M1875 mountain gun

Common card · No. 383214

The M1875 mountain gun is a mountain gun that was used by the United States Army during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. A Hotchkiss design from the French arms firm, Hotchkiss & Company founded by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, (1826–1885), "it was the first original breech-loading gun in the U.S. Army". It replaced the earlier M1841 mountain howitzer used since about 1837, a decade before the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848 in U.S. Army service. It served with cavalry units during the late American Indian Wars, including the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, and was also used during the 1898 Spanish–American War in Cuba and the Philippine–American War (Philippines Insurrection) of 1899–1902 in the Philippine Islands. Many were sold as surplus to South and Central American armies, such as Guatemala. It broke down into two loads for easier mule transport. Another pack mule was required for its ammunition. An 1878 Ordnance Report from Brigadier-General Steven Vincent Benet narrates part of...

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