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The Lost (?) Frémont Cannon (Mountain Howitzer)

Carriage parts found?
April, 2008. Herb Kuehne of Kirkwood, CA tells us of items on public display at the Humboldt-Toyage National Forest Ranger Station in Bridgeport. Herb took photographs of the parts and of three iron tires. They have been tentatively identified (from the photographs and lacking exact measurements) by Lt. Col. Paul Rosewitz , a long time friend and contributor to this website, as the axle strap (lower U) and trunnion plate (upper 2.7" U) of a pre-Mexican War US-made copy of the 1828 French mountain howitzer carriage built at the Watervliet Arsenal in West Troy, New York. If it is, it is the only surviving example of the first US Army mountain howitzer carriage. Herb's queries at the Bridgeport Ranger Station have yielded no information on the location of the find. He was advised that...

Due to the sensitivity of these on going investigations and Archaeological Resource Protection Act restrictions, I am allowed to say that the area of interest is within 50 miles of Bridgeport.
David J. 'Jack' Scott
District Archaeologist
Bridgeport Ranger District
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

The parts are arranged [upside down] in a cabinet with a label stating:

These artifacts are the remains of the gun carriage for the famous mountain howitzer abandoned during the second surveying expedition of John C. Frémont in January 1844. The artifacts were recovered by the Frémont Howitzer Recovery Team under the direction of the U.S. Forest Service, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Bridgeport Ranger District.
Going on bits of second-hand information that has trickled in over some years, it would seem that the recovery may not have been made on the January 1844 route. Frémont's narrative and map are very specific that the howitzer was abandoned on the east side of the W. Fk. of the Walker. However, it does possibly tie in to the mid 19C accounts of early settlers, suggesting that it had been previously found and moved. James U. Smith gives a nice account of how the reported discovery in "Lost Canyon" caused later surveyors to change the word "canyon" to cannon: Lost Cannon Creek, Lost Cannon Peak; Lost Cannon Canyon. The recent recovery may, therefore, relate to the storied Pray (or Sheldon) Cannon and, perhaps, the Nevada State Museum Cyrus Alger tube cast in 1836.

To put the carriage in the year 1843-44, only detailed analysis of the carriage parts and tires can date it to one the many US Army modifications made between 1837 and 1848, and to eliminate the many Civil War era howitzers. Paul adds that "three tires are a puzzle: the pack carriage, pulled by a thrill, had, of course, only two wheels, and there is no Army record of a mountain howitzer limber arrangement (4 wheels) before 1845." Early examples of the howitzer carriage should have tires of only about 38" in diameter: not the 42" wheel after 1851. This website is curious to know if the name UZES will be part of the story :-)

What follows predates the recent recovery of carriage parts, which would seem to render moot some previous discussions: for instance, the dolphins shown on the howitzer at Pyramid Lake in the Preuss drawing. However, there is much still relevant information and interesting historical record. This story is still unfolding.


St. Louis Arsenal
Requisition for ordnance and ordnance stores, for an expedition into the Oregon Territory.

Required May 8, 1843, mountain howitzer, 1; carriage complete with harness, 1; pistols, 4; pairs holsters,etc., 2; carbines, 33; kegs of rifle powder, 5; pounds of artillery ammunition, 500; tubes, filled, 200.

J.C. Frémont,
2d Lieut. Topographical Engineers

Information added on Frémont's mountain howitzer

go Brian O'Connor of the San Diego Cannoneers. Brian also does volunteer work at the San Pasqual Battlefield State Park, as part of their cannon crew.
go Jiggs Caudron, Wrightwood, CA
An email about dolphins on mountain howitzers.
go Lt. Col. Paul R. Rosewitz,
Field Artillery, U.S. Army, Military Education Quota Manager, in St. Louis, MO.
2008 update: Paul R. Rosewitz, Lt. Colonel, US Army, Night Chief of Operations, HQ ISAF (NATO), Kabul, Afghanistan
go Wayne Stark, Baden, PA.
An email from an expert and author on Civil War era artillery.
go The Nevada State Museum Howitzer
Early history and newspaper accounts
go Where was it left?


