Site 5: Petersburg Campaign (focused on Battle of the Crater), June 1864-March 1865
Animation Battle History of Petersburg Campaign:
historyanimated.com/verynewhistorywaranimated/animations/PetersburgAnimation.html |
The Petersburg Campaign lasted almost ten months, including a 292 day stalemate that amounted to a quarter of the entire war, and continued until surrender at Appomattox. It picked up right after Cold Harbor, where Grant decided to move his army past Richmond, crossing the James River into Petersburg to cut off supplies to Richmond and Lee's army. One of the famous encounters, mentioned in Horwitz's novel, was the Battle of the Crater. Both armies met there and opened fire from their trenches. Facing heavy casualties within their trenches, the Union attempted to flank the Rebels and surround them, but were stopped halfway by a Confederate unit, simply elongating the trench line. Running out of options, the Union army planned a subterranean attack. They dug a tunnel across no-man's-land, and the resulting explosion once it reached the other side killed many confederate soldiers, leaving behind a crater (pictured left). Union soldiers made mistake of going through the tunnel and into the crater, giving the Rebels higher ground and making themselves easy targets (over 5,300 perished in the crater). Hodge and Horwitz observe the remaining crater in their tour, now part of a golf course.
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