Discussion Grenadiers

[MikeyB]

Were there any grenadiers in the Civil War? Were grenades long since obsolete? Was there any practical role for them in assault or defense operations?

 

[Kurt G]

Grenades were used to some extent at Port Hudson , Vicksburg and Petersburg . The Ketchum may be the best known model . They were not 100 percent reliable and I've never heard of any Civil war troops designated as grenadiers .

 

[James N.]

Some of the most successful "grenades" were actually artillery shells whose fuses were lit before being thrown or rolled down parapets.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

During Price's raid into Missouri in 1864 the Federal defenders of Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob used grenades to drive assaulting Confederates out of the fort's ditch. When the attackers reached the fort's ditch a detail of men brought the grenades from the fort's magazine and distributed them to the men on the firing step who hurled them over the parapet and cleared the enemy from the ditch. None of the men had been previously designated as "grenadiers." A five pound Ketchum grenade, found in the area, is in the collection of the Missouri State Museum.

 

[major bill]

There were self styled grenadier milita during per Civil War era