The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-09-22
loss Of life. Col. Peasants, Of the 4sth

Pa, lying directly in front of this Confed-
crate fort. conceived the plan of running
the mine. Gen. Grant gave Gen. burnside
permission 10 go ahead with il, and also
the right to formulate plan of attack.
During the three weeks the digging was
being done Geu. Meade ridiculed the idea.
and said ii was "ail claptraP and non-
sense Col. Peasants testified before the
Court of Inquiry that the picks. shovels.
wheelbarrows, etc, at army headquarters
were refused him.
Comrade Wells, i'm his article. says: "Ai!
the excuses l have ever read or heard
leave the impression upon my mind that
somebody in high authority was deter
mined that the movement should fail"
l have always had the same experience,
and entertained the same idea.
Gen. Grant said: Il blame every COM
handing officer from myself down for the
failure to take Petersburg that day
Gen Burnside had selected his troops
and drilled them TO do specific work. at
the Crater-On reaching il turn 10 the right
and the left and drive the enemy from the
intricate works Astounding. The troops
that were to follow would then have 4
clear field to quickly dash for Cemetery
Hill
July %. in the afternoon. few hours
before the battle, when the mine was all
completed and the whole thing looked
favorable for grand success. Gen. Meade
| and assumed control. changing the al
ready drilled troops for others that knew
nothing of what was expected of them.
and would not allow troops to stop at the
Crater to fight the enemy from the works
Astounding. My regiment. the I'd Pa. Prov.
II. a., being in the lead. had great diff
Guilty in climbing over the Union works
and then through the chevaux-de -frise.
wide pits. and large blocks of clay at the
Crater. Col. Barney, Of my regiment.
urged the most of my regiment forward on
the right flank of the Crater and out be-
yond on the plain.
To settle this matter once for all.
wish to quote from the War of the Re-
belliOn Official Records. Vol. HI. part /,
page 527. Gen. Burnside's statement be-
fore the Court of Inquiry convened to in
vestigate the mine failure as follows:
Their regimental organizations Were
broken, and their officers undertook to re-
form before advancing. One regiment. the
I'd Pa. Prov. III. A., advanced some 100
yards beyond the Crater, but not being
supported by the other regiments in the
lead. the I'd Pa. fell back"
No doubt the above evidence was given
by Gen. Burnside to prove that Gen.
Meade was in error in ordering the lead
ing regiment to charge straight through
| and on to Cemetery Hill without first stop
ping to drive the enemy from the intricate
nv I'D Pa regiment, was severely wound
ed rs well as others of my regiment ont on
the plain beyond the fort. The explosion
did not brighten the enemy from those
works fianking the rebel fort. Burnside
says my regiment was not supported. The
reason was that the other regiment of my
brigade charged into the Crater and COM
| menced to remount n Confederate cannon
thrown over by the explosion. The above
is strictly true and common history.
Don't take my word for the above but
please look into Vol. Nj, Part 1. page
81 of the "War of the Rebellion Official
Records" and learn for yourself. / refer
to my brigade commanders report of the
Crater fight.
My regiment went into the Wilderness
fight with 1.400 men, and on September ;,
1864, was relieved from Petersburg front
with only $50 men remaining.
On page 80 of the same volume of the
War of the Rebellion Records will be
found the I'd Pa. Prov. losses in Gen.
June II, 1864, as follows: Killed. two
officers and 80 men; wounded. six officers
| and 1871 men; and only Ii men missing
Total. 247
In the afternoon of the Goth. the day
before the Crater fight my regiment was
| relieved from the front line of rifle pits
after being on this firing line for six DAYS
by hard service and loss of sleep. Then,
after few hours it was massed in the
front line of battle to lead the charge at
| the Crater fight. We were not informed as
| to what was expected of us. In fact. dis
appointment, apathy. and Indifference had
set in from Gen. Burnside down to the
Colonies from the minute Gen. Meade had
peremptorily changed Gen. Burnside's
| we!l-laid plan. From that moment disas-
ter was assured
Comrade Wells also says: ION that
bright Summer morning. had the word
been given, men would have rushed over
| the breastworks from the Crater TO Fort
He'll (Sedgwick) on the left. because they
saw a chance to win opened up before
them"
Comrade Wells means that his corps
fWarren's Fifth lay on the left of the
Crater clear down to the Globe Tavern
inactive. Gen. Burnside wanted 10 order
Warren's troops in, but Gen. Meade said
mo" Hancock's old veterans (the Second
Corps had a position on the right of the
Crater, and if strong demonstrations had
been made on these TANKS to prevent Gen.
Lee from Withdrawing his veteran troops
from Warren's and Hancock's fronts and
| concentrating them on Burnside's troops
at the Crater the result would have been
far different Yes, somebody in authority
was at fault. Why smirch Gen Burnside
and the rank and file of his tired and
WORKOUT regiments?
| am sorry to be obliged to take excep-
tions TO some of Mr. Swinton's canclu-
sions in his History of the Army of the
Potomac"
In his account Of the Crater fight he
keeps perfectly silent on the fact that Gen
Meade interfered in any way or changed
Gen. Burnside's plan. He also keeps silent
| on the fact that Meade would not order
Warren and Hancock in. or allow them to
make some slight demonstrations He does
not even hint that Meade did wrong bat
goes into detail to prove that Gen Grant
was in error in allowing the Ninth Corps
to make the assault and intimates that
this corps was made up of inferior troops.
In reading Mr.. Swinton's history one
can readily detect prejudicial vein run
ming all through it-even in criticizing
Gen. Grant.
In speaking of the inspecting officer of
the Ninth Corps Mr.. Swinton should have
more clearly said that this officer reported
against the First Division leading in the
charge at the Crater simply because the
morale Of this division was impaired from
hard and meritorious service from the
Wilderness through. Their ranks were
decimated and their health impaired. In
Gen. Burnside's original plan he chose the
cOlOred division because they were fresh
and had only done skirmshing and guard