>> 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. ♪

♪

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. >> we're very fortunate this morning. we've worked very hard not only is national park service unit but we've also worked with the u.s. postal service this morning to make this event what it is today. and we're 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 that's 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, union's 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 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 they're doing. so if i go too long, can you

walk out on me if you have to. >> it's 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 it's 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. i'm 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 that's 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 re-estabilshed 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 african-american 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 african-american 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 year's 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 re-enactors representing the 22nd usct, we'll 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 african-american 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 re-enactors, historians, story tellers, scholars and students dedicated to preserving the history of african-american 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 re-enactors. we are commemorators of the thousands of african-americans 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 history. when they see us, they see people that look like them and they understand how important this particular war was to the african-american community. just to put it in perspective,

before the civil war began, there were four million african-americans 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 african-americans. the union together. the south was fighting for something called state's rights. but the african-american u.s. color troops were fighting for their freedom. as well as they're manhood. slavery had a way of emasculating the men and families when they couldn't 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 african-americans

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. that's why the stamp today is so very important. it's going to tell everybody all across america that these men fought for their own freedom. and that's what's important. i want to thank my fellow re-enactors 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 african-american 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. we're 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 don't have to define it as the petersburg crater. it's here. it's 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 you're talking about. if you say the crater, people know what you're talking about. this morning i'm 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, he's 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 washington's birthplace, long fellow, national historic side sandy hook national sea shore and jamestown and yorktown collections. he is currently a member of the northeast region's 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 park's 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, i'd be glad to do that. i was told i have ten minutes. so i'm 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 length of the 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 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 confederates were digging listening galleries to see if they could hear 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 didn't 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 african-american 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 johnson's confederate division defended this sectionst line. ransom's north carolinians were

to the north behind me. right where we are would be elliott's 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 davidson's battery to the south behind you. and to my right out here on what was then called jerusalem plafrpg road is flaner's 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, it's 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 didn't 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. wilcox's 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 african-american 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 they're african-americans. he can't tell if they're white or black. all he's 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 it's better to hit first. he sends the virginians in without the georgians. they're 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 non-combatants. 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 lead 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, i'm doing a nine hour battle in ten minutes here. so i've 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. they're 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.

they're about 16 pound balls. they're lighting themg by hand and tossing them down into that hole. they're also taking muskets with the bayonet attached. you have to remember that when you're in combat, you are no longer a human being. you become an animal. both sides do this. were loading and firing as fast as they could and the men were dropping thick and fast. every man that was shot drove down the steep side to the bottom and places they were piled up four and five deep.

this man was in the crater. there was a light haired boy under 18 who fired for more than an hour. a bullet smashed into his forehead with his head hitting my feet, blood gushing from the forehead. bodies rolling and tumbling down the steep slope.

twice i was hit. now, conditions get worse in the crater. here is another quote. one man was decapitated and his body fell sloping downwards another quote. everyone could see body parts flying into the air as a result of hits by the mortar shells. blood and brains flew so freely through the air that many men were completely covered in them fortunately for him, his leg was

shattered and not his remaining good leg.

>> it was highly likely that there were natives fighting against natives. now this last quote is the one that probably gets to me the most. no air was stirring within the crater. until it ceased. now the aftermath of this battle, the dead and wounded were piled up.

confederates dug down to retrieve the bodies of their own men. they found that the blood penetrated the sandy clay as much as five inches down. there were hundreds of bodies in this area. three days later a truce was called and both sides claimed their dead. during the truce, over 600 remains were in the line. >> now the casualty.

some of the confederate regiment suffered tremendous losses. company c went into battle with 15 men. that's a very small company. 5 were killed, were wounded. so 13 out of the 15 were casualties. federal losses were extremely high. 1,81 wounded, 1,413 missing for a total of close to 3,800 men. the african-americans suffered tremendous casualties. 433 were african-american. 744 were wounded and many were captured for over 12 00 known casualties.

people who surrendered, some did get killed after they surrendered. some of the african-americans were killed after they surrendered. killing the enemy soldiers was more common than you think. both sides did it. all races did it. it's happened at least four other battles. it happened on june 15, first day of fighting. it happened here at the crater. it happened on september 29 and it happened again at fort greg on april 2. it happens in all forms. you hear about the germans killing americans after they surrendered. he said they were not the only ones doing it.

