Model 1841 12Lb. Mountain Howitzer

• Originally designed to be packed on draft animals and set up in places where larger field pieces could not be, the versatility of the mountain howitzer kept it in use until the late 1890's.
• The bronze barrel weighed 220 lbs. and was carried by one animal, the wheels, axle, and trail by another, and six ammunition boxes were carried by three others.
• Two Guns were a Section and four to six guns made up a Battery.
• The Bore Diameter was 4.62" and the guns fired the same assortment of spherical twelve lb. shot and shell that their larger cousins did. The exception being the canister shot for the mountain howitzer contained 158 .68 caliber lead shot as opposed to 48 1" iron shot for the 12 lb. Field Howitzer and the 12 lb. Napoleon.
• The effective range for the guns was 900 yards but they were capable of firing 1400 yards at maximum elevation. In actual practice they were used to support infantry and cavalry most often and long range was not a factor.

• Though not very popular in the Eastern Theater of the WBTS, the little guns saw a great deal of use with the Army of Tennessee in the West where they were affectionately known as "Bull Pups" or not so affectionately as "Jackass Guns."
• The guns were a particular favorite of Nathan Bedford Forrest's Cavalry and were used in some of his most famous battles. Though not widely popular with The Army of Northern Virginia, they saw some very hot action with John Singleton Mosby and his Partisan Rangers.
• There were three variants of the type, those being the pack carriage and the prairie carriage #'s 1 & 2. These latter two types were designed to be hauled behind a single animal or when equipped with a similarly sized limber, they were drawn by a team of two.
  
• The prairie carriages differed from the standard pack carriage in that they had a wider wheel spacing and larger diameter wheels to facilitate being hauled behind the animals, thus making it easier to bring them into play.