Still later, on the ratification of the Constitution, King entered a float in the parade held in Philadelphia on 4 July 1788, in celebration of the event. On his float was built a small furnace which was in full blast throughout the procession, during which time Mr. King finished a 3-inch howitzer. At the end of the parade he mounted this gun and fired it along with the other artillery pieces on Union Green.4 Small cannon of this type developed the ancestors of the mountain howitzer of a somewhat later day. The heavy, horse-drawn guns could not always be transported to the positions where they were in demand; further, the heavier guns had greater range than was actually needed in close wilderness fighting. These circumstances resulted in a slight trend toward a light piece that could be strapped to a packsaddle and carried on horseback, and several variations of such light cannon were in use at least as early as the Revolutionary War. On 30 November 1776, Major General Schuyler requested, for the Army of the Northern Department, a number of light cannon on traveling carriages, among them, four 3-inch howitzers.5 The following June, General Fraser, with the advance guard of Burgoyne's expedition, marched with four light 6-pounders and four light 3-pounders, the latter "constructed for being occasionally carried on horseback."6 Three of the 3-pounder guns are still to be seen, one in the collection of Fort Ticonderoga, one in the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and the third in the Smithsonian Institution. The first is thought to be mounted on its original carriage.7 The next reference to a cannon which may have been one of this type is found in a communication from Colonel Josiah Harmar to Major John Hamtramck, dated at Ft. Washington, 27 August 179(?). He wrote, "I shall expect Major Dougherty here shortly; when I shall take his opinion about a carriage for the howitz; perhaps it will be most advisable to send it to head quarters to be mounted, as you have a sufficiency of artillery without it, [at] Post Vincennes."8 We can only surmise that this might have been a 2 3/4-inch howitzer. At least there seems to be a problem about how to mount the piece; had it been a more common 5 1/2" or 8" howitzer, one would be inclined to think it would probably have been mounted on a conventional howitzer carriage, causing no further difficulty. In March of 1792, with St. Clair's defeat on the Wabash still a poignant memory, Anthony Wayne took command of the newly organized Legion of the United States. He lost no time in procuring equipment and supplies, and on 31 May the amount of $442.67 was entered in the quartermaster records "to pay for 16 Howitzers & 16 Carriages."9 Considering the small cost of the pieces, there can be little doubt that they were the 2 3/4-inch howitzers; besides, the number is in agreement with that shown in a missive Wayne had sent Secretary of War Knox, on 27 July 1792. "Pray what has become of our sixteen little Howitz's," he inquired, "we have plenty of round pebbles that will answer in the place of shot for practicing and our Artillery men--have everything yet to learn."10

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