CHEMICAL WARFARE DURING THE CIVIL WAR ... Greek fire, the legendary weapon of the ancient world, was revived during the Civil War. For example, the failed Confederate sabotage plot to burn New York City with incendiary devices failed in part because most of the conspirators were unfamiliar with the Greek fire-fueled fuses. At the start of the war, Levi Short, a Philadelphia inventor, approached President Abraham Lincoln and demonstrated his new device: a rocket using his patented “solidified Greek fire.” While Lincoln wasn’t very impressed by Short’s rocket demonstration, US Rear Admiral David Porter ordered 10 gross for his Mississippi River ships to try out in action against Vicksburg. A few were fired into the city and started some fires. On April 22, 1863 a gun, called the Swamp Angel, hurled some of Shorts shells into Charleston. Several fires were started by the canisters and parts of the city went up in flames, but the fires didn’t last long since the chemicals burned about 7 minutes—not enough to do much damage. Porter deemed the invention “a humbug.” Schoolteacher John Doughty, wrote to the War Department in 1862 suggesting shells filled with liquid chlorine be used in battle. He pointed out that such shells would explode throwing a cloud of chlorine that would force defenders to surrender or retreat. Doughty wanted the chlorine-filled shells to explode in Confederate trenches or forts. Forrest Shepherd, a professor of agricultural chemistry, proposed the Army attack Confederate positions with a mist of hydrochloric acid. He suggested the it be generated by mixing strong hydrochloric and sulfuric acids in a shallow pan. Then when the wind was blowing lightly toward the line, he figured the mist would be dense enough to hide the operator. He wanted the attacks to be carried out at night to prevent the enemy from seeing the mist until it was upon them. In 1864 Capt. E.C. Boynton, wrote the government suggesting an arsenic compound, cacodyl, (poisonous oily liquid) could be useful since it was spontaneously flammable and gave off deadly fumes. Most inventors kept the composition of their incendiaries secret. But phosphorus and petroleum products such as those found on farms today were probably in their explosives. Alfred Berney invented a flammable liquid to be shot from shells and flame throwers. Some of his shells were fired at Charleston in August, 1863. Dr. J.R. Cheves, Savannah, Ga., developed an incendiary shell that scattered its contents then burned. It worked even if the material it hit was wet. Shells were filled with lump phosphorus which melted in the process of filling. Water was also put in the shell. Later the concoction was made with sulfur and pitch along with the original contents. Richard S. McCulloh, a one time professor of chemistry at Columbia, New York City, became a consulting chemist of the Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau in Richmond, Va., in 1863. His experiments creating a lethal gas were proved successful in February 1865. But before the gas could be used, Richmond fell. McCulloh was confined to jail following the war.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 22:45:22 +0000
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