Here's a reply I got to this same question on the N-SSA board- it's very good-Barrett
Jim Burgess, 15th CVI
"Long Tom"
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Barrett, The ultimate fate of this gun is still a mystery but here is the information I have gathered on the subject. The gun in question was a M1861 30-pounder (4.2-inch) Parrott rifle. U.S. Ordnance Records show it as registry #2, foundry # 293 (on right rimbase) inspected by Robert Parker Parrott at the West Point Foundry on 15 June 1861. The tube weighed 4190 lbs. It was mounted on a siege carriage which made it somewhat mobile although it took a team of 10 horses to pull it.
The gun was placed under the command of 2Lt. Peter C. Hains (USMA Class of 1861, Co. G, 1st U.S. Artillery) and he was temporarily attached to Carlisle's Battery (Co. E, 2nd U.S. Artillery) on July 21, 1861. The gun was deployed east of the Stone Bridge and fired the opening shots of the Battle of Bull Run. During the Union retreat later that day the gun was abandoned at Cub Run and captured there by the Confederates. By this time the gun had acquired the affectionate name, "Long Tom."
An article in Confederate Veteran Magazine (V.3, p. 22) notes that after the battle "the celebrated gun 'Long Tom" was presented to Captain R.L. Walker's battery (Purcell Artillery) with Holmes brigade "for better service and execution on the Potomac." Walker's Virginia battery already had 6-10-pdr Parrotts so his men had the needed experience to work this gun. In late July and August 1861, Walker employed Long Tom at Marlborough Point and exchanged fire with U.S. Navy gunboats to draw attention away from the batteries being built upstream at Evansport, Shipping Point and Cockpit Point.
On Sept. 9, 1861, Samuel Cooper notified Gen. J.E. Johnston that "eight guns of the heaviest caliber, including the rifled gun taken at Manassas, will have arrived at Evansport this evening."
Another article in Confederate Veteran (V.23, p. 168) suggests Long Tom was with S.D. Lee's artillery attached to Wade Hampton's Brigade and used at Freestone Point (Leesylvania State Park today) in late September and October 1861. Primary source evidence to verify this is elusive.
Long Tom was not among the heavy guns the Confederates abandoned and destroyed when they withdrew from Northern Virginia on March 9, 1862. There are subsequent references to the gun being used during the Penninsula Campaign. J.W. Lokey, 20th Georgia Infantry, recorded, " I noticed one day an observation balloon the Yanks had sent up....We had with us a 32 pdr [sic] rifle cannon, called "Long Tom", which we had captured at the first battle of Manassas. This gun was fired at the balloon which caused it to descend quickly."
On June 27, 1862, General Magruder instructed Gen. Pendleton to place "Long Tom" and all long-range pieces he had in rear of Mrs. Christian's place. On July 28, 1862, General Lee ordered Gen. Pendleton to join Gen. D.H. Hill with his reserve batteries, including Long Tom, on an expedition to old Fort Powhatan in an effort to cut off McClellan's communications by the river.
Gen. D.R. Jones reported on July 28, 1862: "In the afternoon, from the top of Mrs. Price's house I saw the enemy drawn up in great force across the Chicahominy, ready to meet the steadily advancing lines of General Longstreet's command. So soon as the engagement began I directed Captain Dabney to open with his heavy battery of one 32-pounder [sic] Parrott gun, known as "Long Tom," and one 18-pounder rifled gun upon the enemy's flank."
On January 5, 1864, Gen. W.H.C. Whiting in Wilmington reported that his only 30-pounder Parrott gun had burst and he requested a replacement. In a message to Gen. S. Cooper dated Jan. 6, 1864, J. Gorgas wrote, "There are arms on the way to him [Whiting] and I have asked Colonel Stevens for the gun known as "Long Tom," now on the defenses here." This is the last known reference to Long Tom I have seen and it suggests that Long Tom may have ended up in North Carolina if it was indeed sent from the Richmond defenses.
Jim Burgess, 15th Conn. Vol. Inf.
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