This is a fragment from the breech of a 5.8 inch "Sawyer Gun". This gun was located at Battery Sawyer, a Federal gun position across the river to your front where the River's Bend community is today. This gun burst on August 5, 1864 after firing 10 rounds. In an official report, Col. Henry L. Abbot of the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery wrote: "The gun had already been fired a large number of times at Fort Monroe. It burst into four principle parts, the largest remained in its place on the carriage; the bottom of the bore near the breech, fell between the cheeks; the left half of the top fell upon the parapet a short distance from the gun; the right half was thrown some 200 yards entirely outside the fort."
Sawyer Guns were created by New England inventor Sylvanius Sawyer. The Ordnance Department gave his guns favorable reviews, however, few of his guns were used during the Civil War, making this fragment a rare relic from the fighting that occurred near Dutch Gap.
This Sawyer Gun fragment was donated to the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia by David H. and Mary Kay Gates in honor of Judge Ernest P. Gates and Virginia Y. Gates.
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Map of the Dutch Gap area showing the location of Union and Confederate fortifications near Dutch Gap. (Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia)
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