The Minie Ball
development of this half-inch lead rifle bullet revolutionized warfare, while
the slowness of Civil War military leaders to adapt their tactics to adjust to
the new technology was greatly responsible for the overwhelming number of
Before the introduction of what soldiers commonly called the "minnie ball"-even though it was indeed bullet-shaped-the use of rifles in battle was impractical and largely limited to corps of elite marksmen. Expensive, tight fitting projectiles had to be jammed into the grooves of the rifle's muzzle, a time-consuming process.
In 1848, however, French army Captain Claude F. Minie created a smaller, hollow-based bullet that could far more quickly and easily be rammed into the bore, expanding when the weapon was fired to catch in the rifling and be shot spinning out of the barrel. That spin made the mini ball, like other, more expensive and unwieldy rifle bullets, a highly precise and far traveling projectile. They could reach a half-mile or more, and an average soldier could easily hit a target 250 yards away.
By 1855, Harpers Ferry Armory worker James H. Burton had honed an even cheaper version of the minie ball, which, along with the rifle itself, soon became widely used in the U.S. Army. It was the standard bullet for both sides in the Civil War, although neither anticipated the enormous difference this would make on the battlefield. Against a defensive line using musket fire-requiring a 25-second reloading period and accurate to only 50 feet or less-a frontal infantry charge was likely to be successful if the assaulting force moved quickly enough.
The widespread use of the minie bullet, however, shifted the balance greatly to the defense's favor. Nevertheless, Civil War generals continued ordering such attacks, learning only after hard and bloody battlefield experience-from the assault on Marye's Heights at
12lb Reed Shell
Submarines were used in
both the American Revolution and in the Civil War. In 1776, during the
Revolutionary War, American ship maker David Bushnell built a strange submarine
made of oak. It had two hand-cranks to provide power. To submerge, the operator
flooded the craft with water until it was heavy and dense enough to slip below
the surface. However, the operator was
knee-deep in water! A hand pump was used to remove the water so the craft could
surface. Colonists hoped to use the submarine to break the British naval
In 1864, during the Civil
War, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley made the
first "successful" underwater attack. It carried a crew of eight who
used hand cranks to power the propeller. The ship moved slowly through the
water at 4 knots (that's about 4 mph). Air was provided to the crew by two
four-foot pipes. There was enough air to be under water for only about 30
minutes. To attack, crewmen used a pole to push a torpedo out of the submarine
and toward the
Since then, great progress has been made in submarine technology. Today, submarines are still used mostly for military purposes, but scientists also use "submersibles" for research and to rescue people or objects that may be trapped thousands of feet below the surface.
On September 24, 1861, Lowe ascended to more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) near Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, and began telegraphing intelligence on the Confederate troops located at Falls Church, Virginia, more than three miles (4.8 kilometers) away. Union guns were aimed and fired accurately at the Confederate troops without actually being able to see them—a first in the history of warfare.
Dr. Richard J. Gatling, a
Early in September of 1862,
General Robert E. Lee careful laid out his plans for the Confederacy's first
invasion of the North. Along with sparing
During the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, the armies were aligned along a series of fortified positions and trenches more than 20 miles long, extending from the old Cold Harbor battlefield near Richmond all the way to areas south of Petersburg.
After Lee had checked Grant in an attempt to seize
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. If enough Union troops filled the breach quickly
enough and drove into the Confederate rear area, the Confederates would not be
able to muster enough force to drive them out, and
Digging began in late June, and progressed steadily. Earth was removed by hand, and the floor, wall, and ceiling of the mine were shored up with timbers from a local wood mill. The shaft was elevated as it moved toward the Confederate lines and fresh air was pumped in via an ingenious air-exchange mechanism near the entrance. This precluded the need for ventilation shafts and served well in disguising the diggers' progress. On July 17, the main shaft reached under the Confederate position. Rumors of a mine construction reached the Confederates, but despite countermining attempts, they were unable to discover it.