new now the long term effects of the war really became the united states of america and it's a good thing when you look at early 20th century history. would we have been able to go over to europe in 1917 and 18? don't know? might not have worked out too well for the u.s. same thing for world war ii. could we have defeated the germans and japanese? i really think that things were much better for everyone because we were the united states instead of being two separate countries. thank you all for being here. thank you all very much. [ applause ]

>> ten minutes was -- it was agonizing. but in fairness to jimmy's remarks, he has given us a lot to think about this morning. one of the things i would charge you with as visitors to the park today, and this is 150 years to the day of this battle. what those men talked about in your quotes read by jimmy is take some time to walk these fields by yourself. don't take it to work. just give yourself a few moments to contemplate the words spoken by those men years ago. we will not be able to conceptualize the horror and sacrifice that someone must feel on july 30, 1864.

our keynote remarks this morning are coming from colonel paul brooks. he assumed command of fort lee in august 2013. his army career began in 1984 when he enlisted as a military policeman. was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army corps. he holds a masters degree in military studies and most recently a masters degree in national security studies in the dwight d eisenhower study at the national defense university that he earned in june of 2013. the other military schooling includes airborne school,

armored officer basic course, ranger school, and most important, the only one that matters, scout commander certification course combined with logistics officer. >> again, good afternoon. >> first course of support command operations officer. 528th special operation support

baa tall on. operational resourcing and staff positions. >> defense of the service memed. army commendation medal and three open army achievement medal, combat action badge, ranger tab and more. it is my honor this morning to introduce to you the commander.

>> before we get started, i would like to recognize all the work, especially chris brice has done putting this event together. and not just this event but all the events over the course of ten months as well as the post office and all the other people who help do this. give them a warm round of applause for doing this. [ applause ]

this day and this event are not lost on me. the up with thing i do have to admit when chris initially asked me to do this, i found the task daunting. i'm surrounded by subject matter, people trying to cram nine hours into ten minutes and still include more information than i would ever be able to get in there. and more specifically, this battle and even though i am accustomed to not being the smartest guy in the room, that adds a whole new perspective to the situation. i know i am a career soldier and i am supposed to know that kind of stuff but in college i was an economics major so i didn't talk about the battle of the crater in micro or macro economics. i remember the battle being discussed.

he does not teach history nearly as much as he told stories. isn't that what history really is? it's a story. our story. it's a story of what got us here today. the battle of the crater which is just one of many chapters. i am no historian nor am a great historian. and lewis, that opening introduction and comments, thanks for setting the bar so

high. very powerful words. they offer any insightful details on how i am booking it. the soldiers that played the part as it unfolded here and who played the parts in every story of every chapterer and battle. i like to talk about the ability to secure the nation's future. it's a sacrifice that transcends beyond just the soldiers who actually fight the battle to their families, friends, and their loved ones. that's something that actually commemorated here will recognize over the course of the year of different times and locations across the country.

thousands paid the ultimate cost on this spot. throughout history, hundreds of thousands have paid that same price. countless have been wounded or captured. their blood is the ink that much of our history is written in. and i'm sure there are reasons. during this battle they may have fought to defend their country, their family, their beliefs or their rights strictly due to their sense of duty. soldiers that could have fought to maintain the union, the preservation of the union or the abolition of slavery. for something as basic as defending their homes and families. for many that fought here, this, the land they're on right now was literally their backyard.

