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 elliot's 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 didn't re-slave them since they were considered property and there was a proclamation about a year

runaway slaves and, of course, people come and look for them and take them back into their ownership. some people don't come looking because they don't live in virginia. they're maryland runaways or delaware slaves. of course, there are free blacks from the north who have enlisted. so they'll be kept in these slave pens right down here in

shockoe bottom. and they'll be there if they survive until the war ends. some of these people rejoin their regiments and they go from missing in action to, you know, what happened to you? so we get the details of what happened to them. not very great details but at least, you know, which slave pen they may have been held in. and as far as why the confederates don't actually implement their may 1863 law, it's the law, i think people forget this. white officers had to be executed if they're found leading black men to combat, and blacks when captured, which already suggests you don't really need to take them prisoner, are going to be turned over to the state authority in whichever state they've been captured in and dealt with as if they were leading a slave insurrection. it's just easier to kill them. as seen at poison spring, as seen at ft. pillow. as seen for many at crater. as will be seen in other battles during the war. thanks.

>> this is a lesson learned question. during meade's conversation with grant, and grant being the commanding officer at vicksburg, and during the vicksburg siege there was another mine attempt there as well. didn't succeed. in your research, is there any conversation that has been recorded where grant reflects back the vicksburg and said, you know, we tried it there, didn't work, maybe we should not try here. just as a lessons learned. because, again, one big thing, all militaries do, you capture your lessons learned, try not to repeat mistakes. >> i spoke with terry when he was still at vicksburg. i can't find any evidence of grant saying anything about this vicksburg mine that was a disaster. when the petersburg mine came around. because he's not overly enthusiastic about it, i think in the back of his mind he's, this might work and it might not work and whatever.

but i don't get any real sense he's really reflective about it. yes? >> you mentioned several times about the additional fortifications built behind the salient that the union was not aware of. one of the new technologies that arrived in the civil war was balloon observations. were there any balloons that they might have used to observe? >> no, no balloon use in 18 1864-1865 by the federals or the confederates for that matter. pete has a question. so rob ert e. rhee is his question. can he hold him accountable for the killing of u.s. colored troops after they stop the battle? lee is very near the battlefield the whole time, less than a

quarter mile away, right behind the busted hole in the confederate line. they come out onto the field for an unreally clear amount of time after the battle. it's my observation that lee and borg must have seen some of this killing. what i do hold them accountable for, and grant and meade, is that they leave their wounded, the federal wounded out there on the battlefield in the 100-plus degree heat because meade doesn't want to admit defeat, and it's preposterous to leave these people out there bleeding, crying out in agony. by the time they have been recovered, the other comment meade staff says is that the bodies are so black from the sun, they're bursting now. also white because maggots are

eating their flesh, all of that could have been avoided if the letter that meade did write, he had just immediately sent it over to the confederates. and so there's all sort of intricacies if you want to talk about more, we can, of where the letter is going and how we're going to arrange the flag of truce and it takes almost a day and a half, almost two days. it's really disgusting. i say to those people, these men are not heroes. i guess that's it. thank you. [ applause ] thursday night, a look at the civil war's atlanta campaign. in may 1864, union general william sherman marched into georgia with a goal of capturing atlanta. after a series of battles through the summer and a siege of the city, atlanta fell to the union on september 2nd, 1864. we'll hear about general sherman's march to the sea

through georgia as well as joseph e. johnston who led confederates in the summer of 1864. also a look at confederate weapons manufacturing in central georgia during and after the fall of atlanta. that's all coming up thursday night here on c-span3. 200 years ago on august 24th, 1814, british soldiers routed american troops at the battle of boydens brg just outside washington, d.c. the victory left the nation's capital wide open to british forces who marched into the city and burned down the white house and the u.s. capitol. you can learn more about the burning of washington during the war of 1812 this thursday from author and historian anthony pitch at an event hosted by the smithsonian associated. our live coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. eastern. and more next saturday, august 23rd as we take you live for a panel discussion on the events

of 200 years ago. that's live at 1:00 p.m. eastern here on american history tv on c-span3. next on the civil war, author cethen levin discussed the role of the u.s. colored troops in the civil war's battle of the crater and the way their contributions were remembered in the years following the civil war. organized by petersburg national battlefield, this is an hour and ten minutes. i'm chris bryce, chief of interpretation with petersburg national battlefield. for those of you who have been with us for the last couple com 150th anniversary of the battle of the crater, thank you, and welcome to those who have not attended the program this evening. i want to, before we get started, thank yous, specifically for st. paul's church for allowing us this

