"From the "Napoleon" to the "Napoleon"?" Topic

Hello everyone,

The 12-pound howitzer gun, nicknamed the Canon de l'Empereur or Canon Napoléon in homage to Napoleon III, is a French field gun and howitzer.

Used from 1853, this gun has performances and versatility (its smooth barrel is capable of firing cannonballs, shells or grapeshot) which make it replace the other 8 and 12 guns as well as the "Valée" system howitzers.

He himself will be overtaken by the "Lahitte" system guns.

This gun is used by France during the Crimean War and by the Americans during their Civil War by the states of the union as well as those of the Confederates, but with modifications as well as for its limber, but which ones?

Yours aye

Pascal

but which ones?

Please clarify the question.

Are you asking how the American guns and limbers differed from the French guns and limbers? I do not know for certain, but here are some things I would look at.

1. French guns and equipment were a lighter, brighter shade of green than the olive green used by the northern armies.

2. Northern guns had 13 spokes in their wheels, while I think the French tended to use 12 spoke wheels for their guns.

3. A lot of Confederate produced guns did not have a swell at the muzzle; many also lacked the rings around the muzzle. Union guns were built under license, so the tubes (at any rate) would probably look more like French guns than the guns produced in the southern states.

4. In 1857, when the Napoleon gun was adopted, a lot of North America was still rugged, wild, and undeveloped, unlike France, the low countries, and Germany, so equipment for American service may have been sturdier. I don't think much of this would show up on equipment scaled for our 15 mm or 28 mm figures, though.

Grelber

@donlowry
LOL

@Grelber,
So do you think they were the same?

I was told for example that the "American" Napoleons did not have handles on the tube (also called dolphins).

"American Napoleon"

Kim

Paskal, only the first 33 Union guns had "dolphins," the handles for lifting the barrel. The other 1,124 did not have dolphins. Confederate guns did not have dolphins. Wikipedia has an article on the North American guns here: link

I do not know whether the US guns were the same as the French guns. I did find it fascinating that several European countries used the Napoleon in addition to France. Prussia, Russia, Saxony, and Austria are specifically mentioned as users.

Grelber

I wasn't joking.

But I guess that you were asking "what" modifications were made to the American version(s). It was the word "which" that confused me. "Which" implies a choice.

I'm not trying to criticize you, just trying to be helpful.

@KimRYoung,
nice picture, thank you.

@donlowry
It's still the language barrier, but it doesn't matter donlowry, let's continue to find differences between the French and American "Napoleons" and also their carriages and limbers.As you can see there were !

@Grelber
Bravo for the info for example now I am wondering if the 12 pdrs french guns of 1870 (in fact now fired an 11.5 kg shell, to be compared with the 4.1 kg Napoleonic ball of the 12 pdrs of the Napoleonic era) are the same howitzer guns of the Crimean War transformed into rifled guns with loading by the mouth and introduced in March 1858 in the French army?

I continue to seek to mount my armies of 20mm for the Crimea with the hundreds of minifigs that I have, unfortunately I miss references.