Battle At The Crater Essay

While visiting the battlefield I knew there were two major parts of the battle I wanted to discuss, the Battle at the Crater and the part that African-American soldiers played in the battle. After the initial attack on Petersburg that lasted until June 19, 1864, some of IX Corps picket line set up four hundred feet from Eliot’s Salient, which was a part of the main Confederate line. The Union soldiers then created a plan to construct an explosive mine under the salient to surprise the Confederates and hopefully shorten the siege. After weeks of planning and preparing the mine, it was exploded at 4:45 a.m. on July 30th. The Crater was 130 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep, only an incredible explosion could leave such a hole. 352 Confederate soldiers were killed in the blast, disorienting the outnumbered

Confederate line and making them vulnerable to attack. Union units were sent in, but due to poor leadership, the soldiers marched straight to the Crater rather than around it.

It is said that even some soldiers stood in amazement at the explosion and aftermath rather than advancing on it. Since the Union soldiers walked straight to the Crater they fought it difficult to advance or retreat, as they were faced with a steep hill and were now stuck in a killing field. The Fourth Division of the IX Corps made it furthest in the attack but were repelled by General William Mahone’s counterattack, which plugged the gap in the Confederate line. At 9:30 a.m. Union General Ambrose Burnside who commanded the IX Corps was given orders to call off the attack and support of the Union soldiers already in the Crater. For hours the Union soldiers were unaware of the halt in support, they were now sitting ducks. At 1:00 p.m. the gap in the Confederate Line was sealed and the soldiers were now advancing on the Crater. In one final push, the Confederate soldiers plunged into the crater, where they saw some of the worst hand-to-hand combat of the whole siege. The Union soldiers were forced to surrender, and taken to the

rear. Unarmed Union soldiers calling for “no quarter” were shot after being captured. Ten hours of fighting and 5,200 casualties later, the Union plan had failed miserably and little had changed on the battlefield. Grant’s best chance of ending the war was a failure, and General Ambrose Burnside was relieved of his duties. General Grant was quoted as saying the Battle of the Crater “was the saddest affair I have ever witnessed in the war”. A sentence very fitting for the amount lost for no real progress in the war effort.