hauled, the trail was raised above the limber, then lowered, with the pintle fitting into a hole in the trail. Unlike the situation with its predecessors, horses were harnessed to the 19th-century limber in pairs, with six to ten horses needed to haul a siege gun or howitzer. 20th century With the general passing of the horse as a mover of artillery, the need for limbers and caissons also largely passed. Trucks or artillery tractors could tow artillery pieces but did not completely take over until after the end of the Second World War. Many armies retained limbers seemingly from sheer inertia. As a field artillery piece, the British 25-pdr was designed to be towed only in conjunction with a trailer. The trailer provided the vital over-run braking system for the gun. Both the unsatisfactory, and consequently short lived, trailer artillery No. 24 and the far more usual No. 27, had the same type of wheel hubs as the gun. The No. 27 also carried 32 rounds of ammunition, had a useful stores tray on the front and brackets for a gun traversing platform and spare hub on the top . Some simple limbers were kept for heavier pieces such as the eight-inch Howitzer M1 to achieve better weight distribution. Caissons in American and British culture The song "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" refers to these; the version adopted as the U.S. Army's official song has, among other changes, replaced the word caissons with Army. Caissons are used for burials at Arlington National Cemetery and for state funerals for United States government dignitaries including the President of the United States for the remains to be carried by members of The Old Guard's Caisson Platoon. When the equipage is used in this way for a state funeral in Britain, the coffin is usually placed on a platform mounted on top of the gun and referred to as being carried on a gun carriage. For the funerals of British monarchs, there is a tradition that the horses be replaced by a detail from the Royal Navy. See also Field gun competition "U.S. Field Artillery" march, composed 1917 by John Philip Sousa Catafalque Bier Notes References External links The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery page American Civil War artillery Artillery ammunition Carts Artillery operation Funeral transport Carriages and mountings fr:Affût (artillerie) it:Affusto sv:Lavett