Are spending much time at all training for the crater. I think it gets back to how we tend to want to remember this story. The story of the black Union Soldier is front and center. I couldnt be happier about that. I think theres been a danger in the way the story has been pushed over the last few years. It is the moral narrative of our civil war memory. We want to correct for forgetting about them for so long. I think we tend to gloss over some of the darker sides of black soldiers. I dont think were comfortable talking about black soldiers massacrering others. That doesnt fit into our minds right now. I think we want to believe if those black regiments had been allowed to lead the assault that would have been it. We can imagine black soldiers charging over brandfield hill into petersberg. Thats a very soothing image. Anyone who has studied civil war battles, theres nothing that goes as planned. Is there any surprise given this massive detonation. No one can really predict what it will do to the landscape and whats yon it remember its not that confederate front line that theyll have to deal with. In the 1920s, the crater ed about battlefield was an 18 hole golf course. Youre really hardpressed to get a sense of what it looked like in the 1880s. Would it have changed anything . I dont know. No idea. I have a question about mahone. Im quite fascinated with him as i am benjamin butler, too. My question to you is about mahones ability to influence, communicate, what you found out about that. You must have been quite charismatic because i see how you can pull off being on one side of the war and then turning around and running under a republican ticket and also getting the Africanamerican Community to back him after screaming fort pillow on the battlefield. So i want to know more about hi, pers his personality. Im assuming he must be ca charismatic like a clinton. Thats an interesting question. For me reading of what i could read of his letters and especially what others wrote about him, hes kind of difficult to really decipher. I found him kind of this theres this wall in front of mahone. I will say this much about him. He hes very adept at utilizing his war record to get what he wants. Its not surprising because after the war mahone he becomes hes the president of this huge conglomerate of railroads very controversial here in virginia. Hes got to play to the virginia government for permission to do things and assuage the concerns of local communities. He does this primarily by pushing his war record. He goes to reunions, the most popular popular reunions. Its interesting pause he doesnt fit the mold of the lost cause confederate. Hes not concerned about whether or not the war was about slavery or not. He was concerned about the future of virginia. That comes through loud and clear not concerned about refighting the war. He does love his veterans thats for sure. So i dont have a sense of his emotional life at all. I think in part is because so little of his writing is accessible. Im sort of brushing off your question but i hate to do so but i think thats the kind of thing that explains his success. He makes concern political alliances. They take full advantage of this. I know there was passed around the black Community Giving him a cane with a gold tip. The context of that is very important. Of course you can see that as kind of playing to mahones ego a little bit. We really love you. Right . To everyone loved mahone in the black community so it goes without saying. Maybe i can give you references but thats the best can i do. In your research of general mahone did you find any writings where he reflected back upon surviving the south ham ton slavery revolt in 1821. Thats a great question. Nothing explicit. I think its important to remember that he probably would have grown up. He was born in monroe so hes not from the large slave holding class. So Nothing Specific but theres to doubt that mahone and others in that pat of virt of virginia have grown up hearing stories about gnat turners rebellion or violent slave rebellions throughout the early part of what i tried to do was to fit that response into the broader context of slave rebellions. Those that actually happened and those whoa were rumors. It didnt matter if it actually took place, if there was a ruer they dont need to hear cries of remember fort pillow. They know whats done on the morning of july 30th. They do it. In fact if you look at the numbers of black soldiers who were mass kacremassacred. It falls into line of the numbers that are usually killed in the aftermath of state rebellions in the states and beyond in the caribbean. So its a measured response on the part of confederates on july 30th. Its at least worth about. Great questions, thank you very much. Not to keep on the mahone band wagon but reviewing of the 9th corp archives, it was clear that a lot of stuff did not make it into the official records. It was a great camp by henry thom thomas, who they finally allowed them to bury the dead he got turned around and walked into the confederate lions by mistake and was captured and immediately put on a blind fold so he couldnt get accused of spying. Colonel loring who was burnsides chief of staff writes an adademdum say he is a commanr of usct regiment and treated him horribly and then finally mahone comes through and he hears that the confederate officers are putting mhim down as rescuing black troops and it really shocked me. The other thing going through some of these records that you dont read about too much is in the 9th corp area which is the park where they talk about the confederates kept up sniper fire day and night because they are so ticked off. Both sides. The colored troops are in the area. At least the Union Officers feel that thats why its worse there. In the history that i learned growing up, i didnt hear of that level of nastiness. Mahone had something in him that was a little bit more decent than some of the others. It is true that after the 4th division is consolidated later that year, the snipering does slack off a little bit on that particular front. The other thing i want to mention is after the battle about 1,100 black and white prisoners were taken paraded through petersberg up and down the streets but they are not just paraded. Its the way they organized the prisoners. They interspurs them. One of the reasons they are doing it is to stick it to the wh white soldiers. Theres another thing going on. I think they were actually sending a message to the remaineding civilian population. Here is what is at stake in this war. Slavery kept the races separate. In we lose this war here is a visual example of whats in store for us. I dont think there i donthink that was reason theyd this not just to insult the white prisoners. Thanks for the comment. Where were the black dead soldiers buried. Many were buried on the battlefield. Sorry . Many were simply buried on the battlefield afterwoardfterw mass grave . Yes. I dont know what happened to all of them. Im sure some of them 18ed up in tem cemeteries. I done know but i know a large number. They were finding bodies well up to the post war period. Just to add what happened to the bodies of everybody, union did a removed by the Memorial Association here in the city and the 1866 through early 20th century so poplogrove cemetery. There was 331 almost all are unknown from the crater battlefield. Thanks emmanuel. Every talk i have on the crater i would bring emanuel with me. Thanks. I hope that im the last person to speak because im not speaking as i should. I think my presence here tonight has been fulfilled. That is to listen to you. Thats fine. But my mind goes to many other things that have no relationship to our being here tonight. I was born in south side virginia. Once a year from my being a boy going to a one room school, once a year i felt good about being a black person. It was on april 9th. We. Wkvy celebrated emancipation. We talked about lincoln. We talked about freedom. Thats when i really felt good. The other times was an existence as if we were pushing a barrel up a hill. Thank you everyone. I really enjoyed that. Thank you for your questions and your time. [ applause ] once again, kevin, thank you very much for you spending time with us and i want to again, thank st. Pauls episcopal search for this venue. I think this was the perfect setting for this venue. I want to thank you for taking time out of your day and evening to be with us. We hope that you were fulfilled tonight. That you were stimulated somewhat tonight by kevins words. We encourage you to continue learning about petersberg, the american civil war, and where weve come over the last 150 years as a nation but again, thank you all very much for your time with us this evening. [ applause ] with live could havage of the house here on cspan 3 we compliment the coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and Public Affairs events of the on weekends cspan 3 is the home to American History tv with programs that tell our nations story including six unique stories. The civil wars 150th anniversary, touring sites to discover what artifacts reveal about americas past. Historys book shelf. The presidency looking at the legacy and policy of our commander in chiefs. And our new series real america featuring archival government and educational films from the 1930s through the a round of applause for them. Thank you. [ applause ] with live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the will of the crater. Union forces detonated xploes toifz create a gap in the defenses but at tack failed with heavy losses for union troops. Tonight watch as the National Park service commemorates 150th anniversary of the battle. Well also take a look at how the attack failed and why the u. S. Colored troops were unjustly blamed. Author kevin levine on the contribution of the u. S. Colored troops and immediately following the civil war. Here are some of the highlights for twheekd. Friday on cspan and prime time, well visit important sites in the history of the civil rights movement. Saturday night at 8 00, highlights from this years new York Ideas Forum including cancer biologist andrew hessel. On sunday, q a with new york congressman charlie wrangle at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Friday night at 8 00 on cspan2, indepth. Saturday on afterwards at 10 00, retired neurosurgeon and columnist ben carson. And saturday, Lawrence Goldstone on the competition between the Wright Brothers and glen curtis to be the predominant name in manned flight. American history tv on cspan3 on friday at 8 00 eastern. A look at hollywoods portrayal of slavery. Saturday night at 8 00, the 200th anniversary of the battle of blade ensberg and the burning of washington. And the former white house chiefs of staff discuss how president s make decisions. Find our Television Schedule one week in advance at cspan. Organize and let us know about the programs youre watching. Call us or email us. Join the cspan conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Next, an event commemorating the 150th anniversary of the battle of the crater and honoring the role of the u. S. Colored troops. The battle of the crater took place july 30th 1864 as part of the siege of petersburg. This ceremony includes the unveiling of a stamp and remarks by James Blankenship who details the major events of the battle. Held at Petersburg National battlefield this is an hour and 15 minutes. