The short squat mortar

The short squat mortar

The short squat mortar had changed little from the time when they were first used in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks. They were well adapted, however, to hurling shells where other cannon could not -- over the walls of a fort or enemy field works. Mortars were used principally by the Union, although both sides made some use of them in combat. They ranged in size from a 'mobile' 300 lb Coehorn mortar with a 5.8 inch bore that hurled an 18 pound shell to the immense 13 inch seacoast mortars (shown here) that weighed 17,120 lbs and could fire a 220 pound bomb 4,325 yards. Siege mortars came in 8 inch and 10 inch bore diameters and fired 44 and 88 lb shell respectively. Naturally devices of this weight were not very easily moved about a battlefield. Mortars in the Civil War were primarily siege weapons or mounted on ships and scows for subduing enemy fortifications. They saw a good deal of use in the campaigns on the Mississippi River. At the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 1862) 19 schooners, each mounting a 13 inch mortar, pounded the Rebel forts for six days before capturing New Orleans.