I've been wanting to add a miniature of the Coehorn Mortar to my collection of 1800's Artillery models for some time, and after reading through the chapter on mortars in the pages of 'Field Artillery of the Civil War', I decided to model the 24 PDR Coehorn Mortar M-1838.

With the dimensions for the full scale mortar available to me, it was just a matter of deciding what scale I would reproduce the model in, and after some thought on the matter, I decided a 1/4 scale model would make a nice sized display model.
The barrel was turned from brass, and the bed is from 1"walnut planks laminated together, with all the fixtures made from steel including the 16 square nuts holding everything together..

The steel rule lying in front of the model is 6" giving you a visual idea as to the size of the model.

From the beginning of time, improved defenses have encouraged development of new offenses. When fortifications became too strong to breach by direct fire, high angle plunging “vertical” fire was adopted. At Namur in 1692 the Dutch under Manno, Baron van Coehoorn, faced the French under his rival, Marshall Vanban. During the siege Coehoorn introduced lightweight, short-range bomb-throwing mortars. This mortar was reintroduced in 1838 as the 24-pounder Coehorn Mortar.

A 24-pounder bronze Coehorn mortar weighing 160 pounds by itself, or just under 300 pounds with its four handle bed, could be lugged into action by 2 men, but four men could rush it into many unprepared locations where it could lob explosive shell into masked targets at ranges of 20 to 1,200 yards. The piece fired a standard 24-pounder shell (weight 16.8 lbs.) and a half-pound of powder. General Grant wrote of the improvisation of 6-prd. and 12 pdr. wooden coehorns to throw common shell into the trenches of the defenders.

Click on the photo for a closer look.....

Model Cannons & Mortars