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. For those of you with us at 5 30, we welcome you goen the park. I was remarking a few minutes ago to one of my colleagues much like it was for the soldiers 150 years ago who were in the Overland Campaign that started in early may of 1864, its been a long road to petersberg. We started this we started our 150th events for three parks on may 3rd at spotsylvania courthouse, part of Fredericksburg National military park. And we have moved south ever since. And its been quite a feat for the National Park service. Weve tried to make tanl program of the Overland Campaign rather than looking at it as the wilderness, spotsylvania, north an yashgs cold harbor, petersburg. This is one continual process march for these soldiers 150 years ago. And i know for some of new the audience this morning, weve seen your faces before. We know youve been on the road with us and we certainly appreciate that. [ applause ] this morning id like to introduce the superintendent of Petersburg National battlefield lewis rogers. Lewis began his park Service Career in 1984. Seasonal interpretive park ranger at allegheny portage railroad. First permanent position at those same sites the following year in 1985. Serving as a park ranger and later as a Resource Management visitor Protection Specialist at the sites there. 1990 he moved to the Blue Ridge Parkway here in virginia. While there, he served as a Law Enforcement ranger with the added duties of supervising Law Enforcement and the interpretive seasonal rangers along the parkway and also responsible for a living history appalachian farm and seasonal visitor contact stations. He became the chief ranger of booker t. Washington in 1992 whereas the chief of interpretation he was responsible for the interpretation, visitor protection, Resource Management, Fire Management and feat collection operations. He became a supervisory park ranger of Law Enforcement. And then moved to valley forge in 1997, first as a supervisory park ranger and later as the chief ranger where he managed Law Enforcement and interpretation and in 2009, took on the role of interim superintendent at st. Gaugz Historic Site in new hampshire. He became superintendent of National Battle kneeled 2010 and most recently he served as our acting deputy regional director, the chief of staff to our regional director here for the northeast region. He holds a bachelors degree in parks and recreation and Slippery Rock university in pennsylvania. He also have a graduate of the federal Law Enforcement Training Center with both basic Law Enforcement and criminal investigator background. Its my privilege to introduce you to the superintendent, lewis rogers. Thanks, chris. I appreciate that introduction. I am very, very honored to be here today. And i want to take some time while im here to let you know just what this means to me. When i was a child, i can remember sitting in front of the tv. And this goes back a ways back when black and white movies still dominated tv. This goes back a ways, you know, when 12 00 came and the tv actually went off. I can remember sitting in front of the tv late at night and i remember watching those old war movies. I remember watching the ledger necks john wayne as he flew through the air. I remember watching those guys as they fought in battle. And as the soldiers fought and cried and died and fought for freedom, i can remember all those things. And i fell in love with those movies. It inspired me. It motivated me. But then one day a peculiar thing happened. I can remember during that time that we began to intergrate our schools. I can remember the forced bussing. I can remember how it affected me and how i watched the social and racial unrest that plagued our country. I can remember the American Flag being carried in the hands of ku klux klan members. I remember as it waved at the beginning. These images began to enter my mind and poisoned my imagination. When i began to watch my fighters on tv again, a small quiet voice echoed in the back of my mind. It told me, if you were there, you would not have done these things. These images were not for you. Perhaps you would have been a porter or a dishwasher. But if you were there, you never would have flown those planes. Because of these images, i believe that. I believe that i never would have fought in combat. I believe that i never would have served on a naval ship. I served in any position of distinction and honor. And that voice had a peculiar effect on me. I found myself drawing away from america. Although i faced the flag, i would not repeat the words. I felt this country rejected me. I felt i was lost. A stranger in a strange land. I could not understand why i was here. When i saw the stars and stripes waving in the breeze, when i saw the stars and stripes on porches of peoples houses as i pass by or in the fourth of july parade, i believe that that flag did not wave for me. It stood for a Different Society and a different people but it did not represent me. And then one day i picked up a book. It was a small magazine. It was put out by a man of tony brown. It was called tony brown as journal n that book, he dedicated that entire book to the story of the tuskegee airmen. I read that book and learned about the 332nd fighter group, the 100th and 301st and 302nd fighter squadrons. I learned that the 322nd flew the kobe raz and thunder bolts and the than north american p51 mustang and a peculiar thing happened to me. I began to dream again. And i began to learn about all the accomplish. S of after the can americans had made over the years. I could now see myself in history and perhaps i could have served in the first rebelling men at valley forge under general George Washington because now i knew they were there. Perhaps i would have served a board the u. S. Constitution in the war of 1812. I fought off the british in louisiana in 1815 because i could see myself there. Or perhaps i could have served right here in petersburg in 1864 in the u. S. Chs color troop and 2930th, 31st or 34th infantries or in 1866 i could have helped settle the west as a buffalo soldier fighting in the ninth or tenth cavalry. Perhaps i would have been henry o. Flipper born a slave but later graduated from west point in 1877 as commissioned Second Lieutenant in the u. S. Army. Again, perhaps i would have found myself in a spanish american war as a buffalo soldier coming to Teddy Roosevelt in rough riders. Perhaps i would have found myself in world war i. Serving in the American Forces and fighting under a french commander in europe and later dubbed the harlem hell fighters. Perhaps i could have been eugene bullard, the first africanamerican to fly in combat during world war ii in the french army. His motto was a heart painted on the plane and a motto that read we all bleed red. Perhaps i would have been the first black sailor to receive the navy cross for his heroism during pearl harbor. Perhaps i would have been at mondayfort point. Or perhaps i would have been some of the young black women or known some of the young black women in the armys army corps, the 6888 who deployed to europe during world war ii. Perhaps i would have been part of the 320th, vla all black bloom barrage. According to the u. S. Army, the 320th is the only battalion to land on the beaches of utah and omaha on d day. Perhaps i would have been part of the 93rd infran tribuilding air strips in the Solomon Island and fighting the enemy to keep them from destroying what i just built. Perhaps i would have been part of the red ball express which drove supplies from normandie to pair witness over 70 black participation. Or perhaps i would have served in world war ii under general patten and the battle with the bulge. Perhaps i could have served with them when they forced a hole in the line. Perhaps i would have been with them as they fought through france, belgium and germany. Perhaps i could have been with them when they linked up to the soviets in austria. Or perhaps i could have been a part of the eighth Marine Ammunition Company that landed in iwo jima. Buffalo soldiers fought with mcarthur in korea. And daniel chappy james flew p51st and later f80 jets in support of troops on the ground. Later he became the First American four star general. Perhaps i would have been charles young, born in 1964, the third africanamerican to graduate from west point, the first africanamerican to attain the rank of colonel. While in san francisco, he was pinlted first acting superintendent in general grant National Parks. No, i couldnt have been a superintendent then. That was too long ago. But i can be one now. And as i continue to educate myself about all the contributions that africanamericans in time of war had done, something peculiar began to happen to me. Something peculiar began to change. When i looked at those old black and white movies again, i couldnt hear that voice anymore. My love affair with those all black and whites were rekindled. I began to love those old fighter movies once again. And this is the most peculiar part. Not just the ones about black fighters. I began to embrace them all. I began to embrace the ledger nec leather necks. I began to embrace the dirty dozen. I think what changed in me was that i had found my place in history. Although i didnt see myself in every picture, i knew i was there. Just out of the scene i was flying those planes. Just over the hill i was driving those tanks. I found my place in history and something i could be proud of. What ive learned is that we all want to tell those parts of history that mean the most to us. From our different points of view. We want to hear those parts that fill us with pride. Those parts that we want to shape the thoughts and the hearts of our children. Those parts that compel us to get out of the bed in the morning and push on through another day. People want to see themselves in history. One day in october in late 1980s, i foupd nd myself in a station in pittsburgh taking a oath with a number of other sailors. I found myself on a plane on my way off to the u. S. Navy rtc in san diego. Later i found myself in my wait to port wanini to a cv in the United States navy. A few years ago, i found myself in the stands at great lakes as i watched my son pass in review. Just a few days ago a young man asked me why should i serve for our country which does not like me . Now i know this is not true. But sometimes the voices of hate can be so loud that you cant hear the voices of reason. But i explained to him, young man, weve been serving this country since our conception. I explained to him about christmas adatux, the uscts and the Buffalo Soldiers and 761 battalion. He said, you know, i think i can serve. After reading about the tuskegee airmen, a peculiar thing happened to me when i was a boy. I saw john wayne and i loved him. I saw the black sheep and i loved them. I think what changed was best described by something that chappy said and was written later in a book by Benjamin Davis jr. , the commanding officer. He titled the book simply an american. And he said when a reporter asked him about his title and why he titled it so simply, he said that i fought too hard for this country and i lived here and ive given. And he said ive done too much and im not a hyphenated american. He said im not a black american. Im not an africanamerican. Im not an afroamerican. He said simply, im an american. And you know something happened to me when i went back to school. I stood a little stronger. I crossed my heart and i said those words with pride. And now when i look and i see the American Flag blowing in the wind and waving in the breeze, i come to realize that that flag waves for me. Thank you. Thank you, lewis. This morning our colors will be presented by the fort lee color guard. Will you please rise . This will be followed by the national anthem. Ab÷f÷v4p n our invocation will be given by dr. George w. C. Lions. He was pastor here in petersburg. Pray with me in your own tradition as i pray loud in mine. Gracious god, after 150 years of reflection and remembrance, we invoke your name so that you would prod our hearts to remember the lives lost in battle so that we might seek peace in our time. We acknowledge your reconciling presence always at work. Even through battles. Which has brought women and men together from all walks of life from every station and culture. 