Learn Our History Today: On July 30, 1864, the Battle of the Crater was fought during the Civil War. The Battle of the Crater was the Union’s innovative plan to break the Confederate lines strewn around the city of Petersburg, Virginia; they would dig a tunnel under Confederate positions, fill it with explosives, and detonate it, creating a massive crater for Union troops to surge through. On July 30, at 5:00 a.m. the fuse was lit. A massive explosion then rocked the Confederate lines, making a hole 170 feet long, 60 to 80 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. An entire rebel infantry regiment was enveloped by the blast. However, the Union troops were not properly prepared to exploit the crater, and precious minutes were lost as the confederates tried to recompose themselves. Finally, thousands of blue coated soldiers, under Major General Ambrose Burnside, wandered into the crater, rather than charge around, creating a big problem. The Confederates had assembled on the sides and began pouring withering fire down into the massive hole. William Mahon, a Confederate General, described it as a “Turkey shoot”. The Union troops began dropping like flies, and the crater turned into a slaughter house, with Union commanding General Ulysses S. Grant saying, “"It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war.” Amazingly, instead of cutting his losses, Burnside sent more men into the crater, only to get the same result, slaughter. The yankees lost more than 3,000 men out of their 8,500 man attacking force. The battle had been an unmitigated disaster and its final casualty would be the career of Ambrose Burnside, who never again led troops into battle.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:28:59 +0000
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