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Caption: Typical British field artillery of the War of 1812 - brass six-pounder field gun

The six-pounder gun was the most common piece of artillery found in the field during the War of 1812. The description 'six-pounder' refers the weight of a solid shot (popularly known as a cannon ball) fired this type of gun. Both the United States and Great Britain used guns of this size. In fact, some of the American guns were captured British pieces dating back to the American Revolution of 1775-1783. Only British artillery used the more modern block-trail carriage shown here, however. The wood of British artillery carriages was painted grey and the iron parts black.