Capt. Rufus D. Pettit’s Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery, taken during McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign in Fort Richardson, Fair Oaks, Virginia 1862
Grapes of Wrath
At the height of battle when all seemed lost facing an overwhelming advancing force, there was only one thing left to do… Reach for the Hemp!
Grape Shot (Projectile) for a Cannon wrapped with hemp cloth & hemp twine/rope, found in Austria dating to the 17th century
To inflict the most carnage on a advancing army, a ammo was needed to cast a spraying type shot of death. This weapon of mass destruction would be gift wrapped with hemp!
Used since the 15th century, grapeshot is a type of artillery ammo that unlike traditional solid mass projectiles like a cannon ball, was instead constructed of a mass of smaller projectiles. This new design decimated its enemies so well that grapeshot is still used in action today by military forces around the world.
The design was simple, a wooden or metal base would be loaded with ball bearing type projectiles around a center core. The entire shot would then be wrapped in hemp or canvas cloth and tied with hemp rope or twine. The quilted appearance would lead to its name looking like a bunch of grapes hence grapeshot.
Canister shot ammunition of a cannon. Consisting of large iron nails, iron fragments, clay and hemp fabric. Found 1981 in the wreck of a sunken sailing boat of the 17th century in river Elbe near Wittenbergen in Hamburg-Rissen, Germany.
As ammo ran out on the battlefield, improvised grapeshot was made scavenging any hard objects within reach like spikes, chains, rocks and even the silverware in a real pinch…
This last resort grapeshot could even just be a grouping of metal objects tied together with hemp rope stuffed into the cannon. This type of improvised grapeshot became known as scrapshot or langrage and was feared for its destructive ability to harm and disable its intended victims.
Langrage or Scrapshot tied with Hemp rope at the Fort York Museum, Fort York, Toronto, Canada.
Demoralizing to advancing forces in the field of battle, this hemp munition also found its leg’s on the sea.
Used by the military and pirates alike, the ammo proved to be essential for water warfare. Just as opposing ships pulled even with one another in open water, cannons loaded with grapeshot would clear the enemies decks causing bodily harm to all those dumb enough to stay within range.
When counter measures were devised against grapeshot, consisting of heavy hemp rigging hung like a net above the deck preventing small projectiles from harming the deck side crew, Navel grapeshot evolved. This navel grapeshot used fewer but larger objects per grapeshot intended to cut through the netting, the larger grapeshot even gaining the ability of penetrating the hull potentially sinking the ship.
Navel Grapeshot from the 18th century
During the French Revolution in 1795 Napoleon famously summed up the raw power of this hemp weapon, asked how he successfully dispersed a Royalist mob of 30,000 rioters in the streets of Paris, he reportedly claimed it was with just ‘a whiff of grapeshot’!
French soldiers loading artillery shells. They are wearing masks against gas attack. WW1, August 1915