Preview: Waters and Brown, “Gabriel Rains and the Confederate Torpedo Bureau”

A recent publication of Savas Beatie is Gabriel Rains and the Confederate Torpedo Bureau, by W. Davis Waters and the late Joseph I. Brown. Rains is considered the father of landmine warfare (a dubious “honor,” at best), although in addition to the “subterra shell” he also designed two seagoing explosive devices. I admit to knowing very little about this subject, and will proceed to the physical description of this paperback.

You get:

• 100 pages of narrative on Rains’s life and career. Chapter endnotes.
• An analysis by Mr. Brown of a manuscript written by Rains, “National Defense Perfected by Land and Sea.”
• Appendix – List of Men in Charleston’s Torpedo Service
• Appendix – Rains Letter to Jefferson Davis About Sinking of the Tecumseh
• Appendix – Report of John Maxwell on City Point Explosion and Endorsements by McDaniel and Rains
• Appendix – Letter to W. T. Walthal for Use by Jefferson Davis for “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”
• Appendix – Torpedoes
• Appendix – List of Vessels Sunk by Torpedoes
• Appendix – Rains Family Evacuates Richmond
• Bibliography, including family papers of Jefferson Davis, T. H. Holmes, and Gabriel Rains
• Index