Show dig gi 0 L gast a ax apa 9 oil an owl azz Z aa 1 ilk A M 0 M MR ai historic crater and E adrance to F llynne by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ATE last month there gathered near petersburg va a great crowd of people to take part in the tha dedication ot of a new national military park among the public recreation areas set aside in this country by the federal government a national military park enjoys joa s the distinction of having a double purpose it Is a memorial to the historic event which occurred there a patriotic shrine to which americans can come for renewed inspiration by standing upon the soli soil made sacred by the sacrifices of previous generations erat ions of americans there and it Is a military classroom and an outdoor war laboratory where future defenders of the nation may study the lessons in military science which will help them in that defense the petersburg national military park Is the fifth and latest of such ur ar easto be established but few of the others are more interesting from either point of view it derives its historic interest from the fact that here occurred the dying struggle of the confederacy for when the union army broke through gh the confederate lines at fort gregg on april 2 this victory ended 0 9 months and 12 days of siege the longest siege on american soil and it spelled death to the confederate cause richmond the b of tb the confederacy was cut off from the freiot the south when petersburg the head ot or kaTi fatigable gable tidewater and the focus of the various railroads and highways which brought supplies and reinforcements to the capital fell after that lees surrender to grant at tox was inevitable even though it was del delayed seven days As a field for the military student the petersburg area Is important because it has in a fine state of preservation more than 25 miles ot of fortification with thousands of feet of tunnels still intact but the most important fact Is the similarity between this campaign of more than half a century ago and the principal campaign in the more recent world war united states army officers are the authority for the statement that the military operations connected with the siege of petersburg contained every feature of strategy and tactics that began in the race from the marne to the english channel bc between teen the allied armies and the forces of the central powers each seeking to outflank the other and ending when the allies burst through the german lines in the argonne forest just as the rede federals rals crumpled the confederate lines at petersburg but to the average american unfamiliar ar with the intricacies of military science the principal appeal of the new national military park now nov comprising some acres with the possibility ot of later having a total area of acres lies in the numerous human interest angles to the story of this siege and the battles which preceded and followed it in the tales of 0 heroism on the part of both the men who wore the blue and those who wore the gray cray which are conjured up by a visit to this historic place early in 1801 1831 grant balked in every attempt to defeat lee north of the confederate capital and thus make good the war cry of on to Klch mond which had been raised in the earliest days of the war decided to swing around cross the james river and strike richmond Klch mond from the south but petersburg the back door of the confederacy stood in the way the first battle in the fighting around petersburg although it was little more than a skirmish furnishes one of the cherished traditions of the lost cause and supplied an incident in which all americans can take pride at that time petersburg was garrisoned by wises veteran brigade hut but with it stood the petersburg home guard composed of every old man and young boy who was able to lift a musket and squeeze a trigger and it was to this little group less than strong that the glory of june 0 9 1801 goe on that date one of grants subordinates en 13 F butler sent general gillmore with infantry and general kautz with 1500 cavalry to capture petersburg and destroy the appomattox Appa mattos mattox bridge the cavalry led the advance and immediately struck a stiff resist ue ave from the nome home guards for some time lle held the 1500 at bay then with halt half their force dead or disabled the home guards were forced back upon tho the confederate regulars rut but they had held beld up kautzi advance long enough to save petersburg again a week later the city might inight have been taken but for blundering upon the part of the union generals which resulted in a fearful loss of their men and led to the prolonged siege of nine months instead of precipitating a running fight between LM lee retiring to the west and grant in hot pursuit during the nine months when petersburg was invested skirmishes occurred almost dally daily totaling some minor engagements the most famous of these was the spectacular explosion of the crater one bone of the most dramatic incidents of the whole war the following account of it Is taken from a history of the operations around Pet emburg burg prepared by capt jeffry montague of the united states army there was a regiment of pennsylvanians ians in burnsides corps the forty eighth infantry mostly coal miners and their commander a 4 pd J et 14 IX ai 04 1 17 N ap 1 1 N ax kl A 46 allt ik ceremonies at federal fort t r 4 I 1 if 4 1 g 9 13 7 B att e ry 5 ta mining engineer col henry pleasants in the latter part ot of june thought it would start something eom ething it if it could make a breach in the confederate line about yards in front of him by mining alliotts elliotts Elli otts salient and blowing it up the idea went forward through channels received meades and grants approval and burnside Curn side got orders to put it into effect and exploit the opening grant thought enough troops could be poured through the crevasse to capture petersburg ferreros ferreiros Ferr eros negro division was being trained by burnside Curn side to lead the assault through the breach to be caused by the mine but meade and grant disapproved this and burnside Burnsl de had the storm division chosen by drawing straws the lot fell to gen