The Terrible Garnder Exploding Bullet of the American Civil War,An invention of a New York man named

The Terrible Garnder Exploding Bullet of the American Civil War,An invention of a New York man named Samuel Gardner Jr., the Gardner bullet would become the most infamous type of ammo used during the American Civil War.  Made in .58 caliber, the common caliber of both the Union and Confederacy, the Gardner bullet was hollow and filled with gunpowder.  The back of the bullet had a small hole in which a fuse was inserted.  Loaded into the muzzle like a regular minie ball, when fired the discharge of the musket would ignite the fuse, causing the bullet to explode 1 ¼ seconds after firing.  About 100,000 Gardner bullets were made during the war, most being produced at the Harpers Ferry Armory and issued to Union forces.  A number were captured by the Confederacy as well and pressed into service.  However both sides disliked the bullet because of the terrible wounds that it inflicted.  As one Union ordnance official commented, “we think it is enough to shoot a man without afterwards blowing him up.”  Generally through most of the war Gardner bullets and other similar exploding bullets were discarded and exchanged for regular solid lead minie balls.  In 1868 an international treaty called the St. Petersburg Declaration banned the use of exploding projectiles under 400 grams in weight. -- source link

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