Canon de 4 Gribeauval

Canon de 4 Gribeauval
The Canon de 4 Gribeauval, was the lightest gun among the Canon de 8 Gribeauval (center) and the Canon de 12 Gribeauval (left).
Place of origin	France
Service history
Used by	France
Wars	American Revolutionary War French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars
Production history
Designer	Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval
Designed	1765
Specifications
Weight	637 lb (289 kg)
Barrel length	5 ft 3 in (160 cm)
Crew	8 men, 3–4 horses
Caliber	84 mm (3.3 in)
Barrels	1
Carriage	1,454 lb (660 kg)
Rate of fire	2–3 rounds per minute
Effective firing range	Ball: 700 meters Canister: 400 meters
Maximum firing range	1,200 m (1,312 yd)

The Canon de 4 Gribeauval or 4-pounder was a French cannon and part of the artillery system developed by Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. The Old French pound (French: livre) was 1.079 English pounds, making the weight of shot about 4.3 English pounds. In the Gribeauval era, the 4-pounder was the lightest weight cannon of the French field artillery; the others were the medium Canon de 8 Gribeauval and the heavy Canon de 12 Gribeauval. The Gribeauval system was introduced in 1765 and the guns were first employed during the American Revolutionary War. The most large-scale use of Gribeauval guns occurred during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. At first a pair of 4-pounders were assigned to each infantry battalion and were often called battalion pieces. Later, Emperor Napoleon took the guns away from the infantry units and began to replace the 4-pounder with the 6-pounder, using captured guns as well as newly cast French cannons. However, as the French infantry declined in quality after 1809, the 4-pounders were reintroduced in order to provide direct support for formations of foot soldiers. All Gribeauval cannons were capable of firing canister shot at close-range and round shot at long-range targets. The Gribeauval system supplanted the older Vallière system, was partly replaced by the Year XI system in 1803 and completely superseded by the Valée system in 1829.

The Gribeauval system was approved by the king and officially adopted by the French army on 15 October 1765. It was quietly introduced to keep it secret from foreign powers but also to avoid an unfriendly reaction from conservative elements in the French Royal Army. In fact, resistance within the French army prevented full implementation of the system until 1776. The Gribeauval system included 4-, 8- and 12-pounder field pieces, the Obusier de 6 pouces Gribeauval (6-inch howitzer) and the 1-pounder light cannon, though the 1-pounder was quickly abandoned. The Canon de 4 Gribeauval was used extensively during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. However, its first major operational use came during the American Revolutionary War. The new cannons were employed by the French expeditionary corps under Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau in 1780–1782 including the 1781 Siege of Yorktown.