A long-range experimental cannon, the Sawyer gun, was installed at Fort Calhoun in mid-1861 during the Civil War. The weapon was rifled, and an illustration in an August 1861 newspaper shows it mounted on a high-angle carriage. The range of this weapon extended all the way to Sewell's Point, more than three miles away (where the Norfolk Naval Base is now located), the site of a Confederate earthen fort with bastions and a redan and three artillery batteries totaling 45 guns. The weapon was a rifled 24-pounder (which would fire a projectile of 42–48 pounds), one of several rifled artillery pieces developed by Sylvanus Sawyer; however, none of his designs were widely adopted. A weapon of this type was tested at Fort Monroe in 1859, and two different Sawyer weapons, a 24-pounder rifle and a 3.67-inch, were used in the Siege of Richmond of 1864–65, although the 24-pounder burst at the tenth round and the 3.67-inch rifle was seldom used. The Battle of Hampton Roads took place off Sewells Point on March 8–9, 1862. USS "Monitor" faced CSS "Virginia" during the Battle of the Ironclads in 1862. The Sawyer gun also fired at "Virginia", although it did no damage to the ironclad's armor.