Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-08-12
THE GREAT EXPLOSION AT PETERS
BURG.
The Oper lions Of the 3Oth ult.
THE ASSAULT ITS CHARACTER AND
RESULTS. ,..

The Oper tIons Of the 3Oth ult.
THE ASSAULT = IT'S CHARACTER AND
RESULTS. %.
| IN. Y. Times Special Correspondence.l
HEADQUARTERS IN FRONT ARMY Potomac,
Saturday Evening. July ~, VA. J
I am called to the fulfillment OF an
ungracious task tonight. Instead OF
success and victory which the morning
fairly promised, l have to write OF disas-
ter and defeat. To-day's brief history
affords another striking proof of the un-
certain issues of battle, showing how the
shrewdest and most elaborate strategic
planning may be completely thwarted
by an error or an accident in tactics
To-day's disaster finds solution in the
old story that ''some one has blundered"
in a manner "worse than a crime" but
precisely who the blunderer is do not
know, and if I knew it would not de-
vOlve upon me at present to tell. A
military tribunal mustdecide that point.
Happily, however, the blunder is not
irreparable. 1t fills us with poignant
grief and disappointment, necessitates
long interval of delay before future OPP
eratiOns, has lost to us the labor OF a
months preparation, and worse than all
this, has sacrificed thousands of valu-
able lives. But the result does not dis
hearten the Army of the Potomac, and
it should not depress the people. The
soldiers who fought on Saturday have
received the baptism of blood on other
fields, and know how to bear reverses
manfully, as they bear successes modest
ly. They bate not jOt of heart or hope,
and they only ask, as the lesson to the
country from to-day's mishap, that their
thinned ranks shall be promptly REIN
forced. The army is still unfaltering in
its faith, and will try and try again until
the day of decisive victory.
With the passage of the James wasex-
hausted all possibilities of a movement
by the left flank, with Richmond as the
objective point. Nothing, therefore, re-
mained to Gen. Grant but to assault the
rebel lines in front of him at Petersburg.
| The past six weeks have been devoted to
preparation for this assault. From day
to day, by the aid of the shoveland pick,
our lines have been insidiOusly advanced
! by zig-zags and covered ways, until the
Quilting pickets of both armies have
scarcely averaged 500 yards distance be-
tween them. Along portions of the line,
the interval between the rifie-pits was
scarcely $50 yards. The ground over
which our advances have been made, is
vastly to the difficulty of taking possess
sion of it.
Collaterally, but in unison with the
advance of the infantry, every piece of
siege artillery posted along the line was
ordered to open simultaneously upon the
enemy at a given signal made by the ex-
plosiOn of a mine containing eight tons
of powder, which was placed directly
beneath the rebel battery which Burn
side was to assault. Not only were the
siege pieces to open fierce fire, but all
the field artillery which could be got in
| to position after the opening OF the bat
| tie, was to advance as opportunity offer
ed and bring their battery into play
Upon this awful fire of heavy guns it was
| natural that great stress should be
placed, in the expectation that the shock
of its suddenness would have demOral-
izing effect, and so make the way of the
infantry easier. So far all was well ar
| ranged, success was promising, and
much confidence was felt in the result.
The time fixed for the assault was 8!
o'clock, when, without any moon, an al
| most Cimmerian darkness would etfectu
ally shut out from the enemy the un-
avoidable stir and hustle of the troops as
they got into position. But just here the
| first misfortune of the day occurred
Upon attempting to fire the mine the
| fuse or slow match failed, and another
was tried, am told, with similar re-
suit. The third fuse was successful in
it's mission, but the hours delay made it
| broad daylight, and in consequence the
enemy's suspicious were aroused, (at
least along portion of his 'front.' and
we were robbed of the advantage of a
surprise.
This was very great misfortune. The
army felt it to be such as they stood in
suspense and silent Impotence in the
cold gray of the morning, crouching on
| their arms. Of the effect of the explo-
sion you have been already apprised.-
| The mine has been talked OF in the army
for weeks, but only talked of with bated
breath, although whisperings of it have
been waited over from the rebels. Clear
Iy they did not know it's precise locality,
and few on our side, suspect, were any
wiser.
The explosion fully accomplished what
was intended. 1t demolished the six
gun battery and its garrison of one reg
iment of South Carolina troops, and act
ed as the wedge which opened the way
to the assault. Our men were to rush
through this breach, and go beyond up
on the second line of works which crown
the crest of Cemetery Hill, thus COM
peliing the enemy to evacuate the first
line, or what was more probable, to sur
render under the fire of our artillery.
The awful instant of the explosion had
scarcely passed when the dull morning
air was made stagnant by the thunder
of our artillery. From ninety-fve
pieces, niched in every hillside COM
manding the enemy's position, there
belched out sheets of flame and milk
white smoke, while the shot and shell
sped forward, screeching, bowling, rum
bling like the rushing of hundred rail-
road trains. But why attempt to give
an idea of such an. indescribable and
awful sound? The sudden transition
from utter silence to fiercest clamOr was
terrible. So the huge combat ragged
without sign of slackening for two long
hours. At first the enemy was slow in
replying to our fire, but gradually their
pieces were brought into action, and in
Il less than half an hour banks of angry
smoke partially yelled the smoke from
both sides.
The 18th New York heavy artillery
were the first to enter the breach made
by the explosion. They bounded for
ward at the first word, in the midst of
the shock Of the artillery, through the
dense clouds of flying dust, and Chamber
violently pushed down into the yawn-
ing crater. The sight which there met
them must have been appalling. Bod
les of dead rebels crushed and mangled
out of all resemblance to humanity,
writhing forms partly buried, arms pro-
truding here and legs struggling there
a very hell of horror and torture, con-
fined to space of fifty feet in length
and half as many wide. But the time
was not favorable to the play of hu-
name promptings. Thechaos of mangled
humanity mixed with debris of imple-
ments and munitions of war must be
unheeded. Enough for the storming