{"id":9168,"date":"2020-01-03T20:24:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-04T01:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/?p=9168"},"modified":"2020-01-03T20:24:26","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T01:24:26","slug":"guarding-the-dictator-mortar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/?p=9168","title":{"rendered":"Guarding the Dictator Mortar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Dictator was a 13 inch siege mortar used to bombard Confederate positions around Petersburg in the summer of 1864. It was mounted on a specially constructed flatcar so it could be moved around easily. It was initially used to silence a Confederate artillery position across the Appomattox River from the Union right. Until this position was silenced, the Confederate artillery enfiladed the right end of the Union line and made life especially difficult for the Union troops stationed in the trenches there. The Dictator was pulled out of the front line service on September 28, 1864 and put in reserve at the base at City Point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Mortar Dictator in front of Petersburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However that isn’t quite the end of the story. This letter found in the National Archives indicates that as late as December 4th, 1864, some men, which came from the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery regiment were still watching over her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mortar
Mortar Guards Letter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is the text of this letter to Rufus Ingalls, who was the Chief Quartermaster for all the Armies before Richmond..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

Headqua. Siege Arty.
Broadway Landing<\/p>

Dec 4th, 64<\/p>

I have the honor to request that the Railroad track near the Bakery at City Point may be extended for a short distance, as this will enable me to move the 13-inch Mortar to a position where it will be under guard, and thus to relieve and return to their Company my guard which has remained in charge of the Mortar ever since it was withdrawn from it’s position in front of Petersburg<\/p>

very respectfully
Your ob. servant
Henry Larcom
Col. Conn. Arty.
Commander Siege Arty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Note that E.L. Henry’s painting of City Point shows the Dictator positioned in an altogether different location, at the end of the tracks serving the Quatermaster Department Wharves. It likely that this is where the Colonel’s men were spending their time watching her. Note that Henry even painted a guard next to the mortar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dictator at City Point<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the map of the City Point railway, which was drawn after the war, shows that the bakery tracks do extend a bit past the end of the bakery buildings. It’s clear that if the Dictator was positioned there, it could be guarded by the men manning the City Point defensive line. Whether this is the extension that was requested or not and whether the Dictator ever ended up at this extension of the bakery tracks is unknown to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"City
City Point Bakery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though this little investigation of mine has little importance to anything or anyone, it is fun to see what can be found out about such trivial issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dictator was a 13 inch siege mortar used to bombard Confederate positions around Petersburg in the summer of 1864. It was mounted on a specially constructed flatcar so it could be moved around easily. It was initially used to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-war","category-model-railroads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9168"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9198,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9168\/revisions\/9198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}