YotoKiller
Warlord
- Joined
- May 14, 2004
- Messages
- 235
On the 25th of June, 1865 a group of Union soldiers began to dig a tunnel from their trenches, 500 feet from the Rebel earthworks at outskirts of the strategic town of Petersburg. The Union soldiers had all come from a mining area of Pennsylvania and were experienced miners. Colonel Henry Pleasents plan was as ingenious as it was fool-proof or so it seemed.
A mine was to be dug under the Confederate stronghold of Elliots Salient. It was to be filled with kegs of gunpowder and set to explode at 3:30 a.m. on July 30, 1864. Immediately following the explosion, Ferrero's division would charge, with the First Brigade sweeping left and right to clear the Confederate trenches and the Second Brigade to follow pushing straight through the crater to secure Cemetery Hill.
On July 28th the mine had been completed. The first mistake made was the amount of gun powder needed to blow the Confederate defenses. The Union engineers placed 320 Kegs of gunpowder (almost 5 tons of explosive) in the mine. Nearly 5 times the amount needed.
The attack was to be led by General James H. Ledlie, a known drunk. The first assault was to be made by a Black regiment specially trained for this attack. But at the last minute they were replaced by a regular white regiment who had not been trained or even briefed on how to assault the trenches.
At 3:30 AM the fuse was lit by Colonel Pleasents. After a hour of waiting two soldiers were sent in to see if the fuse had broke. The fuse had burned out 10 feet from the explosives. The soldiers relit the fuse and scrambled back down the mine for cover.
Finally at 5:00 AM the 5 tons of explosives blew 20 feet below 300 sleeping Carolinian soldiers.
"First there came a deep shock and tremor of the earth and a jar like an earthquake," recalled Byron Cutcheon, with the 20th Michigan, "then a heaving and lifting of the fort and the hill on which it stood; then a monstrous tongue of flame shot fully two hundred feet into the air, followed by a vast column of white smoke, resembling the discharge of an enormous cannon; then a great spout or fountain of red earth rose to a great height, mingled with men and guns, timbers and planks, and every other kind of debris, all ascending, spreading, whirling, scattering and falling with great concussion to the earth.
"The earth seemed to tremble," noted one Alabama officer, "and the next instant there was a report that seemed to deafen all nature," A Virginia soldier stationed along the lines southwest of the explosion later wrote, "A deep rumbling sound, that seemed to rend the very earth in twain, startled me from my sleep, and in an instant I beheld a mountain of curling smoke ascending towards the heavens."
The explosion killed 278 of the 300 Carolinians manning the trenches. Many were buried alive. The blast left a huge egg-shaped crater 100 feet to 150 feet in length and 35 feet deep with vertical walls on the three side facing Petersburg.
The attack was planned to commence immediately following the explosion. But the Union forces hesitated from the shock and awe that the massive volume of the destruction the blast had caused. Eventually the shock was overcome and officers urged their men over the trenches.
From then on the passage of the lines went horribly wrong. Their orderly, brisk double time eventually gave way to a mad disorganized charge and instead of avoiding the crater, the line drove straight into it and against the vertical walls.
Wave after wave of Union troops kept pushing each other deeper into the hole. Dozens were crushed to death by the weight of 15,000 men pushing them against the wall of the crater. Officers tried desperately to get the men to turn around to no avail. Soon the whole pit was packed with around 4,000 trapped Union soldiers.
By this time Confederate survivors began digging them selves out of the dirt and rubble. They began recovering buried rifles, cannons and mortars. The Confederates began firing into packed mass of Union soldiers. Busted rifles were used as javelins and thrown randomly into the crater impaling the Union soldiers with their bayonets.
Then the panic sat in. The mass of soldiers began climbing over each other in attempts to climb out of the crater. Many suffocated under piles of dead and wounded men. Others were trampled to death by their comrades. Black and white soldiers were so tightly packed they were unable aim, much less load their rifles.
More and more confederate reinforcements showed up and showered their trapped and virtuously defenseless enemy with grape shot from cannons, mortar rounds, bullets and grenades. Enraged rebels refused the surrender attempts and continued the senseless slaughter. This day was the Jubilee of monsters in human shape and with out souls. As one Virginian soldier put it.
The rest of the Union forces out side of the crater eventually were able to push the Confederates out of the earthworks. But the initiative was lost and no ground was gained.
The fighting ended a day later. Of the 4,000 Union men who followed their officers into the crater, 3,700 never came out. Many were killed or taken prisoner. Others were not so fortunate. Around 1,000 black soldiers were killed, many after they had surrendered. Only 180 were given quarters as prisoners and only 7 survived Confederate prison camps. 500 defending Confederates were also killed and 1,000 wounded and the town of Petersburg remained in Rebel hands for another year. The crater along with the dead Union soldiers at its bottom was simply filled in.
