Rockets Red Glare! Arthur Harman’s addition rules for Congreve rockets

The most recent issue of MINIATURE WARGAME ...

... contains some additional rules for the PORTABLE NAPOLEONIC WARGAME that were written by Arthur Harman so that players can use Congreve rockets in their battles.

The rockets were designed by Sir William Congreve in 1804 as a result of the experiences of the British East India Company’s troops during the Anglo-Mysore Wars.

The rockets came in three sizes:

• Heavy: These were 300- and 100-pounders and were between five and six feet in length with sticks that were 25 to 27 feet long.
• Medium: These were 42- to 24-pounders and were between two to four feet in length, with sticks that were 15 to 20 feet long.
• Light: These were 18- to 6-pounders and were between sixteen to twenty-five inches in length, with sticks that were 8 to 14 feet long.

The heaviest rockets were too large for use for use on the battlefield and were designed for bombarding large fortifications or built-up areas. The big advantage that Congreve rockets had over conventional artillery was their portability. They could be carried by mule into areas where normal artillery could not go and were used right up until the end of the Crimean War, at which point they were replaced by the Hale rocket, which needed no stick.

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So, why entitle the article ROCKETS RED GLARE?

The answer is very simple. It is a line from the United State’s national anthem, the words of which were written by Francis Scott Key in 1814. He wrote his poem (DEFENCE OF FORT M'HENRY) after seeing the British attack on Fort McHenry, during which Congreve rocket were fired at the fort. The lyrics were set to the tune of a popular English song written by John Stafford Smith (TO ANACREON IN HEAVEN or THE ANACREONTIC SONG) and renamed THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

O say can you see,
by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars
through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?