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The Most Decisive Battle of the War
Scientist Page
At 41º F on December 15, 1864, the town of Nashville woke up to a very foggy
morning, making the visiblity of anything nearly impossible. You probably couldn't
even see your own hand. But as the day went on the fog lifted creating a perfect
battlefield for the US and the CS to meet. Compared to today's weather it's about
the same. Tennessee's weather is usually between 30-50º F on average in the
month of December. An interesting fact is that every battle fought during the Civil
War had sunny weather. If it were to rain, the battles would most likely have been
called off. This being because if it rained your gunpowder would get wet. Therefore,
your gun would not function properly.
Talking about guns and weapons. One weapon used was a Mortar. The Mortar was a smaller
version of a Howitzer, the Howitzer being larger and fired projectiles further while
the mortars flew projectiles at a lesser distance. The mortar had a firing distance
of 1,325 yards or 3975 feet. Mortars fired projectiles like shells and iron balls
to a higher level of elevation with a lesser gun powder charge. The good thing about
mortars is that they could fire projectiles over fort walls easily. Also the downward
falling movement adds to the damage as well as the weight of the objects too. The
projectiles fired weighed from 5-60 pounds. There was a13 inch wide mortar called
the "Dictator". This was said to be the most deadly and most accurate mortar
of all time.
Red: Confederate Army
Blue: Union Army
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