150 years later in harmony as community. Out of this place of sorrow, make this day a celebration. A celebration of the community of humanity. Our plea remains and all feelings of sexual strife be entirely forgotten and blotted out. In the name of the one who is our ever lasting fortress and peace, amen. Were very fortunate this morning. Weve worked very hard not only is National Park service unit but weve also worked with the u. S. Postal service this morning to make this event what it is today. And were honored to have with us this morning the chief postal inspector of the u. S. Postal Inspection Service. Inspector guy catrell. He was appointed the postal inspector of the u. S. Postal Inspection Service in july 2010. He oversees all inspections of the Postal Service. You can have a seat. Sorry. Hopefully thats my glitch of the day. National Headquarters Offices have 18 field divisions and two Service Centers in the National Forensics laboratory. About 700 Postal Police officers and 600 support personnel. He serves as chairman of the universal postal union, unions postal security group. Prior to his appointment, served as deputy chief inspector at the national headquarters. He Overall National security programs for the Postal Service. Native of West Virginia. He grew up in new orleans. He joined the Postal Service in 1987 when he became a letter carrier there. 1991, became a postal inspector to new Orleans Division where he investigated internal and external mail theft throughout louisiana and southern mississippi. Since that time chief catrell handled several positions including his appointment in charge of the Washington Field office during the anthrax investigation. In 2008, he served as inspector in charge of the security and Crime Prevention and Communications Group where he guided the Postal Service service through a platform, streamline security related programs and implemented numous Cost Effective and innovative solutions. His group produced security and Crime Prevention publications and videos and overhauled the postal Inspection Services external web side. He holds a bachelors degree from the university of new orleans in psycholo psychology. It is my pleasure to introduce chief guy catrell. Thanks, everybody. I was going to tell you to sit down but like a crowd that knows what theyre doing. So if i go too long, can you walk out on me if you have to. Its neat for this event to be from West Virginia but grow up in new orleans. Kind of go both ways, right . But thanks very much for the great introduction. We stand here in the shadow of the crater in the fight for petersburg. And its the Perfect Place to have the dedication today. This is the latest in a series of stamps that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the civil war. So today we commemorate two battles in that four year conflict. Right now in mobile, alabama, the Postal Service is dedicated a second set. And that stamp depicts the fleet at the battle of mobile bay, alabama. Im here to dedicate this stamp. Why . The Inspection Service played a vital role in keeping our country connected during the war and afterward. The postal Inspection Service has been protecting United States mail, employees and customers for more than two centuries including the civil war years. Now special agents as postal inspectors were called back then were known they helped introduce many service thats are still used this very day. And one of those is the postal money order. And money orders have their origin in the war between the states and they were developed to make it easier for soldiers to send money home to their families. Now special gts also helped deliver mail to troops in the field. And they reestabilshed mail service in southern communities as they returned to federal control. So the stamp we dedicate here today is rendering of the painting, the charge of the 22nd negro regimen 16th june 1864 by andre castenya. This campaign was according to historian earl j. Husband, the longest, most complex, and perhaps the most important of the civil war. And here today we also have the stamp designer phil jordan with us. Now the soldiers shown on this stamp were part of the 175 regimens and more than 178,000 africanamerican men who made up the United States color troops. These troops were fighting not just for the continuation of the nation. They were fighting for their own freedom and the freedom of their families. The United States color troops were made up of three blacks from the north as well as escaped and freed slaves from the south. These troops formed after the emancipation proclamation. Brave men put their lives on the line in order to prove that they were fit to be citizens. Statesman and africanamerican abolitionist Frederick Douglas said, once let the black man get upon his purse and the brass letter, let him get an eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship. By the end of the war, the United States color troops made up almost 10 of the strength of the union army. And the troops were instrumental in the success of many of the major late war campaigns. Referring to them an officer the 22nd color infantry wrote, i never saw troops fight better, nor bravely, and with more determination. With the issuance of this years civil war stamps, the Postal Service is proud to honor the memory of these troops. It is proud to honor all the soldiers and sailors who served. Both the petersburg and mobile bay stamps are issued as forever stamps. They will always be good to mail a card or letter no matter what the postage rate may be to continue to hohn yort troops. Now if i could have those on stage join me along with reenactors representing the 22nd usct, well unveil the civil war battle of petersburg stamp. I also have the privilege of introducing to you dr. Malcolm beech sr. Dr. Beech is originally from North Carolina. And attended undergraduate school at moore House College in atlanta, georgia. Upon graduation, he accepted a Marketing Management position with verizon in washington, d. C. While in washington, d. C. , received an mba from howard university. He complete the his doctoral studies with the dba and marketing from the university of phoenix. The Third Generation serial entrepreneur, the 28 years of age he founded a multimillion dollar food, beverage and Entertainment Company with five locations in washington, d. C. Later he established a regional publishing enterprise that included Public Affairs programming, video documentaries, Community Newspapers and statewide travel and tourism guides for North Carolina, maryland, and washington, d. C. As an avid civil war historian, he is the founding director of the Cultural Heritage museum in North Carolina which is dedicated to the 200,000 africanamerican soldiers who fought with the union, army and the american civil war. Presently, dr. Beech is president of the United States color troops Living History Association, the National Organizations of reenactors, historians, story tellers, scholars and students dedicated to preserving the history of africanamerican participation in the civil war. He is Senior Vice President of the National Business league, National Business trade association founded by dr. Booker t. Washington in 1900. Also he is the past chairman of the district of Columbia Chamber of commerce, largest Business Membership Organization in the metropolitan washington area. It is my privilege this morning to introduce to you dr. Malcolm beech sr. Thank you very much. Dinlt realize i was that long and been around that long. You start to do these reenactments and you start thinking about the 1800s. Maybe i have been around for a while. Good morning to all of you and i really wanted to thank you all for coming out. This stamp and the ceremony surrounding it means a lot to us. We are reenactors. We are commemorators of the thousands of africanamericans who fought for their freedom during the american civil war. We go all over the country not only doing reenactments but we do living history demonstrations. What we find is the impact on our audience, especially the young audience, is our superintendent said earlier, they can see themselves in histo history. When they see us, they see people that look like them and they understand how important this particular war was to the Africanamerican Community. Just to put it in perspective, before the civil war began, africanamericans citizens enslaved in the United States. After the civil war was over in 1865, there was zero, okay. That is the most significant event in the history of africanamericans. The union together. The south was fighting for something called states rights. But the africanamerican u. S. Color troops were fighting for their freedom. As well as theyre manhood. Slavery had a way of emasculating the men and families when they couldnt protect their families against the cruel actions of the slave holder. So part of this war was about reclaiming and recapturing our manhood. It made a difference when you had a uniform and you have a weapon and you went on to free your family. You got a different response than just saying a few kind words to some slave holder when he saw that gun coming at him. It made a difference. We also tell people that slaves freed themselves. Pride of 1863 and emancipation proclamation, the south was winning the war. Lincoln decided it was a military Strategic Plan to issue the emancipation proclamation at a time when you had no control over the slave areas. Right . He freed all the slaves. But in that emancipation proclamation that was a clause that allowed africanamericans to join the union forces, get a uniform and actually fight in the battles. So the slaves freed themselves. This is the kind of independence that we all are proud of. Thats why the stamp today is so very important. Its going to tell everybody all across america that these men fought for their own freedom. And thats whats important. I want to thank my fellow reenactors that are here today and all the members of the United States color troops Living History Association for what you do and what we do. In telling the story of africanamerican participation in the civil war. I thank you so much for coming today. Thank you, dr. Beech. This morning to give us somewhat of a perspective on the battle of the crater, the significance that this event holds and as it was said earlier, petersburg, it is a complex military operation. 9 1 2 months, 292 days. Were just in the beginning. But of those military actions, one stands out above all the others. That is a crater on the daily basis. We have our visitors here. They want to know where is the crater . They dont have to define it as the petersburg crater. Its here. Its in petersburg. When we were at antitum, how many corn fields do we have in the United States, but if you say the corn field, people know what youre talking about. If you say the crater, people know what youre talking about. This morning im privileged to introduce a long time friend, a Career Service member of the National Park service. James blankenship jr. Jimmy is native here to the petersburg area. He began his park Service Career in 1975 as a seasonal park ranger at Petersburg National battlefield. 