VII In. Brooke Rifle

Cast on August 24, 1863, in Selma at the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry under the direction of Commander Catesby ap R. Jones, this was the first gun shipped from the Selma Foundry. It served as the stern pivot gun on the Selma-built ironclad ram CSS Tennessee. During the Battle of Mobile Bay, Admiral Franklin Buchanan was wounded at this gun, and the deaths of both men killed aboard the Tennessee occurred there. It is the only surviving naval gun from the Battle of Mobile Bay located in what was the Confederate States of America. Designed by Lt. John M. Brooke, CSN, "to be used against Iron-Clads," it weighed 15,300 pounds, measured 12 feet, 3 1/2 inches in length, and had a range of 7900 yards, or 4 1/2 miles. Brooke Rifles were reported accurate enough to "hit a barrel at a mile every pop." Captured by the Federal Navy on August 5, 1864, it was taken to the US Navy Yard in Washington DC and returned on loan in 1981 to the Selma-Dallas County Museum of History and Archives from the Naval Historical Center.

Selma, Alabama · United States