CHAPTER V.

THE MINE.

THE

HE experience of the army in front of Petersburg induced General Grant to believe that the place could only be reduced by the slow process of a siege. He therefore decided to place the army of the James on the north and the Army of the Potomac on the south side of the James river, and in this way invest both Petersburg and Richmond. Parallels were accordingly laid out, traverses and covered ways built, trenches opened, earthworks of various sizes thrown up and armed, and all the different operations of a siege fairly entered upon. On the line which the Ninth Corps occupied were two batteries of two guns, one of four, one of six, two of eight, and in the centre, one of fourteen guns. Besides these were three mortar batteries. General Grant fixed his headquarters at City Point. Our lines extended from across the Jerusalem plank road in front of Petersburg to Deep Bottom, crossing the Appomattox and the James by means of ponton bridges. A force was also held at White House, and the York and Pamunkey rivers were patrolled by gunboats.

The enemy made one or two attempts during the summer to make diversions in other quarters, at one time pushing a considerable force into Pennsylvania and Maryland, and even attacking Fort Stevens, on the north side of the city of Washington. One party reached the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, cut the telegraph wire and destroyed a portion of a bridge. Another party burned Chambersburg. But all such movements were insufficient to make General Grant give up his hold. The aggressive forces were swept

away from the Capital, and General Lee found, before the summer had passed, that he could, by no exertion of his, loosen the gripe which General Grant had fixed upon the army of Northern Virginia, the rebel capital, and the fortunes of the "Southern Confederacy." An investment had been established which would not be raised until its object had been fully accomplished—the suppression of the rebellion.

On the 18th of June, the colored division of the Ninth Corps reported to General Meade, and was at once ordered to its own proper organization. General Ferrero had been separated from his brother officers of the Corps since the crossing of the Rapidan, and was now glad to renew his relations and come once more under the orders of his chief. During the interval, the division had been occupied in guarding the trains of the army-a necessary work, indeed, but somewhat troublesome, and especially lacking in that excitement of conflict which is the glory of the soldier's life. On the 6th of May, the division had been separated from the Ninth Corps, and placed successively under the orders of Generals Sedgwick and Sheridan, until the 17th. Then General Ferrero came under the direct command of the Lieutenant General himself, until the incorporation of the Ninth Corps with the Army of the Potomac. On the 9th, General Ferrero's command was strengthened by three regiments of cavalry-the 5th New York, the 3d New Jersey, and the 2d Ohio. These troops remained with him until the 10th of June, when the cavalry force was placed under the command of General Sheridan. From the 9th of May until the 17th, the fourth division occupied the plank road looking toward the old Wilderness tavern, covering the extreme right of the army, extending from Todd's tavern to Banks's ford. On the 17th, the division moved to Salem Church, near the main road to Fredericksburg. Here, on the afternoon of the 19th, it was drawn into the defence of our rear line against the attack made by General Ewell. The colored troops stood up well against the enemy and captured several prisoners.

The remainder of the record of the fourth division, up to the

time of rejoining the corps, is simply that of the movement of the trains. On the 21st of May, the command was covering Fredericksburg and the roads leading thence to Bowling Green. On the 22d, it marched towards Bowling Green, and on the 23d, it moved to Milford Station. From that date to the 27th, it protected the trains of the army in the rear of the position on the North Anna. On the 27th, the division moved to Newtown; on the 28th, to Dunkirk, crossing, the Mattapony; on the 29th, to the Pamunkey, near Hanovertown. On the 1st of June, the troops crossed the Pamunkey, and from the 2d to the 6th, covered the right of the army. From the 6th to the 12th, they covered the approaches from New Castle ferry, Hanovertown, Hawes's Shop and Bethesda Church. From the 12th to the 18th, they moved by easy stages by way of Tunstall's, New Kent Court House, Cole's ferry, and the ponton bridge across the James, to the lines of the army near Petersburg. The dismounted cavalry were left to guard the trains, and the fourth division prepared to participate in the more active work of soldiers. Through the remainder of the month of June and the most of July, the troops were occupied in the second line of trenches, and in active movements towards the left under Generals Hancock and Warren. While they were engaged in the trenches, they were also drilled in the movements necessary for an attack and occupation of the enemy's works. A strong feeling of pride and esprit de corps sprung up within the hearts of the blacks, and they began to think that they too might soon have the opportunity of winning some glory for their race and their country.

