The Ketchum Hand Grenade is a type of grenade used in the American Civil War. It was patented on August 20, 1861 by William F. Ketchum, a mayor of Buffalo, N.Y., and partly adopted in the Union Army. They are used in combat such as Vicksburg and Petersburg (the second major siege in the war).
Video Ketchum Grenade
Overview
Grenades have the appearance of an iron ball, or thin arrows, have cardboard fins to stabilize the flight. They convincingly landed on the nose, which is supported by a percussion cap that triggers the main powder in the body. Grenades are mostly inefficient because they have to land on their noses to blow up. In one incident, the Confederacy caught them with a blanket and threw it back to the assailant.
Ketchum mainly comes from varieties 1, 3 and 5 lb. The best known copy of the Confederacy is Raines Grenade; it's even less effective. In many cases, the body is the same, but the long ribbon cloth is replaced with the fins, and the plunger is the explosive contact.
Maps Ketchum Grenade
Construction
Grenades are a three-part weapon, consisting of plunger (or nostrils), casing (body or orange peel, containing main load), and tailpiece. The slightly convex metal plunger has been removed to set the percussion cap on the nipple in the casing; the plunger is replaced by pressing by beating something solid and hard to push it back. This proved difficult, especially in combat. The wooden tail is released to place the powdered powder inside the shell, and then reinforce it firmly to hold the powder inside. Trajectory should be an arc to allow the plunger to blow the parts. The small pressure spring attached to the side of the plunger rod holds the plunger in place during the flight. The grenade was stabilized by four thin paper fins mounted to a wooden tailpiece that protruded from the back of the projectile.
Action
One of the most famous accounts of Ketchum grenade use occurred during the Union attack near the work of the Confederates referred to as "Cap Imam" in Port Hudson, Louisiana. New York troops threw Ketchum grenades over the graves into Confederate works. The surviving Confederate members found that if the plunger did not strike at an appropriate angle, the grenade would fall to the ground harmlessly. Lieutenant Howard C. Wright described the scene from the Confederate side of the attack: "The enemy has come this time with a hand grenade to put in our work from the outside.When these new missiles start falling among the Arkansas troops they do. who made them, and the first few they captured did not explode, they threw them back to the enemy in the trench.This time many of them explode and their characters are at once revealed to our people.Always the same as the emergency, they quickly set up the scheme... Spread the blanket behind the parapet, grenades fall without harm to them, where our children will pick them up and throw them with a much greater force in a trench that will almost certainly explode. "
Another detailed report on Ketchum's use was the July 14 attack of the Bank at Port Hudson written by a correspondent of the New York Herald on June 17, 1863, and quoted in the following text.
"Last Attack at Port Hudson
The Illustrated London News, vol. 43, tidak. 1212, hal. 27.
11th July 1863
LAST ASSAULT ON PORT HUDSON
... The attacking point is the extreme north-eastern corner of the enemy's breasts, and the plan of attack is briefly summarized as follows: - 75th New York, under the command of Captain Cray, and 12th Connecticut, led by Lieutenant Colonel Peck, specified as skirmishers, forming a separate command under Lieutenant Colonel Babcock, of New York 74th. The 91st New York, Colonel Van Zandt ruled - each army carrying a five-pound hand grenade, with his rifle thrown over his shoulder - followed next in order. The skirmishers will crawl and lie on the outer slopes of the enemy's breasts, while the regiment carrying the grenades will come into the same position and throw their grenades into the enemy line, in order to drive them and drive them out. from the back of their work. The 24th Connecticut, Colonel Mansfield, with their hands in a similar manner to a grenade regiment, followed, carrying sandbags filled with cotton, which would be used to fill the trenches in front of enemy breasts, to allow easier attacking parties to scale them and cost over the rebels.... Because the repulse of the 75th part that manages to reach the hand grenade trench can reach but little. In fact, although they make a lot of desperate but courageous efforts to serve, they are somewhat degraded rather than profiting our chances of succeeding, because, when they throw their grenades into the bodies of the rebels, the rebels actually catch them and throw them back to us. Meanwhile, while the skirmishers tried nobly to defend themselves in their positions, Weitzel's column moved as quickly as possible, and made a series of desperate attacks on the enemy's work, which, for courage and courage, the history of war could hardly provide parallel... "
According to Tom Dickey the first time he went to this site on Port Hudson's battlefield, using a metal detector, he rediscovered thirty-seven Ketchum grenades. Tom later wrote that about one hundred and three kilograms Ketchum was found at this location.
The text above is from an article published in the magazine North Trader Civil War , Vol. 35, No. 4, Ketchum Hand Grenade by Jack W. Melton, Jr.
Port Hudson State Historic Site has a collection that is a restored fragment of the Ketchum 1 pound hand grenade.
References
External links
- http://armscollectors.com/mgs/grenades!.htm
- http://members.lycos.nl/lexpev/hobbies.html
- http://www.inert-ord.net/19cent/grenat/index.html
- http://www.pooral.com/grenadepages/ketchum.html
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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