This discussion of three pounders does beg the evolution leading to the Hotchkiss designed in 1875.
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Ideally suited to the highly mobile rough terrain of the Indian Wars, the Hotchkiss replaced muzzle loading artillery. For a history read more here.
Link
The Story of the U.S. Army Model 1875 Hotchkiss Mountain Gun. The U.S. Army purchased its first breech-loading cannon in 1877 from the arms manufacturer Hotchkiss & Company located in Paris, France. Designed in 1875, the quick firing Mountain Gun as Hotchkiss referred to it marked a major tech
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Hotchkiss is of course, naturally an outgrowth of both the steel, rifled built-up guns that were being developed from ~1855 onwards that directly influence the later Civil War guns, the Armstrong coming to mind in places but especially the Krupp influence directly visible in design. If I remember correctly, Lawrence Bruff's
Textbook of Ordnance and Gunnery, 1902 directly refers to the M1875 Hotchkiss as having the Krupp mechanism - good enough for me as fact knowing what the mechanism looks like, which itself is very notable
directly contemporary to the Civil War; the C/57 being the first practical, used design and the system further tested and widely reported in newspapers during the directly relevant 1864 2nd Schelswig War (or
Dano-Prussian War) and less impressive Austro-Prussian War use, in which we see the C/64 in the former and C/67 in the latter's postwar improvements respectively, with its use being perfected by the combat of 1870's Franco-Prussian War, largely decided by Sedan in September, only 5 years, 4 months for context beyond the last real engagements of the Civil War.
Bruff's Ordnance & Gunnery, '02
Good view of a specimen of a Hotchkiss M1875 sold by Rock Island Auction Company I've zoomed in on - good view here.
Perhaps worth noting then; it isn't exactly highly advanced, new technology of 1875.. it ultimately stems from a fielded breechloader being used the same years the Civil War was being fought and much of its construction is technology already existent in 1861-65. Having also said that, the Krupp mechanism improves a lot throughout its many iterations predating and post-Civil War, as to not claim it is not
still among the best technology in 1875 available. Having said
that, still - less than 60 examples are known to have been purchased in almost a quarter-century by the US Army; it is perhaps an interesting comparison, that more orders are known to have been made of
Ager guns by the same said Army in the span of a couple years during the Civil War. It was (by the numbers) about as used, or
less, that the Ager was.
Certainly less produced, and over exponentially the timespan. There is famously
Middleburg's effective use and various smaller accounts of the Ager fired in anger, while the fewer in number Hotchkiss M1875s definitely served against the Indians at least in two conflicts, and indeed against
Filipino rebels and
Spaniards - so ultimately, more heavily used for longer even if an ultimately obscure,
manual machine gun of the Civil War had more production than it.
As a side-note; cannot recall if the Hotchkiss M1875 originally used metallic cased cartridges. I know that by 1884 new guns and conversions were being made, but the vast majority of anything in 1875 is firing paper-cartridges or separate charges to shot loaded individually. Something of course, not gone from modern artillery; many big gun designs (in the opposite size direction), both at sea and on land use separate combustible powder charges, and the job of the rammer is far from gone. He simply stands near the breech now.
As another thought.. it is truly impressive what
Benjamin B. Hotchkiss influenced and made (-and his company) in this era. Both infamous guns you have discussed are, of course, from the same man who made the Hotchkiss projectiles of all kinds in the Civil War (which, while I will need to return to research, (it's been a long time) I remember hearing long ago that were the most produced shot brands in the war.. almost believable, but as with all you
hear of course, always "trust but verify" - as you should do with this post, too!)
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