In the summer of 1850 Companies G and I of the 1st Dragoons used a mountain howitzer at Rayado, New Mexico in an attempt to control the Navajos. There were never any battles with the Navajos, but the gun accompanied several punitive expeditions and it was fired as a demonstration on several occasions to discourage any resistance to American rule of the region.(1)
Battery B, 2nd U.S. Artillery used them in a second campaign against the Navajos in Arizona and New Mexico in August-September 1851. Colonel Edwin V. Sumner led a U.S. force of several companies of infantry, four dragoon companies and Battery B, which had a 6-pound and a 12-pound field howitzer and two mountain howitzers. They departed Santa Fe on August 17th, heading first south to Albuquerque and then west to Cubero by the 27th of August. There they learned that Navajos had just raided the area and run off the towns livestock, so the Americans went in pursuit. They went all over northwestern New Mexico, in the area of modern Grants and Laguna Pueblo, in a vain attempt to attack the raiding Navajos. The American force recovered a number of stolen animals, but never encountered the Navajos they were pursuing. Finally the force gave up and returned to Santa Fe by September 24, 1851. The mountain howitzers were able to keep up through an area with little water or grass much easier than the larger howitzers because they required fewer horses to move them.(2)
Howitzers were used at Fort Laramie, Wyoming by the 6th U. S. Infantry. On August 19, 1854, Lieutenant John Grattan led a force of 6th Infantry and one mountain howitzer to retake a cow stolen by local Indians 15 miles east of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. The interpreter shouted insults at the warriors and acted like the Americans were planning to attack. The soldiers rode into the middle of the village and demanded the return of the cow and the arrest of the guilty parties. Historians are unsure what started the fighting or who fired first, but a short, brutal fight ensued. The soldiers and the warriors exchanged shots, and the mountain howitzer was also fired. In the end all of the soldiers were killed or died soon thereafter of their wounds. A larger force soon recovered the howitzer and the bodies. Within a year retaliatory expeditions began crushing all villages anywhere close to Fort Laramie who offered the least resistance to American domination. Dr. Robert Munkres points to this incident as the start of a period of almost a half-century of vicious and bloody Indian wars all over the western United States.(3)
The mountain howitzers saw a lot of action in the campaigns in the northwest against several different tribes. In 1856, U.S. Marines used them near Seattle. The Yakima and several other coastal tribes were fighting with American settlers. A force of 120 Marines, 55 local militiamen and one mountain howitzer skirmished with the Indians near Seattle and drove them away from the area.(4) Another American unit used one at Big Meadow, Oregon. In March, 1856, U.S. regulars and Oregon Volunteers began a campaign to force most of the Indian tribes onto reservations and to end their resistance to American rule. A few small skirmishes were fought with the various hostile bands. Three bands had agreed to surrender to the Americans at Big Meadows, Oregon on May 26, 1856. 50 dragoons, 30 infantry and a mountain howitzer arrived to take the surrender, but the bands were not planning to give in without a fight. On the evening of the 26th two Indian women came to the American's camp and warned them that the bands were planning to attack the next day.
The U.S. force moved to a small, nearby hill and dug in. The battle began at 10:00 a.m. on the 27th when the Indians attacked from all sides at once, while others occupied nearby heights to snipe at the Americans. The howitzer and the infantry did most of the fighting as the short-range carbines carried by the dragoons were only useful when the assaults reached the defensive lines. The Americans improved their fortifications during the evening while the Indians kept up a constant harassing fire. A third of the U.S. force was killed or wounded, and a large portion of their ammunition was gone. The Indians massed for an assault from two sides on the tired Americans, but just as they began their assault reinforcements arrived to relieve the pinned-down Americans. The Indians were attacked from both sides at once and quickly routed. The howitzer enabled the trapped force to beat off several assaults and then helped break the back of the major Indian resistance in Oregon.(5)
Several mountain howitzers saw action in William Walker's 1856-1857 Nicaraguan Campaign. Nicaragua in the 1850s had few road systems and what roads were in existence were in very poor condition. The howitzers were the best cannon for fighting in the rugged hills and thick jungles which any army would have to move in. William Walker bought several cannons from America after his initial conquest of the country, including several mountain howitzers. In September and October, a rebellion began against his rule, led by conservative Nicaraguans and the armies of several neighboring states. On October 11th Walker attacked General Belloso's army at Masaya. Two howitzers were set up on a nearby hill and used to shell troops in a small plaza. A few rounds and a charge by the infantry caused the enemy forces to break and retreat. Walker had to retreat when he found that his capital at Granada was under assault. Walker's force was shelled by artillery as they neared the capital, and a howitzer was rushed forward. It fired one blast at the enemy's battery, decimating the enemy cannoneers and Walker's men were soon able to seize it.
