Sylvanus Sawyer: Difference between revisions

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The only Sawyer weapon that appears to have been produced in more than experimental quantity is a 3.67-inch cast steel rifle.<ref name=Haz1/> This was the standard bore for a 6-pounder weapon firing round shot, and the weapon is usually referred to as a 6-pounder in period documentation. However, as usual for rifled artillery of this period, the elongated projectiles recovered from the [[Siege of Port Hudson|Port Hudson]] battlefield made for this weapon range from 12 pounds (shell with percussion fuze) to 16 pounds (solid bolt).<ref name=SawProj1>[http://www.civilwarartillery.com/projectiles/rifled//Sawyer.htm Sawyer projectiles at CivilWarArtillery.com]</ref> The [[Vermont Light Artillery Batteries|2nd Vermont Battery]] was armed with six 3.67-inch Sawyer rifles at this battle.<ref name=Haz1/> Surviving documentation as of 1983 showed that orders for these guns were made in December 1861 (3 guns), May 1864 (6 guns), and November 1864 (6 guns); there may have been other orders.<ref name=Haz1/> One of these weapons survives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<ref name=Haz1/><ref>Olmstead et al, pp. 300–301</ref> Experts have noted that the rifling grooves on two surviving Sawyer weapons are 2-3 times as deep as is typical for Civil War weapons.<ref name=Haz1/> This type of weapon was also used on U.S. Navy [[gunboat]]s; a January 1865 report by Brigadier General [[Charles K. Graham]], in command of a gunboat flotilla, to Major General [[E.O.C. Ord]] states that two of these weapons were on the [[side-wheel steamer|side-wheeler]] ''Chamberlain'' and a mix of four guns each, either 3.67-inch Sawyers or 12-pound [[howitzer]]s, were on the side-wheel light draft boats ''Burnside'', ''Reno'', ''Foster'', and ''Parke''.<ref name=Haz1/>
 
An order for three 3-inch cast steel Sawyer rifles was placed with Sawyer in December 1861.<ref name=Olm281>Olmstead et al, p. 281</ref> One weapon believed to be from this order survived in Fitchburg, MA as of 1997.<ref name=Olm281/>
 
Two 4.62-inch (12-pounder bore) rifled Sawyer guns survived the Civil War; one as of the 1970s at the [[Washington Navy Yard]], D.C., the other in private hands in Vermont as of 1997. Both of these were made by [[Cyrus Alger]] and Co. The former gun was said to have been on the Union's armed steam tug ''Fanny'', captured by the Confederates on 1 October 1862, and was stamped "1856".<ref name=RipSaw1/> The latter was on [[USS Young Rover (1861)|USS ''Young Rover'']], a bark with sail and steam propulsion.<ref name=Olm193>Olmstead et al, p. 193</ref> The Navy Yard weapon is variously reported as a 30-pounder or 32-pounder. Also on ''Fanny'', as reported by the Confederates that captured her, was an "8-pounder rifled cannon" that may have been a Sawyer weapon.<ref name=RipSaw1/>