The Battle of the Crater was the result of an unusual attempt, on the part of Union forces, to break through the Confederate defenses just south of the critical railroad hub of Petersburg, Virginia, during the American Civil War (1861–1865). For several weeks, Pennsylvania miners in Union general Ambrose E. Burnside‘s Ninth Corps worked at digging a long tunnel, packed the terminus with explosives, and then on the morning of July 30, 1864, blew it up. In the words of a Maine soldier, the sky was filled with “Earth, stones, timbers, arms, legs, guns unlimbered and bodies unlimbed.” The task of stepping into the breach —literally via a short straw—went to James H. Ledlie, a hard-drinking political general who spent the day well behind the lines as his soldiers piled into the explosion’s deep crater rather than go around it. Unable to escape, and followed by Burnside’s other three divisions, they turned into what one New Hampshire soldier described as “a mass of worms crawling over each other”—easy targets for Confederates. The battle was a Union disaster. Although Congress later blamed Meade for the loss, it was Ledlie and Burnside who lost their commands.
Further Reading
- Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel. The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater, “The Horrid Pit,” June 25–August 6, 1864. Lynchburg, Va.: H. E. Howard, 1989.
- Slotkin, Richard. No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864. New York: Random House, 2009.
This Vignette Provided By
This Vignette is drawn from an Encyclopedia Virginia entry by Brendan Wolfe, associate editor of Encyclopedia Virginia
On February 16 2010 Tom Jones said: @ 11:39 am
This is a good overview. Some of Mahone’s Virginians that counterattacked were from Petersburg. They literally were fighting for their homes that day. Tom Jones(Quote)
On March 19 2010 John Marler said: @ 1:32 pm
The idea that \Pennsylvania miners\ dug the tunnel is misleading. The Federal regiment responsible for digging the gallery is the 48th Penn Veteran Volunteer Infantry. A written history of the unit makes a point of saying that this WASN’T a regiment of coal miners. In fact, on 25 June 1864, the day the digging began, only 78 of the regiment’s 400+ plus men had such experience. More key to the situation was the chief engineer of the project; Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants. COl. Pleasants was a mining engineer prior to the war.
John Marler
Franklin, TN John Marler(Quote)