Grapeshot

Grapeshot was a kind of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. Instead of a solid shot, a mass of loosely packed metal slugs is loaded into a canvas bag. The assembly of balls resemble a cluster of grapes (hence the term "grapeshot"). On firing, the balls spread out from the muzzle at high velocity, giving an effect similar to a shotgun but scaled up to cannon size.

Related Topics:
Anti-personnel - Ammunition - Cannon - Shotgun

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Cannon would use solid shot to attack enemy artillery and troops at longer range, and switch to grape when they or nearby troops were charged.

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Conflicts in which grapeshot was famously and effectively used include:

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• Battle of Culloden, 1746, Jacobites under Bonnie Prince Charlie v Government forces under the Duke of Cumberland
• During Irish Rebellion of 1798, widely used by British forces against Irish rebels, notably in battles of New Ross, Arklow and Vinegar Hill
• Battle of Borodino, 1812 (Prince Mikhail Kutuzov (Russia) v Napoleon Bonaparte (France) ).

Napoleon, when a brigadier general during the later stages of the French Revolution, famously dispersed a Royalist mob on the streets of Paris with a "whiff of grapeshot" on 5 October 1795. He was rewarded with the command of the Army of Italy in 1796, and his victories at the battles of Lodi, Castiglione, Arcola and Rivoli provided a springboard for his military and political ambitions.

Related Topics:
Napoleon - Brigadier general - French Revolution - Paris - 5 October - 1795 - Lodi - Castiglione - Arcola - Rivoli

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Since the passing of breech loaded cannon, and the introduction of the fixed round, grape has been replaced by cannister or case round where a brass cartridge contains the shot.

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The Shrapnel round was an invention to deliver the effect of grape shot at a distance.

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