The mine was in a "T" shape. The approach shaft was 511 feet long. At its end, a perpendicular gallery of 75 feet extended in both directions. The Federals filled it with 320 kegs of gunpowder, totaling 8,000 pounds. The explosives were approximately 20 feet underneath the Confederate works. On July 28, the mine was completed.
On the morning of July 30, 1864, Pleasants lit the fuse. After no explosion occurred at the expected time, two brave 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 280 and 350 Confederate soldiers were instantly killed in the blast.
The plan was doomed from the start, however, due to
Meade's interference on the day before the battle. Burnside had trained a
division of United
States Colored Troops (USCT) under Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero to lead the assault. They were trained
to move around the edges of the crater and then fan out to extend the breach in
the Confederate line. Then, Burnside's two other divisions, made up of white
troops, would move in, supporting Ferrero's flanks
and race for
Meade, who lacked confidence in the operation, ordered Burnside not to use the black troops in the lead assault, thinking the attack would fail and the black soldiers would be killed needlessly, creating political repercussions in the North. Burnside protested to General Grant, who sided with Meade. Complying with the order, but showing a remarkable lack of professionalism, Burnside selected a replacement white division by having the commanders draw lots. Brig. Gen. James F. Ledlie's 1st Division was selected, but he failed to brief the men on what was expected of them and was reported during the battle to be drunk, well behind the lines, providing no leadership.
Ledlie's untrained white division went across the field to the crater and, instead of moving around it, yielded to their curiosity and 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. Soon, they had formed up around the crater and began firing 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.
The Confederates reported losses of 1,032 men in the battle, while Union losses were estimated at 5,300. About half of them were from Ferrero's division, to which many of the Confederates offered no quarter (so vicious were the Confederates in targeting the black soldiers that white Union soldiers in the crater began shooting their black comrades to diffuse the Confederate rage). Burnside was relieved of command. Although he was as responsible for the defeat as was Burnside, Meade escaped censure. As for Mahone, the victory, won largely due to his efforts in supporting Johnson's stunned men, earned him a lasting reputation as one of the best young generals of Lee's army in the war's last year.
Despite the battle being a tactical Confederate victory, the strategic situation in the Eastern Theater remained unchanged. Both sides remained in their trenches and the siege continued.
DID YOU KNOW?
Hanging Rock Was Surprising Confederate Victory
By John Long
The recent dedication of
The trail commemorates the Battle of Hanging Rock in
June of 1864. As Civil War battles go, it was a minor affair, which certainly
did not turn the tide of the war. Nonetheless, it is a notable piece of local
history, being a surprising Confederate victory late in the war and the only
actual engagement in
The story of the battle begins actually in Lynchburg
some days before, where Union General David Hunter had made a two day attempt
to break through southern defenses and cut the vital railroad link in that
town. The outnumbered Confederate forces had repulsed Hunter's
An interesting coincidence saved
Hunter was aware that his retreat (the Great
Skedaddle, as Confederate forces called it) was being doggedly pursued by rebel
generals Jubal Early and John McCausland.
He therefore hastened out of
McCausland, a former colleague of Stonewall Jackson at VMI, had
the potential to inflict significant damage on Hunter's forces, but a delay in
getting his orders from Early, and a failure by other officers to reinforce his
attack, meant that he could only hit the rearguard of Hunter's troops, and
could only hold the gap for a short while. Even so, the Confederates managed to
kill, capture, or wound about 100 Union men (numbers vary greatly), and capture
or destroy several artillery pieces, as well as valuable supply wagons. Mason's
Creek, according to contemporary accounts, ran red with the blood of horses
killed in the engagement. McCausland soon was forced
to retreat, however, when Union cavalry (led by none other than the same
William Averell who had raided
The Battle of Hanging Rock is notable for another bit
of trivia: two of the Union soldiers would go on to assume the presidency after
the war: Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. Some sources also put James