At the turn of the century the arms race that would cumulate in the Great War was in full pace. The various armament houses of Europe were rapidly applying the latest industrial technology to the patriotic (and profitable) task of developing the best arms available for their respective countries.

Perhaps one of the best weapons of its class for that era was the 75mm Quick Firing (QF) field gun developed at the French facilities at St. Chaumond. The design was credited to Manuel Mondragon, a Mexican officer attending the French Artillery college at St. Cyr. His ingenious design incorporated some of the most advanced features of its day.

Classified as "Light Horse Artillery" it featured a interrupted screw type breach, a 25 round per minute rate of fire and a mechanically driven ranging device that allowed indirect and sweeping fire. It was truly one of the best and most advanced light field guns at the turn of the Century and would be adopted by Mexico as its primary field gun..

The St. Chaumond '75 saw use by Mexico against US forces during the 1916 Mexican Punitive Expedition. As you may recall, US forces under the command of John (Blackjack) Pershing, launched an expedition across the border into Mexico to chase bandits.

The photos displayed here are of one such gun as we found it in 1990, rotting away, behind a local gun store.

Our gun had been brought into the US in the 1950's during the hay day of surplus arms. Obsolete cannon had been purchased overseas by enterprising surplus dealers and brought back for sale as monuments. Our gun had been sold to a local boys school and was staged on their parade ground as a military lawn ornament. It remained in the open until after the Vet Nam era when military symbols became less popular. The gun was offered to a local gun shop for store front display. It sat in the open, on display, until its condition was such that it became an eyesore. At that time it was moved to the field behind the store where we found it.

The gun was in sad shape. The wooden wheels had deteriorated to the point where they were ready to collapse. They completely rotted away where the gun had settled into the parade ground. Thick layers of paint were pealing off in slabs and nearly all surfaces had areas scarred by rust. The gun had been cut by ATF since registration papers had been lost and it was no longer registered as a destructive device.1The breach, elevation gear and all other moving parts were frozen solid with rust. Parts had been stolen off the gun for no other purpose than pure vandalism. Unfortunately this included the original maker's plate which we have yet to design a replacement. The gun was on the verge of becoming just another pile of scrap. After extensive coaxing we convinced the store owner to sell us the gun so that it could be preserved.

As we completed a detailed examination of the gun several interesting things came to light. The gun was serial number "4", one of the earliest of the production run. The base metal was not terribly pitted due to the heavy layers of paint religiously applied at the school. While cleaning the gun and carriage we found evidence of prototyping.2

Restoration would be difficult. The gun had to be completely disassembled, brought down to base metal, re-primed and painted. The wheels would have to be rebuilt using military specifications, this meant finding a wheel maker that could construct heavy cannon wheels with bent ash rims rather than sawed. Moving parts would have to be freed and parts would have to be manufactured.

Correspondence with the Imperial War Museum in London disclosed that some of the St. Chaumond guns may have been in French inventory when WWI broke out, attached to cavalry. Since our emphasis is World War One, we decided to restore the gun to a WWI configuration.

With research complete and materials located, we began work on the gun in 1991. The gun was completed in the summer of 1995 after spending countless hours on the project. It was given dazzle type paint job, using a looped camouflage pattern typical of the American and St. Chaumond gear. Colors were taken from souvenir American helmets. Surprisingly, when the gun is placed against a spring foliage background, it readily blends into the surroundings.

With completion of the restoration we began showing the gun at various exhibits and public events including the National Park Service Artillery Through the Ages program held at Malvern Hill Battlefield in August of 1998 and 2000. We also take it to the Great War Assoc. spring and fall WWI reenactment staged at Newville Pa.

Any comments or additional details on the St. Chaumond '75 will be greatly appreciated.

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