What Goes Up Must Come Down

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Are there any recorded instances during the war of men being struck by a bullet that came plunging back down after had been fired straight up (more or less)?

Accidents, the gun being knocked upward at the last moment, careless celebratory fire, something like that. I imagine this would be quite rare.

Just morbid curiosity.

 

[Stryker65]

@NH Civil War Gal Have you heard of any injuries of this sort?

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I haven't but I would imagine it happened. It had to.

 

[John Hartwell]

Private James Dolligan, Co. F, 21st Mass: "Died April 30th 1865, of wound received. He was shot in his tent by a squad of Negro Soldiers, who were discharging their guns into the air after being relieved of guard at City Point, Va."

Of course we have no idea how far away the shooters were, thus how close to vertical the bullet's path may have been.

 

[johan_steele]

At Vicksburg men of the 4th MN got ingenious in their way while serving in the works. Several soldiers created a rig to fire their M1841 rifles to create plunging fire into the CS works opposite targeting the cannon there. These weren't the same men who got bored and created a Roman style catapult and launched… well it wasn't dirt into the rebel works as well.

1 bored GI is dangerous, a score of them is terrifying.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Private James Dolligan, Co. F, 21st Mass: "Died April 30th 1865, of wound received. He was shot in his tent by a squad of Negro Soldiers, who were discharging their guns into the air after being relieved of guard at City Point, Va."

Pickets, etc improperly discharging their guns was another possibility that crossed my mind. As it was basically the only time a muzzleloader would be prepped for firing without being fired almost immediately, and the men coming off duty were usually tired and bored, I imagine this was responsible for many non-combat firearms accidents during the war.

 

[Sheltowee]

Reminded of my dad and uncle shooting hanging walnuts with a .22.

After about 15 minutes, a guy pulls up in the yard. Says he lives a ways over the hill…. And would appreciate if they would stop dropping rounds onto his front porch.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Consider this would have been a very rare, if not virtually impossible, occurrence for the following reasons:-

Firstly, given the design of long fire-arms it's difficult to imagine many, if any, situations where these weapons would have been voluntarily discharged vertically upwards in the first place. (Thought any such discharge was more likely to have happened from a side fire-arm); and
Secondly, the chance of any such fired spent bullet falling downwards and finding its mark by injuring an individual below would have been extremely remote. (Have not personally read any account of a CW injury occurring in this way).

(There were of course many more instances of injuries suffered from fallen artillery shell fragments/shrapnel exploding overhead than from fallen spent bullets fired upwards).

 

[vmicraig]

Not heard of any in the ACW, but know of one modern "celebratory gunfire" occurrence on July 4 in Chesterfield VA that struck a 12 year old on the top of the head as it came down and killed him. Was all Over the news - Police narrowed the area down but never found the responsible party

 

[James Brenner]

Big problems with celebratory gunfire in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Not uncommon for rounds to penetrate through the roofs of our hooches. Big sky, little bullet theory is misleading.

 

[BCS1973]

Not heard of any in the ACW, but know of one modern "celebratory gunfire" occurrence on July 4 in Chesterfield VA that struck a 12 year old on the top of the head as it came down and killed him. Was all Over the news - Police narrowed the area down but never found the responsible party

At the Boathouse parking lot IIRC. I remember I had been there a couple days before the incident happened.