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In the period before the Civil War, a U.S. Army light artillery battery was organized with four M1841 6-pounder field guns and two M1841 12-pounder howitzers. [1] The field gun fired solid iron cannon balls in a flat trajectory to smash its targets [2] while the howitzer was designed to lob hollow shells into massed formations or fortifications. [3]
Though both sides employed the 6-pounder field gun and 12-pounder howitzer in the early battles, they were recognized as inferior to the 12-pounder Napoleon and soon discontinued in the Union armies in the Eastern Theater. However, Union and Confederate armies in the Western Theater continued to use both weapons.
The French "Canon obusier de campagne de 12 modèle 1853", on display in Les InvalidesThe canon obusier de 12, introduced in the French Army in 1853, an early type of canon obusier, or gun howitzer developed during the reign of Napoleon III, was the primary cannon used in the American Civil War, under the name of 12-pounder Napoleon Model 1857.
The Canon de 12 Gribeauval or 12-pounder was a French cannon and part of the system developed by Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. There were 1.079 English pounds in the Old French pound ( French : livre ), making the weight of shot nearly 13 English pounds.
The twelve-pound cannon is a cannon that fires twelve-pound projectiles from its barrel, as well as grapeshot, chain shot, shrapnel, and later shells and canister shot. [1] It was first used during the Tudor period [ 2 ] and was commonly used during the Napoleonic Wars , 1799–1815.
The "canon obusier de 12 livres" is commonly described as a "12-pounder" in English, although the nominal rating was based on a slightly different measure - the bore is the size of a solid cast-iron ball weighing 12 livres (old French pounds, about 1.079 English pounds.) As with other cannon rated by nominal weight, the projectile actually used ...
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Canon lourd de 12 Gribeauval, French heavy cannon of the mid-late 18th century; Canon obusier de 12, French 12-pounder cannon-howitzer of 1853. Known in the US as "12 pounder Napoleon" M1841 12-pounder howitzer, American howitzer having the same caliber (4.62 inches) as a 12-pounder field gun; One of the Dahlgren guns of the American Civil War