The Washington herald., 1914-07-30

herVedr stood with their watches in their
hands listening for the expected explo-
sion. Minutes passed. and II didn't come
Hrant stood with one hand on a tree
Iuhk' watching the growing dawn, his
lips compressed. his manner grim. The
great labors OF his campaign might end
that day in a brilliant stroke Of victory.
II was a trying time.
AT last 1t became evident that some
tping was wrong with the mine An
onicer rode to learn the cause Of the
ldelay.
At the mouth OF the long gallery lead
Ing TO the mine he found a knot of Of
ncers- The fuse had proven defective.
An enlisted man. Sergeant Henry Reese.
or the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, know
Ing that TO enter the gallery might mean
death, had volunteered to crawl in and
/ locate the trouble. He was gone some
| time. when an officer OF the same regi-
ment, Lieut.. Jacob Douty. entered the
gallery to find him. He met Reese com
ing out The fuse was defective at a
point where 1t had been spliced. The fire
had stopped there. Fresh material was
secured and together these two brave
men mended the fuse. At 40 It was
| lighted.
Gen. Grant. who had been looking at
his watch for perhaps the hundreth time,
was just returning II to his pocket when
dull roar and a trembling Of the earth
told him that the mine had been sprung
March Into the Crater.
To the 2.OOO men crouching behind the
Federal works in sight on the mine. the
explosion was an swe-inspiring thing.
They saw the earth rise for an instant
as II swelling. then burst into a column
Of solid matter shot with flames throw
ing of debris in which could be dis
cerned guns, carriages, pieces Of timber,
Jumps of clay, bodies OF men: then smoke
and dust spread from the mass, making
III appear like an inverted cone with A
cloud at the top.
In a few seconds the mass fell II
seemed to be falling on the Federal lines
and the men shrunk from Il: but its fail
was around the spot where the mine had
been. and where now was a great hole
like a trench, with its sides smooth and
its edges piled high with earth and
debris.
For a few minutes, perhaps ten, the
Federals were too much stunned to be-
gin action. Then the men pulled them
selves together. The supreme moment
had now come for putting to the touch The
whole great enterprise Of the mine
Gen. Ledlie's brigadiers gave orders for
the advance. and the first brigade be-
gan to move out OF the works as best Il
might, slowly and in confusion. by twos
and threes, over the distractions This
was a fine brigade, composed Of the
Twenty-frst Twenty-ninth, Thirty-fifth,
Fifty-siXth. Fifty-seventh and Fifty-ninth
Massachusetts, Regiments and the Tooth
Pennsylvania Regiment. II was COM
manded by Gen. W. F. Bartlett. Of Mas
sachusetts, a natural fighter, who had
lost leg in the service. but who hob
bled forward. with a wooden leg. leading
his men
Had this brigade avoided the crater IL
could have marched into Petersburg. In
obedience to its orders from Gen. Ledlie
Once there, 1t found itself in a hole
twenty-five feet deep, $50 feet long and
sixty feet wide, parallel in a general
direction to the Federal works
Its sides were so steep a man could
not climb them readily. Its bottom was
jammed with debris and great blocks Of
clay. Half buIied men cried piteousN 70.
help. Nearly 800 had been blown up by
the mine, most Of them as they slept OF
these 1t was later found that eighty-six
of the Eighteenth South Carolina Regi- |
ment, 1T0 Of the Twenty-second South |
Carolina and twenty-five Of Programs |
battery were killed.
In the close confines of the crater Gen.
Bartlett's brigade lost its formation, and |
It's power OF motion or offensive action. |
Behind it came the Second Brigade-the |
Second Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, |
the Fourteenth New York Heavy ArtiI- |
lery and the 18th New York Infantry-l
under Col Z. C. Marshall Their pres
ence added to the congestion, the con-
fusion and the paralysis Of the force that
now filled the crater.
Golden Opportunity Lost.
In the fist half-hour following the ex-
plosion the enemy scarcely fired a shot
The golden opportunity for taking Peters,
burg lay in that half-hour. II was lost
through the inability Of the Federals to
get out of their own works, and to form
or move forward after getting out quick
ly enough to take their fortune at the
flood.
By the time Gen. Potter's division had
followed Gen. Ledlie's, and Gen. Will
cox's, Gen. Potter's-each adding a few
more men to the>now seething mass in
the crater-it was too late to grasp the
prize. The enemy was recovering from
the staggering blow OF the mine. and
was bringing cannon and muskets to
bear on the crater, and on either side
Of II, where the men of Wilcox and Pot
ter attempted to take the works which
at first had been abandoned for a space
Of 800 yards on either side Of the mine
Part Of these works were gained. but