Eponymous Weapons and Other Necessities
By Gould Hagler · Originally published March-April 2022 · pp. 12–26
Introduction
Several army and navy officers, before or during the Civil War, developed weapons that were used in the war, and which bear their names. There are also eponymous items of a less deadly nature. In this article we will take a look at some of these inventions and their inventors. We begin with the big guns.
Dahlgren
John Adolphus Dahlgren was born in Philadelphia during 1809, where his father, a Swede, served as his country’s consul. Dahlgren joined the U.S. Navy in 1826 and served on the Coast Survey during the 1830s. He developed an expertise in ordnance, for which he is best known. In 1847 he was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard, where he remained until 1862. During this period, he developed the guns bearing his name. The navies of both Civil War belligerents used Dahlgrens. Dahlgren designed a bronze, smooth-bore boat howitzer soon after the Mexican War. Later came the large iron shell guns, ranging in caliber from nine inches to 20. The USS Monitor was armed with two XI-inch Dahlgrens. The shell gun tubes were heaviest at the breech, the part bearing the greatest stress, hence their well-known soda-bottle shape. Dahlgren’s iron rifled guns were designed during 1860. They ranged from a 50-pounder to a 150-pounder. In July 1863 Dahlgren took command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. After the war he served in the Pacific, then returned to the Washington Navy Yard, which he commanded until his death in 1870.
Parrott
Robert Parker Parrott (1804–1877), graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1824. Unlike Dahlgren, Parrott left government service and did his ordnance developmental work as a civilian. He resigned from the army in 1836 and was hired to superintend the West Point Foundry. The Parrott gun, first produced in 1860, was a cast iron rifled cannon running from 10-pounders (2.9-inch bore diameter) to 300-pounders (10-inch bore diameter). The innovative feature of the Parrott was the method by which a reinforcing wrought iron band was attached to the tube. As the heated bands were put into place, the tube was rotated and sprayed with water to ensure a strong bond around the entire perimeter. A Parrott projectile was developed for the gun; Parrott also patented a fuse and a sight. The Parrotts were less accurate than other guns, and the heavier calibers were prone to burst. However, they were simple to operate and could be produced quickly and inexpensively. Robert Parrott left the foundry soon after the war and died in 1877. *Gillmore, Quincy Adams. Engineer and Artillery Operations Against the Defences of Charleston Harbor in 1863, United States: D. Van Nostrand, 1865, Brig. Gen. J. W. Turner’s Report, pp. 152-153.
Morris Island, South Carolina. A 300-pounder Parrot rifle after bursting its muzzle. “The 10-inch [Parrott rifle, 300-pounder] required a little greater elevation to attain the same range than the 8-inch, but was more accurate. It was mounted on an iron carriage with a centre pintle chassis, and worked with great ease and facility… Unfortunately, it was disabled soon after opening fire, by a premature explosion of a shell near its muzzle, which blew off about eighteen inches of its length. It was repaired at the suggestion, and under the supervision, of Captain Gray, Seventh Connecticut, the battery commander, who was a skillful mechanic, by chopping off the lands for a distance beyond the fractures, and enlarging the diameter of the bore this distance from an eighth to a quarter of an inch. This left a band of iron, as it were, around the muzzle. The gun was fired three hundred and seventy times after this, without any appreciable difference in the range or accuracy being noticed. Subsequently it was completely disabled by continued premature explosions of shells near the muzzle. The iron used in the manufacture of this gun is of a superior quality, and I see no reason, if it had not been for this accident, which can be guarded against in future, why it would not have endured for one thousand or fifteen hundred rounds, in which case it appears to be the perfection of a heavy rifle gun. No one could witness its performance during the bombardment of [Fort] Sumter, and notice the terrible crushing effect of its huge projectiles upon the masonry of that place, the ease with which it was worked, and its remarkable accuracy at a distance of two miles and a half, without being filled with admiration and wonder.”*
Brooke
Our last big gun is the 100%-Confederate Brooke cannon, invented by naval officer John Mercer Brooke. Brooke (1826–1906), an 1847 Annapolis grad, resigned from the U.S. Navy and joined the Confederacy just days after Fort Sumter. Brooke helped design the conversion of the USS Merrimack into the famous CSS Virginia. From the fall of 1862 until the end of the war he led the Confederate Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Manufactured in Richmond, Va., and Selma, Ala., his namesake rifle, like the Parrott, had a cast iron tube banded with wrought iron to reinforce the breech. Calibers ranged from a 6.4-inch rifle to an 11-inch smoothbore. The gun was used on ironclads and in seacoast defenses. After the war Brooke taught at the Virginia Military Institute. He died in 1906, just short of his 80th birthday.
