In 1862, a man named John Gilleland, from the little Georgia town of Athens, came up with this inventive, some would say crazy, idea for a double-barrel cannon. Gilleland, a local house builder and mechanic, a Jackson County dentist, a private in Mitchell’s Thunderbolts and an employee of Cook’s Armory, thought that a cannon such as this would serve the defences of his community, and the needs of the Confederate Army, very well.

The 13-inch seacoast mortar was intended for seige and fortifications and not field work. The Dictator, weighing in at 17,120 lbs. was made portable for limited field use during the Seige of Petersburg by being mounted on a railroad car, specially strengthened with extra beams and iron rods to withstand the strain of firing.

Donated to VMI by Presidnet Zachary Taylor in 1850, these four guns were christened as "The Four Apostles: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John" by Episcopal rector Col. William Nelson Pendleton and the seminary students "because they spoke a powerful language". For years, students at VMI were trained in field artillery tactics with these guns.

This cannon may be one of the most historical, and most frequently misidentified, Blakelys in the United States. The gun known as the "Galena Blakely" is believed to have been present and participated in the bombardment of Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861. It is considered to be the first rifled cannon to be fired in combat on the American continent. This cannon is also believed to hold the distinction of being the only rifled cannon used in action against the Union garrison at Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861.

This huge 10-inch Dahlgen gun, named "Lady Polk" in honor of Frances, wife of Confederate army commander General Leonidas Polk, was first fired during the November 7, 1861, Battle of Belmont, Missouri. Used against the Union troops from accross the Mississippi River at Fort De Russy, Kentucky, the rifled cannon fired 128-pound, pointed projectiles with flanged copper plates attached to the bottom.

This gun was the left piece of Capt. Elder's Battery "B," 1st U.S. Artillery at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. It fired the last shot previous to General Robert E. Lee's surrender.

On March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia, formerly named USS Merrimac, encountered and defeated the Union ships, USS Cumberland and USS Congress, near Newport News, VA. This gun was one of the six Dahlgren guns mounted on the CSS Virginia.

The John Buford Statue can be found on the Chambersburg Pike in the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. It stands facing westward toward the position of the advancing Rebel army postion of July 1, 1863. When a design for the Buford statue was under discussion in 1888, John Calef, the commander of Horse Artillery Battery "A" under Buford's command, suggested that the design incorporate four Ordnance Rifles that were in the battery.

In the summer of 1863, Fort Sumter, after two years of being pummeled by federal artillery, still defiantly protected the city of Charleston, SC. Union Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, stationed on Morris Island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, wanted to locate a battery to fire on the city so that he could force its capitulation without having to capture the harbor forts. On August 2, Gen. Gillmore ordered the construction of a battery at a site 4.5 miles from the city.

On May 22, 1863, the "Widow Blakely" was manned by a detachment of Company 'H', 1st Louisiana Heavy Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant A. L. Slack. On that day the Widow, mounted overlooking the Mississippi River, engaged four iron-clads and one wooden gunboat with the help of nine other guns, helping to heavily damage two of the ironclads, and repulse the rest of the attacking force.

One of the most famous cannons of the war was "Whistling Dick", a banded and rifled 18-pounder Confederate siege and garrison weapon. The gun was part of the river defenses at Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863, and is credited with the sinking of the Union gunboat Cincinnati.