Weapons Systems

12-Pounder Napoleon (M1857 Gun-Howitzer)

Also Known As Napoleon gun

Modern, United States

Citation Formats

General Reference

War and Military Atlas. "12-Pounder Napoleon (M1857 Gun-Howitzer)." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-military.interactiveatlas.org/weapons-systems/12-pounder-napoleon-gun-howitzer.

APA Style

War and Military Atlas. (n.d.). 12-Pounder Napoleon (M1857 Gun-Howitzer). Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-military.interactiveatlas.org/weapons-systems/12-pounder-napoleon-gun-howitzer

BibTeX

@misc{warandmilitaryatlas-12-pounder-napoleon-m1857-gun-howitzer,
  author = {War and Military Atlas},
  title = {12-Pounder Napoleon (M1857 Gun-Howitzer)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-military.interactiveatlas.org/weapons-systems/12-pounder-napoleon-gun-howitzer},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The M1857 12-pounder Napoleon was a bronze smoothbore muzzle-loading gun-howitzer, adopted by the United States Army in 1857 and extensively employed by both sides in the American Civil War. Combining the functions of a field gun and a howitzer in one carriage let a single weapon fire multiple ammunition types instead of requiring separate guns.

Facts

Weapon Class

smoothbore muzzle-loading gun-howitzer 1

Introduced Year

1857 1

Cross-Tradition Connections