Dictator
 |
| Library of Congress |
The 13-inch seacoast mortar used by Union soldiers in the siege of Petersburg. The largest of the mortars, the Dictator could fire a two hundred pound shell a maximum range of two and a half miles. The Dictator was used mainly by Union soldiers in the summer of 1864. Soldiers of both armies preferred the smaller coehorn mortar which proved much more effective on the Petersburg lines.