Gas Warfare

[Blockaderunner]

I am currently reading Lee's Miserables by J.Tracy Power. This book contains a remarkable passage refering to a subject I have never seen or heard in any Civil War history. After Cold Harbour, Brig. Gen William Nelson Pendleton, the ANV chief of artillery, wrote a note to First Corps artillery commander Porter Alexander. The Confederates could design and manufacture artillery shells that would "combine destructive explosion and suffocating gases". Alexander gave limited encouragement. Pendleton then approached Lt. Col. Briscoe G. Baldwin, the army chief of ordnance. Pendletons idea was to use mortars to lob shells into Union trenches or special hand grenades where the lines were close together. There is no evidence that the Confederacy actually conducted any experiments.

[ole]

There are a number of snippets where someone came up with the idea of bio- and chemo-weapons. None that I know of ever went beyond the idea stage. The infamous weapon of the time was the land-mine -- the torpedo.

The earliest use I know of was in Yorktown or Williamsburg early in the Penninsula Campaign. Outraged everybody on both sides -- especially the Federal victims. Not at all the action of a gentleman! It was eventually agreed, more or less, that defense of fortifications might be a legitimate use. Even so, their use didn't reach complete acceptance.

You've no doubt read of the use of mines and IED's during Sherman's march. His feelings were made manifest in his practice of using POW's and even civilians to make sure there were no explosives on bridges or roads. And he had POWs clear the ground around Ft. Pulaski after it fell.

Ole

[samgrant]

I'm in the middle of Alexander's Fighting for the Confederacy, haven't got to Cold harbor yet, but Looked in the index for references to Ordinance, Artillery, Pendleton, and Baldwin but have yet to find anything mentioned about anything like what you describe. If I do, I'll surely let you know.


Here is a link to a site wherein a 'stink-shell' is proposed by Pendleton, as well as other CW chemical warfare schemes:

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&cd=11

[ole]

Dang, Sam! You always come up with good stuff!

[Blockaderunner]

Interesting site Sam. It would seem that Pendleton was not alone, or even first with the idea.

[whitworth]

A Confederate inventor worked with phosperous artillery shells in the Savanah and Charleston area. Considering that much of the Confederate artillery shells were poorly made, it's surprising that they reached this stage.
Manufacture was the first problem and major problem. The Confederacy only began manufacturing percussion shells late in the war.

[gary]

I thought gas-warfare was used by the Greeks. Either Herodotus or Thucydides mentioned it in their respective works.