The Camden daily journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1864-1864, 1864-08-12

jsfydA Aas NorigEsi xcssSag one sararo, nargsd
at advertising rates. Fl :. h. asl
Transient a EdyereseInents and Job Wor4 MJ ISL BR
PAID FOR IN ADVANCE 81 81 ses { 4.
No deductions made except TO our res vs'tss
ing patrons
The Yanifce Mine AT PetarabHrS. i
correspondent of the NsY Z erk Herald,
attached Il s Ninth Army corps thus de
scribss tie eepining operations atP Peters q e
burg s. 5i4s. a
The work was commenced on the 25tf ef
3 June last, as previously stated. Such was tho
secrecy y It'll which il WAS condpcted that for 4
I long time the project was unknown even, to
those st whose.side it Fss going on. Tits true,
that orsswersin circulation of mine; but
nobody could spsak certainly of the mattel.
Somach doubt was there, indeed that. for 4
time 1t was disbsfeiyed that any such lnderts:
king was on foot One soldier in the breast.
works, BY wholesale sentilating shaft emerged,
told his comrades; in the most surprised man,
nsr, that stthers was a lot of ellc#ssihder him
doing something g::;he knew there was, ioE he.
could hear 'eht talk sss ssi +.
81 To guard against ittdescretien eii tie parttef
the pickets, to present any meeting Of our Sol
diers with tho Go6feaei whereby thesecret
Of tie mine might be .boastinsly uaehtly
Sdissiose ON InrIll 10 fEs cor.
tinualIa. Hence the neser-ending fusilade on,
the front of,the Ninth corps; 50 Incompetent
sible to the other corps, aud which was often
referred to in newspaper paragraphs Ihc,en-
emy, doubtless, suspected at fret that the an
dermining was going on; bat when several
weeks elapsed without any demonstration, their
suspicious begas to vanish, especially as their
engineers thought the plan ,unfeasible.
The progress, oftbc work was necessarily
very slow, and it was not until the 25th ofJuly
Just one month from inception-that itb was
completed. AAtrthe outset one Of the most i'm
portant points was to ascertain the exact dis
tance and bearing Of the Confederate fort
The excavation was commenced in the side
of the hill where an exterior line of works run.
The tunnel, or, to use the techirial term, "gal-.
lerv," is about four and half feet bigh nearly
as many feet wide at the bottom, and two feet
wide at the top. The usual army pick was not
suited to the work, as its fukes were too broad
to permit their swinging in the tunnel. This
difficulty was easily overcome by filing down
the fuSes e the size Of the regular miping
picks. Water was met with not far from the
advance, and'for time gave,no little trouble.
The floor, however, was planked, and the sides
and cealing showed up. A quicksand was met
witL, and to obviate it the range Of tunnel was
curved upwards, so that the latter half was
several. feet higher than at the entrance. The
oozing of the water formed mud in several
places, so that the regiment came from their
daily labor bespattered and stained.
J, At length tue end was reached, and the tri-
angalation was sbundsrtly verified in the noises
overhead. The mailing on timber and planks
could be distinctly heard, aud left no doubt
that themen were directly beneath the Con-,
federate fort The enemy were evidently max
.ing flooring for their artillery. As near as
could be ascertained the distance from the tun:
mel to. the fort was Twenty feet. .
After it was sufficiently evident that point
directly under the fort was reached the con-
struction of the mine was commenced. The
anglepfthe5fort projects towards ourlines, and
under this angle the tunnel diverged into two
galleries, each ruRniDg, as near as could be as-
certained under each side. Itwas the inten-
tion to make them mine consist Of, eight mage
zines, placed at intervals along these branch
galleries, SO that the entire length of the fort
might be blown up IN place of one spot.
Preliminary experiments were made by: Col
onerP Pleasapfs with cartridges Of powder, which
be inserted in the earth and ignited by a fuse.
he ascertained that thework ofmaking a breach
would be more e6ectualy secured by distribu-