Pictures for April 4, Petersburg area

Thursday, April 4, 2013

During the siege of Petersburg, Ferd was in the Battle of the Crater.  At a point where the Union and Confederate lines were quite close, the Pennsylvania miners dug a long tunnel underground, put in dynamite under a Confederate fort, and blew it up.  Despite the initial success of the operation, the day unfortunately did not end well for the Union.

Present-day appearance of the doorway to the tunnel.

Diagram of the miners' system for ventilating the mine with fresh air.

Appearance of the crater now.

DH read out loud a fictional but very entertaining story about how the timbers were obtained for building the tunnel.

An example of abatis used in the siege of Petersburg, as well as a mortar.

As Grant extended the siege line around Petersburg to capture railroads supplying Richmond, Ferd was captured at the battle of Weldon Railroad in August, 1864.

Today the railroad is in the distance behind where we are standing.