Civil War fact of the day. On this day in 1864, the Battle of the Crater raged near Petersburg, VA. Expect more posts about the battle later today, but first read the reports of Confederate Engineer Troops, who were in charge of digging counter-mines to find the Union tunnel. HEADQUARTERS ENGINEER TROOPS, Blandford, July 30, 1864. Colonel W. H. STEVENS, Chief Engineer, Army of Northern Virginia: COLONEL: Inclosed please find report of Sergeant Smyth, in charge of the working detachment at Pegrams salient. At Colquitts salient extended the gallery 3 feet. The day detachment was returned to camp. The crater at Pegrams seems to have been formed from two or three mines; the enemys mine passed between mines Nos.1 and 2 and was extended to a point between our front and rear line. The parapet of the front line although much injured was not destroyed. The parapet of the second line is slightly injured, but the ground between the two-lines has been heaved up, forming a crater 125 feet in length and from 20 to 25 feet deep and about 50 feet wide. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, HUGH THOS. DOUGLAS, Captain, Engineer Troops in Charge of Mining, &c. [Inclosure.] JULY 30, 1864. Captain H. T. DOUGLAS: CAPTAIN: Having charge of the night detachment which worked on the mines at Pegrams salient on the night of the 29th of July, I divided the men into three reliefs of eight men each, putting one relief at mine No. 1 and the other two at No. 2. The first relief worked until 1.30 a.m., when they were sent back to camp, leaving only one party of eight men to work at mine No. 2. Having occasion to be down in the gallery the greater part of the time, I was in it at about 5 a.m. the 30th instant, when I was startled by the sound of a very heavy explosion and thrown from my feet by the shock, the ground or rather gallery heaved and waved as if from an earthquake. After recovering from our surprise I took the three men out, who were at work in the mine, and on reaching the outside saw that the works had been utterly destroyed for a distance of 100 or 150 yards as near as I could judge. We passed around the portion of the line which was destroyed as rapidly as possible, in order to avoid capture, there being a squad of from fifteen to twenty-five of the enemy who had come through the gap and were pursuing us, and as a consequence my observations upon the character of the injury done were very imperfect and uncertain, but my impression was that both lines had been destroyed nearly the whole distance of the gap. The injury done to the works did not extend to mine No. 2, which is uninjured so far as I was to judge. Those men of my party who were at work above ground had all left when I came out of the pit, but subsequently reported at camp, except one man, Leigh, who has not yet reported. I extended the gallery in mine No. 1 2 feet 3 inches and in mine Numbers 2 extended it 3 feet 5 inches. A. H. SMYTH, Sergeant.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 13:12:39 +0000
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