The presence of the colored soldiers, both in the eighteenth and the Ninth Corps, seemed to have the effect of rendering the enemy more spiteful than ever. Before the fourth division came, the closeness of the lines on the front of the corps rendered constant watchfulness imperative, and no day passed without some skirmishing between the opposing pickets. When the colored soldiers appeared, this practice seemed to increase. While, in front of the fifth corps, upon

the left of our line, there was little or no picket firing, and the outposts of both armies were even disposed to be friendly, on the front of the Ninth, the firing was incessant, and in many cases fatal. General Potter in his report mentions that, when his division occupied the front lines, his losses averaged "some fourteen or fifteen officers and men killed and wounded per diem." The sharpshooters on either side were vigilant, and an exposure of any part of the person was the signal for an exchange of shots. The men, worn by hard marching, hard fighting and hard digging, took every precaution to shield themselves and sought cover at every opportunity. They made fire proofs of logs and earth, and, with tortuous covered ways and traverses, endeavored to secure themselves from the effects of the enemy's fire. The artillery and mortars on both sides were kept almost constantly at work.

Opposite the salient which the Ninth Corps occupied, the enemy had constructed a strong redoubt, situated a few hundred yards below the crest of "Cemetery Hill." In the rear of the redoubt, a ridge ran back nearly at right angles with the enemy's line, to the hill. This appeared to be a dominating position, and would, if carried, seriously threaten, if not entirely break up the enemy's lines. Was it possible to devise some bold plan, which promised success in an enterprise directed against this important point? An officer in General Potter's division, who had looked over the whole ground with a professional eye, thought that the enemy's redoubt might be destroyed. That officer was Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pleasants, of the 48th Pennsylvania-a regiment which was composed chiefly of miners from Schuylkill county. The soldiers, around their camp fires, had talked over the subject, and, at last, became so interested in the matter as to believe in the feasibility of running a mine under the intervening space between the line of the Ninth Corps and the enemy, with the design of exploding it immediately beneath the fort opposite. The distance to be mined was a little over five hundred feet. Lieutenant Colonel Pleasants was himself an experienced and

skilful mining engineer, and, upon hearing the suggestion, consulted General Potter upon the subject. General Potter, on the 24th of June, laid the matter before General Burnside, who, after further consultation, directed that the work be commenced, and informed General Meade accordingly. The commanding general, however, was not favorably disposed towards such a plan. He did not consider the "location of the mine a proper one," as the point to be assaulted was commanded on both flanks by the enemy. Major J. C. Duane, Chief Engineer, also expressed an opinion not only unfavorable to the success of any such operation as General Burnside contemplated, but also somewhat derisive of its practicability. Yet with this opinion in mind, General Meade gave his official sanction to the continuance of the work, and expressed the hope that it "might at some time result in forming an important part in the operations" of the army. Having thus secured the reluctant authority of the commanding general, Lieutenant Colonel Pleasants proceeded with his task. He commenced work at twelve o'clock meridian, on the 25th of June.

de

At headquarters, the design of an assault was still entertained. General Grant could hardly endure the long delays of the necessary siege, and watched his opportunity for a coup main. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Pleasants and men wrought with such earnestness and perseverance that, by the 23d day of July, a main gallery of five hundred and ten and eight-tenths feet in length was constructed, with two lateral galleries at the further end, one of thirty-seven, the other of thirty-eight feet in length. The fact was reported to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. Agreeably to General Burnside's plan, four magazines were to be placed in each of these lateral galleries, to be established at intervals equidistant from each other, two upon each side of the gallery, and to be charged with about half or three-fifths of a ton of powder each. The magazines were to be connected by troughs of powder with each other and with the main gallery, five or six fuses and two wires were to be run out to the mouth of the