Illustration showing the production of cannons at Pittsburgh’s Fort Pitt Foundry

Pittsburgh’s iron foundries produced many kinds of goods. This illustration showed the casting of cannons for the Navy’s new ironclad monitors underway at Fort Pitt Foundry in 1862. Established in 1804 by Scotsman Joseph McClurg, Fort Pitt Foundry specialized in the manufacture of large cannons and cannonballs. During the Civil War, the foundry produced more than 3,000 cannons, including guns for both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.