ave a relatively low muzzle velocity and are unsuitable for direct fire. Their principle value comes from being able to lob shells behind an obstacle such as a fort or a hill. Unlike modern mortars, those used during the Civil War were bulky devises and mounted at a fixed angle usually between 45 and 50 degrees. They were not very accurate and depended solely upon the amount of propelling powder to determine their point of impact.
             Shells, hollow ammunition filled with gunpowder and equipped with a fuse, were the most common type of explosive artillery round used during the Civil War. Fuses could be either timed so the round would explode after a certain number of seconds had elapsed, or were percussion so the ammunit
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