Antiques Roadshow, April 4, 2005
Program #911
Reno Sparks Convention Center

A model 1835 mountain howitzer tube dug up in a back yard near the California-Nevada border!
The tube was marked "C. A. & Co. [Cyrus Alger], Boston."
Just right, so far!
However, the serial numbers indicated that this was "464" in Alger's production, and "87" in Alger's mountain howitzer production. It is marked by the proofer, Louis A. B. Walbach and carries the date 1853--the only year that Walbach was a proofer.
Antiques Roadshow appraiser Christopher Mitchell put the value at $35-45,000.

So not Frémont's howitzer, but these are still showing up in the region!

go August, 2005. More from Nevada. Award-winning Cowboy Poet, singer and songwriter Richard Elloyan has a new smashing new CD Back in Heaven with a track entitled Frémont's Cannon. The lyrics are a roadmap to where the cannon was left in 1844.

What is a howitzer? Webster's Collegiate says;

"A short, light, cannon, used to deliver shells with a curved trajectory, with shells of lower muzzle velocities than those from guns, at angles from 20 to 45 degrees." The same source describes a shell as, "A hollow projectile for cannon, containing an explosive bursting charge." Nineteenth century shells were fused. The fuse was trimmed off at range marks before loading, and was ignited by the main charge on firing.

What is a Mountain Howitzer? Frémont describes it thus:

"It was of the kind invented by the French for the mountain part if their war in Algiers; and the distance it had come with us proved how well it was adapted for its purpose. We left it, to the great sorrow of the whole party, who were grieved to part with a companion which had made the whole distance from St. Louis, and commanded respect for us on some critical occasions, and which might be needed for the same purpose again." Brevet Captain John C. Frémont, West Walker River, January 29, 1844.

goDrawing of the French 1828 Mountain Howitzer compared to the 1835 U. S. Mountain Howitzer.
And a new contender?

Frémont's mountain howitzer was a 12 pounder. There is a mountain howitzer (tube only) in the Nevada State Museum in Carson City (right). It was once thought to be, and is still thought by some to be, the Frémont Howitzer. The date is just right: it was cast of bronze in 1837 in South Boston by Cyrus Alger and Company and marked as proofed by Lt Talcott. It is one of only two survivors of the original 12 howitzers delivered. The cost new was $225. This particular howitzer has had a very colorful past, from when it surfaced in the mid-19th Century . It has been called by several names, but was then said to be "The Lost Frémont Cannon."

go Read some early history and newspaper accounts of the Museum Howitzer.

It is interesting to compare this howitzer with Charles Preuss's drawing of Frémont's howitzer. Preuss's drawing very clearly shows dolphins (handles) cast into the barrel, as on the reproduction of the Russian-made "Sutter's 3 pounder" at left. The museum howitzer does not have them.
When we compare Preuss's drawings of places, we find very exact correlation's (see the Long Camp drawing). However, there is evidence that the peopling of the drawings may have been done at the time of plate preparation for publication of these government survey reports.

The Preuss rendering of Pyramid Lake in the drawing is exact to the very rocks represented in the foreground. They are there; you can go see them. It would be surprising if Preuss had drawn something, like the handles, which were not there. If Preuss's drawing is correct, than the Museum Howitzer is not Frémont's Howitzer.

But the figures and howitzer may very well have been added at the time an engraving was made from the original drawing. We cannot know, because all the original notes, sketches and drawings were lost a century ago in two separate fires.
go But here an example of a sketch by another Topographical Corps artist, and the engraving made from it.

Howitzers can be fed a variety of fodder: shells; canister; and, rarely, ball. David Peterson of San Jose, CA, sends a photo of a canister round that he found at the bottom of the Carson Canyon near Woodfords on the West Fork of the Carson River. This might have been found and brought there from those left behind on the Walker River by the 2nd Expedition, but is more likely that it came from the 1848 exit of The Mormon Battalion -- they were right there with a cannon of some sort. Knight tells us that , "...canisters for 12 lb mountain howitzers are always filled with musketballs...laid in tiers in a tin case having an iron top and bottom...the interstices between the shot are filled in with sawdust. " David adds the following:

"I counted the balls and there were 145 in all. The balls by rough measurement are 11/16 inch in diameter. The top of the can is 4 1/2" in diameter. The can itself is 3 3/4 inches. The Mormon Battalion in 1848 took across Carson Pass a four and a six pounder acquired from Sutter two months earlier. This cannister was not with them as it wouldn't fit. Probably it was lost by a different military group coming or going somewhere on the route."
There was undoubtedly activity there during the Civil war--Ft. Churchill being nearby. I cannot see how it could have been Frémont's, as it is just too far away from where he was.

