Caltrop identification

Billy1977

Sergeant
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Location
Flippin, Arkansas (near Yellville)
Hello everybody, I've found these photos that all claim to be Civil War era caltrops, spiky iron anti-cavalry devices, but I was hoping someone here who knows a lot more about them than I do could tell me which of these are Union and which are Confederate caltrops.

1. Civil War; caltrop..jpg

2.Civil War; caltrop.,..jpg

3. Civil War; caltrop.,,..jpg

4. Civil War; caltrop.,,,..jpg


5. These (in picture # 5) were said to have been "found in an area used by the Confederates"
Civil War; caltrop.supposedly.found.in.area.used.by.Confederates..jpg

6. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,..jpg

7. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,..jpg

8. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,,..gif

9. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,,,..jpg

10. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,,,,,...jpg

11. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,,,,..jpg

12. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,,,,,,,..jpg

13. Civil War; caltrop.,,,,,,,,,,..jpg

Many thanks in advance to the caltrop expert who can clarify this.
 
In thinking a little more about this I think we may, and I emphasize may, have a thread which if we pull it we might unravel the answer as to which caltrops are whose. In picture # 5 which was found here

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/military-battlefield-relics/68765-civil-war-caltrops.html

the fellow who posted the photo of them said "My brother and I found @ 20 in an area used by the Confederates, these are just the ones I found and cleaned up. They were found in 2007."

Presumably he means "about twenty" of them and that "an area used by the Confederates" would refer to a C.S. Army camp. Now if this is all true, and I would have no reason to think otherwise as he's not claiming that he and his brother found a sword belonging to Gen. Lee or something but just some caltrops which may have been made by the tens or hundreds of thousands, who knows, then it would lead me to believe that the caltrops in picture # 5 are Confederate because I would find it much more likely that the rebels would scatter caltrops outside their own camp to deter federal cavalry than it would be that the federals would sneak up to a spot just outside of a rebel camp and lay a bunch of them there on a well-used route. It's possible but I would find the former scenario much more likely to occur.

So then if those in picture # 5 are in fact C.S. Army caltrops we might be able to compare them with the other twelve pictures and see which ones appear to be of identical design to the # 5 caltrops.

Or maybe I'm just grasping at straws.
 
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Hello everybody, I've found these photos that all claim to be Civil War era caltrops, spiky iron anti-cavalry devices, but I was hoping someone here who knows a lot more about them than I do could tell me which of these are Union and which are Confederate caltrops.

1. View attachment 124256

2.View attachment 124257

3. View attachment 124258

4. View attachment 124259


5. These (in picture # 5) were said to have been "found in an area used by the Confederates"
View attachment 124260


6. View attachment 124261

7. View attachment 124262

8. View attachment 124263

9. View attachment 124264

10. View attachment 124265

11. View attachment 124266

12. View attachment 124267

13. View attachment 124268

Many thanks in advance to the caltrop expert who can clarify this.
It spikes against cavalry. and sometimes against infantry.
 
Generally speaking, the effective design for a caltrop should be that no matter how you toss them/how they land one spike is vertical. None of these would meet that specification. They might have been used like caltrops, but they look more like jacks for a game.

That would look about like this modern version: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...UxzSEG6xcXoixjNyzu-c9Grg&ust=1487448783387104

Or they might be an example of something made by a person who had heard of caltrops, but did not know the best way to make them.

No actual documented use of caltrops in the American Civil War seems to be found.
 
The only thing that would make me suspicious, in addition to what else has been said, is that the condition of the items seem to good to be true to have been dug after nearly 150 years of being in the ground. I hope I'm wrong, though. Thanks for posting!
 
I was going to say they look like the jacks we used to play with as kids.

I agree with Shannon Wolf, I think they are Jacks. I could not so far find any reference to Caltrops and our Civil War. I am surprised I have found not reference to them being used in our Civil War. I think they would have been as effective in the civil war as would have been for the Romans and Greeks.
 
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for posting!