wonderful venue for our programs earlier today and for the one we're about to have here this evening. i would like to thank the rector of the church, rick greenwood. i would also like to thank this evening the senior warden of the church, steven tuck, and steven is in the back, so give him a round of applause because he's keeping this open for tonight. but again, it's one of the things we try to do with the programs that we've been offering, especially today, and i don't think we could have had better venues being indoors today with the weather, but we were at guilfoyle baptist and i see, mr. powell, you're here this evening and we appreciate the courtesy we were given this morning with your congregation and here tonight at st. paul. we chose these two locations because they were congregations that were in existence at the time of the civil war when these events were happening.

in the case of st. paul, it has origins, the congregation has origins set to the early stage of virginia's history when we're still emerging as a colony and getting our feet under ourselves here. but the current church where we are today was built between 1855 and 1857. it did bear witness to the events here 150 years ago, a 9 1/2 month siege at st. petersburg most likely was under fire as were a number of buildings here in petersburg. during the course of the siege, a number of confederate officers worshipped here, robert e. lee, george pickett, a.p. hill, among some of them. e.p. alexander, who was chief of artillery for james longstreet. lee's rector, i believe someone

held their hand up, there's a plaque recognizing that. if you want to get pictures of that, certainly feel free to do so. without further delay, i would like to introduce our speaker tonight, mr. kevin levin. he completed a master in history of the university of richmond. his thesis became the basis of his most current book "remembering the battle of the crater, war's murder" which was published in 2012. he's currently an instrekter of american history at gan academy near boston. and fortunately, kevin in his day-to-day work, gets to challenge his students to conduct original research, critically evaluate historical sources, and analyze historical events. in addition to his book, he has written several essays for the "new york times" and the "atlantic" as well as popular

magazines in a number of academic journals. you can follow him, follow his thoughts on many other issues related to the american civil war and how the four-year conflict was and continues to be remembered by following his award winning blog called the civil war memory. it's my pleasure this evening to introduce you to you kevin levin. >> good evening, everyone. before i get started, i also want to thank st. paul's church for opening its doors tonight. i can't think of a better venue for this particular program so thank you. i especially want to thank the national park service for inviting me down to just be a part of the 150th of the crater. from about 2000 to 2011, i lived in charlottesville, virginia. i taught, i spent most of my time writing and thinking about

the american civil war. i researched and wrote just about all of the book in charlottesville. and then in 2011, i didn't anticipate this, but my wife and i ended up moving to boston and of course those of you who visit boston know that bostonians tend to focus on that other event in american history, right? the american revolution. and that's okay. i can deal with that, but my heart, my interests continue to be in the 1860s, and so over the last few years, it hasn't been easy because all of these commemorative events have been going on in virginia and elsewhere, i kind of felt like an outsider, so to be invited back for this particular event for me is a huge honor. so thanks. i appreciate it, and thank you all for coming out tonight. so before i get started, i just want to make one point clear, that i am ing to -- i'm not

going to sensor the words of the historical actors, if you will, that i reference tonight. and i do think it's important that we learn to sort of come to terms with the language, the world that they lived in. so with that said, i'm going to get started. a little over a year ago, much of our nation's attention was focused on gettysburg for the 150th anniversary of the battle. tens of thousands traveled to the famous town to walk the fields and connect with our civil war past. there is indeed something magical about that place. it's a battle that is full of drama and easily excites the imagination. we follow the two armies to the point of their initial contact on july 1st, 1863. just west of the city. and painstakingly trace their movements and bloody fighting during the following two days. visitors and civil war enthusiasts alike look for the

moment on which the outcome of the battle depends. it was yule at the end of the first day where longstreet on the second or perhaps as george pickett later suggested, the yankee army had something to do with it. a year later, and while americans continue to flock to gettysburg, enthuse amp for the war inquy 64 has diminished. this shouldn't surprise us. the battles that raged across virginia beginning in early may 1864 that eventually stretched from the rappahannock to the apamatic river here in petersburg fail to excite in the way that battles from the first half of the war do. armies no longer march long distances to engage one another in what could be decisive battles. gone are the daring maneuvers orchestrated by stonewell jackson where jeb stuart's ride around the clone. we yearn for the open fields of .

