Grasshopper cannon

Design

Barrel and materials

Grasshopper guns were commonly described in contemporary usage as "brass" guns, but were typically cast in bronze (a copper–tin alloy). The higher strength of bronze allowed thinner construction than comparable iron guns and, in the event of a catastrophic failure, a bronze piece was more likely to split rather than shatter.

Carriage and mobility

The weapon was intended to be highly mobile for close infantry support. In British service in North America, light 3-pounders were moved by their crews using ropes and wooden shafts in a handcart-like manner, and could also be towed when fitted to a limber system. One documented set of informal terms distinguished a 3-pounder pulled by a limber ("butterfly") from a configuration in which shafts attached directly to the carriage ("grasshopper"); the nicknames were discouraged in official returns.

Ammunition and performance

The gun fired a 3-pound (about 1.4 kg) solid iron ball and could also fire anti-personnel ammunition such as grape or canister, with ammunition often prepared as fixed cartridges (powder charge attached to the projectile) for rapid loading. A well-drilled crew could maintain a relatively high rate of fire for a field piece in this class.

Service history

American Revolutionary War

Light British 3-pounders were employed as battalion guns in the American Revolutionary War. At the Battle of Cowpens (1781), two British light 3-pounder "grasshopper" cannons accompanied Tarleton’s force and were captured near the end of the action. At the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (1781), British 3-pounder "grasshopper" cannons provided covering fire as the British advanced into contact.

Frontier warfare (Chickamauga Wars)

A light "grasshopper" cannon was used on the southern Appalachian frontier during the Chickamauga Wars. In the Battle of Flint Creek (January 10, 1789), John Sevier initiated the attack with the discharge of a grasshopper cannon, but reported that the defenders of the encampment "killed the people who were serving our artillery." Sevier also wrote that militia ammunition had been "much damaged by the snow" during the march through heavy snow and extreme cold, prompting him to abandon prolonged gunfire and shift to close combat.

War of 1812

Verbruggen-pattern 3-pounders remained in use into the War of 1812 in British and provincial service in Canada, including documented employment in operations along the Niagara and St. Lawrence corridors. At the Battle of Queenston Heights (1812), provincial artillery units were equipped with 3-pounders described in contemporary/near-contemporary accounts as "grasshopper" artillery.

Surviving examples

Surviving British bronze 3-pounders of Verbruggen-related patterns are held in multiple museum collections in North America, including examples identified as Townshend- and Congreve-pattern guns.

References

References

1. "Verbruggen Guns (narrative)". Perth Historical Society.
2. "Battle of Ridgefield Technical Report (NPS ABPP)". U.S. National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program.
3. "A Race for the Grasshopper". U.S. National Park Service.
4. "The British Deploy for Battle at the Hoskins Farmstead". National Museum of the United States Army.
5. (2 May 1789). "Copy of a letter from Governor Sevier to the Privy Council of the new state of Franklin (dated at Buffaloe Creek, January 12, 1789)". The Augusta Chronicle and Gazette of the State.
6. Waage, Erick. (May–June 2013). "Battle of Flint Creek, 1789".
7. Cruikshank, Ernest Alexander. (1890). "The Story of the Battle of Queenstown Heights".