Very few of these cannons are in private hands today, and they hardly ever come up for sale. Offered here is two examples. Most surviving examples reside at historic sites, battlefields, and museums. They were designed by Lt. John A. Dahlgren of the U.S. Navy following the Mexican-American War after investigating the potential use of the Army's field howitzers by the Navy for mastheads, launches, and Marine landing parties. Previously a mix of weapons were used which were logistically an issue. These were used with a few versions of carriages designed by Dahlgren including this light cast iron carriage for use in the field and could be fitted with a naval carriage when used on frigate's launches. These light carriages were designed to be able to be pulled by the gun's crew after landing, and reports suggest the gun could be mounted in less than four minutes. There are also photographs from the period of them mounted to their lightweight field carriages while onboard the ships, including multiple images of the monitor U.S.S. Lehigh. The guns were formidable and period reports claim an experienced crew could get off 10 shots in a minute. Another example of one of these Boat Howitzers with the iron field carriage can be seen on page 143 of "Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War" by Hazlett, Olmstead and Parks. Both of these howitzers likely had model, date, inspector, and weight markings on top of the tube, but they are no longer visible due to age related wear. Both of the howitzers have smooth bores 55 inches in length with a 4 5/8 inch diameter, tubes 64 inches in overall length from muzzle to tip of the cascabel, with the carriage wheels standing at 49 inches tall, approximately 11 feet in overall length from muzzle to the end of the carriage and 5 feet width. A) A diamond surrounding letters "LU" is visible at the bottom of the face of the muzzle. Restamped "NO 339 OF 574" on the front of the carriage, with combination brush/ram rod and rod with claw. B) Restamped "NO 332 OF 571" (the second number differs from the number on the other carriage) on the front of the carriage, with half ram rod. Includes four modern wooden ammunition crates for mounting on the carriages with stencil painted letters "12LBS-BORE HOWITZER/GOSPORT NAVY YARD/GUN-1" on the side, and one of the crates contains a rope and two pairs of modern heavy duty gloves.

A) Fine overall with mild age related wear overall, oxidation on the bronze tube, retaining most of an old applied painted finish on the carriage and some of the small parts, with pitting and corrosion on the exposed surfaces of the iron and restamped numbers on the carriage. Modern replacement bolt retainer holding the ignition piece. B) Good with mild age related wear overall, oxidation on the bronze tube, retaining most of an old applied painted finish on the carriage and some of the small parts, with pitting and corrosion on the exposed surfaces of the iron and restamped numbers on the carriage. Modern replacement bolt retainer holding the ignition piece. Included modern crates are all very good, with one of them missing a bottom mounting fixture.