curate, but their endurance was an uncertain factor. The notorious
"Swamp Angel," for instance, burst after 36 rounds.

FIELD CANNON

[Illustration: Figure 33--SPANISH 4-POUNDER FIELD CARRIAGE (c. 1788).
This carriage, designed on the "new method," employed a handscrew
instead of a wedge for elevating the piece, a--The handspike was
inserted through eyebolts in the trail, b--The ammunition locker held
the cartridges.]

The field guns were the mobile pieces that could travel with the army
and be brought quickly into firing position. They were lighter in
weight than any other type of flat trajectory weapon. To achieve this
lightness the designers had not only shortened the guns, but thinned
down the bore walls. In the eighteenth century, calibers ran from the
3- to the 24-pounder, mounted on comparatively light, two-wheeled
carriages. In addition, there was the 1-1/2-pounder (and sometimes the
light 3- or 6-pounder) on a "galloper" carriage--a vehicle with its
trail shaped into shafts for the horse. The elevating-screw mechanism
was early developed for field guns, although the heavier pieces like
the 18- and 24-pounders were still elevated by quoins as late as the
early 1800's.

In the Castillo collection are parts of early United States field
carriages little different from Spanish carriages that held a score of
4-pounders in the long, continuous earthwork parapet surrounding St.
Augustine in the eighteenth century. The Spanish mounts were a little
more complicated in construction than English or American carriages,
but not much. Spanish pyramid-headed nails for securing ironwork were
not far different from the diamond-and rose-headed nails of the
English artificer.

Each piece of hardware on the carriage had its purpose. Gunner's tools
were laid in hooks on the cheeks. There were bolts and rings for the
lines when the gun had to be moved by manpower in the field. On the
trail transom, pintle plates rimmed the hole that went over the pintle
on the limber. Iron reinforced the carriage at weak points or where
the wood was subject to wear. Iron axletrees were common by the late
1700's.

For training the field gun, the crew used a special handspike quite
different from the garrison handspike. It was a long, round staff,
with an iron handle bolted to its head (fig. 33a). The trail transom
of the carriage held two eyebolts, into which the foot of the spike
was inserted. A lug fitted into an offset in the larger eyebo