DECEMBER 11TH, 1864: Commander George H. Preble, commanding the Naval Brigade fighting ashore with the forces of Major General Foster up the Broad River, South Carolina, reported to Rear Admiral Dahlgren concerning a unique "explosive ball" used by Confederate forces against his skirmishers: "It had a conical ball in shape, like an ordinary bullet.
"The pointed end is charged with a fulminate. The base of the ball separates from the conical end, and has a leaden standard or plunger. The explosion of the charge drives the base up, so as to flatten a thin disk of metal between it and the ball, the leaden plunger is driven against the fulminate, and it explodes the ball.... It seems to me that the use of such a missile is an unnecessary addition to the barbarities of war."
I didn't quite follow how it operated, but I sure wouldn't want to get hit by one of these.
Those Nasty Confederates. --Old Secesh
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