The West Point Foundry

During the Civil War, the West Point Foundry manufactured more than three hundred Parrott cannon for the government, including guns up to 300-pounders. These guns served in forts, on gunboats, and with armies operating through the Southern states. One 300-pounder weighed twenty-six thousand pounds, or thirteen tons, and one was being cast during the writer's visit. The guns underwent severe testing before entering service, with the precipitate banks of Crow Nest used as the target for experimental trials at a distance of two thousand yards. Huge bare spots and deep indentures in the rocks testified to the range's accuracy and the force of the firing, and for the past four years the firing of these guns had awakened fearful echoes among the surrounding heights, often sounding like a terrible battle.

Cold Spring, New York · United States