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A Whiff of the Grape


Subdeacon Joe

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MUSEUM MONDAY - ARTIFACT HIGHLIGHT - QUILTED GRAPESHOT
During the Revolutionary War, Army cannoneers used a devastating type of ammunition, called grapeshot, to cut through lines of advancing infantry. It was made of a wooden base, called a sabot, a wooden rod, and a canvas bag filled with iron balls fixed around these wooden parts.
Twine was tied around the outside to help the projectile keep its shape. It was coated with red oxide paint to prevent the shot from rusting. The finished product loosely resembled a bunch of grapes covered by a quilt, giving the projectile its name.
When fired from a cannon, the bag and wooden parts would be blown apart and exit the cannon with the iron balls in a cone of destruction much like the blast of an oversized shotgun.
The effective range of grapeshot was around 300 yards.
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Posted

Read somewhere that they used Iron balls vice lead because the iron wouldn't deform when fired or when it hit a solid object. 

Posted

Does anyone know what size / diameter those grapeshot balls were? 
 

 

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