Not from the Civil War.. There is no evidence of diaries,letters,newspapers, etc supporting the use of caltrops during the war - that is not to say a few soldiers made a caltrop that looks like what i posted in this photo and tried them. I am sure some sort of caltrop and traps were laid out during the war to damage a horses leg.... Out of million+ soldiers during the war.. i am sure some soldier sat around in a camp and made some caltrops and then laid them down somewhere, or just threw them around the camp for fun.. Pretty much bottom line is that to most civil war experts say: "that caltrops were not used in the Civil War!, no evidence". But - that does not mean a few soldiers made home-made type ones in a camp and tried them out... But the evidence is not there - unless you can find a diary of a civil war soldier writing about them using caltrops, then it is unlikely..
Here is a response that Creskol wrote on another site which i think sums it up:
"....there seems to be no Historical documentation (a battle-report, a soldier's diary, a "period" newspaper report) that caltrops (also known as crows-feet/jack-nails/horse-cripplers, etc) were used within the United States' borders during all the years between the American Revolution and the 20th-century's Labor Union conflicts. ... But regarding Historical documentation of their use in (the Civil War) ...there seems to be none. It is now possible to do a keyword-search of the entire (126-volume) Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. But the word caltrops -- nor their alternative-names crows-feet, horse-cripplers, jack-nails, etc -- is nowhere to be found in all those Official Records tens-of-thousands of Civl War army reports and correspondence. Sure seems like if caltrops were used somewhere in the US civil war, there's be at least one report of it. But there's none."
