e the figure of a man at 80 yards, perhaps even at 100; but a soldier must be very unfortunate indeed who shall be wounded by a common musket at 150 yards, providing his antagonist aims at him; and as for firing at a man at 200 yards with a common musket, you might just as well fire at the moon and have the same hope of hitting your object. I do maintain and will prove, whenever called on, that no man was ever killed at 200 yards by a common soldier's musket by the person that aimed at him. It is clear, to say the least, that with this being said, muskets were not very reliable until the development of the Model 1861, and the minie` bullet. Without question, rifles swiftly took the place of these outdated muskets. Rocket launchers and rocket bombs are essentially self-propelled artillery shells, which were fired from tubes such as the Hale Rocket Launcher. The Hale Rocket system superceded the Congreve rocket, which had been used against the Americans in the War of 1812. Hale rocket systems were noisy, inaccurate, and generally ineffective. The rockets, though, were used sporadically, making the possession of a rocket or rocket launcher a rarity. Greek Fire was an effective and very threatening method of attack that can demolish entire towns in a very short amount of time. Levi Short created these rockets out of a special fluid, and some powder. Upon firing, the rocket would explode and the liquid would spread over anything in its path and flames would envelop any objects around it. The fluid that ignited burned for approximately seven minutes if water had not been applied. After a patent was drawn for the Greek Fire, Levi Short was able to use some connections that he had to arrange a meeting with President Lincoln. People such as General P.G.T. Beauregard were disgusted at the fact that the Union was willing to use such a catastrophic weapon on cities "filled with sleeping women and children". Inventors constantly sought w...
