The Battle of the Crater |
The Burning of Chambersburg |
Introduction
There are few days in the history of the American Civil War that better illustrate its growing brutality and modernization than July 30, 1864. In eastern Virginia, the Union Army of the Potomac’s offensive had stalled out against the earthworks around the city of Petersburg, resulting in an early form of trench warfare as both sides further developed their defenses. After over a month of stalemate, Union troops attempted to break the Confederate entrenchments by detonating a massive mine underneath a key salient and attacking across no man’s land through the newly formed breach. The brutal hand-to-hand struggle that followed was a complete Union disaster, resulting in violent Confederate reprisals against African American POWs. Simultaneously, Confederate cavalry under General John McCausland were avenging the actions of Union General David Hunter’s scorched earth tactics in the Shenandoah Valley. Exploiting a weak point in Union border defenses, McCausland’s cavalry marched into south-central Pennsylvania and looted the town of Chambersburg before burning it to the ground. Through the burning of Chambersburg and the Battle of the Crater, the events of July 30, 1864 illustrate the growing modernization of battlefield conditions and hard war strategy, and their subsequent effects on both soldiers and civilians.
Timeline
About the Author
This website was created by Thomas Forte, a Dickinson College undergrad student for Prof. Pinsker's Civil War to Reconstruction class. It serves to educate others about the increasingly brutal and modern conditions of the American Civil War by using the events of July 30, 1864 as a narrative lens.