This 300-pounder rifle was directed against Fort Sumter and Battery
Wagner. The length of bore of the gun before it burst was 136 inches. It
weighed 26,000 pounds. It fired a projectile weighing 250 pounds, with a
maximum charge of powder of 25 pounds. The gun was fractured at the
twenty-seventh round by a shell bursting in the muzzle, blowing off about
20 inches of the barrel. After the bursting the gun was "chipped" back
beyond the termination of the fracture and afterwards fired 371 rounds
with as good results as before the injury. At the end of that time the
muzzle began to crack again, rendering the gun entirely useless.
[Illustration: TWO PARROTTS IN BATTERY STEVENS