Artillery in the USA: Vermont: Bennington, Bristol, Burlington, Chester, Colchester, Coventry, Derby, East Barnett, Enosburg Falls, Fair Haven, Isle La Motte

Artillery in Vermont

Bennington, Bristol, Burlington, Chester, Colchester, Coventry, Derby, East Barnett, Enosburg Falls, Fair Haven, Isle La Motte

One of the aims of this website is to locate, identify and document every historical piece of artillery and all armoured fighting vehicles preserved in New England.  Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these tangible pieces of our military history and the list you see here is constantly being revised as new finds are discovered and the data is updated.  The photos have come from various contributors, but the author likes to "ground truth" the reports, so a good number of the photos are by the author unless otherwise credited.  Any errors found here are by the author.   It often happens that military monuments that are relatively mobile, have been moved for restoration or scrapped, sometimes they are repainted with different markings and serial numbers, or they are replaced with a different piece of kit.  For those reasons, any additions, deletions, corrections or amendments that you may be able to add to this list of Artillery and AFVs in New England would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at [email protected].  The primary aim is preserve our military history and to keep the record accurate.

Bennington

(Bennington Museum Photo)

Bronze 1-pounder smoothbore muzzle-loading Gun, Jan and Pieter Verbruggen, mounted on a wheeled carriage, captured at the Battle of Bennington, on display in the Bennington Museum.  The Battle of Bennington was one of the pivotal early battles of the Revolutionary War.  As British forces marched toward Bennington, they were intercepted just across the border in New York State and were defeated by the colonists on 16 August 1777.

Bristol

(Santee1821 Photos)

6.4-inch (100-pounder) Naval Parrot Rifle mounted on a wheeled iron carriage, No. 4, WPF, 1862, Reg. No. 9702 on the muzzle, with the Civil War memorial.

The right trunnion is marked “100 Pdr” and “R.P.P.” and due to the type often being called a 100-Pounder in the 1860s and the inspector (and designer) of the piece being Robert Parker Parrott.  Some projectiles - especially solid shot - could weigh as much as 100 pounds, though shells would weigh less than that.

This type was produced for both the US Army and the US Navy, though the muzzle markings show this to be a US Army model.  The markings on the muzzle show that it was manufactured at West Point Foundry in 1862.  It weighed 9,702 pounds as manufactured.  It is registry number 4  - the lowest surviving registry number of the type.

The cannon is mounted on an iron (or steel) ornamental stand. (Santee1821)

Burlington

(Vermontish Photos)

75-mm M116 Pack Howitzer, Battery Park.

(Vermontish Photos)

(Santee1821 Photos)

US Navy Bureau of Ordnance 8-Inch Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds which served aboard USS Monongahela may be seen at Battery Park in Burlington, Vermont.

It is mounted on an original post-war Marsilly carriage for use as a broadside cannon on a ship.  The cannon was manufactured by Seyfert, McManus, and Company in 1865.  It is registry number 97.  The cascabel is marked “264” - likely a Foundry number. The actual weight of the tube is 6,394 pounds.  The carriage is marked as weighing 815 pounds.

The 8-Inch cannon now displayed in Burlington is recorded as serving aboard USS Monongahela from 1884 to 1894.  (Logbook entry for 1884 and 1894).  The logbook entry for 1893/1894 records the armament of USS Monongahela as being 8-Inch Smoothbores Registry Numbers 86, 93, 94, 95, 96, and 97 which were all manufactured by Seyfert, McManus, and Company.  USS Monongahela was built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1862.  The veteran ship had seen action at Port Hudson and Mobile Bay.  (Santee1821)

(Santee1821 Photo)

8-Inch Smoothbore Number 97 is mounted near an overlook of Lake Champlain and by a historical marker which reads:  “Here in June 1813, a Vermonter, Lieut. Churchill, and men built a parapet and set up a battery. On Aug. 3 a British gunboat and 2 sloops, 1½ miles offshore, began a cannonade. This attack was repulsed in 20 minutes by the American Battery and by 2 of Commodore Macdonough's armed scows.”

Chester

(Town of Chester Photo)

4.2-inch (30-pounder) Parrott Rifle, mounted on an iron stand beside the Civil War Memorial.

(Leon Reed Photo)

32-pounder M1864 (6.2-inch) Dahlgren Shell Gun, 4,500 lbs, mounted on a concrete stand in the town cemetery.

Colchester, Camp Johnston, Vermont National Guard Library and Museum

(Author Photo)

75-mm Model 1897 Field Gun.  Similar to this one on display at the Louisiana National Guard Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.

(Author Photo)

155-mm M114 Howitzer, similar to this one at 30th Field Regiment, Uplands near Ottawa, Ontario.

(Author Photo)

Russian quadruple-barreled ZPU-4 Type 56 14.5-mm anti-aircraft gun, similar to this one at the  Louisiana National Guard Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The ZPU (Russian anti-aircraft machine gun mount) is a family of towed anti-aircraft guns based on the Soviet 14.5×114-mm KPV heavy machine gun.  It entered service with the Soviet Union in 1949 and is used by over 50 countries worldwide.

(Author Photo)

Russian S60 57-mm anti-aircraft gun, Syrian Army, similar to this one at CFB Kingston, Ontario

(Author Photo)

German First World War 15-cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 field gun (Serial Nr. 1449), similar to this one at Kensington, Prince Edward Island.

Coventry

(Vermont 251 in 365 Photo)

Bronze 6-pounder Model 1841 smoothbore muzzle-loading Field Gun mounted on a wheeled carriage, standing in front of the town Civil War memorial.

Derby

(Town of Derby Photo)

Cast iron possibly 3-inch Ordnance Rifle, mounted on a wheeled wooden gun carriage, held by a re-enactment group, displayed here near the Civil War Memorial.

East Barnett

(Alfred DeVaux Jr. Photos)

155-mm M1918 Howitzer (Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider), (Serial No. 634), 2,678 lbs.

Enosburg Falls

(Vermontish Photo)

4.2-inch (30-pounder) Parrott Rifle, mounted on a concrete stand in a town park.

Fair Haven

(Santee1821 Photos)

6.4-inch (100-pounder) Naval Parrot Rifle mounted on a wheeled iron carriage.

This Parrott was manufactured for the US Army at the West Point Foundry in 1864.  It is registry number 199.  It is marked as weighing 9,727 pounds as originally manufactured.  The stone pedestal is inscribed “In memory of our fallen comrades 1861-1865” on one side.  The other side shows the year which this monument was placed - 1898 - and the name of the Grand Army of the Republic “J.H. Bosworth” Post Number 53 which sponsored the placement of the memorial.  

The type:  The 6.4-Inch Parrott was used by the US Army for seacoast defense but also in sieges for heavy bombardment.  6.4-Inch Parrott Rifles were also used by the US Navy aboard a wide variety of ships. (Santee1821)

Isle La Motte

(Vermontish Photos)

Smoothbore Muzzleloading Naval Gun mounted on a wood carriage, located on the Library lawn.

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