. seems more civilized compared to what is to come. battle battles at cold harbor lock the battles ogether on confusingthe landscapes mired in blood, day in and day out, with mounting casualty lists and no end in sight. there are plenty of acts of bravery to react on both sides and the rank and file largery remain committed to their respective causes, but 150 years later, it is difficult to find meaning in the midst of such blood letting. and then there is the petersburg campaign. for most people, the nine-month campaign can be reduced to a few photographs of miles of earthworks filled with begrimed veteran soldiers doing their best to stay out of the view of snipers and awaiting the next order to charge in what for many are still a series of nameless

battles that stretch to early april 1865. the one exception to this admittedly narrow view of the campaign is the battle of the crater. the city 150 years ago on july 30, 1864. i suspect that for many visitors, the 150th anniversary of the petersburg campaign will begin and end with this commemoration. but there are any number of aspects of this battle that are worth recalling from the challenges associated with the construction of the mine to the early morning explosion of 8,000 pounds of course blasting powder. the explosion was clearly seen by those in the immediate vicinity and felt for miles around. the war ended in the most violent way for roughly 300 men in steven elliot's south carolina brigade who were positions directly atop the mine. i shall never forget the

terrible and magnificent sight, the earth around us trembled and e heaved so violently i was lifted to my feet, and then the earth around the enemy's line opened and fire and smoke shot upwards 75 or 100 feet. the intensity of the violence over the course of about eight hours and the confusion caused by the dramatic disturbance to the landscape itself created an other' worldly scene that was unlike any previous battle. in the initial union charge, soldiers gazed at the destruction wrought by the mine and many found that the better angels of their nature and proceeded to dig out half-buried confederates and tend to the wounded. the charge of jurgeneral ambros burnside's core, including four divisions, one made up entirely of united states color troops, was poorly executed and while not doomed to failure, it certainly quickly unwound.

the timely arrival of confederate brigadier general william mahone's division, including a brigade made up of virginias raised in part in the petersburg area, helped to secure victory by early afternoon. by then, hundreds of dead and wounded lay in an your yeah not more than 150 yards long and 100 yards wide. william h. stewart described the crater as, quote, a veritable inferno filled with sounds of suffering and paved with the rigid dead. a delay in agreeing to a truce left survivors abandoned in a field that hovered around 100 degrees. the official report identified 361 confederates killed, 727 wounded and 403 missing out of the force of roughly 10,000 engaged. union casualties numbered including 504 killed, 1,881

wounded and 1,441 missing. compared to other civil war battles the casualty count is relatively small. but if we look more closely, we can begin to disearn what for many of the participants was the defining feature of this battle. from all union casualties, 41% belonged to the two color brigades of brigadier edward ferrero's fourth division even though they constituted only 21% of the men engaged. how union and confederates responded to one another at the crater and how they remembered the battle after the war was shaped directly by the presence of a large number of armed african-americans in uniform. the racial element of this battle has always held the most interest for me. in my mind, it best reflects the hard turn that the war had taken by 1864.

even as it continues to beguile and divide americans who are committed to remembering and commemorating the civil war. the history memory of the crater offers little for those looking for -- looking to remember the sanitized war where brave americans fought one another without any concern for its cause and consequences. to understand the crater and its legacy, we need to put aside convenient labels that oversimplify historical memory and even there to push past the national park services preferred narrative framework of from civil war to civil rights. to grasp the larger aspect and full racial complexity of this battle. the stories that emerge from the crater challenge us to look at the toughest issues related to the war, to even begin to approach them, we need to allow ourselves to feel just a little uncomfortable and listen to all accounts, including those that

use harsh language reflecting the racial divide of the time. the presence of uscts on the crater battlefield signified a dramatic shift in the goals and policies of the lincoln administration. by the summer of 1862, president abraham lincoln turned to a limited plan of emancipation and recruitment of black soldiers as a means of sasking the union. despite the deeply engraved racism that was in the ranks and society. tens of thousands of formerly enslaved blacks took the opportunity to fight for their freedom as well as family members still held in bondage. military service offered black men the opportunity to prove their manhood and the possibility of securing political and civil rights in a reconstructed union. even after learning that burnside's original plan would called for the fourth division to lead the union attack, had

been change said, the men under ferrero's command anticipated that the next assault would be proof enough of their bravery. by the time they received their orders on the morning of july 30th, the battle had been raging for close to three hours. three union divisions were already crammed into the crater as well as the complex maze of confederate traverses and earthworks. little progress had been made as south carolinians who survived the initial explosion along with north carolinians and virginians stubbornly held to their positions. the first indication of the presence of black troops on the battlefield was their battle cry of no quarter. and remember ft. pillow. a reference to the recent massacre of black troops at ft. pillow, tennessee. the two brigades of ferrero's division wound their way over open ground and did their best to steer clear of the maelstrom inside the crater. a few units along with scattered