After the fighting it was discovered that General James H. Ledlie had snuck of to his bunker before battle were he waited out the battle while becoming drunk on a bottle of gin.
A mine was to be dug under the Confederate stronghold of Elliots Salient. It was to be filled with kegs of gunpowder and set to explode at 3:30 a.m. on July 30, 1864. Immediately following the explosion, Ferrero's division would charge, with the First Brigade sweeping left and right to clear the Confederate trenches and the Second Brigade to follow pushing straight through the crater to secure Cemetery Hill.
On July 28th the mine had been completed. The first mistake made was the amount of gun powder needed to blow the Confederate defenses. The Union engineers placed 320 Kegs of gunpowder (almost 5 tons of explosive) in the mine. Nearly 5 times the amount needed.
The attack was to be led by General James H. Ledlie, a known drunk. The first assault was to be made by a Black regiment specially trained for this attack. But at the last minute they were replaced by a regular white regiment who had not been trained or even briefed on how to assault the trenches.
At 3:30 AM the fuse was lit by Colonel Pleasents. After a hour of waiting two soldiers were sent in to see if the fuse had broke. The fuse had burned out 10 feet from the explosives. The soldiers relit the fuse and scrambled back down the mine for cover.
Finally at 5:00 AM the 5 tons of explosives blew 20 feet below 300 sleeping Carolinian soldiers.
"First there came a deep shock and tremor of the earth and a jar like an earthquake," recalled Byron Cutcheon, with the 20th Michigan, "then a heaving and lifting of the fort and the hill on which it stood; then a monstrous tongue of flame shot fully two hundred feet into the air, followed by a vast column of white smoke, resembling the discharge of an enormous cannon; then a great spout or fountain of red earth rose to a great height, mingled with men and guns, timbers and planks, and every other kind of debris, all ascending, spreading, whirling, scattering and falling with great concussion to the earth.
"The earth seemed to tremble," noted one Alabama officer, "and the next instant there was a report that seemed to deafen all nature," A Virginia soldier stationed along the lines southwest of the explosion later wrote, "A deep rumbling sound, that seemed to rend the very earth in twain, startled me from my sleep, and in an instant I beheld a mountain of curling smoke ascending towards the heavens."
The explosion killed 278 of the 300 Carolinians manning the trenches. Many were buried alive. The blast left a huge egg-shaped crater 100 feet to 150 feet in length and 35 feet deep with vertical walls on the three side facing Petersburg.
The attack was planned to commence immediately following the explosion. But the Union forces hesitated from the shock and awe that the massive volume of the destruction the blast had caused. Eventually the shock was overcome and officers urged their men over the trenches.
From then on the passage of the lines went horribly wrong. Their orderly, brisk double time eventually gave way to a mad disorganized charge and instead of avoiding the crater, the line drove straight into it and against the vertical walls.
Wave after wave of Union troops kept pushing each other deeper into the hole. Dozens were crushed to death by the weight of 15,000 men pushing them against the wall of the crater. Officers tried desperately to get the men to turn around to no avail. Soon the whole pit was packed with around 4,000 trapped Union soldiers.
By this time Confederate survivors began digging them selves out of the dirt and rubble. They began recovering buried rifles, cannons and mortars. The Confederates began firing into packed mass of Union soldiers. Busted rifles were used as javelins and thrown randomly into the crater impaling the Union soldiers with their bayonets.
Then the panic sat in. The mass of soldiers began climbing over each other in attempts to climb out of the crater. Many suffocated under piles of dead and wounded men. Others were trampled to death by their comrades. Black and white soldiers were so tightly packed they were unable aim, much less load their rifles.
More and more confederate reinforcements showed up and showered their trapped and virtuously defenseless enemy with grape shot from cannons, mortar rounds, bullets and grenades. Enraged rebels refused the surrender attempts and continued the senseless slaughter. This day was the Jubilee of monsters in human shape and with out souls. As one Virginian soldier put it.
The rest of the Union forces out side of the crater eventually were able to push the Confederates out of the earthworks. But the initiative was lost and no ground was gained.
The fighting ended a day later. Of the 4,000 Union men who followed their officers into the crater, 3,700 never came out. Many were killed or taken prisoner. Others were not so fortunate. Around 1,000 black soldiers were killed, many after they had surrendered. Only 180 were given quarters as prisoners and only 7 survived Confederate prison camps. 500 defending Confederates were also killed and 1,000 wounded and the town of Petersburg remained in Rebel hands for another year. The crater along with the dead Union soldiers at its bottom was simply filled in.
After the fighting it was discovered that General James H. Ledlie had snuck of to his bunker before battle were he waited out the battle while becoming drunk on a bottle of gin.
. I have studied this battle, being
. 'Trench'
.
. Probably not
.
You'll to fast foward to see the rest.
