So, let's see, we now have a few seacoast guns firing on a regular basis in the United States. There is the original 1844, 8" Columbiad on the terraplein of Fort Delaware in the river and state of that name firing weekly if not more frequently during the summer. They use a one pound BP charge.
In the Peach Tree State, we have an original 7" Brooke Double-Banded Seacoast and Navy Rifle on a naval pivot carriage at the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus, Columbus, Georgia. A five pound black powder charge is fired occasionally from it during the season over the Chattahoochee River.
In Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West, Florida there is an original 10" Rodman Gun that occasionally scares the seagulls with a blast from it's casemate position, one of only two firing seacoast guns so situated in the United States today.
The other casemate gun firing today is the original 32 Pdr. firing from Ft. Delaware's casemate in that 3rd System fort on Peapatch Island in the Delaware River just east of Delaware City in the State of Delaware! What the hey? Is it a crime to give a small state a big plug? There is a YouTube clip showing this gun fire called "32pdr Seacoast Gun".
Recently in 2009 the state of Alabama, which administers Fort Morgan, mounted a model 1829, 32 Pdr. seacoast gun on a wooden front pintle barbette carriage. On August 1, 2009 this gun, served by reenactors in Confederate uniforms, fired toward the historical position of Admiral Farragut's flag ship, Hartford where it met the CSS Tennessee, from a sandbagged water battery 25 yards north of the fort's outer works during the August 1, 2009 commemorative of the Battle of Mobile Bay. Mike and I believe this is an original seacoast 32 Pdr. which used to be mounted on a barbette carriage located at the South-East Bastion. We have a call in to the fort’s historian to get a definitive answer to our quandary, original or replica? We will report his answer. He just called to tell us the tube is original and the barbette carriage is a replica which was used in the Movie, “Glory”.
Notable replica cannon which fire from forts in the U.S. today are the 32 Pdr. gun on a 4-truck garrison carriage at Fort Lee in New Jersey. There is a 32 Pdr. Naval Gun on a front pintle barbette carriage at Fort Macon
nea Along the southern coast of North Carolina at Fort Fisher, there is an all steel reproduction of an original Rifled and Banded 42 pdr., 7" seacoast gun, fired occasionally during the summer. In Ft. Pulaski, Georgia there is a reproduction siege rifle, a 30 Pdr. Parrott. It is fired occasionally during the season. Also in Georgia, near Savannah there is 32 Pdr. gun at Old Fort Jackson which is fired on a regular basis during the season. You can see a video clip of it firing by entering "Fort Jackson fires 32-pound Cannon". There are many others, of course, but most are field artillery. Please consult one of these forts for their firing schedule before running down there to see the seacoast guns fire.
If you want to see the Fort Fisher Banded 42 Pdr. Seacoast gun fire in quick succession with a
10 pounder Parrott and a bronze field gun go to YouTube an enter this:
Fort Fisher Civil War Museum by Proudrebel08. ]Excellent thunderous roars from the cannons on this one. If not, you can view this photo obtained a long time ago from an unknown source snapped by an unknown photographer. This gun was made by the Compagnie Royal D’Artillerie located in Quebec, Canada. Since then they have gone out of business, but NOT due to a lack of quality. FYI
Mike and Tracy