A 6.4-inch Brooke rifle mounted in Confederate Battery Brooke on the James River above Dutch Gap Canal in Virginia. (Library of Congress).
Burnside
We now move from heavy ordnance to small arms and the Burnside carbine. Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824–1881), graduated from the U.S.M.A. at West Point in 1847 and served in the Mexican War. He resigned from the army in 1853 to open a firearms factory in Rhode Island. In 1856 he patented and began producing a breech-loading rifled carbine. The innovative Burnside carbine was the first American military firearm to use a metallic cartridge. Along with the Spencer and Sharps rifles, Burnside’s carbines were widely used by the Federal cavalry. While the invention was a success, Burnside did not see financial gain. His company went bankrupt before the war and his patent was taken over by creditors. Others, therefore, profited from the wartime sales of thousands of carbines and millions of rounds of ammunition.
Union soldier in uniform with Burnside carbine and cavalry saber. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
Civil War 2nd Model Burnside breechloading carbine. (Courtesy of Poulin’s Antiques & Auctions).
Rains
We turn back to the Southern side and to another kind of weapon: torpedoes designed by Gabriel James Rains (1803–1881). An 1827 U.S.M.A. West Point graduate, Rains, at 57, was an old-timer when the war broke out, but he had some new-fangled ideas about warfare that were initially considered uncivilized by his fellow Confederate officers and their enemies as well. Gabriel’s brother, George Washington Rains, founded the Confederate gunpowder mill at Augusta, Ga. Rains, in command of a brigade retreating during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862, impeded the Federals’ march with devices we would now call land mines. Later, as head of the Torpedo Bureau, he developed explosive devices for use on land and water. (By then commanders had overcome their earlier scruples about Rains’s methods of warfare.)
In addition to the aforementioned sub-terra land mine, Confederates used Rains’s barrel torpedoes (mines, in modern parlance) and underwater frame torpedoes (large cast iron mines). Most readers can visualize the subsurface torpedoes, but the submarine torpedoes (mines) call for some explanation. Rains’s biographers describe this as a “series of percussion torpedoes, mounted on a submerged wooden frame.” When an enemy ship rode over the frame, the impact of the ship against the percussion fuses (Rains-designed, of course) exploded the frame torpedo into the ship’s hull.
Confederate frame torpedo with lifting eye and one remaining A non-excavated Rains pressure sensitive fuse and safety cap. It was brought home wrought iron bolt for attaching it to the underwater wooden frame. This 400+ pound torpedo was recovered in Virginia. (Jack as a souvenir from Shreveport, La., by John P. Demeritt. (Jack W. Melton Jr.). W. Melton Jr.).
Hardee
Not all eponymous inventions were lethal; we now turn to head covers and footwear. First the Hardee hat, sometimes known as the Davis hat. Neither William Hardee nor Jefferson Davis designed the hat but played what we can call a managerial role. William J. Hardee (1815–1873), a major at the time, served on the 1855 army board was responsible for selecting the design for a new dress hat. Chosen in 1858, the black hat had a tall crown and wide brim that was pinned up on one side by a brass eagle, the right side for the cavalry and artillery, the left for the infantry. The side opposite the fold sported a black plume. A wool cord designated the branch of service, blue for infantry, gold for cavalry, and red for artillery. Davis, Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857, is sometimes associated with the hat. The hat was a mark of distinction for the Iron Brigade, but otherwise was not widely used during the war.
Enlargement of Union cavalryman in uniform with Hardee hat. Photograph shows cavalry insignia and 2nd Regiment Company F designation. Is that dirt, black powder residue, or a suntan on his face?
