Colonel John Biemeck will present an overview of black powder smoothbore and rifled artillery projectiles used by Confederate and Union forces during the American Civil War.  This will include the various types of kinetic energy and explosive projectiles including an explanation of how they functioned; their relative lethality and the how fuses in explosive projectile’s functioned.  He will address the reasons for the very high “dud rate” experienced and will access the level of danger they represent today if specimens in collections still contain explosive charges.  This will dismiss many “black powder myths” and misconceptions that have been passed by word of mouth over the past 150+ years.  The presentation will be fully illustrated with slides of the various projectiles, fuses and procedures discussed.  This will be followed by a brief discussion on how the black powder is removed today to render specimens inert; followed by answering any questions the audience may have on the subject.