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
Nebraska in the American Civil War Nebraska in the American Civil War The present-day state of Nebraska was still a territory of the United States during the American Civil War. It did not achieve statehood until March 1867, two years after the war ended. Nevertheless, Nebraska contributed significantly to the Union war effort. Antebellum Nebraska Territory was largely rural and unsettled, at the edge of the American frontier. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 had established the 40th parallel north as the dividing line between the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It had also repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed settlers in those territories to