Identifier: photographichist05mill (find matches)
Title: The photographic history of the Civil War : thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Miller, Francis Trevelyan, 1877-1959 Lanier, Robert S. (Robert Sampson), 1880-
Subjects: United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Pictorial works United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865
Publisher: New York : Review of Reviews Co.
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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COPYRIGHT, 19, REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO, DICTATOR — THE TRAVELING MORTAR IN FRONT OF PETERSBURG, 1864. This is the 13-inch mortar, a 200-pound exploding shell from which threw a Confederate field-piece and its carriage above its parapet, at a range of nearly two miles. The 17,000 pounds of this mortar made it difficult to move, so it was mounted on an ordinary railroad-car strengthened by additional beams, and plated on top with iron. This engine of destruction was run down on the Petersburg & City Point Railroad to a point near the Union lines, where a curve in the track made it easy to change the direction of the fire. The recoil from a charge of fourteen pounds of powder shifted the mortar less than two feet on the car, which moved a dozen feet on the track. Even the full charge of twenty pounds of powder could be used without damage to the axles of the car. This mortar, whose shell would crush and explode any ordinary field-magazine, terrorized the Confederate gunners, and succeeded in s

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