1981, he accepted the First Permanent position as a park ranger at Independence National historical park. 1982, he returned to native state of virginia after accepting a positional colonial historical park and in 1984, his park Service Career returned to Petersburg National battlefield. Since then, hes held the positions of park ranger, historian, and now historian curator of battlefield. During his time alt petersburg, he participated in assistant projects at yellowstone National Park, ft. Stanwick National Park, sagamore hill, George Washingtons birthplace, long fellow, National Historic side sandy Hook National sea shore and jamestown and yorktown collections. He is currently a member of the northeast regions Emergency Response team. He spent more than 30 years firing civil war era artillery, primarily Field Artillery for 16 years he served as a National Level 19th century artillery instructor with the National Park Service Historic weapons program. He is currently in the process of completing a manuscript on the United States military railroads during the siege of petersburg. Mr. Blankenship holds a degree in history from Virginia Commonwealth University and again it is with pleasure that i introduce the parks historian and good friend jimmy blankenship. [ applause ] when we first started this process, they want a little talk on the battle of the crater. I said sure, id be glad to do that. I was told i have ten minutes. So im going to condense nine hours into ten minutes. This may be a little longer. Needless to say, i can not really do justice to the heroism that both sides showed out here on the fields in just ten minutes. So if you want to get more details about what happened, go on one of the tours that are being offered. Now on june 19th, both sides dug in. Earth works had to be built for protection since most of the landscape was baron of trees and any natural concealment. In places the lines were far apart. But in other areas, the lines were very close. The lines in front of elliott salient which is where we are, were only 25 yards distant. One regimen in the area was the 48th pennsylvania infantry. Some troops in this regimen were coal miners. They thought they could mine underneath a confederate battery, filling the end of the mine with gunpowder and blow a hole into the confederate lines. The digging began on june 25th and the mine was completed by about a month later. Total lengthst mine is 586 feet. They removed 18,000 cubic feet of earth in the construction of the mine. The sounds of digging actually once they got up judged neej th confederate battery were heard by the infantrymen located in the position here. They were looking for the mine. Rumors were flying and anywhere where the lines were close, they were digging. The con fed rats were digging listening galleries to see if they could hart sounds of digging. And there is one spot right out here where the confederate counter mine goes over top of the union mine. They just didnt go deep enough. The union mine was about 16 feet down at this point. The confederate listening gallery would go about eight to ten feet. So they were right on top and, yes, at night when it was quiet, they were hearing the sounds of digging below them. Now the end of the mine would be filled with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder. The initial battle plan was to blow up the gunpowder, create a large hole in the confederate lines. The initial attack would be led by africanamerican troops and they would roll up the confederate lines to the north back behind me to the south behind you and then the rest of the troops would go through, around the hole and capture the cemetery about 1,000 yards behind us here. If grant could get guns up on top of that ridge, he might have petersburg. The plan was changed a few days later. General me changed the plan. Meet ordered burnside the commander of the union core to send in one of the white divisions to lead at sault and the attacking force was to go straight for blanford hill. Other Union Divisions following would move to the right and left of the crater rolling up the confederate flags. Now Major General johnsons confederate division defended this sectionst line. Ransoms north carolinians were to the north behind me. Right where we are would be elliotts south carolinians and goods virginia is to the south of the crater behind you. Rights artillery battery was positioned to the north in what is now a cemetery about 600 yards behind me. You had captain richard pegrama artillery here in the sail yenlt. And you also would have davidsons battery to the south behind you. And to my right out here on what was then called jerusalem plafrpg road is flaners batteries. So basically, the confederates had artillery on the left, right, and in the rear. So when the union troops attacked through here, they were gore to get hit on three fronts. Now at 4 44 a. M. A tremendous explosion ruptured the earth throwing men, cannons and a huge chunk of clay the size of a four room schoolhouse toward the heavens. The confederate casualties from the explosion were 44 killed outright, 234 wounded for a total of 278 known casualties. There were probably more. Now when this stuff blew up an went up into the air, its got to come down. So much went up that it took ten minutes for the debris to stop falling out of the sky. Union soldiers 125 yards to my left were actually in the fallout area. They didnt stay there. They went back to the east a little ways to get out from under the debris falling. They had to wait ten minutes for that stuff to come down. Once they did go on the move, they got up here to the confederate line and they saw a hole which measured about 170 to 200 feet in length, 60 feet wide and about 30 feet deep. Plus remains, body parts of these confederate soldiers all over the place. Some half buried, some completely buried. The division moved forward but they did not advance yont the gaping hole. Once the confederate artillery opened, the division was pinned down. Potters division would move up to the right back behind me. Wilcoxs division would move to the left behind you. They would capture roughly about 400 yards of 500 yards of confederate line. Meanwhile, general mahone who is about three miles away to the south, he received orders from lee whose headquarters was located at violet Bank Plantation to reinforce and plug the union breakthrough. Mahone brought his old virginia brigade and now commanded by hall. A little later, he realized he was going to need more men. He did also order sanders alabama brigade to come up. Now it would take them a little while to get here. The africanamerican Fourth Division commanded by feraro would now advance and they were just north of the crater just behind me here forming for an attack. Mahone is here by this point of time. There were only 800 virginians in his brigade. Mahon hechlt a decision to make. He can see that there are union troops up here forming for an attack. Accident know that theyre africanamericans. He cant tell if theyre white or black. All hes doing is counting Union Regimental flags. 13, 14, 15. There are a lot of Union Soldiers up there on that crest. Mahone initially wanted the virginians and georgians to attack simultaneously but the virginians on the left, georgians on the right. Well, mahone has to make a snap decision here. It is fwoer hit first or get hit first . He decides its better to hit first. He sends the virginians in without the georgians. Theyre not ready to go yet. These 800 virginians attacked. They hit hard and they hit with tremendous ferocity. They were actually aiming at the crater itself but there is a common misconception that union troops in that hole are noncombat ants. They are not. There are hundreds of them up on the rim of the crater and pouring out a tremendous amount of leg with the muskets. The virginians aim at the crater but because of the sheets of ledz coming out at them, they veer to the north. They run into the ustcs in this area. There was hand to hand combat. Out of the 800 virginians, half become casualties. Some of after the can americans began to panic because they were hit so hard by these guys. Some of the panic spread to the white union troops. The georgians then attacked. They reinforced the virginians and they would eventually take the lines to the north of the crater and also to the south of the crater. Now keep in mind, im doing a nine hour battle in ten minutes here. So ive got to skip a lot of stuff. Finally at the end, by 1 00 p. M. , the alabama troops come across the fields to my left up just right there where those earth works are. Theyre up on top of those earth works. And the crater was still with Union Soldiers by this time and the blood was running down the sides and pooling in the bottom of the hole. The con fed rats would take mortar shells. Theyre about 16 pound balls. Theyre lighting themg by hand and tossing them down into that harpoon down into that hole. You got to remember that when youre in combat youre no longer a human being, you become an animal. Both sides do this. You do not survive combat if you dont make that change. By 2 00 p. M. It was all over. Im going to read a few quotes. Some of them will be gruesome but i want you to understand what it was like to be out here at that time. These fields were in right now are killing fields. The same for north and south of the crater and same for the east side of the crater. Some of these will be quoted and i will say quotes. This first one is a quote. This one guy quote there was a pile of 20 dead men. A full line of men around the crest of the crater were loading and firing as fast as they could and the men were dropping fast most shot in the head. They rolled down to the steep side of the bottom and piled up four and five deep. At the north end of the crater right over here, union trooped pile up the bodies of their dead comrades to try to block the confederate bullets coming in through the trenches. Here is another quote. This man was in the crater. There was a light head boy apparently under 18 who fired steadily for more than an hour at the rim. A bullet smashed into the young mans forehead and he fell with his head against my feet his blood gushing over them. I covered the boys head and continued firing. Its kind of hard of us to conceive of this kind of thing. I counted 21 blacks shot at this spot. Their bodies rolling and tumbling down the steep slope. Blood was everywhere and in many places ponds of it as large as an ordinary pond basin. It would turn out would be the largest number of casualties suffered by africanamericans during the civil war. Here is another quote. My tongue is swollen and lips cracked by the powder and bite g cartridges. My gun gets so hot i have to stop firing. A shell burst close to my head and i was tumbled over unconscious for a few seconds. Another time my ramrod was shot from my hand and twice i was hit in the hand. Now conditions get worse in the crater if you can believe that. Here is another quote. One man was decapitated and his body fell sloping downwards and the blood rushed out from an overturned bucket. Here is another quote. One shell permeated the crater floor and dug up two bodies that had been buried by the mine explosion. Everyone could see body parts flying into the air as a result of the hits by the mortar shells. General bartlet the Union General was down in this hole. Fortunately for him his cork leg was shattered and not his one remaining good leg. There were nativeamericans here too. Here is a quote of the first from someone who saw the first michigan sharpshootered. A f this is a story most people probably have never really realized but there are nativeamericans on both sides. It was highly likely that nativeamericans fought nativeamericans right out here. There were catabas in the South Carolina and north of the crater. In the crater there were those in the 37th wisconsin infantry and also company k of the first michigan sharpshooters were in the crater so its probably likely that you had natives fighting natives. This one company had tribes in this regiment. Now this last quote is the one that probably gets to me the most. No air was stirring within the crater. It was a sickening sight. Men were dead and dying all around us. Blood was streaming down the sides of the crater from the bottom where it gathered in pools before being absorbed by the hard red clay. The soughter became manotonous stretching for at least 100 yards north of the crater, the confederate works were filled with the dead and dying in places they laid so thick that it was impossible not to tread on them when making ones way through the works. Inside the crater the confederates found 133 bodies. They dug down to retrieve the bodies of their own men and found the blood had penetrated the sandy clay as much as 5 inches down. In some places the union bodies were piled up eight deep. The highest concentration of remains of both sides covered in an area of 250 yards by 100 yards. There were hundreds of bodies in this area. Three days later a truce was called and both sides claimed their dead. Over 600 remains were buried between the lines. These remains would be reentered into the 1930s either to two cemeteries. Now the casualties. Confederate losses are really not known in their entirety at least 400 were killed. 