In obedience to your Excellency's request for certain exact information of the present condition of the armament of the forts in Boston Harbor, and the strength and condition of the garrisons, I visited yesterday Forts Warren, Independence, and Winthrop, and Long Island, and had an interview with the several commandants. Colonel Dimmock states the ordnance at Fort Warren as follows:— Mounted in Barbette.In Casemates.
30 32-pounders. 12 8-inch Columbiads, old model chambers. 1 8-inch sea-coast howitzer. 4 15-inch Columbiads. Colonel Dimmock was unable to inform me the names of the parties who manufactured the guns. They were probably cast at different places. The character and make of the guns are known to the service by the names which are given them above. From Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, commanding Fort Independence, I received the following statement:— Mounted in Barbette.
16 8-inch Columbiads, old models. 14 100-pounder Parrott guns, rifled. 1 15-inch Columbiad, not yet mounted. Total, 78 guns. In Casemates.
27 32-pounder guns. 13 24-pounder guns. 2 10-inch mortars.
8 10-inch Columbiads. 6 8-inch Columbiads. 4 15-inch Columbiads, dismounted, no carriages. 3 32-pounder guns, dismounted, no carriages. 21 24-pounder guns, dismounted, no carriages. 14 24-pounder howitzers, mounted. 6 24-pounder howitzers, dismounted. 3 8-inch Columbiads, “miserable.” Total, 107
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