Last updated: September 11, 2024
Place
Lincoln Gun
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Parade Ground
Significance:
Part of Fort Monroe National Monument
Amenities
3 listed
Benches/Seating, Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Cast in 1860, this cannon is the first 15-inch Rodman gun produced. It was named for President Abraham Lincoln in 1862.
15-Inch Rodman
Captain Thomas J. Rodman, a US Army ordinance officer, designed this style of cannon. Rodman produced his patented designs at the Fort Pitt Foundry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first prototype was cast in 1860 and shipped to Fort Monroe for testing.
The Lincoln Gun is a smooth bore cannon made of solid iron cast and cooled around a water-filled core. This process made guns of great strength. Rodman cannons were more resistant to the explosive charge than older cannons.
The gun weighs over 49,000 pounds. It is feet, 10 inches long, and has a diameter of 4 feet at its widest. This size cannon fired explosive shell of 330 pounds or solid shot of 450 pounds. It could shoot as far as three miles.
Renaming the Gun
The gun was first named the Floyd Gun, for John B. Floyd. Floyd was the U.S. Secretary of War from before the Civil War, yet later became a general in the Confederate army. During the Civil War, the Lincoln Gun was on the beach near Old Point Comfort Lighthouse. It guarded Hampton Roads from the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. After the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862, the War Department renamed it the Lincoln Gun.
Displayed on the Parade Ground
The Lincoln Gun is now displayed inside the fort walls on the south end of the Parade Ground. The gun was last fired in 1864. The US Army moved it to the Parade Ground in the late 1800s. The muzzle of the gun is marked “No 1, T.J.R.”, meaning it was the first prototype of the 15-inch Rodman.
The exhibit includes an example of cannon ball of the kind used by this gun. An engraving shows a sketch published in Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper on July 5, 1862. The sketch shows the Lincoln Gun trained on the ship channel at Fort Monroe. The engraving caption reads: “The Lincoln Gun at Fortress Monroe – from a sketch by our special artist, Mr. E. S. Hall.”