700 wounded but some sources go as far as 1,600 out of 9,400 engaged well over 10 losses. The 6th virginia went into the battle of 80 men and 70 were killed. 5 were killed, eight were wounded so 13 out of the 15 were casualties. Now the federal losses were extremely high. All together, 504 were killed. Close to 3,800 men. The africanamericans suffered tremendous casualties. 433 were africanamericans. 744 were wounded and many were captured for a total of little over 1,200 known casualties. Now, in most civil war battles, people who surrendered some of them do get killed after they surrender. It happened all the time. It happened here. Some of the africanamericans were killed after they surrendered. Killing the enemy soldiers after they sundererrrendered is more than you think. It happened on june 15th, the first day of fighting. It happened here at the crater. It happened on september 29th at fort archer and happened again at fort greg on april 2nd. It happens in all wars. We here with germans killing americans after they surrendered. One of my distant cousins was over there in world war 2 and said they werent the ohm ones doing it. The americans did it too. In conclusion the battle of the crater was a great tactical victory for lee. The siege would continue on for another eight months until petersberg and richmond finally fell to union forces on april 3, 1865. Now, the long term affects of this war eventually would really became the United States of america. Its a good thing when you look at early 20th century history. Would we have been able to go overdo europe and defeat the kaiser. Dont know. Same thing in world war ii. Could we have defeated the germans and japanese if we were a divided nation. Hard to say. I really think things were much better for everyone because we were the United States instead of being two separate countries. I thank you all for being here today. Thank you very much. [ applause [ applause ] ive would like to give jimmy another round of applause. When we talked about the program, ten minutes was agonizing to him. [ applause ] but in fairness to jimmys remarks, you know, hes given us a lot to think about this morning. One of the things i would charge you with as visitors to the park today. This is 150 years to the day of this battle that what those men talked about in their quotes red by jimmy is take sometime to walk these fields by yourself of the dont take a tour of the just give yourself a few moments to contemplate the word thats were spoken by these men 150 years ago. We will not be able to conceptualize the horror and sacrifice that was seen on this field july 30th, 1864. Our keynote remarks this morning are coming from colonel paul brooks, hes the Garrison Commander for fort lee. Brooks assumed command of the u. S. Army garrison at fort lee in august 2013. Just a short time ago. His army career began in 1984 when he enlisted as a military policeman. He graduated from the ut military academy with a bachelors of science in 1991 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the armored corp. He also holds a masters career from the Marine Corp University and also from the dwight d. Eisenhower school at the National Defense university which he earned in june of 2013. He other schooling includes armor officer basic course, Ranger School which in the words of my father is the most important, the only one that matters, scout commander certification course, master school, combined Armed Services staff school, survival, evasion, resistance, escape school. During his career, colonel brookes earliest assignments between 1992 and 1995 were as a tank platoon leader with the second tank battalion as a missile maintenance and heavy maintenance s 1 is the 27th main support battalion first california ary division at ft. Hood texas. He assumed roles of increasing responsibility in North Carolina as first corp support command Operations Officer 528th special Operations Support battalion and various command operational and staff positions in u. S. Army speci. During that time he also served multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan as a member of the joint forces special Operations Task force in support of Operation Iraqi freedom and enduring freedom. The legion of merit, bronze star medal, defense Meritory Service medal and Army Accommodation badge and my honor to introduce to you the Garrison Commander colonel paul brooks. [ applause ] thanks for that great introduction chris. It all sounds a lot better than it actually is. I would like to say its awesome to be here. I would like to welcome everybody and say its great to be here. Major moore. Not anymore. Those army days are done, right . Always great seeing you. Always a friend of the community at fort lee every time we see you running around doing something with us. Its awesome. We appreciate it. Before i get started id like to recognize all the work that the park service, especially chris bryce has done to put this event together and not just this event but all of the events over the course of the ten months that cover the entire siege and the battle of petersberg as well as the post office and all the other people who help put this together. Why dont we give them one round of applause for doing it. [ applause ] i would definitely like to thank you for asking me to speak here today. I have a great sense of gratitude for being allowed to participate in todays events. The significance of this event and the anive eniversary are not on me. Although the one thing i do have to admit when i was asked to do this i found the task a little bit dountiaunting. Im surrounded by subject Matter Experts on the civil war. People who are trying to cam nine hours into ten minutes and still include more information than i would ever be able to get in there more specifically experts on this battle. Even though i am pretty accustomed to not being the smartest guy in the room that adds a whole new perspective to the situation. Now, i know i am a career soldier and im supposed to know that kind of stuff but in college i was an economics major so we didnt realpoeix about the battle of the crater too much in micro or macro economics. Although the one thing i do remember is i actually remember this battle being discussed when i was in one of my history classes at west point. It wasnt really the subject matter as it was my instructor who eventually went onto become the lieutenant and commanded the first Nato Training Mission in afghanistan before retiring. He was a very animated and energetic speaker. He always made it interesting. He was first person who ever actually make history something that i wanted to go sit down and talk to because he didnt really teach history nearly as much as he told stories. Isnt that what history really is . Its a story. Its our story. Its the story of what got us here today. So we commemorate the battle crater which is just one story of our nation. Now as i said earlier im not a great story teller so i will leave the details of the battle up to more qualify personnel than myself. And liewis oecpening and introduction of comments thanks for setting the bar so high. Very powerful words. It was awesome so im not going to attempt to tell the story or amplify it or offer any insightful details on how it unfolded but what i would like to talk about is the people. The soldiers who played the parts of the story as it unfolded here and have played the part in every battle our nation has participated in and more importantly the soldiers we have serving now and the ones signing up to serve everyday. I would like to talk about them and their ability to secure our nations future and their sacrifice. A sacrifice that transcends far beyond the soldiers who fight the battle to their family, friends and homes. Thats something that actually the commemoration here will recognize here and across the country. In all thousands paid the ultimate cost of that sacrifice on this spot and throughout this entire battlefield while writing this chapter and throughout our history hundreds of thousands have paid that same price. Countless more have been wounded and captured. Their blood is the ink that most of our history is written in. Im sure their reasons for being here are just as varied as the soldiers joining today are. To make that sacrifice to stand up for what you believe in. During the battle they may have fought to defend their country, their family, their beliefs or rights or strictly their sense of duty. Soldiers in the north could have fought to maintain the union or preservation of the nation or way of life or the abolition of slavery. Those in the south for their rights or homes and families. For many who fought here, the land were on right now is literally their back yard. The color troops who fought here for their freedom. A great example of this being mr. Dorsy of the one of the colored troops from the 39th infantly regiment who was born a slave but also won the congressional medal of honor for his actions right here on this ground. Also those who were drafted. Finally only 1 to 6 of the force who was here, depending on who you talk to, i will leave that up to the experts. Their represent theirselves and all made the sacrifice required to write this chapter. This sacrifice, sense of duty and this need to participate in or support or be apart of something much greater than themselves has played out time and time again throughout our history. So what about our future and the soldiers who will lead us there . As a leader in todays army were required to look at the future. Where are we going and hem determine how to best ensure the chapters of that future of are a secure america. In the 30 years ive enlisted ive seen phenomenal changes in our army and its soldiers. Today were once again an all volunteer army and the quality, competence, capability and sense of duty to their nation of these volunteers is what will secure our future. Every army in the world attempts to emulate the capability of our enlisted personnel and ncos. The bottom line is they cant do it. Thats just the fact of the matter. Some have been trying to do it for decades. We actively continually pursue efforts to actually teach other nations to adopt our model but no one else has been able to replicate it because of our soldiers. These souliers are the reasons were so strong. As others chase us and try to emulate our capability, we will continue to improve and move forward and move farther away. One of the best conversations that highlighted this was when i was working at fort brag. There was a major who was talking to a bunch of veterans who had previously served in our unit. They were talking about how concerned they were with respect to the quality of the soldier and what had happened to the unit over the years. I got to tell you what, that Sergeant Major was opposed to what they were saying and might have threw a couple of expletives that this unit could have easily whipped the oldtimers. He told me this was not an insult to them but a testment ament to the fact were always Getting Better that it is our duty to improve our units and people who defend the nation. He had no attempt to belittle their accomplishments. And closed by saying if we didnt prepare the next generation to be able to whip us than we would fail our country no matter what we accomplish on todays battlefield. This ethos to continual get better is an inherent part of our American Culture and is the reason we have and will have the best military in the world. Before i leave you thinking this is a chest thumping sales patch i would like to provide you details. In my lifetime we have gone from a draft and peoples only options were to go to the army or jail to one where only 29 of our population can even qualify to get into the army. Think about that for one moment. Over 70 of our population age eligible population dont even meet the basic requirements to get into todays army. 99 of todays recruits have a High School Diploma in an era where only 79 graduate. Overall todays recruits are healthier and more physically fit than the vast majority of their peers and they adhere to a zero tolerance