page_title: Battle of the Crater
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Crater / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: photographichist03mill (find matches) Title: The photographic history of the Civil War&#160;: thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities Year: 1911 (1910s) Authors: Miller, Francis Trevelyan, 1877-1959 Lanier, Robert S. (Robert Sampson), 1880- Subjects: United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Pictorial works United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Publisher: New York&#160;: Review of Reviews Co. Contributing Library: New York Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: ing of the 18th, a general assault wasordered upon the whole Confederate front. The skirmishersmoved forward but found the works, where, on the precedingday, such desperate fighting had occurred, deserted. Duringthe night, Beam-egard liad successfully made a retrogrademovement. He had found the old line too long for the numberof his men and had selected a shorter one, from five hundred toone thousand yards to the rear, that was to remain the Con-federate wall of the city during tlie siege. But there were noentrenchments here and the weary battle-worn soldiers atonce set to work to dig them, for the j^robable renewal of thecontest. In the darkness and through the early morning hours,the men did witli wliatever they could find as tools—some withtheir bayonets, or split canteens, Avhile others used their hands.This was the beginning of those massive works that defied thearmy of Grant before Petersburg for nearly a year. By noon 102) June1864 ^^m 1^ 1 ^^ a ^•,%t; .•&gt;■: o V H/cl Text Appearing After Image: COPrRIGMT, 19t1, REVIEW OF HEViewS CO. WHAT EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS OF POWDER DID The Crater, torn by the mine within Elliotts Salient. At dawn of July 30, 1864, the fifty thousand Fed-eral troops waiting to make a charge saw a great mass of earth hurled skyward like a water-spout. As itspread out into an immense cloud, scattering guns, carriages, timbers, and what were once human beings,the front ranks broke in panic; it looked as if the mass were descending upon their own heads. The menwere quickly rallied; across the narrow plain they charged, through the awful breach, and up the heightsbeyond to gain Cemetery Ridge. But there were brave fighters on the other side still left, and delay amongthe Federals enabled the Confederates to rally and re-form in time to drive the Federals back down thesteep sides of the Crater. There, as they struggled amidst the horrible debris, one disaster after anotherfell upon them. Huddled together, the mass of men was cut to pieces by the canister poured Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the Siege of Petersburg. It took place on July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade.
  After weeks of preparation, on July 30, Union forces exploded a mine in Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps sector, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg, Virginia. From that propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where soldiers milled in confusion. Grant considered the assault "the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war."
  The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Brig. Gen. William Mahone. The breach was sealed off, and Union forces were repulsed with severe casualties. Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero's division of black soldiers were badly mauled. It may have been Grant's best chance to end the Siege of Petersburg. Instead, the soldiers settled in for another eight months of trench warfare.
context_section_description: Union casualties were 3,798 (504 killed, 1,881 wounded, 1,413 missing or captured), Confederate 1,491 (361 killed, 727 wounded, 403 missing or captured). Many of the Union losses were suffered by Ferrero's division of the United States Colored Troops. Both black and white wounded prisoners were taken to the Confederate hospital at Poplar Lawn, in Petersburg. Meade brought charges against Burnside, and a subsequent court of inquiry censured Burnside along with Brig. Gens. Ledlie, Ferrero, Orlando B. Willcox, and Col. Zenas R. Bliss. Burnside was never again assigned to duty. Although he was as responsible for the defeat as Burnside, Meade escaped immediate censure. However, in early 1865, the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War exonerated Burnside and condemned Meade for changing the plan of attack, which did little good for Burnside, whose reputation had been ruined. As for Mahone, the victory, won largely because of his efforts in supporting Johnson's stunned men, earned him a lasting reputation as one of the best young generals of Lee's army in the last years of the war.
  Grant wrote to Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck, "It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war." He also stated to Halleck, "Such an opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen and do not expect again to have."
  Pleasants, who had no role in the battle itself, received praise for his idea and its execution. When he was appointed a brevet brigadier general on March 13, 1865, the citation made explicit mention of his role.
  Grant subsequently gave in his evidence before the Committee on the Conduct of the War:
  General Burnside wanted to put his colored division in front, and I believe if he had done so it would have been a success. Still I agreed with General Meade as to his objections to that plan. General Meade said that if we put the colored troops in front (we had only one division) and it should prove a failure, it would then be said and very properly, that we were shoving these people ahead to get killed because we did not care anything about them. But that could not be said if we put white troops in front."
  Despite the battle being a tactical Confederate victory, the strategic situation in the Eastern Theater remained unchanged. Both sides remained in their trenches, and the siege continued.
caption: Result of the 8,000-lbs. of powder explosion under the Salient, 1865
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