"3lb galloper guns" Topic

Hi

Were 3lb "galloper" guns mainly used by the British, or did some find their way into the hands of the Continentals. How common were they?

Thanks.

Paul

They were used by both sides, particularly in the Southern Theatre where bad roads and the greater need for mobility made the galloper ideally suited.

Here is a picture of the Fife & Drum galloper which is a 3-pound Verbruggen cannon mounted on a Congreve carriage, as modeled after the Caruana book on British light artillery during the AWI period:

You can link to additional information on my blog site, which also has a link to the Royal Artillery Museum in the UK:

link

Here is a picture of the cannon with the limber:

By galloper i suspect Paul means the split trail carriage that hitched directly to a single horse. I suspect that was used by both sides – if the rebels didn't capture any they would have been familiar with the concept (which dates back to the 17th century) and current British pattern, and so could have built their own.

Here is the drawing provided by Mr. Townsend himself:

He calls it a galloper gun.

DAF, Any plans for doing a "split-tail" 3 lb. gun for the Fife and Drum line? That is known as the "grasshopper" correct? I do not believe that many manufactures offer such a piece. I have always found them interesting.

Thanks,

John

Townsend's device was a bit of a lash-up designed to turn a light infantry 3pdr (or 'grasshopper' – so called because of the profile created when the the four levers and trail spikes were left in place when the gun was in action) into a 'galloper'. At the tie there was already a dedicated galloper in the British arsenal – i forget the formal name of the carriage, no doubt someone else will remind us.

I have pictures of 1:6 model of the 3-pdr Pattison Gun which I discovered in the reserve collection. The reconstructed carriages in the US are not correct as they were based upon Curuana's drawings. These he based upon an existing carriage that was converted in the 1840s to block trail.
Stephen

And Hinchliffe make two nice variants of the 3pdr galloper – one with side boxes attached (in their standard 25mm equipment range), and another without (in the supergun range). Both fit well with modern 28s or '1/56th'.

I believe the name "grasshopper" originally referred to a "frame gun" – a type used in the 17th Century and which had no wheels, but four legs. The lack of wheels caused the carriage to jump when the gun was fired. Not sure if any frame guns were used in the AWI, but not impossible given the home-made nature of much artillery, especially in the early part of the war.

The 'jumping gun' is a myth (such weapons would be bloody dangerous to their own crew if you think about it…and as i understand it their are no contemporary illustrations of the most famous(?) frame guns – those of the ECW era Scots).
The origin of the grasshopper nickname as it pertains to the AWI has been discussed here before i'm sure, if you find a picture of the gun with levers attached you'll see what i mean.

I Thought the galloper or 'grasshopper' were not only the same kind of weapon, but the light gun carriage had a trail similar to the two pronge hitch/trail of the kind shown above by Der Alte Fritz.

I had some of those kind of artillery models for my AWI armies.

like so:

A grasshopper and galloper gun carriage are different in their construction.

The galloper gun had developed to operate with cavalry. Such guns were operated into the 19th Century in India with the East India Company and British Light Dragoons. These would either have 1-pdr or 3-pdr bronze cannon.

The Grasshopper gun carriage is a different and was designed by Colonel James Pattison, RA to operate in rough terrain. It could be carried on the shoulders of 8 gunners complete. Or the carriage by 4 and the gun by 4. Split into two load for two horses. Or as Der Old Fritz shows in a la Lumiere behind a horse. The correct designation is the 3-pdr Pattison Gun. Which as I have stated I have pictures of the model made in 1773 that differ in design to that produced by Der Old Fritz, in Curuana (1980) booklet and those reproduction carriages in the US. The carriage is more canterleavered and has more reinforcements.

Stephen

The galloper gun had the horse hitched to its trails, that construction doing double duty as limber and gun trails.

The grasshopper, sometimes known as a butterfly, were typical of the period in design, both having a split trail/bracket gun carriage.

From Harold Peterson's The Book of the Continental Soldier, 124:

'There was also one other type of carriage for light field pieces. Called a galloper carriage, it was sometimes used for the 1 1/2-, 2-, and 3-pounders. Instead of the usual trail it boasted a pair of shafts so that a single horse could be hitched directly to it. Colloquially this carriage was sometimes called a grasshopper to distinguish if from the light guns with limbers which were called butterflies. These terms, however, were used confusingly, and some officers at the time objected to them because of it.'

From A Treatise of Artillery 1780 by John Muller, 115:

'There is one gun carriage more, which is called galloper; it serves for a pound and a half gun. This carriage has shafts so as to be drawn without a limber, and is thought by some artillerists to be more convenient and preferable to other field carriages…'

B

Thank you gentlemen. I guess if contemporaries used the two terms 'confusingly', there is a reason for my being confused…

I always find it reassuring to find that "they" were just as confused, if not more so, than we are.

There are two booklets on period artillery that I have found very helpful. Both are by Adrian Caruana and are published by The Museum Restoration Servce.

The first is The Light 6-Pounder Battalion Gun of 1776 (Historical Arms Series Number 16) and the second is Grasshoppers and Butterflies: The Light 3-Pounders of Pattison and Townsend (Historical Arms Series Number 39.

I highly recommend them, as well as the entire series.

B

RAFM do a nice Galloper gun. I also have one made by Hinchliffe.