Question

Civil War soldiers were known to make jury-rigged explosives using assortments of fuses and gunpowder, but the conflict also saw advances in the design and manufacture of hand grenades. The most popular model was the Union-issued Ketchum grenade, a projectile explosive that was thrown like a dart. The grenades came in one-, three- and five-pound models equipped with stabilizer fins and a nose-mounted plunger. Upon impact, the plunger would detonate a percussion cap and ignite a deadly supply of gunpowder.

While a novel idea, the explosives didn’t always work as intended. In fact, when they were bombarded with Ketchum grenades during an 1863 siege at Port Hudson, Louisiana, Confederate soldiers reportedly used blankets to catch the explosives before throwing them back at their hapless attackers.
summery

Answer 1

Summary: During the Civil War, soldiers jury-rigged explosives but also used manufactured hand grenades like the Union-issued Ketchum grenade. Made in one-, three- and five-pound versions with stabilizer fins and a nose-mounted plunger that detonated a percussion cap on impact, the grenades often failed; at the 1863 siege of Port Hudson Confederate troops reportedly caught incoming Ketchums in blankets and threw them back.