The rapid return of Walker saved Granada and the howitzers were vital to his successes against much larger armies with larger guns. Eventually the howitzers, and all of Walker's other artillery, were spiked and dumped in swamps before he was forced to leave the country in the early fall of 1856. The howitzers were the optimum type of gun for this region with few roads and thick forests.(6)
Once again mountain howitzers served in a second major campaign in the northwest in 1858. The U. S. Infantry used them against the Palouse Indians in Washington. The Indians had raided the Walla Walla Valley and killed two men. The other settlers petitioned the army to do something to stop the Palouses. Edward Steptoe led 158 horsemen out of Fort Walla Walla on May 6th to stop the raiding. This force included two mountain howitzers and a detachment of mounted U. S. Infantrymen to man them. They pursued the Palouses north into the lands of the friendly Coeur d' Alene and Spokanes. On May 14th Steptoe was warned that the Spokane planned to resist his entry into their land. He ignored the warning and kept pursuing the Palouses. On May 16th the soldiers discovered 1,000 Spokane, Yakima and Couer d'Alene drawn up awaiting them. A brief parley was held, in which Major Steptoe told the Indians that he was not planning to attack anyone, but was going to Colville, Washington to bring peace between the local Indians and the Anglo settlers. This seemed to satisfy the Indian leaders, but Steptoe decided to find a defensible position just in case the Indian force decided to attack him.
After the soldiers moved to place their backs to a nearby lake the talks with the hostile Indians resumed. The Indian leaders informed Steptoe that they considered his roundabout route to Colville, and the two mountain howitzers with his force, as proof that he had hostile intentions toward them. The leaders told him that there would be no canoes for him at the Spokane River, and that they would destroy his canoes on the Snake River to keep him from returning to Fort Walla Walla. Early on Monday May 17th the U.S. force began retracing its steps to leave the area and prevent a war from starting. At 8:00 a.m. some warriors opened fire on the rear of the column, but the soldiers did not return fire. Soon the whole column came under hostile rifle fire. The soldiers were able to occupy a nearby hill, and the howitzers were able to open an impressive, but relatively inaccurate, fire on the hostile warriors. Eventually all of the soldiers reached the hill. The soldiers began to move again as they headed for the needed water at the nearby To-hoto-nim-me Creek. The Indians pressed in on all sides of the column trying to break it. Major Steptoe decided to find a defensive position and dig in. A hill south of the creek was the chosen site. The men dug in while one howitzer was placed to fire down the slope and the other to fire along a nearby ridge. When the men were down to only a few rounds of ammunition each the Indians backed off their attacks, waiting for the next morning to wipe out the soldiers.
Major Steptoe decided not to wait for the next morning, but rather to get away while it was dark. Nez Perce scouts were sent to find a way through the Indian lines, while the howitzers were dismounted and buried. The Indians soon found the hill abandoned, but they did not pursue as the abandoned goods and equipment held their attention. Steptoe's command had lost twelve soldiers and three allied Indians killed, ten soldiers wounded, 29 horses lost, and a large amount of equipment lost or abandoned. The hostile warriors admitted to losses around nine killed and 40 to 50 wounded. The soldiers soon ran into reinforcements from Fort Walla Walla and the safety of American lines.(7)
In August the army was searching for some of the Palouses who had killed Americans and then hid among the Yakimas. Several suspects were caught and executed, but the leading warriors were still at large. A force was organized to chase them down, and left Fort Walla Walla on August 27th. It included four companies of the 1st Dragoons, four companies of the 3rd Artillery acting as infantry, two companies of the 9th Infantry, 30 Nez Perce scouts and an artillery company with two mountain howitzers. They finally found Indian warriors on August 30th when they reached the Spokane Plain. On September 1st they ran into 500 Indians at four nearby lakes with more waiting in a nearby tree line. The 9th Infantrymen and one of the howitzers were sent to attack the Indians in the trees, while the dragoons and artillerymen attacked those out in the open. The howitzer fired a number of rounds and forced the Indians out onto the plain. There the combined infantry, artillery and finally the charge of the dragoons routed the Indians. The Americans pursued for a mile, but were unable to keep up with the faster and fresher Indian ponies. The howitzer fired a few rounds to scatter any small bands that would mass in the distance. The fire of the howitzer had decimated the Indians and enabled the Americans to win the Battle of the Four Lakes without any of the soldiers being killed or wounded. The Indians lost 20-60 killed and numerous others wounded.
