The National tribune., 1899-09-28
CRATER FIGHT.
A Penns,- mia Comrades View Of the
Manner of At;aclsby tAo Union Troops.

Manner of At.aclrby the Union Troops.
EDITOR NATIoNAE TRIBUNE: read
with interest Capt Boxley's story OF "A
Boy Lieutenant. in y Black Regiment" In
that part of his article giving an account OF
the Crater fight in front of Petersburg.
July 80, 1864, he speaks about the Second
Brigade, First Division, Ninth Corps, and
states:
ION our side the mentmeaning the white
brigade) were masseds behind the outer
works and ordered to lie down. Wearied
and worn with hand dtfts, most OF the men
went to sleep"
Now that sort of a description of body
of soldiers who were maSSed in front OF an
enemy's fort to make an assault, the sol
diers fully aware that the fort was to be
blown up Immediately g a. n.y., reads very
nice to the civilian who knows nothing of
military operations, but to an old soldier
am sure it sounds most peculiar and queer.
was a member of the regiment forming
the front line. and being on the spot at the
time feel quite competent to state whether
the men of my regiment or my brigade were
asleep or even ordered to lie down. / deny
| both assertions. also deny thatthere was
Is minutes delay after the explosion. L
have read a great many articles on the
| Crater fight, and in no instance has the
| writer stated that the men were ordered to
lie down, nor that the men went to sleep.
| 1t is prepOSterous in face of the facts.
Capt Bowley fails to state very essen
tial point in connection with the massing
| of the leading brigade in front of the Crater;
viz, that the brigade was massed there at
| 3 a. m. to make a charge, knowing that the
| fuse would be ignited to blow up the fort
| Immediately; and especially to state to his
| readers that the fuse went out and that the
men stood eagerly watching for the ex-
plosiOn for nearly two hours, not knowing
| what the trouble was. 1t would be doing
justice to the leading brigade and also eX-
plain to his readers the real cause of the
peculiar action of the troops when the eX-
| plosion did take place. My exceptions are
not a caSe-as is often noticed in soldiers
statements of different movements-of
| seeing it with different eyes; they are
stubborn facts and are well known.
Mai. VIM. H. Marshall, who led the lead
| ing brigade (Second), First Division, Ninth
Corps in the Crater fight, gives one OF the
| most exhaustive and fair accounts of this
| fight ever written. 1t appeared n long
| while ago in the Century Magazine OF
September, 1887. fcopy small portion OF
| the article:
AT 3oclock a. m Ledlie's Division was
in position, Gen. +. r. Marshall, Second
| Brigade, in front, and that of Gen. W. f.
| Bartlett behind it, the men and officers i'll
| feverish state of expectancy. the ma Jorlty OF
them having been awake all night. Day
| light slowly came, and still they stood with
| every nerve strained, prepared to move for
word the instant an order should he given
| Half past four O'Clock came and the officers
and men began to get nervous, having been
| on their feet four long hours; still the mine
| had not been exploded.
1T was at this time that Gen. Iedlie di-
rected me to go to Gen. Burnside and report
| to him that the troops had been in readiness
| 10 move since 3 o'clock and to inquire the
cause of the delay of the explosion. |
| found Gen. Burnside in rear of the 14-gun
| battery, delivered my message, and received
| in reply from the General that there was
some trouble with the fuse dying out, but
| that an officer hadgone into the gallery to
| ignite it again, and the explosion would
| take place soon. 4 returned Immediately,
and just as ! arrived in rear of the First
Division, and before j could notify the
| Colonels of the leading regiments, the mine
was sprung.
1T was a magnificent spectacle, and as
the mass of earth went up into the air,
| carrying with it nfn, guns, carriages, and
timber, and spread out like an immense
cloud as it reachedits altitude, so close were
the Union lines that the mass appeared as
if it would descend Immediately upon the
leading regiments waiting eagerly to make
the charge. ThisGcaused the members of
the regiments to back into one another. and
minutes were consHmedin reforming for the
attack. Not much was lost by the delay,
however, as it took nearly that time for the
dense cloud Of dEst and smoke to pass of,
and ntgn the teadlng regiments advanced
promptly and with spirit.''T i5G ''t-'!SrsE'i
At II O'Clock a. m. an order was issued
and sent To the front that the battle was lost
and for the charging troops to be with
drawn. All the troops got back to the rear
except about 500 men, who remained in the
rebel works with Gems. Bartlett. HaTtranft
ard Marshall. This little band of brave
men fought the whole rebel army, who had
taken lodgnent around the Crater, up to
u m. These troops were mixture Of all
the different regiments belonging 10 the
Ninth Corps. No greater heroism or more
determination to hold a position was shown
in any instance during the war than by
this little band. 1t was the white troops
who barricaded a portion of the Crater walls,
using the dead bodies Of both Union and
Confederate soldiers. The Cenfederates
finally whitfield down two-thirds of the
brave band of 500 troops in killed and
wounded, and the officers concluded to
surrender, it then being 2 p. m.
The writer of this article was taken
prisoner at this time and confined at Libby
Prison 10 months. ] went into that fight
with 30 rounds Of cartridges, and by taking
from dead comrades cartridges boxes /
fired about 16O rounds during eight hours
fighting. Biting off paper cartridges on
an extremely hot July day in n southern
country without one mouthful OF water to
drink for eight hours was not conducive to
good feelings WILSON, I'd
Pa. Prov. II. A, Los GatoS, Cal.
UCTCp ANc IN Tur, ctTu