A reproduction British Army 3-pounder “grasshopper” cannon. Two such cannons saw famous service during the American Revolution, being captured by the rebels at Saratoga, recaptured at Camden, lost again at Cowpens and retaken for a final time at Guilford Courthouse.
The grasshopper cannon is a weapon designed by the British in the 18th century as a light battalion gun to be carried around with infantry. It frequently saw service in rough terrain such as the frontiers of British North America.
Its barrel was made of bronze instead of iron. Bronze is less brittle than cast iron, and so the barrel could be made thinner and lighter than that of an iron gun. Further, if a bronze gun developed a defect it would rupture; an iron gun with a flaw would shatter, at great cost to its own crew. It fired a three pound ball (or 3 pounds of canister shot).
Using the conventional split trail, it was moved by its own crew using drag ropes and wooden shafts much like a handcart. Two straight shafts were placed on each side of the cheek pieces facing forward, and two angled ones at the trail. Their appearance, and the fact that the gun jumped backwards with the recoil when it was fired, led to its nickname of Grasshopper.