A few facts about Frémont's howitzer come from the Report and from the Preuss diary:

There is no record in the Report of Frémont ever dismounting the "tube"--Lewis suggests that this was not part of the design of the French model. Packing it on mules would have been very useful, and would probably have meant that it would not have been left behind, or as soon as it was, anyway. It was rolled the whole trip as far as it got.

1--On leaving Ft. Wallawalla, Frémont records that after leaving the wagons and instrument cart at that place, the howitzer was the only remaining "wheeled vehicle." Frémont seemed to consider, from the start, that hauling wheeled vehicles (ie. the howitzer) over the route was a demonstration of the feasibility of wagon travel.
2--The "shaft of the howitzer carriage broke" and had to be mended on July 20 and again on Aug 6th.
3--The howitzer was left behind on the passage around Pyramid Lake and had to be retrieved the following day.
4--It was also left behind on the ascent up Burcham Flat to Pk. 8422 and was gone back for the following day.

A reproduction of the Cyrus Alger manufactured model 1835 mountain howitzer is shown at right (cf. the Preuss drawing at the top of this page.)

E. A Lewis says that the U. S. Army issued an instruction manual for mountain artillery in 1851. It was prepared in 1850 as an appendix to the 1845 manual of artillery instruction by Lt. Jesse Reno (city of Reno named for him) who did the technical work. That the manual shows how to remove the Cyrus Alger tube from the carriage and mount it on a mule in difficult terrain on a special pack saddle.
I assume another saddle would have been needed for the carriage, and another for the wheels, and so on for the limber and ammunition. But, even if Frémont could have dismounted it, at that point he had not the animals to carry it all. Certainly, with ammunition, a half a ton of stuff! One mule could drag it, but it would have taken three to carry it plus the ones for the ammunition. At any rate, this was all six years after the Frémont cannon was left behind, so one assumes that his cannon was either not dismountable if of some foreign manufacture "of the type invented by the French," or the U. S. model was not equipped at the time to transport in parts.

Near Deschutes River Frémont says, "At such places, the gun-carriage was unlimbered, and separately descended by hand."
Brian O'Connor writes:"Un-limbering can mean different things, depending upon how the cannon is set up. Generally, it would mean that the cannon is removed from it's towing rig, be it a small ammo cart or a set of poles attached to the trail."

There are several accounts of demonstrations by 2nd Expedition gunner, Prussian Army veteran, Louis Zindel's skill:

Theodore Talbot, June 15, 1843:

Our cannonnier was very successful in his practice with the howitzer, striking a post 4 feet high at nearly a quarter of a mile with a bomb [shell].

Charles Preuss, August 10, 1843:

Shooting buffalo with the howitzer is a cruel but amusing sport.

Frémont, December 10, 1843:

...I directed the howitzer to be fired. It was the first time our guides [Walla Walla Indians] had seen it discharged; and the bursting of the shell at a distance,which was something like the second fire of the gun, amazed and bewildered them with delight. It inspired them with triumphant feelings, but on the camps [Klamath] at a distance, the effect was different, for the smokes in the lake and on the shore immediately disappeared.

Expert Testimony:

This email was received from Brian O'Connor of the San Diego Cannoneers. Brian also does volunteer work at the San Pasqual Battlefield State Park, as part of their cannon crew.

I have written on this website, that no mountain howitzer had dolphins.
I guess I was wrong. Read Jiggs Caudron's email below.

This email was received from Jiggs Caudron. Jiggs actually had a bit part in the mini-series Dream West, in which Richard Chaimberland played Frémont. He has some interesting comments about the Preuss drawing of the howitzer.

