In front of you stands a rifled and banded columbiad cannon mounted as a mortar (aimed upward). It is mounted like the gun being inspected by a South Carolina delegation after the evacuation of Fort Sumter by Union troops in April 1861.

The dependable columbiad, a heavy-barreled seacoast gun introduced in 1811, was used throughout the Civil War. Columbiads were not designed as mortars, but Federals mounted five of them here for that purpose in 1861. This 10-inch columbiad could fire a 128-pound shell on a high arc. During the Confederate bombardment, Union troops in Fort Sumter aimed their columbiad mortars at Charleston, but never fired them.

During the Civil War many columbiads, like the one in front of you, were "rifled" (spiral grooves cut in teh barrel) and "banded" (a thick, metal band wrapped around the barrel's base).

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Show me all markers in:  Charleston, SC  |  Charleston County  |  29412  |  South Carolina  |  United States of America

6.4-Inch (100-Pounder) Parrott
Rearming the Fort
8-inch (200 Pounder) Parrott
Controlling the Harbor
H.L. Hunley
Blockade Runners
Major Robert Anderson
Flags of the Fort
Fort Moultrie
Ironclads Attack

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