Show dig iwo oa o a t S bege oil saiji p AW 51 al 1 I al 1 4 2 n wl OR R historic crater and entrance Federal to tannel dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON ATE last month there gathered gatherl near petersburg va a greit great crowd of people to take part in the dedication of a new national military park among the public roc rec areas set aside in this country by the federal government a national military park eu cu joys the distinction of having a double purpose it Is a memorial to the historic event which occurred there a patriotic shrine to which ame americans ricans can come for renew renewed ed inspiration by upon the soll made sacred by the sacrifices flees of previous gon g a erat orations ions of americans there and it Is ta 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 tho the fifth and latest of such areas to be established but few of the others are more interesting from olther either point of view rt it derives its historic interest from the fact that here occurred the dying struggle of the confederacy for when the union army broke through the confederate unes une at fort gregg on april 2 1865 thi this s victory ended 0 months and 12 days of siege the longest siege elege on american soli soil and it spelled death to the confederate cause richmond the heart of the confederacy was cut off front from the rest of the south when Pet petersburg emburg the head of navigable tidewater and the focus of the various railroads and highways which brought supplies cupp lles and reinforcements to the capital fell after that lees surrender to grant at tox tax was inevitable even though it was delayed seven deven days As a field for the military student the peters burg area Is important because it has in a fine state of preservation more than 25 miles of fortification with thousands of dept of tunnels astill intact but the most important fact Is the similarity between this campaign of more than halt half a century ago and the principal campaign in the more recent world war for united states army officers are the authority for the statement thit that the mill military tary operations connected with the siege of reters petersburg burg contained every feature of strategy and tactics that began in the race from the marne to the english channel between 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 federals crumpled the confederate lines at petersburg but to the average american unfamiliar with the intricacies of military science the principal appeal of the new national military park now comprising some acres with the possibility of later haying baying a total area of SIC 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 heroism on the part of both the men who wore the blue and those who wore the gray graj which are conjured up by a visit to this historic place early in 1864 grant balked in every attempt to defeat lee north of the confederate capital and thus make good the war cry of on to 1 which had been raised in the earliest days of the war decided to swing around cross the james river and strike richmond from the south but Peters petersburg burc the back door of the confederacy stood in the way the first battle in the lighting 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 but with it stood the petersburg home guard composed of every old man and young boy who was vias able to lift a musket and squeeze a trigger and it was to this little group less lesa than strong that the glory of june 0 1804 goes on that date one of grants subordinates gen B F butler sent general gillmore more with infantry and general kautz with 1500 cavalry to capture petersburg and destroy the appomattox Appa mattox bridge 11 the cavalry led the advance and immediately struck a stiff resistance from the home guards for some time the held the 1500 at bay then with halt half their force dead or disabled the home elome guards were forced back upon the advancing confederate regulars but they had held up kautza advance long enough to save petersburg again a week later the city might have been taken but for blundering upon the part of the union generals which resulted result Ml in a fearful loss of their men and led to the prolonged siege of nine months instead of precipitating a running fight between lee retiring to the west and grant in hot pursuit during the nine months when petersburg was invested skirmishes occurred almost daily totaling ng some minor engagements the most famous of these was the spectacular explosion of the crater one of the most dramatic incidents of the whole war the following account of it Is taken from a history of the operations around petersburg prepared by capt jeffry montague of the united states army there was a regiment of pennsylvanians laos ians in burnsides Burns ldes corps the forty eighth infantry mostly coal miners and their commander a v IN 4 U 4 AW A Z W V ra 5 at F ed etral rt 3 t e d rn an 0 A S 6 confederate eon federate fortification battery 5 F mining engineer col henry pleasants PIea in the latter part of 0 june thought it would start something it if it could make a breach in the confederate line about yards in front of him by mining alliotts elliotts Ell Elli lotta otts salient and blowing it up the idea went forward through channels received meades and grants approval and burnside Burnsl de got orders to put it into effect and exploit the opening grant thought enough troops could be poured through the crevasse crevasse to capture petersburg ferreros ferreiros Ferr eros negro division was being trained by burnside Burnsl de to lead the assault through tho the breach to be caused by the mine but meade and grant disapproved this and burnside bornside had the storm division chosen by drawing straws the lot fell to gen james H 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 brought out then and by a congles investigation later that redlies ledlies Ledl Led lea lies tad ad habits and consequent unreliability were well known in the union army it was disclosed that ledlie stayed behind in a dugout dug out drinking drin LIng throughout the crater action and could not be induced to go out and try to extricate the remnants of his division from the deathtrap IQ in which they were being torn to shreds piecemeal men ferrero following with the negro division joined ledlie in the bomb proof while his troops hurried on soon to be huddling with Led lles in the fire swept crater until all that could of both divisions re recoiled recalled before the rushing confederate countercharge counter charge which reestablished their line pleasants PIea commenced work at 12 noon june 25 1864 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 PIea to stop work upon the right lateral gallery at the end of the tunnel was begun at 6 p m july 18 regardless of audible enemy counter mining and work on both right and left laterals literals late rals waa rushed to completion july 23 A atal of cubic feet of earth was excavated four tons of powder were placed in the lat brals july 27 and the miners tamping was completed july 28 pleasants was ordered to e explode X the mine at 3 SO a m july 80 and lighted the fuse at a P m the mine failed to explode jacob douty and sergt henry rees who volunteered to go in and see why found the fire had stopped where fuse lengths had been tied together they spliced fresh ends lighted the fuse again and at 16 minutes before 5 a m the kegs containing 1 25 1 pounds each blew up witnesses witnessed felt the earth quake but heard beard nothing beyond a dull deton detonation atlon what they saw however was enough the air above the spot was filled with a mounting loud 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 of debris both sides gazed astound ed d appalled A groat great hole appeared in the ground feet long 60 feet wide 25 feet deep smoking dust shrouded horrible union artillerymen artilleryman artillery men recovered first almost immediately they began bean laying down a flary cipry barrage on both sides of the breach five minutes liter later blue Bold lera in ones twos and groups could be seen running towards the smoking crater burnside Burnsl de and ledlie had bad failed ailed t to a clear their own defense obstacles and to prepare prot pret passages out ot of and over own deep trenches jand and their storm troops wre 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 froat 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 pleasants mine gallant officers of the union line sprang out 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 survivor raced back for what shelter the pit could give them there one after another fell torn by rifle balls ball 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 it 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 losa the flasco fiasco cost grant men at about 2 p m the confederates of mahones division held tho 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 1884 finally 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 sted man the remains of which are one of the outstanding points of interest in the new national military park today captain Mont montague ngue describes the action there and its results as follows fort fon stedman was named for col griffin A stedman of hartford conn commanding the eleventh connecticut volunteer infantry regiment who had fallen in action august 5 1804 confederates pretending to be deserters overpowered the union picket line in front of stedman around 3 a m march 25 1865 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 captured or fled in a niba mare 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 0 the potomac or to he in at the death as some thought at the time and it devolved davol ved upon general parke to take command parka ordered to concentrate artillery upon the breach willcox to recapture the last works and hartranft Hart to concentrate his division in reserve and support willcox dawn was breaking port 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 a m received an order to take his assembling division and recapture stedman now swarming with the enemy ho he had the charge bounded 15 minutes later and in no time as one writer put it the stars and stripes wre back upon St Sted edmans mana pnra parapets pets the confederate wave receded to roll forward no more fifteen days later that happened which haa ha to happen at appomattox court house 0 by western newspaper union |