Reber Gun?

[MKlein]

Anybody ever seen a Reber gun anywhere besides this photo.
 

 
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reber_gun,_by_E._%26_H.T._Anthony_(Firm).png

[cannonmn]

Photo was apparently taken at West Point.  I'll take a wild guess and say that somewhere along the way there was a typo or transcription error on what was supposed to say "Rebel Gun."  This term was very likely used to refer to many captured pieces at West Point in the years after the Civil War.  If you would contact Les Jensen of the USMA Museum and send him a link to that photo, he'd be able to tell you about it I'm sure.

[seacoastartillery]

    I think Cannonmn is spot on with Rebel, not Reber.  As to precisely what it is, I will go as far as to say what it reminds me of and that is one of those Rebel large bore howitzers which ended up at Rockett's Landing in Richmond at the end of the war.  First of all, it doesn't look like any photo of a Brooke gun that I have ever seen, although you can see what looks like familiar reinforcing bands.  However, they are thinner than any Brooke bands that I have seen and less wide too.  I believe it is a Confederate government ordered siege howitzer prototype, probably made by Anderson's Foundry in Richmond.  Just look at that muzzle.  Does that look like a production model to anybody?

     A production model of a very similar gun is one of the large bore howitzers that were photographed at Rockett's in 1865.  courtesy of LOC, via Old Photo, this image was chopped long ago from a larger view which showed 4 or 5 such howitzers from 32 pdr. (6.4") to 68 Pdr. (8") to get a larger single cannon image for the stereoscopic view.  These were not Brooke guns either.

[MKlein]

Thanks John and M&T
 
I thought it was a misprint myself. The misprint if so started from the beginning because it is on the stereographic photo.
 
I sent Les Jensen an email hoping he can give some details about this gun and where it came from.
It has some Bomford gun characteristics. Who knows could be anything.

[MKlein]

Photo was apparently taken at West Point.  I'll take a wild guess and say that somewhere along the way there was a typo or transcription error on what was supposed to say "Rebel Gun."  This term was very likely used to refer to many captured pieces at West Point in the years after the Civil War.  If you would contact Les Jensen of the USMA Museum and send him a link to that photo, he'd be able to tell you about it I'm sure.

From Les Jensen
 
Dear Mr. Klein -

I believe it is the 12-inch Bomford gun that was banded in 1862. Not only
does it fit Holley's description and drawing fairly well, but at one time,
West Point did have the 12 Inch Bomford gun cast in 1846 by South Boston
Iron Works, and the record says it was "banded." It also calls it
"experimental." The gun appears in museum records in the 1898, 1914 and 1929
catalogs, but not the 1944 catalog, and it is no longer in the inventory.
Generally, that kind of pattern in the numbers is a strong indication that
it may have been sent to the scrap drives in WWII. Unfortunately, about 300
tons of ordnance was sent out of West Point to the scrap drives. While a lot
of this was projectiles that had been lining the walks and crowning
gateposts, etc., some were guns. We have no list of what went; we can only
look at what was in the inventory before and after, and assume that what is
missing after is what went.

Obviously, the West Point connection on the photograph is also strong
evidence that this is the gun that was once here, in addition to it
apparently having been one of a kind.

Thanks very much for sending a copy of the photo, It's a piece of evidence I
had not seen.

I agree that "Reber" is probably a misprint of "Rebel," but it would have
been an incorrect identification even if it was spelled right.

Sincerely,


Les Jensen
Curator of Arms and Armor
West Point Museum