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Photographer: Craig Swain
Taken: November 1, 2008
Caption: A "False Napoleon"
Additional Description: In the 1890's the Gettysburg Park Commission intended to place artillery pieces at every battery position marked at Gettysburg. Their preference was to use the same type employed by the battery at each spot. However a shortage of 12-pdr Napoleons inhibited the commission. A solution was found by modifying smaller field guns to look like Napoleons from a distance. In this particular case, a rifled 3.8 inch gun cast by Ames Foundry in 1861 was so modified. As originally cast, the gun used the design of the Model 1841 6-pdr Field Gun. In the modification process, the "step" at the reinforce was removed, the breech base and chase rings were turned off, and about first six inches of the bore was enlarged. Roughly 30 such modifications were made. Many of these "Gettysburg False Napoleons" were later distributed to other National Battlefield Parks.
Submitted: January 14, 2009, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia.
Database Locator Identification Number: p49944
File Size: 1.048 Megabytes

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