Battery 5 was a Confederate States Army battery located on the Dimmock Line which defended Petersburg, Virginia during the American Civil War. Captain Charles Dimmock built a 10-mile line of defensive works ringing Petersburg in 1862, including 55 artillery positions. One of the positions constructed was Battery 5, which was mostly built by African-American slaves. At 7:00 PM on 15 June 1864, at the start of the Siege of Petersburg, Union Army soldiers of the XVIII Corps broke through the undermanned Confederate line and stormed Battery 5, capturing 1.5 miles of Petersburg's defenses in just two hours. The Union general William F. Smith made thge mistake of stopping his advance to await reinforcements, allowing the Confederates to reinforce Petersburg and force the Union army to settle in for a nine-month siege. The Union proceeded to employ the battery's captured artillery, including a mortar known as "the Dictator", against Petersburg to little effect. In 1926, the Petersburg National Battlefield's Eastern Front Visitor Center was established near Battery 5.
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