Battle of the Crater

During the Siege of Petersburg, soldiers of the Union 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, many of them experienced coal miners, drove a long tunnel beneath the Confederate position at Elliott’s Salient. Before dawn on 30 July 1864 they detonated several tons of powder, destroying part of the line and opening a large crater.

The assault that followed was badly coordinated. Union troops crowded into the crater rather than moving around it, while African American divisions originally trained to lead the attack had been reassigned shortly beforehand. Confederate forces reorganised and counterattacked, turning a promising breach into a costly Union defeat. The battle became one of the most controversial episodes of the Petersburg campaign.