The field artillery in 1802 consisted of 3pdrs, 6pdrs, and 12pdrs and the park 12pdrs and light 24pdrs. The medium 12pdrs cannon was adopted for use by the horse artillery in 1792 (modelled on the Prussian practice). The artillery introduced the 9pdr cannons into service c.1809 and these fought alongside the 12pdrs. The 9pdr cannon was heavier and less manoeuvrable than the 6pdr and required more horses to draw it.

The cannon barrels were brass, with the carriages, wheels and limbers painted grey, while metal parts were black. The British gunpowder, carriages and limbers were probably the best in Europe. The pieces fired cannonballs, canister, and Shrapnell's spherical case-shots. "In battles, the artillery made most copious and effective use of a kind of hollow bullet, called Shrapnell's spherical case-shot, from the name of the inventor" (- General Foy).

"It has long been considered by artillery historians or commentators on the subject, that the Royal Artillery in the Peninsula lacked any field guns that could match the French 8- and 12-pounders; it is obvious from these returns that the British did have 12-pounders in the field brigades and therefore would have had guns that were able to reply to them. The British had and used a 12-pounder field gun.
Furthermore, it has long been suggested that the 9-pounder Blomefield was introduced to the Royal Artillery c.1809 in order to provide a weapon to match the French artillery, which we now know they were already able to do ... It was based around gun tubes of 17 calibres in length for the heavy pieces and 13 calibres for the light and siege pieces...
In fact, the 9-pounder was adopted in Spain, say Lieutenant Colonels Robe and Harding, due to the simple fact that they had a similar effective range to the 12-pounder, but more importantly, only required 8 horses to move them, as opposed to the 10 needed for the 12-pounder. The argument that the 9-pounder was adopted to match the firepower of the French artillery, therefore, is incorrect.
The accusation that the 12-pounder was too heavy to be of use in the field Brigades only appears to hold true for Spain, and it is likely that had sufficient good quality horses been available the weapon would have continued in service... During the Peninsula, the artillery was also short of many support vehicles; due to a lack of ammunition wagons etc the artillerymen had to carry gun powder barrels on their shoulders from the magazines. Furthermore the Forge-carts are almost all of the oldest pattern, and are of a dead weight to use." (- Anthony Leslie Dawson napoleon-series)

Strength of British artillery in Peninsula on 1st November 1808 (by Ltn.-Col. William Robe):

According to Adkin until 1793 the British guns and wagon teams for the movement of artillery were in the hands of hired civilians. This was a wretched arrangement that frequently saw drivers abandoning their horses as soon as they heard the first shots on the battlefield.

In 1793 the Corps of Royal Artillery Drivers was formed. It had own officers and was, supposedly, a disciplined body. However, it quickly develped a reputation as a 'nest of infamy', as one officer described it in Spain. There was a lot of drunkenness and absence. At Waterloo about half of the 5.300 artillerymen in Wellington's army were drivers. Mercer's 9pdrs had 8 horses pulling each gun at Waterloo, although they usually had 6. Many of these animals were from Ireland.

General Foy wrote: "The English got the start of the French in the formation of the artillery-train: the first trials of it were made in 1793, under the auspices of the Duke of Richmond, then Master-general of the Ordnance. The corps of Royal Artillery Drivers is organized as soldiers. Very high prices are paid for the horse employed to draw the guns, and they are, consequently, extremely good. The harness is as good as that used in French carriages. No nation can rival the English in the equipment and speed of their conveyances."

In horse artillery teams of 8 horses drew all 9pdr cannons and limbers, the left horse being ridden by a driver. If the battery had, let say, 120 horses, 48 were pulling the 6 guns and limbers, 44 were hauling the 9 ammunition wagons, and 18 pulling the remaining wagons (6 for the carriage wagon, and 12 for the 3 other wagons). There were also spare horses (Mercer's battery at Waterloo had 30 of them !) It was not until 7 years after Waterloo did drivers become an integral part of every horse battery (troop).

The story about rockets starts with ... gunpowder which was probably used to fumigate houses by the Chinese in about 700 BC. In Europe already in 1730s a German artillery colonel, C. F. von Geissler, was manufacturing rockets. The British troops fighting in India found themselves engaged against the Mogol forces of Tippoo Sultan of Mysore who used rockets in 1792 at the Battle of Seringapatam. Seeing an interesting thing, the English adopted the rocket as a weapon and used it against the French, Danes and the Americans.

By 1808, the projectile had been modified by Englishman Sir W. Congreve for a land combat. He was son of Lt. General Sir William Congreve, the Comptroller of the Royal Laboratories at the Royal Arsenal.

