Fort Caswell’s Civil War artillery changed as weapons were shifted according to availability and defensive needs around the Cape Fear. A list dated August 1, 1864 records the guns at Caswell as six 10-inch Columbiads, one 1X-inch Dahlgren, four 8-inch Columbiads, one 150-pdr Armstrong Rifle, four rifled and banded 32-pdr guns, three 24-pdr smoothbores, and one 20-pdr Parrott Rifle, with the 150-pdr Armstrong Rifle the largest piece there. Among the most famous guns guarding the Cape Fear River were two British-gifted Armstrong 8-inch, 150-pdr rifles, one at Fort Fisher at New Inlet and one at Fort Caswell at Old Inlet, prized for their craftsmanship, teak and mahogany carriages, and long range. The gun’s usefulness in the battles at Fort Fisher was limited by a shortage of its specialized ammunition. After Fort Fisher was captured and Fort Caswell abandoned, Fort Fisher’s Armstrong was taken by the Army to Trophy Point at West Point, New York, where it remains on display, while Fort Caswell’s was taken by the Navy for training at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is believed to have been scrapped during World War Two.
