Sumter’s Parrotts to see renovation
The Right Face Wall of Fort Sumter contains 11 6.4-inch Parrott Rifles in the first tier casemates. They were moved to the fort in 1873 from the Augusta Arsenal and their provenance is hidden under 150 years of rust and paint (Photo: NPS/Taormina)
Charleston, South Carolina’s historic Fort Sumter, famous for its role in the Civil War, received an influx of $200,000 to restore 11 vintage Parrott rifles.
The donation came from an individual who wished to keep their name private, in honor of their father, a Citadel graduate.
The guns (officially: Parrott, 6.4-inch, rifle, seacoast, Model 1861), fired 100-pound shells and are something of a mystery to the National Park Service, being shipped from Georgia’s Augusta Arsenal to the fort in December 1873. They are covered in layer upon layer of paint, rusting and pitting– obscuring their foundry numbers which would tell when they were cast and potentially where they saw service during the war between the states.