Confederate Rains Hand Grenade - Rare

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Item:  Confederate Rains Hand Grenade - Rare
Fusing: Rains pressure sensitive. (no longer present)
Construction: Cast iron body.
Approximate size: Weight: 15 ounces. Diameter: 1.75 inches. Length: 3.53 inches
Condition: Very good, excavated. The iron body is stable, moderately pitted, and very lightly clear coated. Its fuze and cloth tail are missing. A bit of old cloth is used as a stopper at the cloth tail end. The grenade is inert. 
Recovered: Unknown
Reference:  Similar examples can be found in the following Civil War relic reference books:

  • "Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War", by Thomas S. Dickey & Peter C. George, page 499, Figure VIII - 7.
  • "Civil War Artifacts of the Western Campaigns" by Charles S. Harris, page 249.

Scans of these pages are included in the additional images.

Comments: According to "Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War", by Dickey & George, the Rains grenade was fitted with a three foot, six inch long cloth tail which was inserted in a slot in the rear wooden plug. While Federal Ketchum grenades are similar in body type, they employed a different fusing system. Peter George, co-author of the above mentioned artillery reference book, has evaluated this example and has determined that it is definitely a Rains grenade. He also advised that Rains grenades have been ground recovered from Petersburg and Drewry's Bluff, VA. Several others were recovered from water in Augusta, GA. This particular Confederate Rains hand grenade was ground recovered, not a water find. The grenade was designed by Gabriel James Rains and patterned after the Federal Ketchum grenade. Both Rains and his brother, George Washington Rains, worked in the Confederate Ordnance Department. While George established the Augusta Powder works and supplied the Confederacy with gunpowder, Gabriel worked on ways to use the powder such as developing both land and water mines. Also developed were detonation methods which varied from pressure-sensitive fuses to tripwires or lanyards. His grenade was detonated by use of a plunger and through use of his own pressure sensitive fuze. As indicated by his drawings, the flight of the grenade would be stabilized by the use of fins at the tail along with the use of a long cloth tail. Read more about the Rains grenade by clicking here. The example offered in this listing will be an excellent addition to any excavated Civil War artillery or general relic collection.

Product Code:
PC8565

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