policy on drugs and criminal issues. It is actually statistically easier to get into college than it is to enlist not become an officer but ep linlist in the a. The life of a soldier is no the life of a soldier is no secret to them. They join knowing they will endure hard times. They will endure sacrifice. They will be charged to keep us safe. The few that make the cut to get in and are willing to make that sacrifice, they are not always easy to find. If it was easy to find them we wouldnt need an entire command for voting and recruiting. Those who get in, to get in and make the next gut to get through training and into an unit, they become apart of something much greater than themselves. They have the combination of skills, the intelligence, the physical ability and sense of duty to be part of that 1 of our population that puts on a military uniform. The 1 that puts their lives on the line in defense of our nation is the 1 i want to be apart of. Thats the 1 im proud to be apart of so the next time you see that brand new private or lieutenant, no that they were among that our society had to offer. They had more ability and potential than most of their peers and they still chose to put that uniform on and to help the sacrifices that come with it. They are tomorrows generals and command Sergeant Majors. They are the future of our nation. I thank you again for the honor of being here to stand in this hollow ground with all of you and to remember this chapter in our history and the people who lived in it and people who died in it. Have a great day. God bless america. [ applause ] our benediction this morning will be given by reverend rick gre greenwood. I fail to mention with pastor lions are gillfield. Both churches represented here this morning were war time congregations here in petersberg. Again, this morning our benediction reverend greenwood. May god the earth maker, god the universe creator, god the star thrower, god the tree grower, may go the builder of nations, god the lord of lords, god the king of kings, god the lover of man kind, may god who is our history. God who is our present, god who awaits us in the future. God be with us now. May got the pain bayer. God the one who suffers. God the bloodied sacrifice. God the redeemer. God the inkarnate. The god who lived as one of us. God who is with us. God who looks like us, god who frees us, god bless you now, may god the life giver, god the devine breath, doed the hogod t maker, the community creator, may the peace revealer, god the comforter of all. May god who moves among us all, god who lifts us into eternal life, god lead us forward today. May god the earth maker, the pain barer, the life giver, bless you and keep you now and always. Amen. Just from me personally i want to thank you all for being here today with us today on 150th anniversary of the battle of crater. Once again superintendent rogers. Just want to be very short and thank you all for coming. I learn when its time for things to be over its time for them to be over. I want to thank fort lee for coming us. People dont realize that people e petersberg used to be a part of fort lee. We were actually cut out of fort lee to be created as a battlefield created by one union and one confederate soldier. Id like to thank the Postal Service for coming here. Thank you for the city of st. Petersburg for being with us. Go and find yourself in history. Thursday night a look at the civil wars atlanta campaign. In may of 1864, William Sherman marched into georgia with the goal of capturing atlanta. After a series of battles throughout the summer and the see siege of the city, atlanta fell in 1864. We will join with shermans march and a look at confederate weapons manufacturing in Central Georgia after the fall of atlanta. Thats all coming up thursday night here on cspan 3. 200 years ago on august 24th, 1814, british soldiers routed american troops at the battle of bladeensberg just outside of washington d. C. It left the capitol wide open to British Forces who marched into the city and burned down the nations capitol. You can here more about this thursday on an event hosted by the smithsonian associated. Our live coverage starts at 6 45 eastern and more august 23rd as we takeb h h hlnc you live to tr a Panel Discussion on the events of 200 years ago live on American History tv on csp an 3 next a look of the role in the u. S. Colored troops in the battle of the crater during the siege of petersberg. After weeks of tunnelling on july 30, 1864, forces blew up a mine to create a gap in the defenses. Emmanuel discusses why the attack ultimately failed and why the u. S. Colored troops were unjustly blamed. This event was part of the gettysburgs institutes annual civil conference. Its just under an hour. Good morning. I will prewarn you today, you will here language that we find repulsive. I will not cut it out because it makes us quiver. Well get started. On july twelfth, 1864 after failing to defeat robert e. Lees army of northern virginia, Lieutenant General grant accompanied Major General meads river of the patomic and pulled away from the fortifications of the harbor and begun to move toward petersberg. Some of the troops north of petersberg moved to begin the attack on the city the following day on july 15th. Petersberg in 1860 had been virginias second largest city with a population of 18266 folks. Four railroads radiated from the city by 1860. The petersberg railroad ran south to North Carolina. The richmond in petersberg obviously connecting those two places. The south side which ran from city point through petersberg to lynchberg. The fcity possessed three iron mills, three plaining mills and factories. These operations were cranking out supplies and food for the confederacy throughout the war. The confederacy operated several war time plants within or near the city still functioning in the city of 1864 including naval rope works, wagon works. The war time blockade getting back to the interest in the blockade had created even greater importance for the petersberg railroad because it a separate railroad company, weldon operated keskticonnectin petersberg and the blockade at wilmington. There is petersberg. Grant wanted to cut off rich monday, rich mondays communication of goods from june 15th to the 18th before lee arrived at petersberg union troops assaulted the city but failed to capture it. Siege operations began but at one part of the line, the 9th corp were less than 400 feed from the confederate earth works in the midst of the summer of 1864 drought was the constant sharp shooting and destruction of earth works and a plan had developed to break the campaign before it lasted much longer. As early as june 21, lieutenant henry pleasant thought mining the confederate position was a possibility. He noted enthusiasm for the project was his commander potter and burnside. The 48th pennsylvania began excavating the mine but most people remember it started at 12 00 noon. The work was performed night and day, seven days a week, even in the intense summer heat which often exceeded 105 degrees. The concerns about ventilating the mine war dressed. Fresh air entered an 8 inch square duct circulated fire was created that would send the bad air out through a chimney shaft. As the laborers extended the mine so too did the wooden duct system be extended. By the 17th of july, the mine will reach the 510. 8 feet that pleasant had first proposed. Two galleries will be extended which is represented in this image at the top underneath the confederate position in which the gunpowder is supposed to be pegged. While the 48th pennsylvania infantry dug the mine, burnside crafted a battle plan. Three weeks ahead of the assault he informed Edward Ferrero, the commander of the u. S. Division of colored troops of his plan to use those troops first. He expected 12,000 pounds of gunpowder to explode by day break or 5 00 a. M. The black soldiers would be massed in double columns ready to pass through the gap in the enemys line. The regiment was to be perp eep perpendicular of the confederate line. The remaining regiments were to move as quickly as possible to the crest in front as rapidly as possible as burnside wrote. White troops of burpsides corp and others would soon follow. He was directed to drill his enthusiastic troops but not veterans for this attack. However, this is issue that we still dont know all the details of, were the u. S. Colored troops trained or not trained . It depends on who you ask. Captain robert beachom of the 23rd usct recalled only one drill and Nothing Specific to this particular battle maneuver but they were as he said most common and simple maneuvered. Others were called specialized Training Like the colonel commanding the color troops who remembered time after time did my regiment go to the imaginary advance and turn to the left. Every officer and every private knew his place in what he was expected to do. In short i will say we dote know if they were trained or not. What we do know is that the confederates figure out whats going on with the union mining activity just five days after the federals have started. This man is on the confederate side be praised for lucky guessing. Of course many of you in this audience your attention to gettysburg know Edward Porter alexander. Hes expecting the lines on june 30th, hes expecting to see the siege operations of 19th century warfare to be taking place. Trying to extend union lines trying to get closer to the confederates but hes not in thing that. He notices theres intense sharp shooting coming into this position and he thinks seriously that the enemy isnt going to come as he said above ground but they were coming underground. They were mining us he later wrote. I always say on my tours its important to know that this isnt farmer joes son who probably wouldnt have guessed this. Alexander is a graduate of west point. Third in his class of 38 so he knew this sort of world of siege operations which could include mines. Alexander reported his suspicions to headquarters, southern quantitier mining began in self places but they will not in elliott salient area go deep enough below ground to collapse the kconfederate mine. Just of the intense amount of sharpillery fire, the confederates had honeycombed the area in between this new cavalier trench in the back of elliotts salient with bombproofs. What they didnt know zis that this will soon enough create an obstacle for the confederates. Its going to be in a horseshoe shaped ring around this region and the confederates are going to have 30 canyons and 5 mortars to use against any infant rry attack in that particular area. The plan begun unraveling as soon as headquarters got the plan. Meads engineer decided thats all the gunpowder they needed. A single fuse arrived in segments. The plans for the attack which burnside had proposed were changed by general mead on the morning of july 28th mead and burnside had a showdown about the battle plan. Mead stated at a military court of inquiry that black soldiers were too green for this attack. Later that year grant testified to congress, Congressional Committee investigating the crater, general mead said if we put the colored troops in front we had that only one division and it should prove a failure if it would then be said and very properly that we were shoving these people ahead to get killed because we did not care anything about them. That could not be said if we put white troops in front. Since burn side protested this last minute change, mead stated he would talk with grant about it and its important to understand that technically burnside outranked mead. Its been a contentious sort of thing since burnside arrived in spring. Grant out ranks both of them. He can aside which he will only here from mead. Grant agrees with mead. However, neither general bothered to inform burnside of this until july 29th. At 11 00 a. M. When mead and another Union General appear at burnsides headquarters. Burnside still wants the plan that he had to go forth and he will ask mead cannot this be changed and mead says no, the order is final. Beside the use