The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-14
ABOUT TIE OLD DICTATOR
ITS RECORD IN TIE VAR OF THE
REBELLLON.

1T Did Not Thunder all the While in the
War-One of the Pets of the Old First
Connecticut Artillery.
The following letter appeared in the
New London Day this week regarding
a famous old mortar dear to the MEM
DRY of First Connecticut artillery boys:
u, S. Army Building,
New York City, May 5, 1896.
My attention has been called to an
article in your issue of April so on the
old mortar proposed for the Siege Train
monument at Hartford. l feel that it
is due to Comrade Frank Miller, Con-
gresham Russell and the mortar, also
the regiment, to have some misstate-
ments corrected. y
The history is this: The mortar did
not thunder all through the war in
every important engagement in which
the First Connecticut artillery took
part. And not many bloody battles
began when the Dictator gave the sig
nal And Comrade Frank Miller did
not purchase it from the government
The mortar was used by the regiment
first by Company G, Captain Osborne,
and by Company l, Captain Burton, in
the summer of 1864, at the siege of Pc
tersburg; and from the novelty of its
mount and the weight of its projectile
attracted great attention. Its principal
use was in keeping down the fire of a
rebel battery on Chesterfield Heights
which enfiladed the left of the Union
lines and could not be reached by any
other gun. 1t was at first on a rail-
road car, but the car broke down at
the fifth shot and it was thereafter
used from platform beside the track
and was located near Battery on the
right of the Union line After the cap
ture of Petersburg, with General Alb
bot, / visited the Chesterfield battery
at which most of it's fire was directed
and we We're gratified and surprised
at the evidences of the accuracy and
execution of it's fire; in and around the
battery the ground was torn up and
showed the huge craters, accounting
for the silencing and abandonment of
that battery by the rebels. Some time
in September, 1864, it was sent to City
Point and Fortress Monroe, as it was
not considered advisable to retain such
a heavy piece where mobility was es-
sential
About four years ago the question of
a regimental monument came up at a
reunion and it was decided that the old
mortar would be the most appropriate
to use. Comrade Miller of Company
reported that during a visit to Fort
Monroe he had been SHOWN the mortar
So, to use it, the first thing was to
n 10 = f,.N,, 10
eminent. The record of the Siege Train
Ordnance Office showed the ordnance
number of every gun and mortar used
by the regiment except this one.
General Abbot wrote to Colonel
Frank, commanding at Fort Monroe
and received a reply indicating that the
right one was either "a or 95, but that an
old ordnance sergeant at the fort re-
membered that the mortar used on the
car had lost the lug from it's top side,
so 95 was the number The next step
was to get it. ltnowing that Congress
man Russell was always ready to help
us, and being best acquainted with him
I wrote stating the case, asking his
help, he replied promptly that he
would get it for us, and after much
research discovered an old law of con-
gress, and with much difficulty induced
the ordnance department to see it ap-
plicable, so the order for its delivery
to the regmental committee was made
and sent to us by Mr. Russell. Then it
was found that the order for the mortar
did not include the carriage; again Mr.
Russell went to work and by his per-
sonal influence succeeded in getting
the order to include the carriage. Then
to get it transported General Abbot in
duced Colonel Frank to offer to use
his soldiers to move the mortar from
its resting place in the fort, to a vessel
or other conveyance without trouble or
expense to the regiment. Then Com
rade Millers enthusiasm and energy
came in and he nobly went himself to
Fort Monroe, put it on vessel, thence
to a car at Newport News from where
it came through direct to Bridgeport,
where it rests in Miller's yard until
the monument is ready to receive it.
Having personal knowledge of all
these matters, / wish at the beginning
of our efforts toward a monument, to
place all the credit where it is due;
certainly the veterans of the First Con-
necticut Artillery owe much to Con-
gresham Russell, General Abbot, Cap
tain McNally, ordnance department,
Colonel Frank and very much to Com
rade Miller, who has brought it to Con-
necticut without expense to the regi-
ment Very truly yours,
S. p. Hatfield,
Late Major First Connecticut Artil-
lery, Ordnance Officer of Siege Train
Armies operating against Richmond,
Va.
Travelling Female Dentist.