The Howitzer

I did a bit of searching myself. The term is thought to come from a Czeck term for a type of catapult, predating even the use of gunpowder, that then moved through German and later English terms.

Howitzer is simply a short cannon that fires with a high projectory.

The search was boolean - weapons+artillary+howitzer+origin and even so, there were tons of military units to wade through before finding a generic reference.

Using the words "American Civil War Howitzer" on Google I found a reference that said that the muzzle loading twelve pounder 'gun-howitzer' was a popular weapon for the North and South and had been imported in 1857. According to the article I looked at, it was developed by France.

Figure that howitzers are good for lobbing explosives over walls and earthworks and tend to be a lot lighter than the mortars of the time.

Another thing to consider is that the South did a lot of weapons imports. Some of the more imfamous commerce raiders, if I recall, were built in Great Britain.

And even then, a lot of countries would sell weapons to other countries IF they had the money and didn't threaten national security.

Ok ay a boolen search on a different engine came up with some interesting info.

taken from: http://tinyurl.com/23aap (For those who may be interested).

In summary:
"Though it was invented by the Dutch in the seventeenth century, the value of the howitzer was soon recognized universally and quickly adopted by the armies of Europe.

The forces of Great Britain introduced the howitzer to the New World in about 1760. After the American Revolution, howitzers from the 12-pounder to the 10-inch were adopted by the American military."

So yes, it was America's forefather who brought the Howitzer from Europe to America and then it was adopted by military during the American revolution.

Another interesting tidbit I found the other day, mentioned how the Mountina Howitzer was actually sold to civilians who used them to protect thier own fields on the mountainsides. They could then be called upon by the military to act as a defense from thier mountainside farms using the heights as thier advantage. Sorry, didn't bother to track down the link agan.

Americans should appreciate the irony of this.

Our passive Love and Wine consuming European fathers from France actually are the origin of the word AMMUNITION! Go figure huh?

"AMMUNITION, a military term (derived, through the French, from Lat. munire, to provide), for consumable stores used in attack or defence, such as rifle cartridges, cartridges, projectiles, igniting tubes and primers for ordnance"

Much like the Winchester house, after seeing what her dad's guns had done to people she started to build endlessly to confuse the spirits. Perhaps, seeing what Ammunition has done to the people of the world, the French have decided to nix the term entirely and become passive.