of the u. S. Colored troops, mead objected to the maneuvers burnside wanted to perform. Mead wants them to go up promptly and take the crest. The problem is it doesnt take into account the other confederate troops that are to the north of the explosion site and i should point out the objective is to take the high ground at the cemetery which is a few hundred yards to the north of elliott salient. So mead and this other Union General leave burnside to figure out what hes going to do. Calls forth these eligible Division Commanders including willwox, james ledly on the left and Robert Potter on the right. Despite burnsides realization he probably should have selected willkox and potter, if he felt like their divisions had been really used up so he selected james ledly. Ledly has some of you know has a fondness for alcohol. This had been exhibited at the battle of north ana river late in may of 1864 and on the initial attacks in petersberg on the 17th. On july 29th, final preparations were made including canon and 54 mortars across a ten mile front to be used right after the explosion takes place to pin down confederates as the attack moves forward. White troops move into their position. Ferreros troops are going to be in the back of this attacking column. Colonel pleasant will go in on july 30th, light the fuse at 3 30 in the morning. Didnt go off. Swfns0÷ 4 15 two people go back inside to figure out what has gone wrong. Mostly on my tours i have people who would say that would be me. Occasionally i get it and i say you brave person. They light the fuse andc at 4 40, it explodes on saturday morning the 30th, one of the enemys forts when the enemy was dreaming in pleasant slumber, was blown up destroying all who were in it at the time. The hole was now 30 feet deep, 1 fe 70 feet long and 60 feet wide. Few confederates would live to tell the tail between 350 men from South Carolina caregiments will become casualties of the blast of the the battle that follows reveals more about personalities and racial divisions than about military tactics and objectives. Artillery shells belch from the federals 110 canyons and 54 mortars as the battle began. Ledlys division supported by Robert Potter and willkoxs men. Of course the confederates are going to respond. Its going to be a somewhat weak response at this particular moment from the infantry those intense confederate artillery fire began to develop pretty rapidly, particularly from the federals that its coming from the right so part of the army that james is going to be deployed to try to cover and push out some people of North Carolina that were to the north of the crater and silence whatever this gun battery is sending shells ripping through the ranks. Thats whats represented here. Im not going to spend a lot of time talking about the white troops. You should have come to kevins talk yesterday about them. Were going to focus on the black troops. About 8 00 a. M. , ferreros division is ordered to attack the first brigade will be joshua significantfreid and the 30th u. S. Color troops. As they crash into the confederates they began to scream out no quarter and remember fort pillow. Some of you know for those who dont, fort pillow earlier in the year in april, confeddaerat troops refused to surend enrend when the battle finally comes to its crazed in we have 150 white pows and 58 black men. Everybody else in this garrison of 600 has been killed or mortally wounded. So it doesnt really matter that these black troops werent there that these white troops werent there. This becomes a battle cry for the rest of the war with black troops. One confederate officer screamed rally boys, drive them back. They are nothing but. Immediately somehow in the sounds of battle this is overheard by Sergeant John offer and a dozen other black combatants who charge the officer and one soldier thrust the bayonet into the officers chest. Following the 30th is the 43rd usct. Within that regiment captain albert d. Wright captures the flag you see here on the left. He was wounded himself. The mingling already of white and black troops in and out the crater and southern artillery will start to slow progress for the 27th and 39th brigade. As they moved through the remains of elliott salient, colonel baits was shot in the face and exited through his left ear. Amazingly baits survived and rushed to duty in 1864. He has a pretty impressive mustache already t. Gets bigger to cover up part of his face that has been partially collapsed because of the bullet. He will receive a met medal of honor. Following on the heels of sigfreids men. Thomas recalled a it decimated us. The 31st usct was mow down like grass. Thomas ordered the troops back into the area behind the crater which means having to try to move through the masses of white troops already there which is also honeycombed with bombproofs, you remember that. His attempt to rally and charge again will be met with doom. You can see thomas on the left and the colonel who gets himself all dandied up to go into this attack. He has his best coat on, best sword, best hat. He will satand on top of federa earth works to try to encourage them to go forward and he will get shot down. There was no flinching on their part. They came to the soldier touched just like true soldiers as ready to face the enemy and meet death but think for a moment for forming for an affective charge, confuse and broken up. Officers are going down. Artillery fire power is continuing and infantry units on the confederate side are beginning to move up. Commanded by the only division of troops that lee actually commands on this side, led temporarily by Brigadier General mahone. The virgginian as they get onto the battlefield will encounter confederate as they are running back wards. Another told the men, oh, boys you have hot work ahead. They are and show no quarter. This report before the men passing us was the first intimation that we would have to fight negros and it seemed to infuse our little band with inpet uousness. Revenge must have fired every heart and strung every arm with nerves of steel. Mahone gives a rallying speech that isnt filled with any racially charged language just before the virginians attack at 9 00 a. M. Confederate officer in the 6th virginia commander wrote with fixed bayonets they strung forward from the ravine and the pack eed trenches. Virginias pay a heavy price to capture a few hundred feet of earth works. The jurorediaordan will follow. They made two attacks and fell like autumn leaves. The georgians leave us some of our best accounts of their anger at the site of armed black men. The prisoners came leaping over our best words for 50. The muzzle of our guns was put on their temple and their brains blown out. Others were knocked in the head with the butts of their guns. Few would succeed to getting to the rear of the safe. Also of the 48th georgia and someone who ought to know about beating black bodies since he was an overseer before the war begun told his dear sister mary just 11 days afterwards when we got to the works it was filled with negros and whites crying out no quarter and you may depend on it we did not show much quarter but charade thslay. They want to know what their men are doing on the battlefield. Now that they are fighting black member they a men that they are put them down out here. It is perhaps during this time that sergeant dorsy realizes this battle is going to end in federal disaster. He grabbed his units flag and ran it across the nomansland filled with artillery fire and planted it on top of the union picket line. For that he will receive a medal of armor. Alabamians attack along with the remnants of other confederates on the field at that particular poin. Confederates are going to eventually be launching bayonetted weapons over the top of the rim of the crater and put their hats over the top of their must have beeni musketts. One soldier disobeyed mahone telling him that he would kill another and he deliberately took out his pocketknife and cut ones throat. They bashed their skulls like eggshells and when blacks cried out they wanted quarter, the response was no quarter this morning, no quarter now. Amazingly people like oliver scott made it off the battlefield. Then only 27 years ol when he left slavery and enlisted in the 30th colored troops, during the battle he was wounded. He was shot in the hip. It exited his butt. Whats interesting to me about his photo is that scott must have obeyed the rules of whoever his owner was. Theres no sign of whip marks across his back. That desire to be free was so great that he served. Hes lucky that he managed to get off the field at home. The bullet will pass only three inches from his spinal couple. Another slave, george carr first bullet entering his thigh, the second entering the inside, middle third of the leg and passed through. Free born Charles Harris in the 31st colored troops native of new york hit in the back of right leg which passed but the continue yulea and fibula and existed the leg in the left foot causing compound fractures. As the confederates went about killing union troops, whites realized just how angry the southerners were. White union troops will start killing black union troops as they readily admit in an effort to preserve white peoples lives. The battle finally ends about 2 30 in the afternoon. The battles aftermath there will be a court of inquiry. General mead picks whose on the inquiry. If you want to know details we can discuss this later. There will be blame for ledly and Edward Ferrero who were drinking together during the battle. And just leave and get the wounded off the field even though its 100plus degrees. So they lay out there july 30th and all day on july 31st and finally theyre picked up on the morning of august 1st. By that point, one of meades Staff Members admits that he couldnt tell who was naturally african or european except from the texture of their hair. Apparently not accounting for those bodies out there of mixed race black people. In the in between of this, henry bird, a native of petersburg wrote his fiancee as the men cried out nearby to the confederate line for water, the response from the confederates was [ speaking french ] youre not a french student. It was drink your blood, youll have no more thirst, and they bayonetted the men that were nearby. News of the battle traveled, perhaps from our civilian perspective, of course we got to have an Edmund Ruffin reference. Remember ft. Pillow and wrote about the great slaughter, but he was infuriated to learn that mahone had stopped his men from killing black and white troops. Saying, mahone could not persist in this policy and he ordered the lives of all remaining to be spared. This is much to be regretted. Even more angry is like the female version of Edmund Ruffin. Catherine edmondston writing four days after the battle, and it helps to illustrate that our perception of southern ladies is too scarlet ohara infused, i think, and not enough of katherine edmanston. The negro troops rushed into our line yelling no quarter, remember ft. Pillow, she wrote. They were met by such determination by their old masters and granted what they so earnestly clamored for. That in spite of the yankee bay onets behind them, they turned and ran incontinently. Then she got this dubious story about somebody who was in the usct ranks who sees his old mississippi master. Problem is there are no mississippi troops here. Anyway, and wanted immediately to become his slave again. It follows, unlike that event actually happens, mrs. Edmondston talks about the truth. Few of his companions were left to tell the tale of their encounter. Northern newspapers respond often with their biases. New york herald prints statements. Cowardice of the niggers. They stated that they set down their weapons and refused to obey orders and praise the white troops for being honorable and brave and courageous and if it wasnt for the, quote, nirggers they would have won the battle. Others amazingly turn to not being so critical, including actually general meade, of course, burnside, ferrero, officers who were