This seated Union cavalryman is wearing nine-button frock coat. His white buff leather sword belt with US oval belt buckle and over the shoulder white buff strap were regulation in 1839 for dragoons. The soldier is holding his cavalry saber and wearing a Model 1858 dress “Hardee” hat with stamped brass cavalry insignia and regimental and company designations of a Company “H,” 2nd regiment. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
During Davis’s tenure as Secretary of War, the army also picked a new boot, which is sometimes called the Davis boot. The footwear had a practical design and was widely used by both armies in the Civil War. It continued to be standard for the U.S. Army until the 1880s. Halfway between the head and the foot is the part of the anatomy that Gen. John Pope confused with his headquarters, the part that rests on a saddle. The inventor of the last item we will cover is the man who both preceded and succeeded Pope as commander of the Army of the Potomac, Gen. George B. McClellan (1826–1885), whose name was given to a saddle. McClellan, then a captain, travelled to Europe in 1855 with other American officers to observe European armies. On his return McClellan presented a design for a light-weight, durable saddle that was adopted by the cavalry in 1859. The pattern was based on a saddle McClellan saw used by hussars in the Crimean War, or so McClellan said.
McClellan
One writer, Randy Steffen, was skeptical of McClellan’s claim and had this to say: “Captain McClellan always asserted that his saddle was the result of an intensive study of European saddles…, and more often than not military writers quote him as claiming that he used the best features of the Hungarian and Mexican trees to perfect his design. It is strange that no military writer has seen through this subterfuge on Captain McClellan’s part.” Steffen pointed out the similarities between McClellan’s design and three other American designs, all of which had been adopted or used experimentally by the cavalry. The designers of the other saddles did not raise objections, Steffen wrote, perhaps because they died soon after the McClellan saddle was adopted. British and colonial cavalry used McClellan saddles in the Boer War. Some Indian warriors on the Great American Plain also used this saddle in the years after the Civil War. The 7th Cavalry was riding on McClellan saddles, so a couple of hundred were taken by Indians on June 26, 1876.
Enlargement of saddle from photograph.
Union soldier in uniform with cavalry saber standing next to horse fitted with McClellan saddle. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
US CIVIL WAR MODEL 1859 MCCLELLAN SADDLE McClellan’s saddle was used even longer than the Davis boot. After its adoption it was regulation issue for as long as the United States Army had horse cavalry, until 1943. The saddle is used even today for ceremonial purposes. Sources and further reading: Much of the information here is taken from Faust’s Encyclopedia of the Civil War. Online sources can be easily found by anyone who wants to learn more. Steffen’s book, United States Military Saddles, 1812– 1943, was published in 1973. Gabriel Rains and the Confederate Torpedo Bureau, by W. Davis Waters and Joseph I. Brown, was published in 2017 and reviewed in the August 2018 edition of Civil War News.
Enlisted issue saddle with rawhide covered seat, black harness leather skirts and straps, wooden stirrups with leather hoods, brass and iron hardware. Girth strap, stirrups. The cavalry felt saddle cloth is reproduction. (Courtesy Cowan’s Auction Company).
About the Author Gould Hagler is a retired lobbyist living in Dunwoody, Ga. He is a past president of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table and the author of Georgia’s Confederate Monuments: In Honor of a Fallen Nation, published by Mercer University Press in 2014. Hagler speaks frequently on this topic and others related to different aspects of the Civil War and has been a regular contributor to Civil War News since 2016. He can be reached at [email protected].
