Does anyone know if the French mountain howitzers all had low trunnions, or if they eventually moved them to centerline? The one I've seen not too long ago was as I recall dated 1839 and had low trunnions. I saw another one, mounted, in front of the French Foreign Legion barracks in Djibouti, Africa, when I was in the Navy, but can't recall where the trunnions were on it.
I kind of thought I'd like to have it, but I didn't like the thought of what might happen to me when the Legionnaires caught me. We had a few drinks with them and they most definitely seemed like folks you didn't want to anger.
If anyone cares, the Spanish used a howitzer that's very similar to our M1835, which they probably copied from the French, as they did with much artillery. The Spanish version I've seen was dated in the 1840's, had centerline trunnions, and had a 4.5-inch bore (a bit smaller than the US version.)
I don't think the French ever modified their 1828 mt. howitzer to have the trunnions placed on the centerline of the bore. The Spanish model (according to this Aide-Memoire) is derived from the French mt. howitzer.
Aide-Memoire to The Military Sciences 
http://www.longcamp.com/rosewitz.htmlSir,
I read with interest the information you have on your site regarding the Fremont howitzer. I think the greatest detractor to the whole issue of the weapon is the belief that CPT Bell issued anything but an American 12 Pounder Mountain howitzer to LT. Fremont. Unfortunately for speculators, the American Mountain howitzer is almost identical to a French Mountain Howitzer in shape, dimensions and packing. I hope you can indulge me while I provide some additional information that may be beneficial for your web site.
The fact of the matter is, the 1828 French howitzer did NOT have dolphins (handles), it DID disassemble and pack on saddles, and we did NOT buy a single piece from the French. Lts. Tyler and Huger saw the howitzer in Metz, France at the Artillery School and Tyler had plans drawn up to use in manufacturing it. The US model did have trunnions in line instead of below the "axis of fire" like the French, but most of the carriage was the same design excepting changes for American manufacturing practices and conversion from metric to inches. In Pruess's drawing he depicts what appears to be a split trail carriage and a barrel with dolphins. The French howitzer actually had a box trail carriage like the US. The primary difference between the two was the conversion to US measurements.
Dimensions- The French model was slightly larger dimensionally(for example the bore of a US mountain howitzer is 4.62 inches where as the French is 4.745 inches). The US Howitzer is a 12 pounder (which I will discuss below) where as the French is a 12 centimeter (note: 12 cc= 4.74 in). This also begs the question, if it was a French piece, where was the ammunition coming from, they could not use US shells because they would have been too small.
The French mountain howitzer ball diameter tolerance was 4.686 to 4.639 while the US was 4.53 to 4.49 with 4.52 being the correct ball size. Other differences included the bore length of the French was 31.90 vice the US of 28.16; the exterior length of bore being French 33.87 and US 32.91 (bore length only, not including cascable); weight of the French 221 pounds and the US 220. (refer US Ordnance Manual 1862 pgs 21,34, 488)
I like your scale drawing of the Pruess howitzer. The US mountain howitzer had 38" wheels and a track of 30.2 inches. The height of the axis of the trunnions above the ground is 27 inches. If your drawing is accurate then the Pruess howitzer would have had wheels not even two and one half feet tall leaving an axle approximately 14 inches off the ground. That would have been very unwieldy. General Jesup complained of the Mountain Howitzers in Florida sticking on stumps and uneven ground and at that time (1837-39) thewheels were 36 inches tall; 27 inch wheels, if correct would definitely be a mess. However, I think again, we can not rely on the drawing.
The other common mistake is the belief that French mountain howitzers did not disassemble. This is not true. They disassembled just as their US counter-parts did. I have a lithograph of the French foreign legion in Algiers c. 1846 packing their mountain howitzers on mules through a mountain stream bed. It looks amazingly like a US howitzer. I also have lithos of the French manual that shows how they packed each saddle. The saddles used differed between the two countries with the US model being more box shaped. It only takes three saddles to carry one howitzer complete. All the saddles are identical having been designed to allow each piece of the weapon to fit into different notches or portions of the pack saddle. the first saddle holds only the howitzer (the tube), the second saddle hold the carriage and wheels, the wheels being removed from the carriage and strapped on, and the third saddle holds two ammunition chests with eight rounds each. (saddle #1 carrying 220 pounds, #2 277 pounds and #3 224 pounds) refer Ord Man page 75. The thill or shafts are designed to be attached directly to one of the pack saddles for draught. The limber you depict was not available until the Mexican War a couple of years later. Testing of that model started at Fort Leavenworth in 1845-46.
