The Dictator

The Dictator, a 13-inch seacoast mortar, fired 218 times from this spot, most often at the Chesterfield Battery across the Appomattox River in present-day Colonial Heights. Because of its size, it required a custom-designed rail car to move it, and its recoil frequently damaged its firing platform. Due to its impracticality and ineffectiveness, it was used during the first three months of the siege in 1864. Its bore diameter was 13 inches, its iron tube was 53 inches long and weighed 17,120 pounds, and it fired 220-pound mortar shells with a 20-pound powder charge. Its effective range was 4,325 yards, its maximum height was 1,207 yards, and its time to impact at 45 degrees was about 30 seconds.

Virginia · United States