Dictator: The 13-Inch Mortar of Petersburg
The 13-Inch Seacoast Mortar, Pattern 1861, called “The Dictator” near Petersburg, Virginia in 1864 - Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/item/2018666686/
In 1864 a 13-Inch Seacoast Mortar, Pattern 1861, was used by the United States Army in the siege of Petersburg. The mortar was mounted on a railcar - named the Petersburg Express - and used against Confederate fortifications. The fame of this heavy mortar, which gained the name “The Dictator”, may be greater than it's impact upon the siege - the interpretive sign at Petersburg National Battlefield highlights its impracticality and ineffectiveness. It was fired only 218 times over the course of three months, being withdrawn in September of 1864. (See below for a more positive description of the Dictator's employment by Henry Abbot.) Whether the "Dictator" is among the approximately twenty-seven 13-Inch Mortars which survive to the present is a matter of conjecture.
There is at Petersburg a different 13-Inch Mortar representing the famous Dictator. It is mounted near where the Dictator was used in 1864. This particular mortar was part of a shipment of four which arrived at Fort Sumter in 1872. (Four others were sent to Fort Moultrie around this time. Those four may now be seen at White Point Gardens in Charleston.) By the mid 20th Century, two surviving mortars at Fort Sumter were placed on either side of the sallyport of the fort. In 1969, one of the Fort Sumter mortars was sent to Fort Moultrie where it may still be seen. The other was sent to Petersburg National Battlefield.
See the post on The Mortars of Charleston
The mortar at Petersburg is fairly heavily pitted, and no markings are identifiable upon its surface. In contrast, the mortar which was kept in the Charleston area at Fort Moultrie is in considerably better shape, with its markings relatively easily discernable.
13-Inch Seacoast Mortar, Pattern 1861, at Petersburg. This mortar, sent the Fort Sumter in South Carolina in 1872, was sent to Petersburg in 1969 to portray “The Dictator” at Petersburg National Battlefield.
13-Inch Mortar, Pattern 1861, at Fort Moultrie near Charleston, South Carolina. The markings on this mortar, despite some pitting on the face, remain easily legible.
1958 Photo of Fort Sumter. Note the two 13-Inch Mortars outside the sallyport at right. One is now at Fort Moultrie, the other at Petersburg. Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/sc0247.photos.149286p/
The Dictator on the Petersburg Express - Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/item/2012646263/
"The great weight of the 13-Inch mortar (17,000 pounds) renders it difficult to move, and some satisfactory experiments were made with a novel platform. An ordinary railroad platform car (eight wheels) was strengthened by additional beams tied strongly by iron rods, and was plated on top with iron. The mortar was placed upon this car, (top of mortar nine feet above the trac.) and run down the Petersburg and City Point railroad, to a point near our lines, where a curve in the track afforded facilities for changing the plane of fire by advancing the car or drawing it back. The mortar, fired with fourteen pounds of powder, recoiled less than two feet on the car, which moved ten or twelve feet on the track. The effect of the charge was taken up without damage to the axles, even when the full allowance of twenty pounds of powder was used. This mortar, whose shell would crush and explode any ordinary field magazine, excited dread among the Confederate gunners, and was effective in inducing their enfilading batteries on Chesterfield Heights to discontinue fire upon the right of our line. Its practice was excellent. At the battle of the Mine, as reported by three different observers stationed at different points, the explosion of one of its shells blew a Confederate field gun and carriage above the parapet, at a range of about 3,600 yards. Of course this platform the plane of fire must be nearly parallel to the track, or the mortar will be dismounted; but by placing the car on a curve a very considerable traverse can be secured without difficulty."
from "Siege Artillery in the Campaigns Against Richmond" by Henry L. Abbot. Pg. 23.
Interpretive sign at Petersburg National Battlefield describing the employment of The Dictator.
The 13-Inch Mortar known as “The Dictator” at Petersburg, September 1864. Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/item/2012646264/
13-Inch Mortar portraying “The Dictator” at Petersburg National Battlefield
13-Inch Mortar portraying “The Dictator” at Petersburg National Battlefield
13-Inch Mortar portraying “The Dictator” at Petersburg National Battlefield
Information about the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie mortars may be found in Mike Ryan’s excellent paper “The Historic Guns of Forts Sumter and Moultrie”. National Park Service Article. http://npshistory.com/publications/fosu/guns.pdf
