Recently, I took the family to a Civil War reenactment in Bradford, Iowa.  There were several cannons present, but the crew of this mountain howitzer were happy to share information about the gun.  The owners of this reproduction mountain howitzer, Al and Allison, were kind enough to pose for a photo in their full garb.  We were a day ahead of the battle to come, but a lot of the reenactors were still in period dress for the busloads of school kids that had come through earlier.  Unfortunately, the main battle in this event seemed to be against the weather.

The 3 inch reproduction mountain howitzer is based on an 1841 barrel, which takes three men to move when not attached to the carriage. One of the crew guessed that they were close to getting three shots a minute.  The mountain gun barrel was manufactured by Hern Iron Works.  They currently list the 3 inch model at $1,276.00 for the barrel.

The original M1841 Mountain Howitzer was designed to be small and much lighter than other artillery so that it could be transported on rough terrain.  It was also developed to break down into three separate pieces to be carried by a mule when roads weren’t an option.  The video below from Robert Vogel’s YouTube channel shows how an anti-personnel load out of a mountain howitzer might work against a line of enemy soldiers.

Thanks again to Al and Allison for taking their time sharing information between raindrops.  Are there any TFB readers that own black powder cannons, reproduction or otherwise?  I’ve had a cannon on my someday list for a while, but seeing them in action makes me want to move it up the list.  Anyone else hopes to get into the black powder cannon game?  Are there any reenactment events you plan to attend this year?