Since 1857, the basic smoothbore cannon used by the U.S. Army was the Napoleon. Named after Napoleon III of France, it was sometimes referred to as the "gun-howitzer," or the "light 12-pounder." This artillery piece was the greatest gun in its category, and had the distinction of being one of the top three cannons used during the Civil War. General Lee considered the 12-pound Napoleon, the 10-pound Parrott and the 3-inch rifle to be the best guns available for improving the field artillery.

With regards to wargaming, it would be useful to compare the relative value of the Napoleon with its other two counterparts, and to consider this gun's contributon in battle. Barrel weight ease of operating, effective range, and killing power were all parameters used to gauged the importance of this weapon.

Compare barrel weights, for example. The barrel of the Napoleon weighed in the neighborhood of 1,210 pounds. The 10-pound Parrott weighed about 900 pounds and the 3-inch rifle about 815 pounds. With the Napoleon being 33% heavier than the Parrott and almost 50% greater than the 3-incher, it caused, greater wear on horse teams, decreased maneuverability over uneven terrain, and required more energy and muscle-power for handling during operations.

There were even more features distinguishing the Napoleon from the other two leading gun types. Napoleons were smoothbores, while the Parrott and 3-inch gun were rifled. Smoothbores were typically safer and easier to operate. The sponging step was quicker, since it was easier and more effective to sponge the smooth surface of the barrel than the troublesome, spark-hiding, spiral lands and grooves of rifled guns

In addition, Napoleon rounds were all prepackaged -- the cartridge bag was directly attached to the projectile. This made them easier to handle, and they needed less loading time. This package required only one ramming stroke. In combat, rifled gun cartridges were separate from the projectile, requiring two ramming strokes.

The Napoleon possessed an even greater advantage due to the simplicity of its ammunition. With the exception of canister, Napoleons fired round projectiles. There were only four kinds to choose from -- shot, case, shell, and canister. With few choices, finding the right wagon with the right ammunition made replenishing easier.

In combat, rifled ammunition was complex. The system diversity in the design was extensive. It included nine different categories of methods used to impart a spin on the projectile. Each category had a multiple of projectile selections. Some systems could not be used interchangeably between different models of guns, even those with the same caliber Maintaining a broad inventory was unwieldy; restocking correct ammunition was even more difficult. Some guns were put out of action from using incorrect ammunition, caused by the confusion in the variety of projectiles.

The Napoleon's spherical ammunition produced another advantage. The blunt round shape of its ammunition caused increased air resistance and slowed down the projectile. The striking velocity of a Napoleon projectile was only about one-third of as muzzle velocity. Decreased velocity allowed gunners to visually track the trajectory and make necessary corrections on the next shot. In contrast the bullet-shaped high-velocity rifled projectiles were not normally visible in flight. The average velocity of a rifled projectile was more than double that of a Napoleon's.

On the downside, Napoleons had a large bore of 4.62 inches. Because of using larger ammunition, batteries made up of Napoleons carried fewer projectiles in thew limbers and caissons. A Napoleon ammunition chest carried 32 rounds or a total of l28 on hand for immediate use. The 3-inch and 10-pound Parrott ammunition chest carried 50 rounds, or a total of 200 on hand for immediate use. Faster load times consumed more ammunition, and with less ammunition on hand, Napoleons had less staying power on the field than rifled guns

In addition, smoothbores were comparatively inefficient in delivering projectiles to their targets. For ease of loading, the round projectiles were about 1/10 inch smaller in diameter than the bore of the barrel. The difference, called windage, was needed to overcome the thick film buildup from firing, and it allowed continued operations. Windage, however, leaked a considerable amount of propellant gas. Napoleons used 2.5 times more gunpowder than 3" and 10-pound Parrotts. Burning more powder meant generating more smoke. In turn, more smoke meant more concealment: of targets.

As a consequence of propellant leakage and spherical projectiles, Napoleons had a shorter range than the rifled guns. The published ranges of the the most popular guns, measured at 5 degrees elevation, were as follows:

12-pound Napoleon l,619 yards
3-inch Ordnance rifle 1,830
10-pound Parrott 1,850

Readers should be aware, however, that these published ranges merely provide a point-of-reference comparison for different artillery pieces at a even elevation. They do not reflect effective ranges or maximum elevations of use. The Table of Fire for a Napoleon gun, for example, instructed artillerymen to fire at targets up to 2,000 yards. John Gibbon's Artillerist Manual lists the range of a 3-inch rifle, firing case shot, as being 4, 180 yards at 16 degrees elevation. At the first battle of Manassas, the targets of Cushing's Federal battery were beyond the maximum range of his guns. Cushing calmly ordered his men to dig holes under the gun bails deep enough to allow firing at angles upwards of forty degrees.