james 11 II ledlie commanding the first division of burnsides Burns ldes corps this it turned out foredoomed fore doomed the enterprise to what grant in his memoirs called a stupendous failure it was as brought out then and by a congressional investigation later that redlies ledlies Led lles lies bad habits and consequent unreliability were well known in the union army it was disclosed that ledlie stayed behind in a dugout dug out drinking throughout the crater action and could not be induced to go out and try to extricate the remnants of his division from the deathtrap in which they were being torn to shreds piecemeal ferrero following with the alie negro division joined ledale in the bomb proof alle while his troops hurried on soon to be huddling with redlies ledlies Led lles lies in the ore swept crater until all that could of both divisions recoiled before the rushing confederate countercharge counter charge which reestablished their line pleasants commenced work at 12 noon june 25 am in the ravine between the hostile lines with improvised tools and materials and on july 17 the main tunnel feet in length was completed sounds of confederate counter mining caused pleasants to stop work upon the right lateral gallery at the end of the tunnel was begun at 6 p m july IS 18 regardless of audible enemy counter mining and work on both right and left laterals literals late rals was rushed to completion july 23 A total of 0 cubic feet of earth was excavated four tons of powder were placed in ili the lat ceals july 27 and the miners tamping was completed july 28 pleasants was ordered to explode blode the mine at 3 93 SO 30 a m july 30 and lighted the fuse at a m the mine failed to explode jacob douty and bergl ncncy rees who volunteered to go in and see why found the fire had bad stopped where here fuse lengths had been tied together they spliced fresh ends lighted the fuse agull again and at ac 16 minutes before 5 a m the keg begs containing 20 25 pounds each blew up WItt witnesses lesses felt the earth quake but heard nothing beyond a dull detonation what they saw however lio wever was enough the air above the spot was filled with a mounting cloud of earth men guns planks and fragments confederates near the crater ran in every direction the waiting union legions shrank back to escape the shower shoner of debris both sides gazed astounded appalled A great hole appeared in the ground feet long GO CO feet wide 25 feet deep smoking dust shrouded horrible union artillerymen artilleryman artillery men recovered first almost immediately they begun began lading down a fiery barrage on both sides of the breach five minutes later blue soldiers la in ones twos and groups could be seen running towards the mocking crater burnside and ledlie ledl ie had failed ailed to clear their own defense obstacles and to prepare passages out of and over their own deep trenches tren dies and their storm troops were disordered and delayed accordingly not a shot was fired from the confederate side at first but by the time the crater was filled by a huddled mob of foremost men the confederate rifles were cracking from flanks and front hostile guns were throwing gusts of canister and it was fatal to go beyond that scene of hideous death two hundred and seventy six confederates officers and men were killed by the explosion of Pleasa pleasants rits nine mine gallant officers of the union line spring sprang out oat of the death pit and led a few of their bravest men as far as yards beyond the craters lips but forward of that none went and nothing could live survivors raced back for what shelter the pit could give them there one after another tell fell torn by rifle balls and shell fragments men started despairingly to dig a trench from the crater back to the union lines men in the lines began to dig a hasty ditch towards the crater to save what life they could from certain death if the men remained there towards noon orders were gotten into the crater for the men to withdraw the best they could they dashed for their lines suffering heavy loss the fiasco cost grant men at about 2 p m the confederates of mahones division held the crater and all the horrors that lay in and about it after grants failure at the crater the siege of petersburg dragged on through the fall and winter of lI finally nally in the spring of 1805 1865 came the climax in the tragedy of petersburg and in the greater drama of the decline of the confederacy this act took place at fort stedman the remains of which are one of the outstanding points of interest in the new national military park today captain montague describes the action there and its results as follows forc fon stedman was named for col griffin A stedman of hartford conn commanding the Lle eleventh connecticut volunteer infantry regiment who had fallen in action august 5 confederates pretending to be deserters overpowered the union picket line in front of stedman around 3 a m march 25 and were closely followed by the storming party in three columns one aimed straight at stedman the other two at its flanking batteries the sleeping garrisons were viere captured or fled in a nightmare of dismay grant and meade were at city point to greet president lincoln who had come down to attend a grand review of the army of the potomac or to be in at the death as some thought at the time and it dev devolved olred upon general parke to take command column d parke ordered to concentrate artillery upon the breach willcox to recapture the last works and Elart hartranft to concentrate his division in reserve and support willcox dawn was breaking fort haskell began flank fire upon the confederates led what formed troops he could find to check the enemy and gain time fort haskell repulsed determined attacks at 10 a ni Hartra hartranft lift received an order to take his assembling division and recapture stedman Sted naan now swarming with the enemy lie ile had the charge sounded 15 minutes later and in no time as one writer put it the stars and stripes were back upon Sted St edmans mana parapets the confederate wave receded to roll forward no more fifteen days later that happened which had to happen at appomattox court house id by western newspaper unica ai |