Major Paul R. Rosewitz, Field Artillery, U.S. Army, Military Education Quota Manager, in St. Louis, MO sent these communications. Paul is shown mounted on Smoke next to a mountain howitzer. These communications, because of their definitive nature, are posted here in their entirety.
Here is a summary of what Major (now Lt. Col.) Rosewitz has found regarding just what model mountain howitzer was issued to Frémont, and what he knows about the museum howitzer in Carson City.

On December 29, 2001, Wayne Stark, of Baden PA, sent an email to this site.
Mr Stark has 22 years of involvement in Civil War artillery, with emphasis on the cannon tubes and the foundries that made them. He consults to the Smithsonian, The Artilleryman magazine, The Civil War News, and to many of the battlefield parks. He is co-author of The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast and Naval Cannon. He has been documenting "... all the known surviving Civil War cannon (5,616 as of today, including 123 Alger, 53 Ames, 7 unidentifiable and 4 Confederate mountain howitzers.

Did Frémont alter his Report regarding the location where he left the howitzer (conspiracy theory)? Or did he leave it on the east side of the West Walker River in a deep hollow just north of Fales Hotspring as stated in The Report.

If the dolphins in the Preuss drawing are artistic additions, and if it was indeed a US howitzer, is it not more likely that it was indeed found about 1860 by Sheldon or Pray or some other person, and that it was the one (or one of the ones) circulating about the Lake Tahoe and Virginia City areas called "Frémont's Cannon?"

14th Century English philosopher William of Ockham said, "entities must not be unnecessarily multiplied." Well, he wrote it in latin, actually--entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. This has become known as "Ockham's Razor." What does it mean? Click the picture!

The museum howitzer could then be the actual Frémont Cannon. They do not say positively that it is, because the provenance is incomplete. So, even if Frémont had a US howitzer, there is no absolute proof that it has been found.

But, remember Ockham's Razor!

For those unwilling to abandon hope,

and I know of a number of individuals and groups who keep up the hunt year after year, here is an email from a Nevada resident that I recieved on January 2, 2001:

I have reason to beleive the cannon in Nevada Museum is not really the Freemont [sic.] cannon. I have lived in Nevada all my life. I worked with an Indian; he was the father-in-law of a friend. My friend was building a house in Fernly NV. His father-in-law was framing the house for him. We got talking about hunting. The gentleman told me a story about an Indian friend of his that he had gone hunting with in the past. The older gentleman told them around the campfire one night, that he had found the Frémont howitzer in a cave while he was employed by the B.L.M. He built fences for the B.L.M. I plan on talking to the B.L.M. in Carson City to find records of fence lines that they have built in the past. One big problem - the older gentleman has passed away. Have very little info. but will be fun to search anyway. Curt

And here, E. A. Lewis records this 1936 interview with Harry Tom, "Chief White Wing", by Ella M. Cain in Bridgeport, Mono County, Ca.:

It was the 1928 hunting season, I think. I was guiding some flatlanders, riding the low side of the hill trying to scare deer up to the hunters riding the ridge above me. About noon, I stopped to rest my horse and there it was -- back in a brushy area in a thick little grove of trees. I kind of shoved my way in to take a good look at it. One wheel was broken and the other almost buried. And, the wood was brittle and crumbly with age.
So just where was the howitzer left?

This is, after all, what most people want to know. About one in five visitors come to this site following a cannon link!

To take the narrowest view, on the East side of West Walker River, from his camp near the top, perhaps in the saddle, of Pk. 8422', near the route of the present Burcham Flat Road, Frémont says:

January 28th,

To-night we did not succeed in getting the Howitzer into camp. This was the most laborious day we had yet passed through; the steep ascents and deep snow exhausting both men and animals.

January 29th:

From this height [Pk 8422'] we could see, at a considerable distance below, yellow spots in the valley, which indicated that there was not much snow. One of these places we expected to reach to-night; and some time being required to bring up the gun, I went ahead with Mr. Fitzpatrick and a few men, leaving the camp to follow, in charge of Mr. Preuss.
We followed a
trail down a hollow where the Indians had descended, the snow being so deep that we never came near the ground; but this only made our descent the easier, and, when we reached a little affluent to the river [Deep Creek, an affluent to the W. Walker] at the bottom, we suddenly found ourselves in the presence of eight or ten Indians...
The principal stream
[W. Walker R.] still running through an impractical cañon [he could see this from the site, or from exploring ahead], we ascended a very steep hill [out of Deep Creek], which proved afterwards [my double emphasis] the last and fatal obstacle to our little howitzer, which was finally abandoned at this place.

