Red-hot Shot

Are cannon-balls heated to redne , and fired from cannon at shipping, magazines, wooden buildings, etc., to combine destruction by fire with battering by concu ion. In modern warfare, shells containing molten iron are intended to be used in lieu of red-hot shot; but they have not yet been tested in actual practice, although a similar device was attempted unsucce fully in 1863 by the U. S. forces when besieging Charleston.