Military
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During July, August, and September 1864, the Dictator fired on Petersburg from this spot during the siege. Famous but militarily ineffective, it was a 13-inch seacoast mortar and the largest gun used during the siege, capable of lobbing a 225-pound explosive shell more than two miles. During its service in the siege lines, it fired 218 rounds at Petersburg and its defenses. In September 1864, A.I.P. Varin of the 2nd Mississippi wrote that the enemy frequently shot very large shells into Petersburg and did some damage to buildings, but that people were getting used to it and did not mind them.
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Virginia · United States