Congreve's rockets came in 6 different calibres: 3, 6, 9,12, 18 and 24 pounds and consisted of a steel case, which had a conical or spherical head and was filled with black gunpowder. The warheads were attached to guide-poles and were launched in pairs. It was set by the degree of elevation of the launching frame and flew relatively slowly up tp 2,000 metres. The rockets could outrange the guns of the time.

The aim of the rockets however was notoriously inaccurate and very often prematurely exploded. Loud explosion, red glare and a very occasional hit created an impressive demoralising effect.

Rockets in combat.
Tsar Alexandr, was so impressed by their performance
at Leipzig that he decorated the British officer
with his own badge of Order of St. Anne.

The first use of rockets by the British against the French was in 1806, at the bombardment of Boulogne.

The rocket troops were used in 1807 during a naval attack on neutral Copenhagen (Denmark). Approx. 25,000 rockets were launched which burnt hundreds of buildings.

Rockets were used in naval attacks. At Flushing in 1809, they wrought such havoc that General Monnet made a formal protest to Lord Chatham against their use.

In 1813 British rocket troops fought in Germany at Gordhe where their first salvo was a failure as the rockets fell alarmingly close to the Swedish soldiers. The rockets moved forward and a second salvo was fired, and although also inaccurate, "Enemy troops not in the line of fire were considerably annoyed ".

The rockets were also used at Leipzig under the command of Bernadotte, the Crown Prince of Sweden. The rockets effectively bombarded the village of Paunsdorf. Russian monarch, Tsar Alexandr, was so impressed by their performance that he decorated the British officer with his own badge of Order of St. Anne.

The rockets were also used in 1814 in an unsuccessful British attack on Fort McHenry (USA).

In 1815 in Belgium, Mjr. Whinyates commanding the Rocket troop received orders from Wellington to supply his troop with 6pdr cannon in exchange for his rockets, to ensure his troop’s effectiveness. Eventually Wellington relented and allowed Whinyates to take 800 rounds of 12 pdr rockets as well as the guns. The Rocket Troops participated at the battles at Quatre Bras, Genappe, and Waterloo.
On the use of rockets at Genappe: "The order to fire [rockets] was given - port/fire applied - the fidgety missile begins to sputter out sparks and wiggle its tail for a second and then darts forth straight up the road. A gun stands right in its way, between the wheels of which the shell in the head of the rocket bursts, the gunners fall right and left, and, those of the other guns taking to their heels, ... our rocketeers kept shooting off rockets, none of which ever followed the course of the first: most of them, on arriving about the middle of the ascent, took a vertical direction, whilst some actually turned back upon ourselves - and one of these, following me like a squib until its shells exploded putting me in more danger than all the fire of the enemy ..." (- Captain Mercer)

At Bladensburg (USA) the rockets fired by the Royal Navy stampeded the untrained raw militia. Rockets used at Baltimore were chiefly the heavy naval rockets fired from specially designed or modified ships and launches.

Wellington and rockets.
"The only reason why I wished to have it was to get the horses;
... I do not want to set fire to any town, and I do not know
any other use of the rockets." - Wellington

Wellington was not convinced of the capabilities of rockets as their main successes had been to bombard towns, causing fires and destroying the morale of the defenders. In Spain and southern France he could not use rockets on towns held by the French troops for the political fall out from extensive civilian casualties.

In November 1813 distrusting Wellington wrote to Earl Bathurst: ‘My dear Lord, I have received your letter of the 11th, regarding the Rocket Brigade. The only reason why I wished to have it was to get the horses; but as we are to have them at all events, I am perfectly satisfied. I do not want to set fire to any town, and I do not know any other use of the rockets." - signed Wellington

I can understand Wellington's negative opinion about rockets and their effectiveness. But what about the "impressive demoralising effect" ? Well, actually not only the rockets but also the bursting common shell made a huge impression on the soldiers. The explosion created more terror than a solid but unvisible cannonball. A British soldier wrote " during shelling my comrade looks like a boy who is beginning an illness with shivering attacks, and in the frankest way he will tell you he is just petrified by the business." He added that the bursting shells had frightened more men away from the line than anything else. Other stated that every shell that fell near the troop seemed to be but the beginning of a new cataclysm. But not only the British were freightened by shells.
In the battle of Borodino, in 1812, a Polish uhlan noticed that whenever a shell exploded dozens of young German infantrymen threw themselves on the ground and covered their heads with hands. "Not a whisper was heard" - he wrote.