"The Dictator" was a Union Army 13-inch seacoast siege mortar which was employed against the Confederate garrison of Petersburg from Battery 5 during the Petersburg campaign of the American Civil War. "The Dictator" was moved to Battery 5 via a rolling platform, and it fired on Petersburg from Battery 5 from July to September 1864, lobbing 225-pound explosive shells more than two miles, and ultimately firing 218 rounds at Petersburg and its defenses. However, "the Dictator" was militarily ineffective, with A.L.P. Varin of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment remarking in September 1864 that, "...the enemy frequently shoot very large shells into Petersburg and do some damage to buildings, but the people are getting used to it, so they don't mind them." A replica of "the Dictator" stands at the Petersburg National Battlefield in the woods adjacent to Battery 5.
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