A Trophy of War

A Trophy of War. . , After the fall of Fort Fisher, the Armstrong gun became a war trophy and the focus of photographs and newspaper articles. Union soldiers, such as Captain Trickey of the 3rd New Hampshire, noted the “elegantly mounted Armstrong gun...the carriage being of rosewood and mahogany.”, Shortly after the war the gun was taken to the U.S. Military Academy at West point. It was placed on trophy Point overlooking the Hudson River, where it has been a popular attraction ever since., (captions) , The February 11, 1865, Harper’s Weekly confirms that the capture of the Armstrong was big news. The article reports that during the confusion attending the occupation of the works by Union troops some mischievous person stole the sights., Federal troops looked on from Purdie Battery’s traverse as Timothy O’Sullivan photographed the Armstrong following the fall of the fort. (National Archives), J.O. Davidson used O’Sullivan’s photograph of the captured Armstrong to create this imaginative scene. It depicts the naval assault on the Northeast Bastion during the second battle of Fort Fisher. (N.C. Office of Archives and History), After the fall of Fort Fisher, Federal naval forces took possession of abandoned Confederate defenses protecting Old Inlet. At Fort Caswell, the U.S. Navy laid claim to the fortress’s 8 in. 150 lb. Armstrong. This sister gun to the Fort fisher Armstrong was transported to the Naval Academy at Annapolis (at left). The cannon was melted down as part of the nation’s patriotic scrap drive during World War II. (National Archives), The gun was “built up” by a series of concentric wrought-iron tubes made from spiral coils welded together under a steam hammer. The tubes, or hoops, were then shrunk over one another so the inner tube or barrel was in a state of compression and able to resist the force of explosion. Each tube was turned on a lathe to a slightly smaller diameter than the one it was to fit over. Then it was expanded by heating and dropped in place., Many soldiers, both North and South, mentioned the impressive Armstrong in their correspondence. Sgt. Major Christian Fleetwood, a Medal of Honor recipient with the 4th U.S. Colored troops, wrote “One gun in particular, an Armstrong gun made in England, finished with mahogany, polished steel and brass mountings, was handsome enough for a piece of parlor furniture.” (U.S. Army Military History Institute), Once the “Pride of Fort Fisher,” the Armstrong is now the “Pride of West Point” and mounted at the U.S. Military Academy’s Trophy point. It is a long-standing tradition for cadets and graduates to be photographed with this historic war trophy. (Left: Fort Fisher Files. Below: U.S. Army Military History Institute)