1864.]

THE PETERSBURG MINE.

453

there during Early's raids. For about a month the soldiers of Burnside's Corps had been busy digging a mine under one of the forts in front of the city, with the intention of blowing it up. The men began to dig in a hollow out of sight of the Confederates, and made a gallery, four and a half feet high and about five hundred feet long, the top and sides being lined with timber and planks to keep them from caving. The earth was carried out in barrows made of cracker boxes and hidden under brushwood, so that the enemy might not find out what was going on. At the extreme end, under the fort, side galleries were cut, extending about thirty-five feet each way, as shown in the picture. In these were constructed magazines, in which were placed eight thousand pounds of gunpowder, the different parts being connected by tubes half-filled with gunpowder, and

MAGAZINES

THE PETERSBURG MINE, SHOWING THE GALLERIES AND THE OUTLINE OF THE CRATER.

with three fuses, or slow-matches, which extended through the main gallery.

The plan was to explode the mine on the 30th of June at half-past three o'clock in the morning, and then to let one of Burnside's divisions rush through the breach thus made and storm a height called Cemetery Hill in the rear of the fort, which commanded the city. The fuses were lighted at the appointed time and everybody watched anxiously for the explosion, but in vain. After the lapse of an hour it became evident that something was wrong, and two brave men volunteered to go into the gallery to see what the trouble was. They found that the fuses had gone out at the places where they were spliced, only about fifty feet from the powder. They relighted them and ran from the gallery, just in time to escape the explo

sion. There was a rumble underground like the shaking of an earthquake, and with a dull roar a large mass of earth rose into the air two hundred feet and then fell amid a cloud of black smoke. In that brief moment the whole fort and its garrison of three hundred men had been blown to atoms, and in the place where it had stood was left a crater of loose earth two hundred feet long and nearly a fourth as wide and deep. As soon as the mine had exploded, the heavy artillery opened on the enemy's works all along the line. The Confederate batteries were soon silenced, and the men selected for the assault moved toward the breach. But there was much delay in removing abatis and wires that had been stretched by the Confederates along the front of the fort to trip up assaulting parties, and when the men got into the crater they halted, though there was nothing to prevent them going forward. For more than two hours the troops huddled under the bank or behind the breastworks, and finally became mixed up and disordered.

For a half-hour after the explosion the Confederates seemed paralyzed by the shock, and it is believed that Petersburg would have fallen if the Union troops had made a quick attack. But they soon recovered themselves and brought up infantry and artillery to defend the breach. General Burnside, seeing that the troops in the crater were not advancing, ordered a division of colored soldiers to try an assault. The colored troops passed through the crater and charged up the slope beyond, but they were met by a heavy artillery and musketry fire, and driven back. They rallied and advanced again, but were again repulsed, and fled in confusion through the white troops in the crater. The Confederates fired shot and shell into the disordered mass. The Union men struggled to escape, every man for himself seeking safety in flight. More than four thousand were killed or taken prisoners, while the Confederate loss was less than a thousand, including those blown up in the fort. Thus ended in disaster what promised, said General Grant, to be the most successful assault of the campaign. Shortly afterward General Burnside was relieved, at his own request, and the command of his corps (the Ninth) was given to General John G. Parke.

It being settled that Petersburg could not be taken by a

direct assault, Grant spent the greater part of August in strengthening his lines in front of the city.

The positions of the two forces at this time can be more easily understood from the accompanying map, which shows the fortifications, railroads and other roads around Richmond and Petersburg, and the fortifications built by Butler across the neck of Bermuda Hundred. The Confederates held both Rich- • mond and Petersburg and the line of railroad between them; but Lee drew most of his supplies from the south by means of the Weldon Railroad and the Southside Railroad. Grant, who drew his supplies from City Point, at the junction of the Appomattox and James Rivers, had made several attempts to extend his lines around on the south side of Petersburg, so as to cut off Lee from the Weldon Railroad, but all his efforts had failed. On the 13th of August, General Hancock, whose troops had been sent up the James River to a place called Deep Bottom (see map), landed and marched toward Richmond as if to attack it. He soon came upon the Confederate intrenchments, which he attacked. There was sharp fighting for several days, but Lee having strongly reinforced his lines nothing was gained, and Hancock returned (Aug. 20) to his camp before Petersburg. But this movement led to the capture of the Weldon Railroad. Grant, taking advantage of the absence of Lee's men sent against Hancock, ordered Warren to move once more upon the railroad. Warren reached the road about four miles from Petersburg (Aug. 18) and began to intrench himself. On the next day Lee attacked him, but Warren held what he had won. Two days afterward (Aug. 21) Lee again attacked, but was driven back with heavy loss. By the 24th seven miles of the railroad had been destroyed so as to be useless to the Confederates. Hancock, who had been ordered on his return from the north side of the James to aid in destroying the Weldon Railroad, had moved to Reams's Station, behind the position held by Warren. He had torn up several miles of the track, when he was attacked by Lee and defeated with the loss of five guns and more than a fourth of his men. But the Weldon Railroad was held by Grant, and by the middle of September a branch railroad was built from City Point around to it, so that supplies and troops could be quickly moved from one end to the other of the Union lines.

1864.]

DUTCH GAP CANAL.

457

Having secured the Weldon Railroad, Grant turned his attention to the capture of the Southside Railroad, on which Lee then chiefly depended for his supplies. An attempt was made to reach and cut it (Oct. 27), but it was defeated by the Confederates, and from that time until the opening of the next spring but little was done by either side, excepting to hold and to strengthen the lines, though a constant fire was kept up throughout the winter by the pickets and artillerymen. The Confederates suffered greatly during the cold weather on account of the want of proper food and clothing, for they had much difficulty in getting supplies.

At the close of the year was finished the Dutch Gap Canal, which General Butler had been digging for several months across the narrow neck of an isthmus made by a bend in the James River (see map, p. 455). If the river could be made to flow through this, steamers could save six or seven miles of distance and avoid obstructions in the river and Confederate fortifications on the banks around the bend. The canal, which was only about five hundred feet long, was dug by negroes. The Confederates built a battery at Howlett's, on the south bank of the James, and annoyed the workmen greatly by throwing shells into the excavation. To escape these the men dug huts to live in and holes for shelter in the side of the river bank. The canal was finally finished with the exception of a narrow wall of earth at the upper end, which had been left to keep out the water. In this a mine was made and charged with twelve thousand pounds of gunpowder, but when it was exploded most of the earth thrown up fell back into the opening, which was not deep enough for vessels to pass through. The channel could not be dredged on account of the firing from the Confederate battery, and so the canal proved a failure as a military operation. But after the war it was deepened, and steamers for Richmond now pass through and save going round the long bend.