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  1. Leading up to the Battle of Petersburg: The Mining Operation

    Date(s): June 20, 1864 to July 26, 1864 Location: DINWIDDIE, Virginia Tag(s): Mine, Mining, Battle of the Crater, Battle of Petersburg, Civil War 

                The battle of Petersburg, Virginia was crucial in the minds of both Union and Confederate leaders. A leading Civil War historian Bryce A. Suderow explains the Union Army’s thinking: Grant believed that if Union forces could overpower the Confederate lines and crush the Southern stronghold the Southern capital would inevitably fall, ending the American Civil War in the Union’s...

  2. Trench Warfare and Artillery at the Crater

    Date(s): July 30, 1864 Location: DINWIDDIE, Virginia Tag(s): Battle of the Crater, Civil War, Artillery 

                 One of the opening battles of the Petersburg Campaign and one that foreshadowed some of the tactics used in the trench warfare of the First World War was the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864.  At this point in the war, the armies of Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant had settled into trench warfare in the area just to the south of Richmond, with the U.S. Army attempting...

  3. The Union’s Last Resort: A Mining Operation

    Date(s): June 20, 1864 to July 26, 1864 Location: DINWIDDIE, Virginia Tag(s): Civil War, Battle of Petersburg, Battle of the Crater, Mining Operation, Mining, Mine 

                Both Union and Confederate leaders knew that a decisive battle at Petersburg could mean a decisive battle of the war; but, it is unlikely that Union leaders would have guessed that their best chance for victory would depend on constructing a mineshaft.  There was a lot riding on the outcome of Petersburg, Virginia.  Bryce Suderow, a Civil War historian, explains the Union’s...