Colonel THOMAS A. SCOTT,
Washington, D. C.:
DEAR SIR: Fearing I was not as explicit in my communication yesterday as I should have been with regard to subduing the unholy rebellion now existing against us, I will now say, in my chemical experiments I have discovered that missiles may be conveyed among the rebels in a shell from a mortar, and by the concussion that follows liquid streams of fire will spread most fearfully in all directions.
Would our Government be willing to use in the Army missiles of this character? Its effects may be tested in a small way in the course of a few minutes.
Very respectfully, yours,
G. HUFF, M. D.
[First indorsement.]
WAR DEPARTMENT,
October 30, 1861.
Respectfully referred to General McClellan.
THOMAS A. SCOTT,
Assistant Secretary.
[Second indorsement.]
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
October 31, 1861.
I think that such means of destruction are hardly within the category of those recognized in civilized warfare. Kindred inventions have been made in Europe, but I do not think they have been employed in modern times. I could not recommend their employment until we exhaust the ordinary means of warfare.
Very respectfully,
GEO. B. McCLELLAN,
Major-General.
Official Records, Series 3, Vol. 1, Part 1, Page 606
The issue of acceptable munitions usage during the war represents a collision between chivalric ideas and new technology. Here, McClellan writes to a Doctor Huff, who advocates turning artillery shells into flaming fragments to fire amongst the enemy. The following year, the early land mines of the Confederate Rains would draw similar disapproval among military men of both sides.
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