actually on the field unlike ferrero, and garland white, a chaplain in the 28th usct who wrote, none of our troops, white or colored, are responsible for the actions of the generals. I hold that there can be no higher sin in all the world than to blame innocent people for consequences for which they are not responsible. I care not who it is, whether king or subject, general or private. It makes no difference with me in a point of the position of truth. I want to get to the prisoners and leave time for questions. The federal prisoners, white and black, union troops, are going to be marched through the city of petersburg at 8 00 in the morning on the day after the battle. Petersburgers turned out in their finest garments, and lieutenant freeman bowley remembered women in the city asking the confederates, why didnt you kill all the yankee wretches . Theyre being marched, two white, two black, until you run out of black troops. The generals that had been captured, the highest ranking officers at the brufront of thi band. A 9yearold girl at the time recalling years later, i remember swinging on the gate as they brought the prisoners up hyde street. I hollered, kill them, everyone 9 years old. Remember that. Her mother told her, come into this house or theyll be killing you. Captain beacham of the 23rd gave us a good comment. The prisoners formed in columns by force consisting of alternate files of colored soldiers and commissioned officers. Highest rank, as i said, going on down. As there were about 500 colored prisoners and about 1,100 white officers and soldiers, the greater part of the column presented a fantastic and variegated appearance that i am free to confess was amusing. Many white troops sent to prisoner of war camps including at andersonville, but captain beacham and lieutenant bowley who survived their prison experiences wont be going to, you know, the more famous places. Beacham spends four months in jail in columbia, South Carolina, where he admits that they actually were decently treated in columbia as they had not been in petersburg. Black troops, however, wont get the same sort of treatment. And this representation of shokko bottom in richmond will be important in a moment. Interesting story i found well talk more about this if you want to. John haskel, confederate artillerist, out there, has mortars launching shells during the battle, found black wounded troops. He told his personal slave to go get the other camp slaves and get those men to a hospital where his body servant stands up to his owner and said, id rather die than move those men. None of the other camp negroes as haskel calls them wants to move them, either, so he finally gets a southern doctor who sends them to this hospital. Whereby the following day after the battle, the physician in charge, john claiborne, finds 150 wounded black soldiers who were, as he wrote, naked with every conceivable form of wounds and mutilatiomutilation. Semifin is this christian civilization. After threatening to send captured federal agents to andersonville, they joined in treating the black troops which may suggest a preview to erics talk in a moment about andersonville. Among those captured, peter churchwell, former slave who escaped, served in the 23rd usct and is captured. Hes sent to danville where he recalled years later, i was kept until my master, old master, rather, heard i was in prison. He came there and claimed me as a slave and sold me to a slave dealer at richmond, and he sold me to a slave dealer who took me to wilmington, North Carolina. And he then sold me to Patrick Murphy who took me on his farm near raleigh. Most of our black p. O. W. S are going to be returned to slavery, including right here in the heart of virginias slave trading district, Shockoe Bottom in richmond, virginia. And where the purple arrow is marked is where one of the petersburg regions former slave turned soldier robert banks will go to the dealers, dickinson, hill company and be kept there until the war ends. So ill stop there. Because im out of slides. And ill let you ask questions. [ applause ] start over here. Except for their my name is jeff smith. Im from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. Im curious, except for their lastminute interference, it seems like meade and grant really deferred to burnside in the operations. After this disaster, theres, you know, 15,000 union troops involved in this operation. Did any of this kind of land in their lap to any extent the responsibility for deferring such an important operation to, you know, burnside . Not particularly. Of course, as meade calls the court of inquiry, hes decided whos going to be on the court, and theyre all people who dont like burnside, from the battle of fredericksburg in 1862 and the mud march in 1863, so they already have a negative opinion of burnside. Hes the civil wars worst general. And meades recorder is one of his own Inspector General from his staff. So none of them are going to say, meade, youre to blame, or grant, youre to blame. They heap the blame on burnside and rightfully with ledlie and ferrero. Yes, sir . In the film version of the battle, in the movie they made of cold mountain, its depicted of all the troops black and white kind of pouring into the crater, being trapped there. Thats been told in other stories, too. Is there any truth to that or is that really a problem that people went into the crater and couldnt get out, or is that just a legend . In case people didnt hear, question is did troops, white and black, rush through the crater into the hole, itself . It is partially true. Ledlies advance men do, as they move up, run into the crater. Partly because they go in to rescue confederate trapped folks, provide prayer and water to those who were dying. They said they couldnt ignore their rebel adversary, and of course some of their greatest pain in the last minutes of their life. But much of the union troops are going to be pushed because the hole is only 170 feet long. Theyre going to be pushed on either side of it and somewhat beyond the hole, but not beyond the extra trench that had been created. The cavalier trench. So this is a moment of come to the battlefield, youll get the sense of how that kind of happened. I want to confirm what i thought i heard you say is toward the back the last part of the battle. That the union, white union troops saw the confederates killing the blacks and the white union troops then started killing the blacks also . You are correct. White union troops start killing black union troops in an effort as they write very specifically in an effort to preserve white mens lives. Thank you. Yep. Its my understanding that originally black troops were going to lead the attack and they were trained for it. And then and then either grant said no, no, no, we cant use blacks. And then troops and then ledlies troops were used and they werent trained. Was it because it was so soon that they didnt have time, or i guess what im asking, is there any way that the troops that did lead the attack came through the crater could have been better trained . Yeah, the question is, could the white troops that were leading the attack eventually have been better prepared . The answer is no because we make these lastminute changes on july 29th and battle is the next morning right at dawn. So theres no prep time. Whats my time . Okay. David rosen from alexandria, virginia. Against the background of these circumstances, and what youve described, a little bit of humaneness compels attention. I wonder if you could tell us something about mahone. Yes. Im not sure all you want to know, but ill start with a brief biography. Mahone is a native of southampton county, virginia, which he is kind of growing up in the era of the kind of imagery of nat turners slave insurrection of 1832. Graduates from Virginia Military institute. Not anything superb as a brigade commander. But somehow really knows how to lead a division. So his troops absolutely shoot James Longstreet near where jacksons mortal wound had been. Richard anderson is moved up to first corps command. Mahone is moved up to division command. Hes promoted to Major General. So hell remain Division Commander until the surrender. What about the his showing of humaneness . Oh, yes. So, yes you know, several people comment on this. He, you know, stops his soldiers from killing blacks as best as he can, and obviously he cant stop them all even when theyre right in front of him. Mahone is a slave owner. He doesnt believe in equality at the beginning of the war or even perhaps when it ends, yet he has this miraculous sort of desire to become politician. He creates and sustains virginias first biracial political party. The readjusters in the postwar years. And really sort of attempts to cater to blacks. Even at one point admits that slavery was wrong and he shouldnt have owned slaves, but, of course, you know, im sure theyre all sort of political points hes trying to reach at that point. I dont know what it all says that mahone is trying to stop it. Insurgents saying is this christian civilization . In our oun culture, were still talking about it, is it christian civilization to use drones and drop bombs and blow up civilians . I dont know. I dont know what it says about him. Mr. Dabney, i thought particularly poignant of your comments, the murderous nature i have long thought that gone with the wind is a very damaging film. I view it as a propaganda film. Not necessarily all that different than the nazi propaganda films made during that exact same era of the 30s. My question to you is, do you agree with my assessment of gone with the wind or do you disagree, and why . Oh, brother. Or as scarlett would say, fiddlydiddlydee. [ applause ] actually, theres something culturally impactful about gone with the wind thats still witn us today, and i wouldnt go so far as to compare it to nazi f propaganda films, having watched one that was 20 minutes and took me two days to make it through. I can sit and watch gone with the wind and make all sorts of jokes as i watch it. But, i mean, it does Say Something about 1939, the lost causes, entrenchment to having now film production. And the hopeful perpetuation of the racial divide in the country. And, of course, it was very popular, so most people north, south, east coast, west coast, middle of the country, liked this movie based on ticket sales and the continued popularity of Margaret Mitchells book. One more. Oh. Okay. Keep going. Oh, sorry. You, sir. Question. We have this explosion that takes place and you have the bottom of a hole and the top of the hole. What provision, if any, was made by the union to get from the bottom of the hole to the top of the hole so you can invade the confederate lines . No provision made for the troops to get out of the crater once theyre in it. And its difficult to tell in numbers, craters are very hard. You have these lovely little battle maps here at gettysburg that shows this regiment, this place at 10 00 a. M. And 10 15, at 10 30. We dont have that with the crater because people are just too mingled up, all sense of cohesion of a battlefront is lost on both sides, north and south. And so its unclear how many people are stuck in the crater. Theyre stuck in there well enough for one survivor to say that the men who were dead couldnt fall and the living were squirming beneath their feet and blood is running into the tops of their shoes. So i dont know how many that is, but most people on the outside trying to move forward but the problem is they didnt know that these honeycombed bombproofs were behind the battery or a whole other line of confederate earthworks there or that the confederates have just right positioned their artillery to have this enfilading fire, crossfire directly into what had been elliots salient. They thought they knew were all cannon were. Disclaimer. This may be a controversial question. Yes. When the black soldiers were captured and they were going to be sent to prison camps, how come confederates didnt reslave them since they were considered property and there was a proclamation about a year