Richmond is surrounded by historic battlefield sites from the Civil War, Cold Harbor, Seven Pines, Yellow Tavern, Malvern Hill, but in the closing days of the war the action shifted south to Petersburg where Union and Confederate forces dug in for 9 months of trench warfare. Grant extended his lines, Lee extended his line. The only difference, Grant had unlimited reinforcements, Lee had none. Both Lee and Grant tried to break this stalemate many times. Perhaps the most dramatic and terrible battle that took place was the Battle of the Crater.
For several weeks in June and July, Pennsyvania miners dug a tunnel under the Confederate lines. When completed it was packed with explosives. Specially troops trained for the attack were replaced at the last minute and the result was disaster. The explosion devestated Confederate lines and instead of entering the breach and spreading out, these new troops ran smack into the wall and piled up at the bottom of the crater. Thousands of these troops were slaughtered by Lee's soldiers as they rush back to the front and found there enemy helpless. Certain victory again was turned to defeat and the war continued another nine months.
This Saturday and Sunday, Petersburg National Battlefield will be remembering these events with special talks, living history programs and battle field tours. The remains of the crater and tunnel can still be seen. It is worth the trip down to Petersburg to see the battlefield. There are many of sites worth visiting nearby, such as City Point in Hopewell, where 150,000 Union forces were headquarted and Grant, Lincoln and Sherman plotted the end of the war. Petersburg Old Town has many restaurants, cafes and galleries to visit while you are there.
Petersburg National Battlefield NPS Site
City Point
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3 comments:
During a civil war course I took in college, as I recall I learned that the "special troops" that the Union sent in through the tunnel were the black regiments, who were left to be slaughtered like fish in a barrel in the Crater that was created -- Yet another dirty little fact about the poor treatment of black soldiers by the Union forces.
Black troops were trained and slated to lead the charge, but were replaced at the last minute by white troops who did not know how to fan out inside the crater. The black troops were sent in as reinforcements. By that time the disaster was already in progress.
Southern troops were especially enraged by the use of black soldiers against them and no quarter was given. Frontal attacks were eventually abandoned and the long siege set in.
Of the vast tragedy of the conflict, the Battle of the Crater -- a rather euphemistic misnomer if ever there was one -- is one of the most horrific episodes.
It was a bad plan poorly executed and speaks to us now of the desperation of one side to end the war once-and-for-all and that of the other to hold on at all costs.
The film "Cold Mountain" can be faulted on many levels, but the opening sequences portraying the Crater -- using that "Saving Private Ryan" approach which by making battlefields scenes appear more realistic makes them less so-- nonetheless portrayed the utter horror of the event. (And if you ignore a few glimpses of elaborately decorated Bulgarian cannon, due to the location shoot).
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