u.s. color troops that fought here for a great example of this, one of the u.s. color troops from the 39 color infant regiment who was born a slave but also won the congressional medal of honor for his actions here on this ground. also, those who were drafted, surprise fwli only 1% to 6% of the force that was here, depending who you talk to, i'll leave that up to the experts again. they repp erepresented themselv, units and army on this battlefield. for those that were here, they all made the sacrifice required to write this chapter. this sacrifice, this sense of duty and this need to participate in or support or be a part 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 today's army, we're required to look at the

future. where are we going? and to help determine how to best ensure that the chapters of that future are of a secure america. in the 30 years since i've enlisted, i've seen phenomenal changes in our army and its soldiers. today, we are 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 capable of our enlisted ncos. they can't do it. that's the fact of the matter. some have been trying to do it for decades and we actively pursue efforts to teach other nations to adopt our model, but no one else has been able to reply ate it. that's because of our soldiers. these soldiers are the reason we're so strong. as others chase us and try to emulate our capabilitcapability

continue to improve and move farther away. when i was working with the command at ft. bragg, there was a special operations command center major and he was talking to a bunch of old retired soft veterans who actually previously served in our unit. and 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, and i got to tell you what, that sergeant major was very adamantly opposed to what they were saying and was very upset by how they were saying it and might have even actually threw a couple of expletives in there when he said this unit could easily whip the old-timers, throw in your favorite expletive right there. he said this was not an insult to them, but a testament to the fact we're always getting better. that it is our duty to continually improve the capability of our units and people that defend our nation. he had no attempt to belittle or diminish their efforts or accomplishments and closed the conversation by telling them if we didn't prepare the next generation to be able to whip us

as we should have been able to whip them, that we will have failed them and our country, no matter what we accomplish on today's battlefield. this e those to continually get better, not accept good enough, is an inherent part of our american culture and the reason we have and always will have the best military in the world. before i leave you thinking that this is just some chest thumping sales pitch, i'd like to provide you with a few telling details about today's army. in my lifetime, we've gone from a draft to an army whose ranks contain people whose only options were either to go to the army or tgo to jail, to one whee 29% of our age qualified population can qualify to get into the army. think about that. 70% of our population, age-eligible population don't meet the basic requirements to get into today's army. 99% of today's recruits have a high school diploma or

equivalent, in an era where 79% of high school students graduate. that's a 21 times lower rate of dropout than the national average. overall, today's recruits are healthier and more physically fit than the vast majority of their peers and must 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, to enlist in the army. the life of a soldier is -- and the life of a sole yar is no set to them. they will endure hard times, endure sacrifice and be charged to make 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, we wouldn't need an entire command devoted to recruiting, and those who do get in, those that make that cut to get in and then make the next cut to get through training and into a unit, they

become part of something much greater than themselves. they're the ones who have the combination of skills, the intelligence, the physical ability, and the sense of duty to be part of that 1% of our population that dons a military uniform. the 1% that puts their lives on the lines in defense of our nation. that's the 1% that i want to be a part of. that's the 1% that i am proud to be a part of. so the next time you see that brand new private, or lieutenant with a shiny -- and they have them -- know, know that they were among the best that our society had to offer. they have more ability and potential than most of their peers and they still chose, they chose to put that uniform on. and to accept a sacrifices that come with it. they are tomorrow's generals and command sergeants majors. they are the future of our nation. so just let me close by saying that i thank you, again, for the honor of being here, to stand in

this hallowed ground with all of you and remember this chapter of history and the people who lived in it and died in it. have a great day. god bless america. [ applause ] >> our benediction this morning will be given by reverend rick greenwood, he is with st. paul's episcopal church. i failed to mention also with pastor lyons from gillfield, both churches represented here this morning were wartime congregations here in petersburg. but, 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 god the builder of nations, god the lord of lords, god the king of kings, god the lover of mankind. may god who is our history, god who is our present, god who awaits us in the future, god be with us now. may god the pain bearer, god the one who suffers, god the bloodied sacrifice, god the redeemer. may god the incarnate one, god the one born of woman, god the one who lived as one of us, god the son. may 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 sanctifier, god the divine breath, god the holy maker. may god the spirit sharer, god the community creator.

may the peace revealer, god the comforter of all. may god who moves amongst us all, god who whispers divine love, god who lifts us into eternal life. god lead us forward today. may god the earth maker, the pain bearer, the life giver bless you and keep you now and always. amen ♪

♪ >> if i could have you back up with some closing remarks this morning. just from me personally, i want to thank you all for being here with us today on 150th anniversary of battle of crater. once again, superintendent rogers. >> just want to be very short and thank you all for coming. i've learned when it's time for things to be over, it's time for them to be over. i want to thank ft. lee for coming out. colonel, your great speech. thank you.

