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LOT 1223
Rare Mexican-American/Civil War Era 1837 Dated N.P. Ames
Model 1835 6-Pounder Cannon with Carriage - NSN, 6-Pounder
cal., 58 inch round bbl., bronze finish. This rare 1837 dated N. P. Ames
Model 1835 bronze 6-Pounder Field Gun would have seen use in both
the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. In 1835, the U.S.
Ordnance Board recommended that the Army change the metal used in field
guns from iron to bronze. N. P. Ames Company received a U.S. contract for the
manufacture of 32 of these Model 1835 bronze guns, and Cyrus Alger & Company
contracted to manufacture 26. Ames ultimately delivered 31 between 1837-1838.
The Army of the Texas Republic also ordered 6 from Ames in addition to their sword
contracts, which were delivered to Galveston in the fall of 1840. 6-Pounders such as
this one were critically important to the American victory at the Battle of Buena Vista
against superior numbers. Artillery under future Confederate general Captain Braxton
Bragg was ordered to fire double canister shot by General Zachary Taylor who reportedly
called out: “double shot your guns and give ‘em hell.” The 6-pounder field gun was
well represented in the Civil War with several hundred used by Union and Confederate
Armies in 1861. This was especially the case in the South where many former U.S. martial
6-pounders were seized at the outbreak of the war by the Confederates and then used
to devastating effect in the first half of the war. Artillery use was particularly gruesome at
Antietam, where the rolling hills allowed both sides to perch more than 500 cannons on
high ground, increasing their effective range and allowing them to fire down upon troops
left without cover. Confederate Colonel Stephen D. Lee referred to the battlefield at Antietam as
“artillery hell.” By the battle’s end, 22,720 men were captured, missing, wounded, or killed.
1837 Dated N.P. Ames Model 1835 6-Pounder Cannon
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