On September 5th the force resumed its march across the Spokane Plain, where 500-700 Indians attempted to challenge their advance by attacking the flanks of the Americans. Both howitzers shelled the Indians, and knocked a limb onto one of the rogue chieftains severely injuring him. Soon the infantry and howitzers broke the Indians resistance and pursued them for 25 miles. Any pockets of resistance were easily broken up by the infantry or the howitzers. The Battle of Spokane Plain was similarly bloodless for the Americans, with only one wounded and none killed. Within two days peace overtures were extended by all of the hostile tribes, and ended any serious resistance to the influx of American settlers.(8) The mountain howitzer played an important part in ending the Indian resistance. It was once again able to keep up with a fast-moving force through areas where larger guns would have bogged down, and it became the most-used gun in the Indian Wars.
San Juan Island off the Pacific coast of Washington was a flash point that almost started a third British/American war. The island had been claimed by both countries and the 1846 Oregon Treaty did not settle the question of who owned the island. While, both nations had settlers and officials on the island. The British had the largest number of people on the island. At the start of July a British-owned breeding boar escaped its enclosure and helped itself to the vegetable garden of a nearby American settler. The angry American shot the pig and was threatened with legal action by its British owner. A few hours later a delegation of British officials, including the governor's son-in-law, heatedly interrogated the Yankee and threatened to take him to a British jail. The settler then pointed out to the officials that he could treat them as he had the trespassing pig. They hastily retreated, but returned the next day with a squad of constables. They could not catch the Yankee because he had fled to the house of another American. Finally word of the British behavior reached the American department commander, General William Selby. He disliked the English and rushed a detachment of American soldiers to the island to protect the rights of their settlers.
On July 27th a ship landed on the island, with a future Confederate general, Captain George Pickett, a six-pound field piece, two mountain howitzers, and 54 enlisted men. They quickly dug in and pointed the cannons along the most likely routes the British would have to take to attack them. British Governor Sir James Douglas threatened to jail Pickett and his men, while Pickett issued his own threats to arrest British leaders. Things continued to heat up for the next couple of weeks. The British continued to rush their own military forces to the area, and by the end of August three warships and a thousand soldiers, seamen and marines were on or around the island to stop the Americans from taking control. General Harney also sent more men and cannons to Pickett's fort. Eventually word of the dispute reached the respective governments in London and Washington, and they quickly came down hard on their posturing leaders in the region. Neither government was willing to start a war over something as small as a pig, and tensions on the island quickly eased.(9)
Colonel John Gibbon commanded Battery B, 4th Artillery in the late 1850s. It was equipped with four howitzers, while it assisted in the occupation of Utah after the 1859 Mormon War. They never fired them at the rebellious Mormons, but the howitzers did play a part in ensuring their compliance with the will of the United States government.(10) By the late 1850s most front-line artillery units were replacing their mountain howitzers with bigger smooth bores, such as the Napoleon, or rifled guns, such as the 10-pound Parrot.
1. Kupke, The Indian and The Thunderwagon, p. 11.
2. Richard H. Dillon, ed., A Cannoneer in Navajo Country: The Journal of Private Josiah M. Rice, 1851 (Denver: The Old West Publishing Company, 1970), pp. 12-15.
3. Robert Munkres, "The Grattan Massacre," Tombstone Epitaph. Available at: http://bobcat.etsu.edu/httpd/octa/grattan.htm. 19 January 1997.
4. Kupke, The Indian and The Thunderwagon, p. 11.
5. Robert M. Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1846-1865 (New York: The MacMillan Company, Inc., 1967), pp. 183-86.
6. James C. Jamison, With Walker in Nicaragua: Reminiscences of an Officer of the American Phalanx (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1909), pp. 127-30.
7. Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, pp. 151-53. Also, Jack Dodd, "The Indians Have An Inning: To-Hoto-Nim-Me," Great Western Indian Fights (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1960), pp. 50-60. The gaps in the records of this era have led to some conflicts among historians. Utley says the howitzers were manned by the 6th Infantry and Dodd claims that honor for Company E, 9th Infantry. There is no easy way to resolve this conflict.
8. Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, pp. 204-08.
9. Edward G. Longacre, Pickett, Leader of the Charge: A Biography of General George E. Pickett, C.S.A. (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Company, Inc., 1995), pp. 42-47.