Thomas Wright a young teenager starts his Diary in July 1858 America. Northern Kentucky, Mason county near the Town of Dover and Lees Creak. across the Ohio River the town of Ripley Ohio. Hot bed of Abolitionist movement. between befriending a slave...
Grenades even the Navies purchased these, if you think about it during and old fashioned Ship battle. Both ships would of been close Marine Sharpshooters in the mast, shooting and tossing grenades onto the next ship. You had River Gunboats that got into close-quarter fighting with breastworks. These were heavily used at the Battle of Vicksburg. Some looked like a small conical shell to a ball with a cannon fuse on top.
The Ketchum Hand Grenade, looked similar to a dart. Having an oval shape with paper or cardboard fins for stable nose down flight, to keep the impact detonator facing down. Using a percussion cap behind the impact plate to set the powder off.
They came in 1,3, and 5 pound sizes.
Raines Grenade Confederate, was similar to the Ketchum. The difference in appearance is very little working on the same principle Impact detonation. I couldn't find much information on the Raines, I imagine it came in increments like the Ketchum.
Some grenades were just improvised cannon ball, with a lit fuse tossed over breastworks or into trenches, charging lines. I read one story during the battle of Vicksburg, the Confederate soldiers catching the Ketchum's in blankets and throwing them back into the Union forces. So it must of took a very heavy hit to set one off. Of course, they had the dropped grenade that could kill your own men. Interesting the way they used them, the grenadiers would move up weapons slung, with the skirmishers toss the grenade then move like skirmishes.
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Top left Raines Grenade, top right improvised, Bottom Ketchum Grenade.
Gatling Gun
One of the best known, early rapid-fire weapons. The forerunner of the machine gun, still in use today as the mini-gun. Multi barrel hand cranked rapid fire weapon, having multiple barrels gave each barrel time to cool some before it fired again. The crank moved each barrel to line up and fire at the correct time ejecting the spent cartridge, and reloading a new one. Using a box type magazine or barrel magazine. 250-600 rounds a minute, was incomprehensible rate of fire at the time. Although not excepted into the Arsenal until 1866, well after the War. They were used on Gunboats and at the siege of Petersburg Virginia. During the War a sales representative demonstrated it in combat. 12 guns were purchased by Union Commanders 8 others were put on Gunboats.
The Gatling gun was designed by an American inventor Doctor Richard J. Gatling in 1861, patented on November 4th 1862. Gatling wrote he created the gun to reduce the size of Armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is.
The first Gatlings were crude, due to tapered barrels they could of been a 1/16 of inch in taper from the breech to the muzzle. This would have bullets, cause them to tumble and shoot powder in all directions. They worked is all that mattered. Union General Butler purchased a dozen guns and 12,000 pounds of ammunition. This was done out of his own pocket, the staggering sum at the time of 12,000 dollars. Admiral David Dixon Porter also purchased a unit of the firearms for the Mississippi River Squadron.