people don't realize that petersburg used to be a part of ft. lee, actually our big brother, so we were actually cut out of ft. lee to be created as a battlefield, created by one union and one confederate soldier. i'd like to thank the postal service for coming here and presenting the stamp. thank you. thank the city of petersburg for working with us. thank you, and go and find yourself in history. thanks. with congress on recess, during this month, "american history tv" airs throughout the week here on c-span3. coming up live this afternoon author and historian anthony pitch will detail his book "the burning of washington" in which he describes how british military forces 200 years ago this week set the white house and u.s. capitol on fire after making their way into the nation's capital. hosted by the smithsonian associates, you can see it live today starting at 6:45 eastern, again, here on c-span3.

coming up tonight, a look at the civil war's atlanta campaign. in may of 1864, union general william sherman marched into georgia with a goal of capturing atlanta. after a series of battles throughout the summer and 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 general joseph e. johnston who led the confederates in atlanta. also a look at confederate weapons manufacturing in central georgia during and off the fall of atlanta. that's all coming up tonight starting at 8:15 eastern here on c-span3. here are some of the highlights for this weekend. friday on c-span, in primetime, we'll visit important sites in the history of the civil rights movement. saturday night at 8:00, highlights from this year's new york ideas forum, including cancer biologist andrew hessle, and on sunday, q&a with new york

congressman charlie rangel at 8:00 p.m. eastern. friday night at 8:00 on c-span2, "in-depth" with writer and religious scholar, reza aslan. saturday at 10:00, retired neurosurgeon and columnist ben carson. saturday at 11:00 p.m. eastern, lawrence goldstone, to be the predominant name in manned flight. american history tv on friday at 8:00 eastern, look at hollywood's portrayal of slavery. saturday night at 8:00, the 2 00th anniversary of the battle of bladensburg. find our television schedule one week in advance at c-span.org and let us know what you think, call us at 202-66-3400 or e-mail us at comments@c-span.org.

like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. next a look at the role of u.s. colored troops during the siege of petersburg. after weeks of tunnelling, on july 30th, 1864, union forces blew up a mind underneath the confederate lines to create a fwap in the defenses. emanuel dabney of petersburg national battle lfield discusses why the attack ultimately failed and why the u.s. color troops were unjustly blamed. this event was part of the annual summer conference. it's just under an hour. good morning. i will prewarn you, today you will hear language that we find repulsive. aisle i'm not going to cut it out because it makes us quiver. we will get started. on june 12th, 1864, after failing to defeat robert e. lee's army of northern virginia,

lieutenant general view liulyss grant accompanied the army of the potomac and portion of the army of the james pulled away from the fortifications at cold harbor and began the movement toward petersburg. some troops ferried to the bermuda hundred region north of petersburg to begin the attack on the city the following day of june 15th. petersburg in 1860 had been virginia's second largest city. with a population 18,266 folks. since the war of 1812, it had been referred to as the -- city because volunteers wore them on their hats as they went off to war. four railroads radiated from the city by 1860. the petersburg railroad, which ran south to weldon, north carolina. the richmond and petersburg, obviously connecting those two

places. the south side which ran from city point, modern day hopewell, virginia, through petersburg, to lynchburg. and the norfolk and petersburg. in addition to petersburg's railroads, the city possessed four cotton factories, three flour mills, four iron foundries and three planing mills. these operations, tap into a discussion we were just having about the importance of places, are going to be cranking out supplies and food for the confederacy throughout the war. in addition to that industrial activity, the confederacy operated several wartime plants within our near the city. still functioning in the summer of 1864. including rope works, a lead works, to obtain salt pewter for the gun powder and a wagon works. wartime blockade, getting back to the interest of the blockade, created even greater importance

for the petersburg railroad, because at weldon, a separate railroad company, weldon and wilmington operated connecting petersburg with european-ran goods through the blockade there at wilmington. grant wanted -- oops, i should have clicked a while ago. here's petersburg. grant wanted to cut off richmond's communications and transportation of goods from and through petersburg and, of course, destroy lee's army. from june 15th to the 18th before lee even really fully arrived at petersburg, union troops assaulted the city but failed to capture it. siege operations began and along one part of the line, the man in major general ambros burnside's ninth corps with less than 400 feet from the confederate earthworks. in the midst of the summer of 186 4's trout and hedrought andt

