Question of the Week: What was the oddest piece of Civil War technology?
From observation balloons to volley guns to submarines, what is the oddest piece of Civil War technology?
From observation balloons to volley guns to submarines, what is the oddest piece of Civil War technology?
John Bell Hood, the man who took a licking and kept on ticking.
That’s carbon…not silicon… 🙂
Bullet proof vest. See “Colonel Albert Brackett’s Body Armor,” by Edward Alexander, Posted on May 13, 2019.
I once read about an item called a “coal torpedo”, which was akin to a booby trap or an ‘improvised explosive device’ (IED). I don’t know much about them but they do sound “odd” for the times.
If I remember, there was some speculation that a “coal” torpedo was involved in the Sultana disaster.
And a successful coal bomb attack on the U.S. supply depot at City Point.
H.L.Hunley Confederate submarine that sank the USS Housatonic Blockading Charleston, South Carolina
H.L.Hunley Confederate submarine that sank the USS Housatonic blockading Charleston, SC
Winans Steam Gun was a steam-powered centrifugal gun used during the American Civil War, which used centrifugal forces (rather than gunpowder) to propel projectiles. It had a short but interesting history.
Agar Coffee Mill machine guns. The Army of the Potomac was supplied with at least seven of these guns, which were captured from Porter’s V Corps at Gaines’ Mill. I have never been able to find an account of these guns being used in battle by the Federals or the Confederates. If anyone has such an account, please share!
The use of the Hungarian language as impromptu code by the Union Army (Western Theatre) during 1861… after the Official Army codes were compromised by the defection of substantial numbers of ex-United States military members to the Rebels/Confederacy. Native Hungarian language speakers operated from Department of the West HQ in St. Louis; and other native Hungarian speakers were embedded with key leaders (such as U.S. Grant) allowing telegrams to be sent/received with effective encryption.