Petersburg Confederate Mines

 

Confederate countermine at Fort Mahone (LOC)

   The battle of the Crater is a fairly well-known event during the war. Federal general Ambrose Burnside came up with the idea to dig a mine shaft from the Federal works at Petersburg, under a Confederate position at Pegram’s salient. The distance was 511 feet. Coal miners from the 48^th Pennsylvania Infantry were in charge of the mining operation. They packed the chamber under the Confederate salient with 8,000 pounds of black powder. At 4:40 am on July 30, an explosion blasted a hole 170 feet long and 30 feet deep within the Confederate line. The ensuing battle as Federal soldiers rushed in was a nightmare; many of them were caught in the crater left by the explosion.

   But this was not the only mine dug during the war. Confederate forces attempted to dig their own mines along the Petersburg front. One mine shaft stretched from Gracie’s Salient toward Federal lines at Hare House. Powder – 450 pounds – arrived on the evening of July 31 and all was ready to light the fuse the next day. However, with a truce in place to bury the dead from the failed Federal attempt, the attack was delayed. When the fuse was lit later that day, it was discovered to be defective. Over the next few days, the mineshaft was lengthened and double the amount of powder added. When the powder exploded on August 5, it was discovered that the Confederates were 40 yards short of the main Federal lines. There was no grand Confederate charge into the non-existent breach.[1]

   There were at least eight Confederate counter mines dug along the Petersburg front. These were underground listening posts, attempting to find Federal mining efforts. The counter mines were located at Elliott’s Salient, north of the James River, and City Point Road, Jerusalem Plank Road, Squirrel Level Road, Cooke’s Salient, Colquitt’s Salient, Pegram’s Salient, and somewhere between Pegram’s Salient and Jerusalem Plank Road.[2]

   Much of the early work on counter mines fell to Company F, 1^st Regiment Engineering Troops, under Capt. Hugh T. Douglas. They went into camp near Blandford Church. Tools were sent and in some places fabricated for the tedious jobs.[3] Details from brigades in the area assisted the engineers. Much of the work of transporting planking and ventilation machinery had to be done at night, as the lines were exposed to enemy fire. After the failure of the mine explosion on August 5, Douglas was arrested and allowed to resign from the army, finishing the war as a contract engineer.[4]

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[1] Hess, In the Trenches, 118-19.

[2] Hess, In the Trenches, 48, 111.

[3] Jackson, First Regiment Engineer Troops, 61-62.

[4] Hess, In the Trenches, 118-19.