Hotchkiss gun
The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 1800s. It usually refers to the 1.65 inch light mountain gun, though there was also a 3-inch Hotchkiss gun as well. They were intended to mounted on a light carriage or be packed on mules to accompany a troop of cavalry or an army travelling in rough country. The 1.65 inch gun and accessories could be packed on two mules. The gun was introduced as a modern replacement for the aging twelve pound mountain Howitzer. The first gun purchased by the U.S. military from the French arms firm of Hotchkiss was employed against the Nez Percés in 1877. Over the next twenty years the U.S would purchase fifty more. They were used in Cuba for the attack on San Juan Hill and in the Philippine-American War. It was also used in the Battle of Wounded Knee.
picture published 1874
The term "Hotchkiss gun" also refers to a revolving barrel machine gun invented in 1872 by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (who started the aformentioned Hotchkiss company), (1826-1885). It was a built-up, rifled, rapid-fire gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moved in a mortise cut completely through the jacket. It was designed to be light enough to travel with cavalry, and had an effective range beyond that of rifled small-arms.