white units were successful in maneuvering into positions beyond the crater and stood poised for a possible assault on bl blanford heights overlooking petersburg. the arrival on the field of mahone's confederate division not only prevented a breakthrough but added to the chaos and confusion already present. for many confederates, this was their first experience fighting black soldiers. quote, it had the same affect upon our men that a red flag had upon a mad bull, was the way one south carolinians who survived the initial explosion, described the reaction of his comrades. david holt of the 16th mississippi remembered, quote, they were the first we had seen and the sight of a nigger in a blue uniform and with a gun was more than johnny red could stand. fury had taken possession of me, and i knew that i felt as ugly as they looked. the vivid descriptions left by confederates in their diaries and letters suggest that this

killing was of a different kind given the nature of the enemy. both the horror of battle and the rage experience of having to fight black soldiers must have been apparent to the mother of one soldier as she learned that her son, quote, shot them down until we got mean enough and then rammed them through with the bayonet. such detail allowed those on the homefront to experience this new danger at a comfortable distance. the communication of these violent encounters re-enforced the connection between the battlefield and homefront and provided soldiers, slave holders and nonslave holders alike, with a clear understanding of the dangers from which they were now defending their families. the fact that the battle occurred while defending a large civilian population also made it easier for family members and others more removed from the scene of the fighting to imagine the consequences of a union victory that now included black

soldiers. once the salient was retaken, confederate rage was difficult to bring under control. confederates wrote freely about taking part in the execution of surrendered black soldiers and in admitting their own involvement in these incidents. jerome yates recalled, quote, most of the negroes were killed after the battle. some was killed after they were taken to the rear. james vanderly described it as, quote, a truly bloody site, a perfect massacre, nearly a black flag fight. i had been hoping that the enemy would bring some negroes against this army, and now that they had, wrote william, i am convinced that hit has a splendd effect on our men. he concluded that, though, quote, it seems cruel to murder them in cold blood, the men who did it had very good cause for doing so.

years after the war, edward porter alexander remembered a quote, the general feeling of the men towards their employment, black soldiers, was very bitter. the sympathy of the north for john brown's memory was taken for proof, according to alexander, of a desire that our slaves should rise in a servile insurrection and massacre throughout the south and the enlistment of negro troops was regarded as advertisement of that desire and encouragement of the idea true to negro. it is estimated upwards of 200 black union soldiers may have been massacred during and especially after the battle. confederate accounts make it clear that they did not consider black men to be soldiers. indeed, the scale of violence accorded to black soldiers nears the swift response against slave rebellions both real and

imagined that stretched back to the antibellum period. a few days after the battle, the richmond examiner published the following editorial, we begged him, mahone, here after, when negroes are sent forward to murder the wounded and come shouting no quarter, shut your eyes, strengthen your stomach with a little brandy and water and let the work which god has entrusted to you and your brave men go forward to its completion, that is until every negro has been slaughtered. make every salient you're called upon to defend a ft. pillow. butcher every negro that grant sends against your brave troops and prevent them not to soil their hands with the capture of a single hero. for the confederate rank and file, present on the battlefield that hot july day, as well as their loved ones back home, the introduction of black troops

clarified just what was at stake in this war, the end of slavery and white supremacy. the presence of black troops at the crater did not escape the attention of their white comrades. the men of the 4th division proved to be convenient scapegoats as they were singled out by their white comrades for the army's defeat. they were easy targets for the obvious reasons related to race, but they were also clearly observed by many to have by many to have fallen back in confusion following mahone's counterattack. quote, the colored troops had become panic-stricken, dropped their arms and fled without dealing a blow. they recall the quote, the revs gave one volley and a yell and such skedaddle you've never heard of. they simply noted the devil himself couldn't have checked

them. the pinpoint of defeat failed to mention that the federal attack lost more whites in the federal stampede. the division alone would have been sufficient enough to attract attention for those looking to isolate their defeat on july 30th. but the route placed white soldiers in a situation that they had never before faced on a virginia battlefield. the face that collapsed in mahone's countercharge fell back on positions held by their own men. these men who were desperately trying to hold their own positions now found themselves being stampeded by black and bh white comrades with confederates in close pursuit. they responded by trying to fight down the retreating soldiers with their own weapons. mccook of the