Siege artillery in the American Civil War were used by the Federal troops as their trenches approached Fort Wagner and field artillery was placed in the trenches to defend against possible Confederate sorties. While Fort Wagner was subject to near constant bombardment from the batteries listed in the table below, as approaches neared the fort's ditch the bombardment increased. Fire from U.S. Navy ships, particularly the USS "New Ironsides", proved very effective. The navy were able to skip the round shells from their XI-inch Dahlgren guns off the water, over the ramparts, and into the fort. Several heavy Parrott rifles that had been directed against Fort Sumter
Vermont in the American Civil War because all the family's sons had been killed in the Civil War. There are several facilities in the state that have significant collections of manuscripts and archives of the war, including the Vermont State House, the Vermont Historical Society, University of Vermont Bailey Howe Library, the Bennington Museum, the Sheldon Museum (Middlebury), the Vermont Veterans Militia Museum and Library, Norwich University Sullivan Museum and special collections, and the State of Vermont Public Records Division. by Paul G. Zeller Vermont in the American Civil War During the American Civil War, the State of Vermont continued the military tradition started by the