In 1864, with the Union Army under the command of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the Union went on the offensive in Northern Virginia in a attempt to capture the Confederate capitol of Richmond. Despite fighting Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army to a standstill, Grant continued to press Lee’s left flank, keeping Lee on the defensive and pushing closer and closer to Richmond. Then in early June the offensive came to a screeching halt when the Union Army attempted to take the city of Petersburg, a mere 23 miles away from Richmond. The Confederates had turned Petersburg into a fortress with over ten miles of trenches complete with bunkers and anti infantry obstacles. Despite a number of heavy assaults by Union forces, the Confederates were able to hold their ground. Unable to decisively take Petersburg, Union forces settled down for a long siege, digging their own trenches and building similar fortifications. Foreshadowing the bloody combat tactics of World War I, both sides settled into trench warfare and bloody attrition.
In mid June the commander of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry offered a novel solution to the stalemate. Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants was a mining engineer before he joined the army, and many of his men, recruited from Schuylkill County, PA were also coal miners. Pleasant’s idea was to dig a tunnel under the Confederate fortifications, load it with explosives, then blast the Confederates straight to Hell in small pieces. The resulting break in Confederate lines would leave their defenses vulnerable to a Union assault, allowing a breakthrough that would end the stalemate.
Digging of the tunnel began in late June and was completed by late July. Once the tunnelers reached the Confederate lines, they dug another tunnel that ran parallel to the Confederate trenches above, thus making a “T” shape. The main approach shaft was 511 feet long and located 50 feet below the ground. Once the tunnel was completed, it was loaded with 320 kegs (8,000 lbs) of gunpowder. On July 30th, 1864 the fuse was lit at 3:45 AM. An hour later a massive explosion occurred amidst the Confederate lines. The resulting explosion instantly obliterated 278 Confederate defenders, and left thousands of other in state of shock from the massive blast. In the middle of the Confederate trenches was a large blast crater around 170 feet wide and 30 feet deep.
To conduct the assault Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside chose the United States Colored Division and the US 1st Division. The US Colored Division had by then gained a reputation as experienced and courageous veteran soldiers who could be counted upon to achieve the most daring and dangerous missions. Burnside had also specially trained the Colored Division for this specific mission. However, at the last minute, Gen. George Meade, Burnside’s boss, ordered the 1st Division to the front. Meade had little confidence in the plan, and didn’t want to waste the US Colored Division in what he believed would be a failed assault.
The plan was that when the two units approached the resulting blast crater, one battalion of each division was to go around the crater to the left, while the other was to go around the right. When the 1st Division approached the crater, they quickly occupied it, finding that it was easy to go into the crater, but difficult to climb out. Meanwhile the men of the US Colored Division followed their orders and went around the massive pit. Much of the blame for the failed plan rested on the shoulders of the 1st Division’s commander, Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie, who failed to brief his men on the assault, and spent much of the battle drunk in a bunker well behind the lines.
After an hour the stunned Confederates rallied their forces and organized a counterattack against the Union assault. Confederate troops surrounded the pit, which by then was a confused and panicked mass of men crowded shoulder to shoulder. In what Confederate Brig. Gen. William Mahone would term “a turkey shoot”, the Confederates rained the pit with musket fire, grenades, artillery, and mortars. The helpless soldiers trapped in the crowded pit could little defend themselves against the hail of Confederate lead. If the suffering of the men trapped in the pit was bad, the fate of the Colored Division was even worse. Without the support of the 1st Division, the Colored Division was quickly outnumbered and surrounded. Many of the men were able to break free and retreat, however a number of regiments were forced to surrender. Most of the black soldiers who surrendered were immediately executed by bayonet, often run through right where they stood in cold blood.
Eventually a Union relief force was able to free the men trapped in the crater. By the time the battle had ended, Union forces suffered 3,798 casualties (504 killed 1,881 wounded, 1,413 missing or captured). Confederate losses were also high, with a total of 1,491 casualties (361 killed,727 wounded, 403 missing or captured). The Battle of the Crater turned out to be the one of the Union’s most embarrassing defeats; an intricate and complex plan that was to bring about a surefire victory, failed because of bad leadership and the incompetence of a drunkard. After the battle, Gen. Ambrose Burnside would receive most of the blame for the defeat. He was censured and relieved of his command, spending the rest of the war in a desk job. He would later be cleared of fault by a war committee, who instead blamed Gen. Meade for the last minute substitution of the US Colored Division with the 1st Division. Gen. Ledlie was charged with dereliction of duty and his commission was revoked.
The Siege of Petersburg would last 9 months total, finally coming to an end on March 25th, 1865. The fall of Petersburg left Richmond vulnerable, leading to the capture of Richmond on April 2nd. Robert E. Lee surrendered a week later.
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