Military
The columbiad was a dependable heavy-barreled seacoast gun introduced in 1811 and used throughout the Civil War. Although columbiads were not designed as mortars, Federal forces mounted five of them here in 1861 for that purpose, aiming them upward. This 10-inch columbiad could fire a 128-pound shell on a high arc. During the Confederate bombardment, Union troops in Fort Sumter aimed their columbiad mortars at Charleston but never fired them. During the Civil War many columbiads were rifled, with spiral grooves cut in the barrel, and banded, with a thick metal band wrapped around the barrel's base.
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South Carolina · United States
