Rockets?

[JerryD]

Was reading an account of the Peninsula Campaign and the author mentioned a "rocket battery" being destroyed to keep it from falling into Confed hands during the "change of base". This is the first time I remember reading about the use of rockets in the ACW. Anyone here have an idea of what these were? My first thought was that they might have been signal rockets, but I really have no idea. I sincerely doubt rockets were being used as a weapon, though, unless this was one of those beginning of the war things that got dropped as they proved to be useless, like havelocks or pikes.

 

[major bill]

I am assuming it was a rocket battery.There was some limited use of rockets during the Civil War. We have had a couple interestingabout rockets here on CivilWarTalk.

 

[Dan Kohli]

Anyone here have an idea of what these were?

They were most likely to be Congreve or Hale rockets. The former is known to have been used by the British in the bombardment of Fort McHenry. They weren't the most accurate artillery, the reports say they go anywhere but the the target.
The Hale rocket was an improvement on the Congreve, in that it had a nozzle that stabilized it by causing it to spin in a similar manner to a football.

 

[redbob]

While there was limited use of rockets during the Civil War, they were wildly inaccurate and about as dangerous to the side firing them as the side that they were sortof aimed at. The last feeble attempt at using rockets by the Union was at Seven Pines in 1862. Below, a Hale Rocket recovered at Seven Pines and another's nosecone.

 

[JerryD]

I am assuming it was a rocket battery.There was some limited use of rockets during the Civil War. We have had a couple interestingabout rockets here on CivilWarTalk.

Yep. Search is your friend. After i read this I found several threads, like this one. https://civilwartalk.com/threads/rockets-in-the-civil-war.19824/

How could I have forgotten the Mythbusters episode?

 

[USS ALASKA]

Let's not forget the underwater variety...

Underwater Guns and Rocket Torpedos | Naval War - At Sea & Along Inland Waterways

Chuck Veit: The U.S. Navy's Secret Torpedo Program of 1862 usnavalwarcollege Published on Feb 10, 2016 Chuck Veit, "Sea Miner: The U.S. Navy's Secret Torpedo Program of 1862," Eight Bells Book Lecture, Naval War College Museum, Jan. 28, 2016. Based on research on NWC Archives, our first-ever...

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Cheers,
USS ALASKA