James H . Ledlie James Hewett Ledlie ( April 14 , 1832 – August 15 , 1882 ) was a civil engineer for American railroads and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He is best known for his dereliction of duty at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg . Early life . Ledlie was born in Utica , New York . His obituary in the New York Times claimed he graduated from Union College , Schenectady , New York , but the college has no record of his attendance there . He worked as a civil engineer on the Erie Canal and in railroad construction . Civil War . Shortly after the start of the Civil War , Ledlie was appointed major of the 19th New York Infantry , which was subsequently renamed the 3rd New York Artillery regiment . The history of this regiment was marred by a mutiny at the expiration of its original term of service . Ledlie was promoted to colonel , in December 1861 , and was promoted to brigadier general in command of the Artillery Brigade of the Department of North Carolina in December 1862 . ( His appointment expired in March 1863 for lack of Senate confirmation , but he was reappointed in October 1863 and later confirmed . ) For the next year and a half , he served primarily in garrison positions with North Carolina coastal artillery emplacements and in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina . Just after the start of Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant ' s Overland Campaign in 1864 , Ledlie transferred to the Army of the Potomac , commanding a brigade in Maj . Gen . Ambrose Burnside ' s IX Corps . He assumed command of the 1st Division on June 9 . It was in this command that his brief military career was ruined . During the Siege of Petersburg , former coal miners in Burnside ' s corps devised an ingenious plan to lift the stalemate by digging a 511 - foot tunnel under the Confederate lines , and filling the end of the tunnel with four tons of gunpowder . On July 30 , 1864 , they detonated the explosives , creating a crater some 135 feet in diameter that remains visible to this day . Some 250 to 350 Confederate soldiers were instantly killed in the blast . The Union plan was to exploit the explosion by sending well - rehearsed African - American troops of Edward Ferrero ' s division into the gap and driving for critical objectives deep in the Confederate rear area . The plan was modified at the last minute , however , due to political concerns about the effect the black troops would have on the Confederate soldiers and the public in general . Burnside , despondent at the change in plans , resorted to a lottery to select a replacement division . Ledlie drew the short straw and disaster resulted . He did not brief his troops beforehand and they entered the crater out of curiosity instead of moving safely around its rim , as Ferrero ' s division had been trained to do . Unable to exit the steep sides of the crater , they were slaughtered by Confederates firing down on them . Over 5 , 300 Union troops were casualties in the ill - fated battle that achieved none of its objectives . But most damning for Ledlie ' s reputation was the fact that he did not lead , or even accompany , his men into battle . He and Ferrero were observed behind the lines in a bunker , drinking liquor . Ledlie was criticized by a court of inquiry into his conduct that September and , in December , he was effectively dismissed from the service by Maj . Gen . George G . Meade , on orders from Gen . Grant . He formally resigned his commission on January 23 , 1865 . Postbellum career . Ledlie resumed his career as a railroad civil engineer in the West and South . He participated in the construction of the transcontinental railroad as an employee of the Union Pacific . He also worked on constructing the Nevada Central Railroad line from Battle Mountain , Nevada to Austin , Nevada , racing to get the 92 - mile line built in half a year to meet a deadline before a bond issue expired . His crews got within 2 miles of the city limits of Austin before the deadline , and at the last minute town officials quickly extended the city limits to meet the tracks . Ledlie died in New Brighton , Staten Island , and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery , Utica , New York .