Old West...cannon?

[Elbows]

Hey guys, putting some finishing touches on my SnS cards and art...looking for what a proper Old West cannon would have been - perhaps a cavalry cannon or some such.  Right now I have an image of a late war Civil War cannon, but I want something more appropriate for the card.  Any names I can google for cannons used by the U.S. Cavalry units in the plains wars etc?

[Cory]

Try 12 pound mountain howitzers.

[Elbows]

I was looking up the 12 lb. when I found this gem...Model 1885 3.2 "Field Gun" circa 1890?



Look legit enough?

[Cory]

Well, close enough for Hollywood but that gun is going to be in time for Wounded Knee and the SAW.

More like this;

http://www.stockmansupply.com/catalog-10/BattleoftheBigHole.html

[Elbows]

Gotcha.

[FifteensAway]

Interesting question.  I'm guessing there were so many artillery pieces surplus post ACW that it was a very long time before the US Army bought new tubes.  Curious is some scholarly sort has better information on that topic.

[Heisler]

Immediately after the civil war the artillery was reduced to 5 regiments, all but two batteries of each regiment were dismounted and used for coastal defense. Of the remaining two batteries one had 4 3" Rifles and the other was equipped with 4 12" Napoleons (smoothbores). The Gatling gun was introduced to the artillery in 1866 but I'm not sure how it was structured into the organization.

Breechloaders were introduced in 1879 and the first of these were 3" Rifles rebored to 3.2" (still referred to as 3" rifles though). There was also a 3.2" mortar.
Purpose built 3.2" breechloading rifles were introduced in 1885. In 1890 these started to be replaced with a 3.6" version

The artillery arm was very much neglected during this period and in many cases such as with the cavalry they were manned by cavalrymen not artillerymen. They were rarely deployed in the field against Indians because of their weight, the same reason Custer didn't take his Gatling guns for is expedition up the Missouri river.

[Deedles]

Hey guys, putting some finishing touches on my SnS cards and art...looking for what a proper Old West cannon would have been - perhaps a cavalry cannon or some such.  Right now I have an image of a late war Civil War cannon, but I want something more appropriate for the card.  Any names I can google for cannons used by the U.S. Cavalry units in the plains wars etc?

Cannons!.... Oh my... Now I want to see the rules for them

[Elbows]

Hahaha, yes I include a number of weapon cards for use with special scenarios - including a cannon, and a gatling gun.  They are simple crew-served guns, but can add some spice if you're doing a scenario of some sort.  They're not for use in the normal skirmish game...unless you're absolutely twisted. 

[FifteensAway]

Elbows,

I posted this link on its own but here it is just for you - not the most easy to see, but authentic to the old west for sure:

http://steeplechasingzebras.blogspot.com/

Scroll down to see the cannon.

[Elbows]

Yeah, so it looks like I can get away with a quasi-ACW cannon.  I'm going to find a good image of one.  Thanks guys.

[mysteriousbill]

With the bad roads and mountainous terrain of the west regular Civil War artillery would have been of little use, especially when fighting Indians. Instead mountain artillery would have been used. The 1841 12 pounder mountain howitzer would have been the most used piece in the west.

http://swcwa.com/Untitled41/The_Mountain_Howitzer.pdf

http://bluegrassmountainartillery.tripod.com/wildcat-mountain-battery.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1841_Mountain_Howitzer

Indians really feared these guns, probably more than their actual effectiveness warranted.