Not all information about the "Dictator" can be determined from pictures. Several books and Web sites can also provide additional information: From The Last Citadel: Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864-April 1865, by Noah A. Trudeau. (Little Brown and Company, Boston: 1991), pages 291-2. "Soldiers on both sides hated the mortars. 'These mortar shells were the most disgusting, low-lived things imaginable,' declared W. W. Blackford, a Confederate engineer. 'There was not a particle of the sense of honor about them; they would go rolling about and prying into the most private places in a sneaking sort of way.' 'Mortar shells fly into the works occasionally,' a Maine soldier confirmed, "at which times we get out in double-quick time.' Added a Georgia infantryman, 'Old veterans can never forget the noise those missiles made as they went up and came down like an excited bird, their shrieks becoming shriller and shriller, as the time to explode approached.' "A soldier in the 35th Massachusetts described a mortar attack: 'In the daytime the burst of smoke from the Confederate mortars could be seen; a black speck would dart into the sky, [and] hang a moment, increasing in size, rolling over and over lazily, and the revolving fuze [would begin] to whisper audibly, as it darted towards us, at first, softly, "I'm a-coming, I'm a-coming"; then louder and more angrily, "I'm coming! I'm coming!;" and, at last, with an explosion to crack the drum of the ear, "I'm HERE!" "Mortar batteries alternated with tubed guns all along the front. Some artillery even acquired nicknames: one seven-gun siege battery just south of Fort Morton was called the Seven Sisters, while Union soldiers referred to several different artillery pieces as The Petersburg Express, most notably the thirteen-inch heavy mortar that was also know as the Dictator. This gun, the only one of its size at Petersburg, went into action on July 9, and remained active until September, firing 218 times, from various positions. 'It made the ground quake," one infantryman swore.'" From Alexander's Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, Vol. 2, plate 75. Dover Publications, NY. "The Dictator cast by Mr. Charles Knapp at iron works in Pittsburgh PA, was used for a short time in the summer and fall of 1864 during the siege operations in front of Petersburg, VA. Owing to its immense weight, 17,120 pounds, it was transported from City Point on a railway truck along the City Point and Petersburg RR, to a point in the ravine in rear of what is know generally known as Battery No. 5, near the Jordan House, a side track from the main road being constructed especially for the purpose of moving it." The Dictator is a 13 inch mortar, firing a shell weighing 200 lbs., with a charge of 20 lbs. of powder. At an angle of 45 degrees the range is set down in the Ordinance Manual at 4,325 yds., but, if it is true that the shell thrown by it reached Centre Hill, in Petersburg, then it must have been carried at least 2.7, miles, or 4,752 yds. Source of the pictures: First view - image from Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865 at American Memory from the Library of Congress. Caption: [Petersburg, Va. The "Dictator," a closer view] Knox, David, photographer. 1864 October. Picture 2 - Photograph NWDNS-165-SB-75; "Virginia, Petersburg, Mortar Dictator;" Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, by Alexander Gardner, Record Group 165; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online version on May 28, 1998, at http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0223a.gif] Picture 3 - image from Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865 at American Memory from the Library of Congress. Caption: [Petersburg, Va. The "Dictator," a 13-inch mortar, in position] Knox, David, photographer. 1864 October. Picture 4 - Photograph NWDNS-111-B-5071 (Mathew Brady Studio); "Mortar mounted on R.R. Car, U.S. Military R.R., Petersburg, Va;" Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, Record Group 111; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online version on May 28, 1998, at http://media.nara.gov/media/images/8/5/08-0425a.gif] Picture 5 - From The Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume 5, Forts and Artillery edited by Francis Trevelyan Miller and published in 1911 (pages 184-185) Picture 6 - Photograph NWDNS-111-B-6173 (Mathew Brady Studio); "Mortar "Dictator" mounted on railway car, Lines of Investment, Petersburg, Va;" Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, Record Group 111; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online version on May 28, 1998, at http://media.nara.gov/media/images/8/15/08-1450a.gif]