Hand grenades were not 'invented' during the civil war
well the first patent grenads were made in civil war,,this is from ehistory.com
***************** THE FIRST HAND GRENADES *********************
During the Civil War, two kinds of hand grenades were made, but they saw little use in combat. One of them, patented in August 1861, carried a percussion cap and an activating "plunger" that was not inserted until it was about to be thrown. Rated as effective at a distance of about twenty-six yards, this explosive piece was known by the name of its inventor, Ketchum.
A more sophisticated grenade, "the Excelsior," was developed in 1862 by W. W. Hanes. Its cast-iron shell held fourteen nipples, to each of which a percussion cap was attached before it was thrown. Hanes insisted, correctly, that at least one cap was sure to trigger an explosion. In practice, men trying to use his device often hit a cap accidentally and had a hand or arm blown off. As a result, it seems never to have been used in battle.
Soldiers who may or may not have heard of the Ketchum grenade or the Excelsior sometimes improvised similar weapons. At Vicksburg, Confederates in Louisiana units stuck short, lighted fuses into 6 and 12-pounder shells, then rolled them into ranks of Union sappers.
One demonstration of this weapon was enough to make believers of opponents. Confederate Captain John M. Hickey said that when one of the city's forts was stormed, "the air was made black with hand grenades which were thrown at us by every Federal soldier who got inside the works." Similar explosive devices were made on the spot by Federals at Knoxville.
Describing some of the action near Chattanooga, Union Colonel P. C. Hayes said an assault by troops under Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet reached a deep ditch dug by Federals. Confederates, he said, jumped into the ditch in order to raise scaling ladders. According to him, "This action was fatal to them. Our men, being unable to reach them with their heavy guns, lit the fuse of the shells, which they threw by hand into the ditch, where they exploded, slaughtering the helpless occupants by the wholesale."
Records do not indicate the number of engagements in which improvised explosives were rolled or thrown against foes. Nevertheless, they were employed frequently enough to show that although technology to produce suitable hand grenades did not yet exist, the concept behind these weapons was fully developed by men in both gray and blue.
and by battlewagons,,i was meaning iron clads,,lol battleships,,armord ships,,not wagons,,lol,,,never heard anyone call a battleship a battlewagon before?<~~my family all in the navy,,im just use to calling them battle wagons,i been on the missouri before they tore off the old super structure,,and runing around bremerton navy yards,,im just use to calling them by slang names,,lol
but your right there were earler grenadiers,,but i guess they wernt very effective and got soaked back up in there military,,way ahead of there time i guess,,same in civil war just wasnt anuff tech for the idea to be much help
The ACW did usher in a new era in terms of naval combat, however. I watched a prgoram about the raising of the Monitor's turret the other day - very interesting.
i seen that too,,very good show!! did ya see the hunley special too? they found it will all crew still at there post,,poor guys,,but they did there duty,,even found the gold coin that saved there comanders life at the battle of shilo i guess
