Battle of the Crater and Related Topics

William Mahone

American civil engineer, railroad executive, Confederate States Army general, and Virginia politician.

Share of the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio RR from 1871, signed by William Mahone as president

Mahone mausoleum at Blandford Cemetery, identified by its "M" insignia

He was best known for regaining the initiative at the late war siege of Petersburg, Virginia while Southern troops were in shock after a huge mine/load of black powder kegs was exploded beneath them by tunnel-digging former coal miner Union Army troops resulting in the Battle of the Crater in July 1864; his counter-attack turned the engagement into a disastrous Union defeat.

Petersburg, Virginia

Independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.

Petersburg, Va., from Duns Hill, c. 1880.

Intersection of Sycamore and Bollingbrook

U.S. Engineer Battalion, during the Siege of Petersburg, August 1864

South Side Railroad Depot on Rock Street which served as the office of William Mahone when his Readjustor Party dominated Virginia politics.

The city market that has been preserved and is still used as a market.

The former U.S. Customs House, now serving as the Petersburg City Hall

The 1864–65 Siege of Petersburg, which included the Battle of the Crater and nine months of trench warfare devastated the city.

IX Corps (Union Army)

Corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War that distinguished itself in combat in multiple theaters: the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

The IX Corps was prominently connected with the siege because of its role in the infamous Battle of the Crater, in which a lengthy mine shaft was dug from its line to under the Confederate works.

Cold Mountain (film)

2003 epic period war film written and directed by Anthony Minghella.

Three years later, Inman fights in the Battle of the Crater and survives.

Ambrose Burnside

American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor and industrialist.

Burnside (seated, center) and officers of the 1st Rhode Island at Camp Sprague, Rhode Island, 1861

Engraving of General Burnside in full dress uniform

Burnside's grave in Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island

Studio photograph of Gen. Ambrose Burnside taken sometime between 1860 and 1862. Photograph shows his unusual sideburns.

Equestrian monument in Burnside Park, Providence, Rhode Island.

He was responsible for some of the earliest victories in the Eastern theater, but was then promoted above his abilities, and is mainly remembered for two disastrous defeats, at Fredericksburg and the Battle of the Crater (Petersburg).

The "Dictator" siege mortar at Petersburg. In the foreground, the figure on the right is Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac.

Siege of Petersburg

Series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War.

Fredericksburg, Virginia; May 1863. Soldiers in the trenches. Trench warfare would appear again more infamously in World War I

Siege of Petersburg, assaults on June 15–18

Siege of Petersburg, movements against the railroads and A.P. Hill's counterattack, June 21–22

"Dictator" siege mortar on the U.S. Military Railroad at Petersburg

Siege of Petersburg, Battle of the Crater, July 30

Sketch of the explosion seen from the Union line.

Second Battle of Deep Bottom, August 14–20

Siege of Petersburg, capture of the Weldon Railroad, August 18–19

Siege of Petersburg, actions on October 27

Siege of Petersburg, actions preceding Five Forks

Grant's final assaults and Lee's retreat (start of the Appomattox Campaign)

<center>Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson</center>

<center>Brig. Gen. August Kautz</center>

Fascine Trench Breastworks, Petersburg, Va. – NARA – 524792. Although identified as Confederate Trenches this is actually Union Fort Sedgwick aka "Fort Hell" which was opposite Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damnation"<ref>Civil War talk Forum</ref>

Union Army 9th Corps attacking Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damanation" sketch by Alfred Ward.

Confederate artilleryman killed during the final Union assault against the trenches at Petersburg. Photo by Thomas C. Roche, April 3, 1865.<ref>Frassanito, p. 360.</ref><ref>See website Petersburg Project on location of Many of the Roche photographs at Petersburg April 1865</ref> Although prints of this picture list it as being taken at Ft Mahone, historians at the "Petersburg Project" believe it was taken at Confederate Battery 25<ref>Dead Artilleryman comments Petersburg Project</ref>

Smoke is still rising from the ruins of Richmond, Virginia after surrendering on April 3, 1865 following the Union victory at the siege of Petersburg. Union cavalry mounts with carbines visible are hitched in the foreground.

It also featured the war's largest concentration of African-American troops, who suffered heavy casualties at such engagements as the Battle of the Crater and Chaffin's Farm.

United States Colored Troops

The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units.

USCT soldiers at an abandoned farmhouse in Dutch Gap, Virginia, 1864

Colored Troops singing "John Brown's Body" as they marched into Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1865. Note the attitude of the local population, and the white officers.

Union soldier in uniform with family; he has been identified as Sgt. Samuel Smith of the 119th USCT

Escaped slave, Gordon (also called "Whipped Peter"), in USCT uniform

Captain Francis Jackson Meriam, 3rd South Carolina Colored Infantry

U.S. Colored Troops medal issued by General Benjamin Butler

African-American corporal (United States Colored Troops)outside 8 Whitehall Street, Atlanta, a slave auction house; Fall 1864

Printed broadside, calling all men of color to arms, 1863

Sgt Major Christian Fleetwood. Civil War, Medal of Honor recipient

Harriet Tubman with family and ex-slaves; sitting at left is Tubmans 2nd husband Nelson Davis (8th USCT veteran)

The most famous USCT action took place at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg.

Army of the Potomac

The principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.

The Army of the Potomac – Our Outlying Picket in the Woods, 1862

Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac, drawn by Thomas Nast, Harper's Weekly, October 10, 1863

Saint Patrick's Day celebration in the Army of the Potomac, depicting a steeplechase race among the Irish Brigade, March 17, 1863, by Edwin Forbes

Scouts and guides, Army of the Potomac, Mathew Brady

Headquarters of the 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac, at the home of Col. Avery near Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864. Photograph by Mathew Brady. From the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Richmond–Petersburg Campaign, including the Battle of the Crater: Grant/Meade

George Meade

United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.

Meade photographed by Mathew Brady or Levin C. Handy

Commanders of the Army of the Potomac, Gouverneur K. Warren, William H. French, George G. Meade, Henry J. Hunt, Andrew A. Humphreys, and George Sykes in September 1863

General Meade's headquarters, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Engraving by James E. Kelly of George G. Meade and the Council of War at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863

General Meade's headquarters, Culpeper, Virginia

Horse artillery headquarters in Brandy Station, Virginia, February 1864. Meade stands at the far right with Generals John Sedgwick and Alfred Torbert, along with staff officers.

Generals George G. Meade, Andrew A. Humphreys and staff in Culpeper, Virginia outside Meade's headquarters, 1863

General Meade and other generals of Army of the Potomac in Washington, D.C., June 1865

General George G. Meade and staff in Washington, D.C. in June 1865

George Meade tombstone in Laurel Hill Cemetery

George Gordon Meade Memorial, sculpted by Charles Grafly, located in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C.

General Meade lived at 1836 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, and died in the house, 1872, according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker in front.

A monument to Meade by sculptor Henry Kirke Bush-Brown, on the Gettysburg Battlefield, located close to the point where Pickett's Charge was repulsed.

Equestrian statue in Philadelphia, designed by Alexander Milne Calder, located in Fairmount Park, which Meade was the commissioner of following the war.

The resulting Battle of the Crater was one of the great fiascoes of the war.

Edward Ferrero

One of the leading dance instructors, choreographers, and ballroom operators in the United States.

He also served as a Union Army general in the American Civil War, being most remembered for his conduct unbecoming in the Battle of the Crater (July 1864), where he was reported to have been drinking with another general behind the lines as both their units were virtually destroyed.