Kentucky’s rugged terrain was ideal
for cavalry’s hit-and-run ‘Bull Pup’
 
Confederate Sgt. Henry Worth, reputed to be one of the best gunners of the Civil War, was so good with a mountain howitzer that he could “hit a man a mile away by sighting the gun with only his hands.”

Worth, who had eight years of experience with the Royal Prussian Army, was a member of Col. John Scott’s 1st Louisiana Cavalry that pushed through Central Kentucky in 1862 as part of the Confederate invasion of the Commonealth. Scott had a battery of the little guns that one officer joked were so small that he could hang one as a charm on his watch chain.

But, make no mistake, the short-barreled cannons packed a lethal punch for fast-moving cavalry raiders.

Confederate Brig. Gen. Basil Duke, a key member of John Hunt Morgan’s troopers, wrote that “no gun is so well suited in all respects to the wants of the cavalry.”

Duke acknowledged their short range (about 900 yards), but felt they could shoot far enough for any cavalry battles. The 12-pound mountain howitzer could go anywhere a horse could, was designed for rugged terrain and was light enough that foot soldiers could push it into position as they advanced close to enemy lines.

The model 1835 was a small bronze cannon with a 37-inch gun tube and a small carriage with 38-inch wheels. Its ammunition utilized a half-size powder charge in contrast to the normal 12-pound howitzers and utilized canister and explosive shell.

The piece could be transported by mules, with one animal carrying the tube and shafts while another carried the carriage and wheels and others carried two ammunition chests with eight rounds each. The gun could be taken from its pack animals, assembled, loaded and fired in less than a minute. Five soldiers handled the weapon versus the eight normally needed for a full-sized gun.

Where weight is concerned, the tube was 220 pounds in contrast to the 778 pounds for a normal 12-pound howitzer. The carriage was 157 pounds and the two wheels 65 pounds each. The full-sized howitzer had a 900-pound carriage with wheels and a gun limber for a total weight of some 2,500 pounds not including ammunition chests. In addition, there was the caisson with its own limber weighing in at 2,120 pounds minus ammunition chests.

On open ground, the mountain howitzer was a liability with its 900-yard range, which was about 200 yards less than its full-size cousin. For hit-and-run cavalry use, however, its effectiveness was without question.

The 1835 mountain howitzer was copied under license from the French, who had developed it specifically for rugged terrain. The gun saw wide use during the Mexican War and by both sides in the Civil War and was most often used in the Western and trans-Mississippi theaters.

Nicknames for the diminutive artillery pieces were “Bulldog” or “Bull Pup.”