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RARE CIVIL WAR 5 POUND KETCHUM GRENADE.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
RARE CIVIL WAR 5 POUND KETCHUM GRENADE.

Among the great ordnance oddities of the Civil War were the Ketchum patented hand grenades. They came in three sizes, 5 lbs being the largest. The elongated iron body has a pewter percussion fuse system & a wooden tail w/ cardboard fins. Hand grenade was thrown w/ the fins stabilizing flight such that the grenade would land directly on plunger nose first for detonation. They could not be thrown very far, so their use was quite limited. They were used in several attacks at Port Hudson where Union forces soon learned their limitations. At the battle of the Priest Cap, Union soldiers threw the grenades up over the works & after the Confederate defenders figured out how they worked, they rigged blankets to catch them. The Confederates could now use their Ketchum grenades & hurled them down upon the hunkered down Yankees to great effect. Relic hunters digging this particular breastwork only found fragments of this peculiar weapon in front of the Confederate works where poor Union troops became trapped. CONDITION: body of projectile is in fine condition including pewter fusing all painted black. Set of wooden & cardboard fins are complete though soiled & delicate at bends, one corner is missing on one fin, fins are correctly marked w/ patent information “..ENTED AUG. 20 1861” The plunger is a fabrication & not original but is properly made for display. (02-15475/JS). $2,000-3,000.