Guy R. Hasegawa

In Villainous Compounds Guy Hasegawa, a pharmacist with previous publications in medical history, fills a void in the historiography by shining a light on the subject of chemical warfare during the American Civil War. Hasegawa's pulls together a the wide variety of proposed ideas, analyzes the science behind them, chronicles their use and effect, and provides a summation of these experiences. His research is based on solid primary source material, including archival records, personal papers collections, magazines, and newspapers. Hasegawa provides some background information on the various designers. Many were inventors and physicians. Some were, in his words, "clearly unbalanced (p., 3)."
The various villainous compounds, including incendiary agents, acids, chlorine gas, cayenne pepper, chloroform, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, sulfur, and poisons, organize the chapters. In addition, there are chapters devoted to press coverage and the moral concerns surrounding these weapons and the reactions that they invoked. Much of the discussion of these weapons occurred in public forums, such as Scientific American magazine.
While the respective war departments dismissed many of the ideas they received out of hand, several were tested in some way. For example, Southern chemist Richard Sears McCulloh proposed releasing an odorless poison that could be tossed into the House of Representatives in a mass assassination plot. McCullough's suggestion was supposedly successfully demonstrated on a room full of cats to a Confederate congressional delegation, but never implemented.
Not all of these compounds were intended to be fatal. Cayenne pepper would, like modern sprays, greatly irritate defenders. Various sulfur compounds were proposed for stink bombs to disorient the enemy or force them to retreat. Chloroform would render victims unconscious, but cause no serious injury. These were considered to be more morally acceptable uses of this category of weapon, but they were not deployed. The Confederacy developed a plan to attack the U.S.S. Monitor with chloroform, but it was never implemented because the ironclad successfully evaded the trap.
The most frequently deployed villainous compounds during the war were various forms of incendiary compounds referred to as Greek fire. As the name implies, this was an ancient method of neutralizing enemy bastions. In 1862 and 1863, the Union utilized Greek fire during naval bombardments of New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Charleston, but with disappointing results, which led to their discontinuance. Greek fire appeared to do no more damage than conventional heated shot, but significant press coverage caused a public outcry. European, copperhead, and southern newspapers decried the use of Greek fire on cities full of women and children as barbaric.
Conceiving these compounds was one thing, determining how to utilize them on the battlefield presented significant technical challenges. Flamethrowers that could be mounted on ships and submarines were proposed, as were hand grenades, kite bombs, poisoned (arsenic-coated) bullets, and artillery shells. While some inventors, such as John Doughty, designed delivery methods that would be utilized later with deadly effect in World War I, others would have proven unworkable. In some cases, as in Doughty's, inventors supplied no calculations or other forms of proof to support their claims of the effectiveness of their proposed weapons.
A direct quote of Confederate general Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard's characterization of the Union bombardment of Charleston in 1863, the title captures the prevailing sentiment that these weapons were dishonorable, if not downright despicable. In 1861 Union general George B. McClellan refused to even consider their use. The Union's General Order #100, often referred to as the Lieber Code, forbade use of the weapons. Although, as Hasegawa points out, the code was written before the bombardment of Charleston, which means it was either ignored or that the substances used in that instance were deemed to fall outside of Lieber's restrictions.
Although Hasegawa describes how some of these ideas, such as chlorine gas and hydrogen cyanide, were later implemented in World War I, there seems to be little direct connection between the two wars. In other words, the author uses the latter events to prove the workability of some of those proposed during the Civil War. He does not demonstrate that the designers of World War I weapons drew on examples of the American Civil War in developing their weapons.
This is an informative and entertaining monograph that anyone with in an interest in the Civil War, chemical warfare, and science and technology will find value in Villainous Compounds.… (meer)