• Type: Smoothbore Gun
• Rarity: Rare
• Years of Manufacture: 1841-1856
• Tube Composition: Bronze
• Bore Diameter: 4.62 inches
• Standard Powder Charge: 2.5 lbs.
• Projectiles: 12 lb. round balls
• Tube Length: 85 inches
• Tube Weight: 1800 lbs.
• No. in North America: 63
• Effective Range (at 5°): 1663 yards

A foreruner to the 12-pdr. Napoleon, and veteran of the Mexican War era, this weapon was one of the most widely used cannon in the United States during the 1840s and '50s.

Packing a solid punch and having a respectable 1600-1700 yard effective range, the 12-pdr was a much better weapon than its little brother, the M1841 6-pdr. But its weight of 1800 lbs was a liability, just about at the top limit for the requirements of mobility in the field.

With the easy to transport 12-pdr. Napoleon entering service, and the advent of lighter weight and longer range rifled iron guns, most of these heavy pieces were quickly retired or melted down.

Some of these smoothbore guns were rifled with 18-grooves at the beginning of the Civil War. Alger and Ames each made one as 4.62-inch rifles with 12 grooves in 1861. The Tredegar Foundry produced at least eight of these guns for the Confederate army.