You're most welcome Seduzal and Alan Polk.


I suggest that these are from artillery rounds.

Do you mean as sort of like an equivalent to shrapnel, and scattered out when the round explodes? I'd never thought of that, but I bet it would do some serious damage considering the shape of them, how heavy they must be for their size and the velocity imparted upon them by the explosion of the round.

Generally speaking, the effective design for a caltrop should be that no matter how you toss them/how they land one spike is vertical. None of these would meet that specification. They might have been used like caltrops, but they look more like jacks for a game.

That would look about like this modern version: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...UxzSEG6xcXoixjNyzu-c9Grg&ust=1487448783387104

Or they might be an example of something made by a person who had heard of caltrops, but did not know the best way to make them.

No actual documented use of caltrops in the American Civil War seems to be found.

Thank you Trice, and as you can see I'm certainly no relic collector or expert or anything like that so this is the kind of expertise that I'm lacking which I greatly appreciate being able to avail myself of with this forum. I agree that caltrops should definitely have one spike pointing up at all times no matter which way you throw it or else it's not very effective. As far as caltrops not being used in the Civil War or no documented evidence of their usage being found, yesterday I discovered this thread here
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/caltrops.109652/

and the fellow who started that thread seems to think otherwise about the usage or non-usage of caltrops in the War. (I'm not trying to start an argument, just pointing out that there appears to be more than one opinion about whether caltrops were used or not. I personally can offer no insight one way or the other as I don't know enough about caltrops for it to be worth anything.)

Thank you all for your responses, they're all greatly appreciated.
 
Do you mean as sort of like an equivalent to shrapnel, and scattered out when the round explodes? I'd never thought of that, but I bet it would do some serious damage considering the shape of them, how heavy they must be for their size and the velocity imparted upon them by the explosion of the round.
Not for scattering, for tearing into the flesh of enemy soldiers and horses.
 
Not for scattering, for tearing into the flesh of enemy soldiers and horses.

Oh, from a canister round, in place of the things that look like roller ball bearings, I get it. I was picturing like a case shot where it scatters from above. (And thanks for explaining that without emphasizing how obvious it should have been.) :bounce:


We had this thread a couple of years ago

Yes that's the one I was referring to in post # 13. Was there a consensus reached as to whether caltrops were in fact used in the ACW or not?
 
The amount of damage that one could inflict to the hoof both externally and internally sickens me. Not only the initial damage but the follow up to keep the wound clean, infection free and the effort to keep the horse idle enough to heal is a tall order.
 
The amount of damage that one could inflict to the hoof both externally and internally sickens me. Not only the initial damage but the follow up to keep the wound clean, infection free and the effort to keep the horse idle enough to heal is a tall order.

Yes, as gruesome and cruel as they are they (caltrops in general, apparently not the imitation whatever-they-are things in the photos) nevertheless seem to me like they would have been pretty effective area denial devices. They would seem to be cheap and easy to make, just a single iron casting I think, and can be made from the worst quality iron. And just the psychological effect of for example knowing that cavalrymen from some other regiment that rode through here last week had five of their horses step on these awful things would cause later cav. detachments riding over the same road to behave with excessive caution I would think. Maybe I'm giving the caltrops too much credit (and I don't personally have any documented evidence that they were ever used in the ACW) but I don't see why they wouldn't have been used. If an ancient naval tactic like ramming can come back into vogue in the Civil War I don't see why caltrops wouldn't either be used again or continue to still be used during the war.

Here's a good question: Is there any evidence that either the U.S. or the Mexicans used caltrops in the Mexican War? I know very little about the 1846-'48 Mexican War but maybe someone who knows more about it can chime in and tell us if caltrops saw service in that war. If they did then it would seem (to me at least) more likely that they also were used in the ACW whereas if it is known conclusively that they were not used in the Mexican adventure then to me it would make it seem much less likely that either the Union or Confederates would have then a little over a decade later adopted the use of caltrops in the ACW.
 
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