Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1902-06-30


this city. who is now employed as a
telegraph operator at the Norfold
Navy Yard. is greatly interested in
Southern customs and people and has
written some attractive descriptive
letters to his Akron friends.
xHe has written, for the benefit Of
Akron's nany veterans Of the Civil
war. the Following description of
THE Crater" at Petersburg. Va, the
mere mention OF which brings back
to the minds of many veterans scene
Of awful carnage.
July, 1s64-July 1892.
Leaving Norfolk Decoration day
morning with my wife. I determined
to see this famous spot in the War of
the Rebellion. where through the in
competency of a Union officer. some
thing like 1000 men. were killed,
wounded. missing and taken prisoners.
and the war undoubtedly prolonged.
On our way we passed through
portion of the great Dismal Swamp.
Having with us 4 lady horned in Pc
tersburg." we were told a great many
things about the country and its peo-
for this lady, wife of our Methodist
pastor, for her father was one of the
boys in gray and he was, and is yet,
great exponent of the cause of the
South. and is very bitter towards the
treatment they received from the
Northern army, and he diligently i'll
stilled this into his children's minds.
while this lady was bitterly opposed
to. the: war, because of its cruelty. I
noted the=poorness Of the ground all
the way. which. to my mind, was the
poorest had ever seen. She said the
people had not yet got over the eff
fects Of the war, for they had to till
the ground for all it was worth. and
never put anything back on 1t. conse-
qucntly it steadily declined in fertil-
ity. However. there were some very
thrifty farmers here and there.
Petersburg is very charming place
from the standpoint of nature. for
there is n wealth of trees and natural
beauty. and was particularly charm
ed with the old ante-beIlum houses.
and the negro huts surrounded with
many flowers. not to be seen in negro
quarters in Norfolk.
So eager to get to the historic spot
wasI. that we did not stop for dinner,
but hoped to strike some country din
ner. Taking the car. we went out the
CfTnnt 70 ~ 1Ar
plank road, which all soldiers will re-
member. The car only runs a short
distance out of the city, so we had to
pile on and ride ''shank's horses" the
balance of the way to the crater
about one half mile
My surprise was indeed great to see
the lack of care shown in marking
the spots OF interest in that great bat
tie. One would think at least that the
residents of Petersburg. who took part
In the Confederate army. would mark
points of interest to them. but the
only things seen We're two sign boards
with advertisements on them to help
!. pay for the material and labor of put
ting them up. probably $40, with
marks on them telling where General
Malone passed on the morning of
July 30 after the mine was sprung.
on his way from the lead works to as
sist the Confederate General Elliott
and his men in keeping General Burn.
sides out of the break made by the
mine
No one would ever know that such
an historic spot lay there. unless he
had gone there with the express pur-
pose of finding it, for there is only a
small sign on the gate post that leads
TO an open field where the driveway.
or COW path takes you to the crater
"A sign says This way to the CRATER
These sign boards were only short
distance from the street car on the
Jerusalem plank road This road
crosses the ravine. an ideal covering
for Mahone's troops to march pro-
tected from the angry shells from
the Union guns planted mile away
on ridge south of this point.
8 The land. about IL or 20 acres. sur
rounding the ''eratcr," and also the
"crater" belong TO Mr. Griffin. who
+ was n lad of ten WHOM this battle oc-
Cured, and with his mother and fam
lily lived on the very farm on which
the "crater' is. He tells me that there
was not ar inch of plaster left oil thei-
house. so riddfed was IL with shot and
shell. This portion OF the land and
crater fell to him rs his share OF
the estate. and he charged 25c to see
the "crater," which he has surrounded
with small fence. and thanks to him il
has not been lnolested since that awful
day. liked to see the battle field as
wild and rough as possible. for il
seemed to me more real. However, IL
need not spoil the original state TO have
here and there stones marking the
strategical points. etc, but as is to
be expected with some of these people
they don't know a good thing when