Maximum range, however, was not the same as effective range. As the distance increased, so did the lateral deviation, or drift, of the round. In turn, the chances of hitting the target decreased. For example, a 12-pound Napoleon, firing a solid shot at only 600 yards, would have a horizontal deviation of about 3 feet. At 1,200 yards, the deviation increased to about 12 feet. The other projectiles fired by the 12-pounder produced an even greater deviation.

Napoleons could increase their range by ricochet firing. Best accomplished over level hard ground, ricochet firing was intended to "bounce the projectile over terrain and gain altitude in order to increase its range. Although difficult to achieve, the effects of ricochet firing were often better than direct fire. As the projectile skipped across the terrain the ball's velocity decreased. A ball with low velocity fractured, split, and splintered objects, and more widely scattered dangerous fragments than one with high velocity velocity. Riccochet firing kicked up dust clouds on its deadly path, and, as a consequence, it affected morae to a greater extent than a ball passing through the air.

With the Napoleon's shorter range, this gun was more limited in its participation in one of the most effective artillery practices -- crossfiring or oblique firing. Cross-firing caused significantly greater damage to targets with shallow depth. Greater angles of fire increased the range required to hit targets, which in turn, diminished the opportunity for the Napoleon's participation.

Although the effective range of Napoleons was not as great as rifles, uneven and wooded terrain, where most battles were fought, often neutralized the long-range advantage of rifled guns. Therefore, when battles were fought within the operating distance of Napoleons, the positive factor of range for rifled guns over Napoleons diminished in importance while the positive value of the Napoleons' killing power increased.

Killing power was where the Napoleon displayed its eminence in battle. Despite shortcomings in were range, and accuracy, the cross-sectional bore size of a Napoleon was more than double that of the 3-inch or 10pound Parrott. The additional two pounds of weight in Napoleon ammunition helped increase its killing power. This was especially true with canister. When fired from the smoothbore Napoleon, canister balls exited the barrel in an evenly distributed conical pattern that: damaged targets in a predictable manner.

By contrast, the grooves of rifled guns interfered with exiting canister balls, causing a jagged pattern and producing uneven damage. In addition, the centrifugal force of a rifled barrel caused a canister round to produce a dispersed pattern sooner than that of a smoothbore. As a result, the smaller-bore rifled guns had only half the effective canister range of the Napoleons' outer distance of four hundred yards. In the words of Brig, Gen. John Corse, U.S.A., "No column can stand a concentrated fire of six Napoleons by volley or battery, double shotted with canister."

The effective range of a Napoleon was about one mile, and the rifled guns about two miles. Rifled guns were masters of the field when operating beyond the effective range of Napoleons, which, in this case, were powerless except for use as smoke generators. But the range value for rifled guns was not static. It only applied when enemy targets were visible. Besides terrain interference, the great range equality for Napoleons was the absence of smokeless gunpowder during the Civil War.

As battles grew hotter and smoke from blazing muskets and artillery fire covered the field, visibility often dropped to well within the row of Napoleons. At this point, the additional killing power of the Napoleon more than offset any drawbacks they had versus rifled guns.

Most certainly, possessing longer-range rifled artillery was important, but often it was not that critical. In battles waged where the range was within the realm of the Napoleons' operation, an army with a disproportionately high number of rifled guns gained the advantage of projecting its firepower at longer distances, but it diminished its capacity to kill at close-range. Decisive battles are never won by long-range combat.

When rifled guns replaced Napoleons; on the battle line, an army sacrificed the qualities it needed most-the killing power of canister fired at short range from a large-diameter smoothbore. It was the Napoleon that was needed to kill, maim, or stop a massed assault. This is where the battle's success or failure was almost always decided.

The heavy use of the Napoleon continued throughout the Civil War. At Gettysburg, for example, Napoleons constituted over forty percent of the Army of the Potomac's guns, and Army of Northern Virginia totaled an almost an identical percentage. Although smoothbores were slowly becoming obsolete, at the end of the war, about half the field guns in the Army of the Potomac were twelvepound Napoleons.

From the war's beginning through the end of 1863, the U.S. government had ordered an impressive total of 1,113 of these deadly weapons. The last one would be applied for in 1864. Throughout the war, the Napoleon was the favorite piece for many artillerymen. It was the last bronze gun produced for an American army.

Philip M Cole was born in Gettysburg. He received his BS in Accounting at Penn State, and served as a Russian linguist in US. Navy during the Vietnam era. Phil's ancestors fought with 76th Pennsylvania Volunteers (the 'Keystone Zouaves'7

. He is a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettyburg National Military Park. Phil authored the excellent book; Civil War Artillery at Gettysburg which is available at Gettysburg bookstores or online at www.militaryhistoryonline.com.