The Big Gun

The Big Gun. . This U.S. Model 1861 4.5-inch Ordnance Rifle was known locally as "The Big Gun." The annual Reunion of the Blue and Gray, held at Mammoth Spring, became so popular the U.S. War Department furnished this cannon in 1893. During reunion week, it was fired daily at sunrise and sunset. , The tube could be mounted on a field carriage, allowing for more mobility, or on a longer and heavier siege carriage as you see restored here. It was classified as a siege and garrison gun because it was a heavy weapon with a long barrel, designed to attack or defend forts or cities at long range. When mounted on a field carriage, it was the largest piece of field artillery used in the Civil War. , The 4.5-inch cannon you see before you was a fearsome weapon on the battlefield, firing 30-pound shells a distance of nearly two miles. The average field artillery had a 3-inch bore and fired shells weighing eight to ten pounds at a range of about one mile., Specifications , Model: 1861 4.5-inch Ordnance (Siege) Rifle , Tube: Rifled Cast Iron (bored from solid piece) , Weight: 3,569 pounds (not including carriage) , Range: 3,265 yards (1.86 miles) at 10° elevation , Projectiles: 25.5-pound Dyer shell; 30-pound Hotchkiss shell; 30-pound Schenkl shell , Fire Rate: 12 to 20 rounds per hour, Restoration , Cleaned in 2006: Found broken rammer in tube; Black powder still in vent hole; Both have been removed., Siege Carriage: A reproduction built by Paulson Brothers Ordnance Corporation of Clear Lake, Wisconsin; Made of aluminum with steel axle; Weighs 2,250 pounds; Meets or exceeds standards in 1861 U.S. Ordnance Manual., Funded by: A grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council.