Carronade Battery

Carronade Battery. . , Early in the War Between the States, Confederate soldiers at Fort Macon obtained a large number of cannons from the Gosport Navy yard at Norfolk, Virginia, in 1861 to defend the fort. Among these were six 32-pounder carronades, which were stubby naval broadside cannons that fired a 32-pound cannonball., Used For Flanking Defense , These carronades were originally mounted in the four rooms called counterfire galleries under the fort's outer wall. From these room the carronades could be used for flanking defense. They could fire into any attacking enemy soldiers that climbed down into the sunken area known as the Ditch between the fort’s outer and inner walls. , The Need For Mortars , During the siege of Fort Macon in April, 1862, the fort had no mortars with which to lob exploding shells into the trenches and emplacements of attacking Union forces. Mortars are the only type of artillery capable of firing shells in a high arc to drop behind hidden enemy emplacements from above. The fort was therefore at a serious disadvantage defend itself from attack., "Mortar Battery" , In desperation, Confederates in the fort remounted the six 32-pounder carronades in a row here. They were angled back at a forty-degree elevation to fire shells into the air as an improvised “mortar battery." In this way, they were used against Union forces during the siege and bombardment of Fort Macon. , A Unique Use , Carronades were not made for this type of high angle firing, so their use as mortars had only limited effectiveness during the siege. However, their use in this manner was significant. It was one of few times during the War Between the States that carronades were ever used in a land battle. This is also the only time during the war carronades were ever used as mortars., Carronade Return to Fort Macon , This is an original carronade that was cast in 1820 and served until the 1840s aboard the U.S.S. Columbus. Afterward, it remained for many years at the Norfolk Navy Yard. In 2011, the US Navy History and Heritage Command loaned this carronade to Fort Macon State Park for display. It arrived 150 years after the six original carronades were brought to Fort Macon from the same Navy Yard in 1861.