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This suggest there were experiments in the 1830s as well, but I can't find a WP:RS mentioning those. Someone not using his real name ( talk) 01:17, 3 July 2013 (UTC) reply

Since science journalists don't count for much these days, I'm leaving this link here. Someone not using his real name ( talk) 02:16, 3 July 2013 (UTC) reply

I tried to find more about that, because Dahlgren was quite notable even during his lifetime, so I expected more info can be found rather easily. But I wasn't able to find anything... Although Robert V. Bruce is normally a reliable source, I wonder if he was wrong about this; his book Lincoln and the Tools of War, although published by an academic publisher, does not employ footnotes/endnotes... Someone not using his real name ( talk) 22:36, 7 July 2013 (UTC) reply