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MODEL 1858 DRESS “HARDEE” HAT
The Hardee hat, also known as the Model 1858 Dress Hat and sometimes nicknamed the “Jeff Davis,” was the regulation dress hat for enlisted men in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In General Order #13, dated August 15, 1855, the new cavalry hat is described as follows: “…prescribing the arms and accouterments of the two cavalry regiments, the hat is as follows: For Field officers—Black, trimmed with gold cord, and according to pattern in the Quartermaster’s Department; to be looped up on the right side, and fastened with an eagle, the eagle being attached to the site of the hat; three black feathers on left side; the number of the regiment to be in front. The hat will be worn instead of the cap now used by the other troops. For all other Officers—same as for field Officers except that there will be but two black feathers. For enlisted men—same as for officers, except there will be but one black feather, a worsted, instead of a gold cord, and the letter of the company substituted for the number of the regiment.” The Hardee hat was also worn by Confederate soldiers. However, most soldiers found the black felt hat to be too hot and heavy and shunned its use, preferring a forage cap or slouch hat. The unadorned, plain, and often field-modified Hardee hat was worn by Union troops, especially in the Western theater. The Hardee hat was most famously worn, and easily identified, as the hat worn by the Union Army of the Potomac’s Iron Brigade; it became their trademark and the men were popularly known by the nickname, “The Black Hats.” (Courtesy Heritage Auctions).
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Early war image of a Union cavalryman wearing regulation shell jacket with gold hand-tinted piping denoting cavalry branch of service. The soldier’s jacket has brass shoulder scales that would soon be abandoned. His Model 1858 dress “Hardee” hat bears a company “K” over brass crossed sabers cavalry insignia. He is wearing gauntlets and has a saber belt with over-the-shoulder sling to go with a pair of small frame, spur trigger revolvers; the one in his hand is a Model 1855 Colt Root; the one tucked into his belt is a Remington Beals pocket model. He holds a Model 1840 heavy cavalry saber. The spur trigger revolvers are likely photographic props as these little .28 and .31 caliber pistols carried little firepower unlike the issued .44 caliber Army revolvers. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
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William B. Todd of Company E, 9th Virginia Cavalry, with Colt Army revolver and smoking a cigar. Private Todd entered service as a courier for Colonel John R. Chambliss on March 20, 1863. Colonel Chambliss was later promoted to Brigadier General and was killed August 16, 1864, while leading his men at White’s Tavern, Virginia. William Todd was shot through the ankle during the same charge. Written on paper behind image: “Miss M. E. Burke, William B. Todd, Company E, 9th VA CAV.; Col. Beale; Wm. H. F. Lee’s B.” Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
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FINEST KNOWN, SECOND YEAR PRODUCTION MARTIALLY INSPECTED U.S. CONTRACT CIVIL WAR COLT MODEL 1860 ARMY REVOLVER WITH FOUR-SCREW FRAME
This extraordinary U.S. contract Colt Model 1860 Army revolver was manufactured in 1861 and is the benchmark example for approximately 129,000 Model 1860’s purchased by the U.S. government as the primary handgun issued to the Federal cavalry from 1860–1863. This Model 1860 Army revolver has the four-screw frame with shoulder stock cut-outs. The butt is notched for a shoulder stock. It has the standard markings and features, including matching serial numbers, throughout. The Ordnance inspector’s final inspection mark “ADK” (Andrew D. King) is in an oval stamped on the lower left side of the grip. “S” or “K” Ordnance sub-inspection marks are stamped on the right side of the barrel lug, top of the cylinder, and trigger guard on the grip strap. It includes the correct “44H” marked blue bullet mold. For the premier reference and study on the Model 1860 see The Colt Model 1860 Army Revolver, by Charles W. Pate. (Courtesy of Rock Island Auction Company).
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This seated Union enlisted infantryman in frock coat and forage cap is holding a US Model 1861 .58 caliber rifle musket with sling. His percussion cap box and bayonet in scabbard are on his waistbelt with US plate. His cartridge box is slung from his left shoulder by its belt with an eagle plate. For some reason, he has the rifle “backward,” in terms of his cartridge and cap boxes.
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US PATTERN 1861 CARTRIDGE BOX WITH SLING FOR THE .58 CALIBER MINIÉ BALL CARTRIDGE
US .58 CALIBER MINIÉ BALL PAPER CARTRIDGE
By Philip Schreier, Director, NRA Museum
This Model 1900 in .30-40 was one of the last designs produced by the Gatling Company before they were found to be obsolete and replaced by water cooled and air cooled full automatic machine guns. Photos courtesy of NRA Museum. Photo of Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling (1818–1903). (Library of Congress).