Fort Pickering as the Winter Island Historic District and Archeological District. (Wikipedia)

Marion

(Andrea Ray Photo)

155-mm Schneider Howitzer Model 1918, dated 1919.  The breech is marked A.B.S. & PDY. CO. The left side of the breech is marked 155-mm Howitzer Model of 1918 SCHNEIDER. VFW Post 2425, U.S. Route 6.  This gun was a copy of the French M1917 field gun in use with the US Army and USMC to 1945.

Marlborough

M114 C & R Carrier, American Legion Post 350.

(Author Photo)

105-mm M2A1, similar to this one on display outside the Woolastook Museum, Fredericton, New Brunswick.

(Peter Phaneuf Photo)

Howitzer, 105-mm, M2A1, 1954. DPW Garage, off Route 85.

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