The Battle of The Crater
Other Names: The Mine
Location: Petersburg, VA
Campaign: Richmond-Petersburg Campaign (June 1864-March 1865)
Union: Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside [US]
Confederate: Gen. Robert E. Lee [CS]
Forces Engaged: IX Corps [US]; elements of the Army of Northern Virginia [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 5,300 total
Description: After weeks of preparation, on July 30 the Federals exploded a mine in Burnside’s IX Corps sector beneath Pegram’s Salient, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg. From this propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where soldiers milled in confusion. The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Maj. Gen. William Mahone. The break was sealed off, and the Federals were repulsed with severe casualties. Ferrarro’s division of black soldiers was badly mauled.
This may have been Grant’s best chance to end the Siege of Petersburg. Instead, the soldiers settled in for another eight months of trench warfare. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was relieved of command for his role in the debacle.
National Park Service
The Civil War, American Heritage (Doubleday, 1960)
Back to 1864
These CSA pages online since December 11, 1996.
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2014 Victoria Proctor. All rights reserved.
This WEB page and its contents are copyrighted and may not be copied, altered, converted or uploaded to any electronic system or BBS, message board, mailing list or web site, nor included in any software collection or print collection of any type without the express written permission of the author. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations.