During the siege of Petersburg, Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants, commanding the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps, offered a novel proposal to break thru the Confederate line.
Pleasants, a mining engineer from Pennsylvania in civilian life, proposed digging a long mine shaft underneath the Confederate lines and planting explosive charges directly underneath a fort (Elliott's Salient) in the middle of the Confederate First Corps line. If successful, this would not only kill all the defenders in the area, it would also open a hole in the Confederate defenses.
The approach shaft was 511 feet long, starting in a sunken area downhill and more than 50 feet below the Confederate battery, making detection difficult, with side passage making into the shape of a "T". The Federals filled the mine with 320 kegs of gunpowder, totaling 8,000 pounds. The explosives were approximately 20 feet underneath the Confederate works and the T gap was packed shut with 11 feet of earth in the side galleries and a further 32 feet of packed earth in the main gallery to prevent the explosion blasting out the mouth of the mine. On July 28, the mine was armed.
On the morning of July 30, 1864, Pleasants lit the fuse. But as with the rest of the mine, Pleasants had been given poor quality fuse, which his men had had to splice themselves. After no explosion occurred at the expected time, two volunteers from the 48th Regiment (Lt. Jacob Douty and Sgt. Harry Reese) crawled into the tunnel. After discovering the fuse had burned out at a splice, they spliced on a length of new fuse and relit it. Finally, at 4:44 a.m., the charges exploded in a massive shower of earth, men, and guns. A crater (still visible today) was created, 170 feet long, 60 to 80 feet wide and 30 feet deep. Between 250 and 350 Confederate soldiers were instantly killed in the blast.
The Union forces under Ledlie went across the field to the crater and, instead of moving around it, thought it would make an excellent rifle pit and it would be well to take cover and so they moved down into the crater itself, wasting valuable time while the Confederates, under Maj. Gen. William Mahone, gathered as many troops together as they could for a counterattack. In about an hour's time, they had formed up around the crater and began firing rifles and artillery down into it, in what Mahone later described as a "turkey shoot". The plan had failed, but Burnside, instead of cutting his losses, sent in Ferrero's men. They also went down into the crater, and for the next few hours, Mahone's soldiers, along with those of Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson, and artillery slaughtered the IX Corps as it attempted to escape from the crater. Some Union troops eventually advanced and flanked to the right beyond the Crater to the earthworks and assaulted the Confederate lines, driving the Confederates back for several hours in hand-to-hand deadly combat. Mahone's Confederates conducted a sweep out of a sunken gully area about 200 yards from the right side of the Union advance. This charge reclaimed the earthworks and drove the Union force back towards the east. (Source - Wikipedia )
The leadership of William Mahone turned the tide of battle for the Cconfederates on that day.
For more on William Mahone (
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For more on the Battle of the Crater (
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The Carter and this monument to William Mahone is in the Easter Front section of the Petersburg National Battlefield Park.
Eastern Front Visitor Center
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