Robert Parker Parrott Parrott rifle West Point Foundry Parrott rifle shell Parrott rifled cannon CLASS OF 1824 Parrott received an artillery commission upon graduation, but spent his first five years after graduation teaching physics at West Point. Promoted to captain in 1836, he was assigned as inspector of ordnance at the new West Point Foundry, a civilian enterprise. Its owner, Gouverneur Kemble, persuaded Parrott to leave the army and become the foundry’s superintendent. In 1839 Parrott married Kemble’s sister, Mary, and leased the foundry from his brother-in-law. He bought 7,000 forested acres to assure his charcoal supply and acquired the Greenwood Iron Furnace for a steady source of pig iron. Parrott also experimented with gun and shell designs. In 1861 he patented a rifled cannon, strengthened by a wrought-iron hoop around the rear of the barrel, and an expanding explosive shell. Offered at cost to the government, Parrott guns equipped Union land and naval forces throughout the Civil War. NEXT Joseph Reid Anderson William Gibbs McNeill 1801–1853 Class of 1817 George Washington Whistler 1800–1849 Class of 1819 George Bomford 1782–1848 Class of 1805 Robert Parker Parrott 1804–1877 Class of 1824 Joseph Reid Anderson 1813–1892 Class of 1836
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