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bangdazap t1_j3ry9ld wrote

IIRC, modern hand grenades were tried in the US Civil War, but the impact fuses worked poorly and it was common that the targets of hand grenades to throw them back. I imagine the same thing happened with black powder grenades with wicks.

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Afraid_Theorist t1_j3t4kpa wrote

Interesting

Any good sources on this you came across? I’m curious

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elmonoenano t1_j3td3mf wrote

There were a few varieties. The Ketchum grenade was thrown or lobbed and had a fuse on the tip. There were also Rains grenades, basically the Confederates took the idea of the contact fuse on a Ketchum grenade and buried it nose end up in what amounts to the first landmines. The Union hated these and there's stories of them marching POWs at the head of their columns.

https://armyhistory.org/mine-warfare-in-the-civil-war/

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