John,

I haven't cross-checked Banasik yet with regards to the James. The misidentification you propose sounds plausible.

I wonder about the Blakely identification though. While a 2.9" bore would correspond to the 2x wt. rifling "six pounder" designation, an Indiana unit in the Trans-Mississippi in early 1862 seems an odd place for the Blakely rifles to show up. Then again, odd pieces tended to get sent West. Are there any recoveries of appropriate projectiles in actions involving the unit that would confirm the ID?

It's been a few months but IIRC there are two different references in the O.R. to the 2-pounders at Kirksville, one as "howitzers" and another as guns or such. So I'm inclined to believe the Woodruff identification. There were also some of these present at Pilot Knob/Fort Davidson with some projectiles recovered.

At Cane Hill Banasik also makes reference to some 2-inch pieces being used by Shoup (Ark) firing lead "clock weight" like projectiles which outranged the mountain howitzers and was noted because it killed a driver and some horses of Rabb's battery (Indiana.) The note indicates the reference is a turn of the century article about the 1st Kansas Battery. If correct this might have been from a captured Woodruff or from one of the Confederate pieces in that caliber. Making solid lead projectiles for them would have been low tech and feasible in this region--at least until the CSA was pushed back into Arkansas and lead became less available.

At any rate, all of these extra light gun types: Woodruff, mountain howitzers, etc. deserve a full length treatment some day.