Also known as: siege train.
| Role | Reducing fortifications |
|---|---|
| Guns | Heavy rifles, guns, and mortars |
| Character | Too heavy for the field; moved and emplaced deliberately |
Guns of the siege
Siege artillery was the class of heavier ordnance brought up to attack fortifications. Its guns and mortars, heavier than the field pieces, were moved with more difficulty and emplaced in prepared batteries, from which they breached walls, dismounted the defenders' guns, and bombarded the works.
Rifled siege guns such as the 30-pounder Parrott, together with heavy mortars, were the tools of the great sieges of the war, at Vicksburg, Charleston, Petersburg, and elsewhere.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- Gibbon, John. The Artillerist's Manual. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1860.