LB2007.1.72020

LB2007.1.72020

10" Rodman Guns in the main fort casemates at Fort Knox, Prospect, Maine The fort was named after Major General Henry Knox, America's first Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolution. General Knox lived in Thomaston, Maine during the final years of his life. America's other Fort Knox, which is located in Kentucky, was also named after him. Fort Knox's granite was quarried on Mt. Waldo, located about five miles upriver from the fort. Once they were quarried, the granite blocks were transported down the mountain, then carried by scow to Fort Knox's wharf. Some of the granite was cut and finished to proper sizes on site at the fort. Nearly one million dollars was spent to build Fort Knox. Congressional appropriations were sporadic and construction continued for 25 years. When work finally stopped in 1869, the fort was still not completely finished. Fort Knox's "A" Battery and "B" Battery each have a hot shot furnace. These small brick structures were built for use with 32 pound cannons, which were the cannons originally planned for the batteries but never installed. 10 and 15 inch Rodmans were installed in their place) Hot shot furnaces heated cannonballs so hot that, when the balls hit wooden ships, the ships were set on fire. With the development of ironclad ships, the firing of red hot cannonballs was no longer an effective means of defense and hot shot furnaces became obsolete, before having ever been used at the fort. Some of Fort Knox's most memorable features are the large Rodman cannon in "A" Battery and the slightly smaller Rodman cannon inside the main fort structure. Developed by Thomas Jefferson Rodman who improved the methods of casting metal for the cannon tubes, the Rodman cannons were stronger and safer than previous models. The large 15-inch Rodman (15-inch refers to the diameter of the bore) in "A Battery" was extremely powerful, but slow to maneuver. Twelve men were needed to load the cannon. They used a mechanical hoist to lift the 330 pound shell or 450 pound solid cannonball. Often, two men had to manage the rammer. The tube weight of the 15-inch Rodman is 50,000 pounds and the weight of the gunpowder charge was 60 pounds for a shell and 100 pounds for a solid cannonball. At a 20 degree elevation, the cannon could fire a solid cannonball 5,579 yards.