Initial Delays
By 3:30am on July 30 Union troops were in position and Sergeant Reese and Lieutenant Douty of the 48th Pennsylvania lit the fuse to the mine. Expected to detonate within 5 to 10 minutes, by 4:00am the mine still had failed to blow. Assuming the fuse had gone out, Douty and Reese reentered to mine at 4:15am to conduct repairs.[1] At 4:35am, Grant ordered Burnside to rashly throw his Corps against the Confederate positions without the mine’s detonation. Fortunately, Burnside continued to delay until 4:44am, when the ground around Elliott’s Salient erupted.[2]
Detonation
In an instant, the earthworks of Elliott’s Salient were completely annihilated and replaced with a massive crater, according to historian Kevin Levin, “150 to 200 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep.”[3] Captain Horace Burbank of the 31st Maine described, “A huge roar, as if from the bowels of the earth, belched forth, and the occupants of the fated fort… started heavenward… Earth, stones, timbers, arms, legs, guns unlimbered and bodies unlimbed, amid clouds of dust and smoke, ascended in fearful confusion and havoc.”[4] The explosion left 308
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Confederate soldiers, including over half the 22nd South Carolina, killed or severely wounded either by the initial explosion or being buried alive by falling debris.[5] The surviving Confederates were not given long to observe the spectacle, however, as Federal artillery opened up a massive barrage and the air filled with the roar of Union troops charging into battle.[6]
Over the Top
After the mine was detonated at 4:44am, completely obliterating Elliott’s Salient, Union troops quickly squandered their advantage upon reaching the crater.[7] A combination of difficulties negotiating the crater and unclear orders gave the Confederate defenders enough time to reorganize. When Union forces tried to push on towards Jerusalem Plank Road they were soon forced back into the crater. Two more white divisions were sent in, but their attacks proved just as disorganized as the first.[8] With three Union divisions stuck
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inside a deep crater barely the size of half a football field, Ferrero’s USCTs were finally ordered forward at 7:30am. With Confederate artillery sweeping both sides of their approach and the large mass of disorganized Union troops in the crater blocking their advance, Ferrero’s men tried in vain to break the Confederate defenses.[9] While they were more successful than their white counterparts, with the 43rd USCT charging a section of mostly intact Confederate earthworks and taking over 200 prisoners, the Confederate fire was too intense for them to continue alone and they soon found themselves caught in the crater with
their white comrades.[10]
With Union forces now trapped, the Confederates closed in. Vicious hand-to-hand fighting erupted in the mud and debris around the rim of the crater as Union troops fought desperately to prevent their position from being overrun. One Union Lieutenant remembered, “muskets, with bayonets, were pitched back and forth, harpoon style.”[11] Finally, an attack by Confederate troops under General William Mahone against the southern rim of the crater broke Union resistance and the rebels began pouring artillery and musket fire directly into the thousands of men trapped in its depths.[12] Overwhelmed and disorganized, Union forces were routed from the field. |
Citations
Cover Image: Mahone's division's counterattack (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
[1] Green, 429-432; Powell, “The Battle of the Petersburg Crater,” 550.
[2] Series of messages from Major General A.A. Humphreys to Major General Burnside, July 30, 1864, OR, ser. 1, vol. 40, part 1, 139-140.
[3] Levin, 14.
[4] Quoted in Greene, 433.
[5] Levin, 14; Greene, 435.
[6] Greene, 438.
[7] Series of messages from Major General A.A. Humphreys to Major General Burnside, July 30, 1864, OR, ser. 1, vol. 40, part 1, 139-140; Powell, “The Battle of the Petersburg Crater,” 552.
[8] Levin, 16.
[9] Greene, 460.
[10] Hall, 18-19.
[11] George S. Bernard (editor), War Talks of Confederate Veterans, (Petersburg: Fen & Owen, 1892), 163; this source records a Confederate reunion about the battle in 1890. The Union Lieutenant’s account is quoted in one of the speeches. [link]
[12] Levin, 18; Powell, “The Battle of the Petersburg Crater,” 558; Varon, 346; Greene, 478; George S. Bernard, War Talks of Confederate Veterans, (Petersburg: Fen & Owen, 1892), 163.
[1] Green, 429-432; Powell, “The Battle of the Petersburg Crater,” 550.
[2] Series of messages from Major General A.A. Humphreys to Major General Burnside, July 30, 1864, OR, ser. 1, vol. 40, part 1, 139-140.
[3] Levin, 14.
[4] Quoted in Greene, 433.
[5] Levin, 14; Greene, 435.
[6] Greene, 438.
[7] Series of messages from Major General A.A. Humphreys to Major General Burnside, July 30, 1864, OR, ser. 1, vol. 40, part 1, 139-140; Powell, “The Battle of the Petersburg Crater,” 552.
[8] Levin, 16.
[9] Greene, 460.
[10] Hall, 18-19.
[11] George S. Bernard (editor), War Talks of Confederate Veterans, (Petersburg: Fen & Owen, 1892), 163; this source records a Confederate reunion about the battle in 1890. The Union Lieutenant’s account is quoted in one of the speeches. [link]
[12] Levin, 18; Powell, “The Battle of the Petersburg Crater,” 558; Varon, 346; Greene, 478; George S. Bernard, War Talks of Confederate Veterans, (Petersburg: Fen & Owen, 1892), 163.