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.
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.
Here is the text of this letter to Rufus Ingalls, who was the Chief Quartermaster for all the Armies before Richmond..
Headqua. Siege Arty.
Broadway LandingDec 4th, 64
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and thus to relieve and return to their Company my guard which has remained in charge of the Mortar ever since it was withdrawn from it’s position in front of Petersburg
very respectfully
Your ob. servant
Henry Larcom
Col. Conn. Arty.
Commander Siege Arty.
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.
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.
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.
Thanks for sharing, Mike. As a long-time ACW student, it’s always been interesting to learn what other such folks discover — no new info is too trivial for me!!
Hi Mike
great find. Yes we have found quite a bit of info about the Dictator, it was used in action using a train usually pulled by the USMRR Gen Grant, which is the locomotive in the photo shown there and the train even had a nick name, the Petesrsburg Express. It had a custom siding made for it that was curved so that the angle and deflection of the shots could be adjusted. I agree it is likely that end of the track inside the inner protective wall in the Bakery Compound was the site that they moved the Dictator to, and we alos noted the location at the north eastern end of the yard track, the artist of that picture made many accurate observations and we have confirmed his accuracy many times. We are constructing the flat car used digitally for the smaller one shown in the photo soon was destroyed by the recoil and a heavier one made. Good fine!!!
Chris Gerlach
I also ran across a note regarding building the platform for a 13″ mortar (the Dictator), I’ll post that when I get a chance.
Hi Mike
yes they did…there is a photo of it actually several i will e mail them to you.
the recoil was so powerful they had to use various ways of working with it but they had to move it by rail as it was too heavy for any other methods. The canon balls alone weighted over 100 lbs. and had to be specially forged up North. The first shot when it was used was a dud and the Confederate officer in charge of the battery it was aimed at actually joked about it saying in a letter that it had chased off all of the stray cats they had been trying to get rid of for months. 🙂 We think we found the siding used on the maps of the far end of the route, the Michelr Maps are a great help for detail.
Was very cool to see that hand written letter and who knew they used lined paper! i will have to change some of our ledger and letter models we use in the sim.
Chris
I found a wide variety in the types of paper and letterheads found in the archives. So many in fact, that I’m contemplating documenting some of the examples that I ran across.
That’s why I included it in my film The OTHER Great Locomotive Chase. I loved the movie The General w Buster Keaton and what better way to have it again as a fantastic prop SFX device .. TOGLC-10-TheDictator-A.mp4 & TOGLC-10-TheDictator-B.mp4 on You Tube Brian K
Give it look