It would appear that at least one of these light howitzers was taken on Gen. John Sullivan's campaign against the Indians of the Six Nations during the summer of 1779. General Orders issued at Genesee on 15 September of that year required that "the small Howitzer" be placed before the advanced guard of that army.19 The heaviest cannon taken on that campaign was a 3-pounder so it is likely that this "small howitzer"[sic] would have been too large and cumbersome for campaigning in what was predominantly a heavily wooded area so the use of a King howitzer would have been far more sensible. They also did a considerable amount of traveling by water, and a larger and heavier carriage would have been difficult to transport in the boats they used.
      Not all of these small guns were made of brass for there are records which indicate that there were almost fifty 3 1/2 inch iron howitzers in store between 1781 and 1784. A return of stores received between 11 August and 1 December 1781 indicates that there were eighteen of them on board some unidentified Continental schooner.20 A 1 December 1782 return of stores on hand at Philadelphia and Rhode Island includes 47 unmounted iron 3 1/2 inch howitzers and 140 3 1/2 inch fixed shells which were obviously intended for use together. Oddly enough, the tubes were in Philadelphia and the ammunition was stored in Rhode Island.21 By 1 February 1784 there were 49 of these iron howitzers returned as being in store in Phildelphia, but no further mention of the ammunition was made at that time.22 Since these iron tubes are described as unmounted, it might be assumed that they had neither carriages nor swivel yokes. It must be remembered, however, that at least eighteen of them had been used aboard ship where they were in all probability employed as swivels. Iron Ordnance seems to have been preferred for use aboard ship since the capture or destruction of a vessel would mean the loss of all the ordnance. Brass ordnance being far more expensive than iron would mean a far greater loss in such a case. It also must be considered that only brass guns were considered as trophies of war; the iron tubes being returned separately, and immediately employed elsewhere in the field. It may be because of this that the iron howitzers could be designed specifically for maritime service. We may also question the fact that so many of these tubes were continually in store rather than in service. The answer may lay in the possibility that the iron guns were more brittle than their brass counterparts, and they may simply have blown up or lost their trunnions in firing. Either of these reasons would have been sufficient to abandon them and let them rust in some ordnance storage park.
      One last item is contained in a letter from Samuel Hodgdon, Commissary General of Military Stores, to Colonel Yates which is dated 12 June 1782 and which reads as follows:
      The Howitzers if they answer may be had at the Same price as the Swivells allowing for the Swivells which are already Fix'd to them and are worth 30/ each which will bring the Howitzer complete to £6..0..0 each 23
      We can only speculate as to whether these tubes were brass or iron, but they were probably the former since some of them already appear to have been in service. No yokes were mentioned in connection with the iron howitzers, with the possible exception of the eighteen on board the unidentified Continental schooner mentioned above.
      We may conclude from all this that there were indeed a number of light howitzers employed by both the Americans and the British during the Revolution. It is possible that many of these tubes were cast by a brass founder named Daniel King who worked both in Philadelphia and Germantown during the war. There is also a strong possibility that they may have had a British origin, it is certain that they saw service on both field carriages as well as on swivel mountings. Their primary purpose in this latter form was as swivel guns used on board ship, but it is also possible that they may also have been mounted on mantelets for use as ammusettes. It can only be hoped that others may find more pieces of the puzzle at some future date.

NOTES


1 Colonial Records of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, 1852), Vol. X, p. 641. No further notice regarding this take-over was given.
2 Ibid., p. 346
3 The Papers of John Adams, Robert J. Taylor ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), Vol. III, p. 22.
4 Colonial Records, op. cit., p. 328
5 Ibid., Vol. XI, p. 13
6 Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of the Officers of the Continental Army (Washington, 1914), p. 675.
7 Francis White, The Philadelphia Directory (Philadelphia, 1785), p. 76.
8 Clement Biddle, The Philadelphia Directory (Philadelphia, 1791), p. 70.
9 The Adams Family Correspndence, L. H. Butterfield, ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), Vol. II, p. 190.
10 NA [National Archives], RG [Record Group] 360, Item 21 Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Reports of Committees, 1775-1788, p. 77 1/2.
11 S. Sydney Bradford, Lord Francis Napier's Journal of the Burgoyne Campaign, Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. LVII, No. 4 (December 1962), p. 299. Anonymous, For Want of a Horse, George F. G. Stanley, ed. (Sackville, N. B., 1961), p. 116.
12 The Dictionary of National Biography, Sir Leslie Stephen & Sir Sidney Lee, eds., (London, 1973), Vol. XI, p. 1120.
13 Official Letters of Major General James Pattison, Collections of the New York Historical Society for the Year 1875 (New York, 1876), Vol. VIII, p. 64.
14 Ibid., p. 85
15 The Siege of Charleston, Bernhard A. Uhlendorf, ed. (Ann Arbour, Mich., 1938), p. 264.
16 NA, RG 93, Item 21807 Return of the State of the Comy Genl M Stores Dept. at Philadelphia & Carlisle given in to the Committee of Congress, 7 October 1780.
17 Ibid.
18 NA, RG 93, Item 21814 Return of Labor performed by Artificers, 1780, pp. 4-5.
19 NY Historical Society, MS Collections, Orderly Book: Col. Oliver Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment, kept by 2nd Lieut. Peter Taulman, p. 148.
20 NA, RG 93, Item 21822 Book of Stores Received, From August 11 1781 to September 30 1782 , p. 7.
21 NA, RG 93, Item 21813 General Return of Ordnance & Military Stores on Hand at the Several Posts & at the periods undermentioned, pp. 2 & 3.
22 NA, RG 93, Item 21811 General Return of Ordnance, Military & Quater[sic] Masters Stores at the Several Posts & at the periods undermentioned - Philadelphia, 18 March, 1784, p. 2.
23 NA, RG 93, Letters of Samuel Hodgdon, Vol. XCII, p. 216.

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