Скачать или смотреть ⚔️ The Battle of the Crater: 4 Tons of Gunpowder | Petersburg 1864

July 30, 1864: Pennsylvania coal miners dug 511 feet under Confederate lines and packed 4 tons of gunpowder beneath their fort. At 4:44 AM, the largest explosion of the Civil War erupted, killing 278 Confederate soldiers instantly and creating a crater 170 feet long and 30 feet deep.

It should have been the Union's greatest victory. Instead, it became one of the war's worst disasters.

This is the true story of the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia—where brilliant engineering met catastrophic leadership, where 4,300 African American soldiers of the United States Colored Troops fought two enemies, and where a genius plan turned into a death trap for 5,000 men.

🎬 WHAT HAPPENED:
• Pennsylvania coal miners spent 5 weeks digging an "impossible" 511-foot tunnel
• Army engineers said it couldn't be done—they were wrong
• 4 tons of gunpowder = the biggest man-made explosion in the Western Hemisphere
• Union troops charged INTO the crater instead of around it—a fatal mistake
• Confederate artillery fired straight down into the trapped soldiers
• The 4th Division (USCT) advanced furthest but faced racial massacre
• 8.5 hours of hell under July Virginia heat
• Grant called it "the saddest affair I have witnessed in war"

⚔️ CASUALTIES:
Union: 3,798 (504 killed, 1,881 wounded, 1,413 captured)
Confederate: 1,491 (361 killed, 727 wounded, 403 missing)

📍 LOCATION: Petersburg, Virginia (25 miles south of Richmond)
📅 DATE: July 30, 1864
⏱️ DURATION: 8.5 hours

The crater is still visible today at Petersburg National Battlefield.

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