Years of Manufacture: 1857 to 1863. The
Napoleon Gun Howitzer was the most popular, common, and
deadly field piece of the American Civil War. Developed
under the auspices of Louis Napoleon of France, it first
appeared in the American artillery in 1857. In the North,
the smoothbore Napoleon was officially designated the
"light 12-pounder gun". A Napoleon fired a 12.3 lb
projectile and had a maximum effective range of about
1,600 yards. Union Napoleons had a slight swell at the
muzzle of the 4.62 inch bore. The barrel with its carriage
weighed 2,445 pounds, light enough to be hauled by men
for short distances. The Confederacy produced a great
many Napoleons, the majority out of bronze. Confederate
made pieces were generally tapered and some iron variants
had a band-reinforced breech. Artillerymen favored
bronze Napoleons because their barrels were stronger and
safer than guns made of iron -- thus there was less
chance the gun would burst during firing killing or wounding
the crew. A Napoleon was able to fire all of the four
basic types of ammunition. The solid shot, shell, and case
rounds were all spherical and were used against enemies at
distances greater than 600 yards. For shorter distances
the gun was loaded with canister, which turned it into a
giant shotgun with lethal effects. Firing canister, the
Napoleon probably inflicted more casualties than all other
Civil War era artillery pieces combined.
Great picture. 
