Nearly 150 years ago, the Union army attempted to outwit Confederates on July 30, 1964, in Petersburg, Virginia, with a mine tunnel and some strategically placed dynamite in what would be a painful memory in the minds of the soldiers of the American Civil War.
On the anniversary of what became known as the Battle of the Crater, representatives of the Schuylkill County Historical Society will hold a special event to reflect on the battle and honor the local soldiers who were part it.
Local soldiers included Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants of the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, who resided in Pottsville, and Lt. Col. Joshua K. Sigfried, Orwigsburg, who was brigade commander in Edward Ferrero's 4th Division, 9th Corps, U.S.C.T.
The Union had nearly 4,000 casualties, a mix of soldiers missing, wounded or killed, and Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant called it "the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war."
The 150th Anniversary of the Battle of the Crater program will be held at 6 p.m. July 30 at Charles Baber Cemetery, according to Thomas B. Drogalis, the society's executive director.
"We chose this hallowed ground because it is the final resting place of Pleasants and Sigfried. It will take place at their grave sites," Drogalis said Tuesday.
Speakers will include John David Hoptak, an Orwigsburg native who is a National Park Service ranger at Gettysburg Battlefield; J. Stuart "Stu" Richards, Orwigsburg, author of history books including "A History of Company C, 50th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment: From the Camp, the Battlefield and the Prison Pen, 1861-65," published by History Press in 2006; and Tom Shay, Cressona, administrator of the Schuylkill County Civil War Roundtable.
Drogalis and the historians have been working on a program for the event, explaining the history of the Battle of the Crater.
Pleasants, a skillful mining engineer, supervised the placement of the powder in the mine, according to the program.
At 4:44 a.m. July 30, 1864, the charges exploded, according to the program.
"The explosion killed at least 278 Confederate soldiers and created a crater 170 feet long, 60 to 80 feet wide and 30 feet deep," according to the program.
Untrained Union soldiers advanced through the debris and, mistakenly, charged down the crater rather than around it.
"They found themselves trapped and unable to advance. Rebel forces moved along the rim and opened fire on the Union troops below," according to the program.
After eight and a half hours of fighting, the Union, which engaged about 16,500 men, suffered about 3,800 killed, wounded and captured. The battle cost the Confederate's 9,500 men about 1,500 casualties, according to www.encyclopediavirginia.org.