But, Frémont wasn't there, was he.
He didn't actually see it left; he had gone on ahead.
He may have sent word back that there was no point in trying to move the howitzer forward.
The howitzer crew, on the other hand, might have made some forward progress. They might, as he seems to indicate, moved it down into Deep Creek, but been stopped by the "very steep hill."

To take the broadest view, the howitzer could have been abandoned anywhere in the 10 miles from where it was left on the 28th, on the flanks of Pk. 8422', to the ascension out of Deep Creek.

go the 3D map of the West Walker Canyon

Question: why was this valuable piece of ordinance not retrieved within months?
There were five men that left the Expedition at Sutters Fort: Oliver Beaulieu, Philibert Courteau [Descouteau, Des Couteau], Baptiste Derosier, Thomas "Le Grosse" Fallon, Samuel Neal, Joseph Verrot. All knew the location of the howitzer.
And the following year Frémont himself returned to within just a few miles of the howitzer when his divided party rendezvoused at Walker Lake.

And read THE CROSSING to follow the complete 1845 narrative description to where Frémont's Howitzer was left in 1844.

READER"S PROJECTS.

See a scale model (scale=golf ball dia bore!) by Rob Zimmerman.
And a CAD image sent by Dennis Short.

Download original US Army plans in high resolution.

Dayton, Nevada.
I am working on a song with the working title of "Frémont's Cannon." I know a good deal about the events of the 43/44 expedition and have researched the net and library for additional information. I also had the good fortune of working as a range technician for the forest service at the Bridgeport Ranger District and have ridden or driven a good deal of the eastern slope of the Sierras. All this brings me to my question. Was the original cannon abandoned by Frémont ever found? Obviously you have done an incredible amount of research on the subject and I would really enjoy your thoughts on the matter. Richard Elloyan.

go Richard Elloyan is a singer, songwriter, and poet of unique wit and imagination. Writing his own music and poetry, he captures the spirit of the west and those who live its lifestyle. Raised in the historic mining town of Virginia City, Nevada, Richard grew up surrounded by the romantic stories and characters that shaped the growth of Nevada and California.

go August 28, 2005. Richard's new CD in now out!

A brief bibliography:

Frémont, John Charles, Memoirs of My Life, Belford, Clark & Company, Chicago, 1887.

Frémont, Brevet Captain J. C., Report of The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-'44, Printed by order of the Senate of the United States, Gales and Seaton, Washington. 1845.

Gibbons, Lieutenant John, The Artillerist's Manual; Introduction for Field Artillery, Horse and Foot, New York, 1860.

Hinkle, George and Bliss, Sierra Nevada Lakes, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc, Indianapolis-New York, 1949.

Jackson, Donald, The Myth of the Frémont Howitzer, The Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society Vol. XXII, No. 3, April, 1967.

Jackson, Donald, and Spence, Mary Lee, The Expeditions of John Charles Frémont, Vol. 1, University of Illinoise Press, 1970.

James, George Wharton, The Lake of the Sky - Lake Tahoe, George Wharton James, 1915.

Knight, Edward H., Knight, American Mechanical Dictionary, J. B. Ford and Company, New York, 1874-1879.

Lewis, Ernest Allen, The Frémont Cannon -- High Up and Far Back, The Arthur H. Clark Co, 1981.

Preuss, Charles, Exploring With Frémont, Translated by Erwin G. and Elisabeth K., Gudde, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958.

Russell, Carl P., Frémont's Cannon, The California Historical Society, No. 36, December 1957.

Talbot, Theodore, The Journals of Theodore Talbot, Metropolitan Press, 1931.

Townley, John M., The Lost Frémont Cannon, Guidebook, The Jamison Station Press, Reno, 1984.

United States Army, The Ordinance Manual, J. B. Lippincott, 1861.


©1999, 2007
Bob Graham