034 The Crater, July 30th, 1864 - WDS Campaign Petersburg

The story of the Petersburg Mine can be told as a tragedy--or a grim comedy of errors. It was even a TV dramatization on Playhouse 90 in 1959, starring Richard Boone as Henry Pleasants. He was the commander of the 48th Pennsylvania, of Ambrose Burnside's Ninth Corps. The men of the 48th were coal-miners. An idea occurred to them not long after the quest for Petersburg became a siege. They could tunnel under the southern fortifications, stash a horrific amount of gunpowder under them, and blow the rebs to Kingdom Come, and then walk over them to capture Petersburg. The idea went up the chain of command and was approved. The 48th dug the tunnel, and Ferrero's Afro-American Division trained for a month to be the assault force. Here the military world ran smack into the political world. US Grant and George Meade were afraid that one of two things might happen: That the blacks would be slaughtered, and the press would accuse them of using the blacks as cannon fodder; and/or that they, being of the "Inferior" race would simply fail in the mission. The division to replace Ferrero's was chosen by drawing straws. That division was burned out, and commanded by a drunken coward by the name of James Ledlie. The Mine exploded before dawn on July 30, opening a huge hole in the Confederate line, and the Ninth Corps went forward. In the end, all that Grant and Meade had feared came to pass, with the assault crushed and the black division practically annihilated when it finally assaulted when all hope of success was gone. Perhaps the Union commander can change history today.