Archives

For my real birthday today, I wore one of the birthday blouses Mom had given me and went to the National Archives to see theiir new exhibit on the Civil War. My reaction to it reminds me of a story that we told back in Colonial Heights High School. One of the guys worked at Crater National Park as a docent. The Park pays homage to a civil war battle where the 48th Union Regiment proposed do "dig a long gallery from their picket line to a point beneath the Confederate battery, blow up the position by means of powder placed in the end of the tunnel, and, finally, send a strong body of troops through the gap created in the enemy's line by the explosion. They saw this as, perhaps, the end of the war." "By July 17 the diggers were nearly 511 feet from the entrance and directly beneath the battery in Elliott's Salient. The Confederates had become suspicious by this time, for the faint sounds of digging could be heard issuing from the earth." "Digging was finally completed on July 23. Four days later the task of charging the mine with black powder was accomplished. Three hundred and twenty kegs of powder weighing, on the average, 25 pounds each were arranged in the two lateral galleries in eight magazines." "Meanwhile, preparations for the attack which was to follow the explosion of the mine had been carried out." Once digging was completed, plans were made for the attack after the explosion. Burnside expected, not only Meade's and Grant's troops, but also a "fresh and numerically strong (about 4,300) Negro division should lead the charge after the explosion." Meade and Grant did not allow this division to participate. Burnside was not informed of this decision until the night before the battle. "At 3:15 a. m., July 30, Pleasants lit the fuse of the mine and mounted the parapet to see the results of his regiment's work. The explosion was expected at 3:30 a. m. Minutes passed slowly by, and the men huddled behind the lines grew more apprehensive. By 4:15 there could be no doubt but that something had gone wrong. Two volunteers from the 48th Regiment (Lt. Jacob Douty and Sgt. Harry Reese) crawled into the tunnel and found that the fuse had burned out at the splice. They relighted it and scrambled to safety. Finally, at about 4:45 a. m., the explosion took place. The earth trembled as men, equipment, and debris were hurled high into the air. At least 278 Confederate troops were killed or wounded in the tremendous blast, and 2 of the 4 guns in the battery were destroyed beyond repair. The measurements of the size of the crater torn by the powder vary considerably, but it seems to have been at least 170 feet long, 60 to 80 feet wide, and 30 feet deep." In the mass confusion following the explosion, the Union attack fell apart.
Caretaker here... More tommorrow. (all quotes from NPS Historical Handbook)