Scenes from the Crater, 150 Years Later

While I wasn’t able to get to Petersburg for the real-time program at dawn, I did get to spend some time at the Crater a little later in the morning. Here’s a quick look at the terrain, 150 years after the battle.

Here’s the entrance to the mine shaft dug by the 48th Pennsylvania. The trace of the original shaft can still be seen stretching from the mine entrance diagonally toward the upper-left corner of the photo.

Confederates were posted along this ridge line.When the mine blew, the resultant crater was in the area where the trees now are at the center and left-center of the photo.

The Union attack came from across this open plain. Unfortunately, Federals waited some ten minutes after the explosion before they flooded across the field.