Term: howitzer (Civil War)
Definition: A cannon having a comparatively short barrel, used especially for firing shells at a high angle of elevation, as for reaching a target behind cover or in a trench. The favorite artillery piece in both the Union and the Confederacy was the Napoleon, a smoothbore, muzzle-loading, 12-pounder "gun-howitzer." Initially made of bronze, Napoleons were cast from iron when the South ran short of the other metal. Its maximum effective range was about 1700 yards, but it was most effective at about 250 yards or less. The Napoleon probably inflicted more casualties in the Civil War than all other artillery pieces combined.
[Source: http://www.civilwarhome.com/weapons.htm, Weapons of the American Civil War. (2002).
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