was the constant sharp shooting, earthworks and plan developed to break this campaign before it lasted much longer. as early as union 21st, lieutenant colonel henry pleasant thought mining the confederate position at elliott salient, alternately called pegram's battery was a possibility. he later noted greatest enthusiasm for the project was his division commander brigadier general robert potter and his corps commander ambrose burnside. the 48th pennsylvania infantry began excavating the mine the 25th of june. for whatever reason, people remember it started at 12:00 noon. if you're a detail-oriented person, they left it for us. the work was performed night and day, seven days a week. even in the intense summer heat which often compeexceeded 105 degrees. the concerns about ventilating the mine were addressed, kind of represented in the images here. fresh air entered an eight-inch square wooden duct and

circulated through creating, and fire was created which would send the bad air out through a chimney shaft. a canvas door was placed over the entry to keep fresh air in and allow miners to get in and out of the shaft. as the laborers extended the mind, so, too, would the wooden duct system be extended and by the 17th of july, the mine would reach the 510.8 feet that pleasants had first proposed. two galleries are going to be extended which is represented in this image at the top underneath the confederate position in which the gun powder is supposed to be packed. while the 48th pennsylvania infantry dug the mine, burnside crafted a battle plan. three weeks ahead of the assault, he informed edward

ferrero commanding the division of u.s. color troops of his plan to use those men first. burnside expected 12,000 pounds of gun powder to explode somewhere around daybreak or at least by 5:00 a.m. then the black soldiers would be massed in double columns all ready to pass through the gap in the enemy's line. the lead regiment of the brigade was to be perpendicular to the confederate line and execute this by maneuvering to the north to the right of the explosion site and the leading regiment of the brig fwad ade on the left w do the same but in reverse. the remaining regiments would move as quickly as possible to the crest in front as rapidly as possible as burnside wrote. then the white troops of burnside's corps and others would soon follow. ferrero was directed to drill his enthusiastic troops but not veterans for this attack. however, this is an issue that we still don't know all the

details of. were the u.s. colored troops trained, were they not trained? depends on who you ask. captain robert beecham of the 23rd u.s. ct recalls only one drill between june 22nd and july 29th and that there was, as he said, nothing specific to this particular battle maneuver but they were, as he said, most common and simple maneuvers. others recall specialized training. it was remembered time after time did my regiment go through the imaginary advance, the turn to the left. every officer and every private knew his place and what he was expected to do. so in short, i'll say we don't know if they were trained or not. what we do know is the confederates figure out what's going on with the union mining activity just five days after the federals have started.

this man is to -- on the confederate side be praised for lucky guessing. and of course, many of you in this audience, your attention to gettysburg, know edward porter alexander. he's inspecting the lines at elliot salient on june 30th. he's expecting to see the siege operations of 19th century warfare to be taking place trying to extend union lines, get them closer to the confederates, but he's not noticing that. he notices, however, that there's intense sharp shooting coming into this position and he thinks seriously that the enemy isn't 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 it's important to know that this isn't farmer joe's son who probably wouldn't have guessed this. alexander is a graduate of west

point, third in his class of 38, and so he knew this sort of world of siege operations, which could include mines. alexander reported his suspicions to headquarters. southern countermining began in several places, but they would not in elliot salient area go deep enough below ground to collapse the union mine. they are going to be busy at elliott salient constructing another earthwork just because of the intense amount of sharp shooting and artillery fire the confederates had, it was later stated, practically honeycombed the area, in between this new cavalier trench and the back of elliot's salient with bombproofs. what they didn't know is this will soon enough create an obstacle for the federals. what is definitely planned

beyond the cavalier trench are alexander's orders to move up more artillery and so it's going to kind of be in a horseshoe shaped ring around this region and the confederates are going to have 30 canon and 5 mortars to use against any union infantry attack in that particular area. the plan developed by burnside began unraveling almost as soon as army headquarters got the plan. on july 27th, 8,000 pounds of gun powder arrived instead of the 12,000 as meade's engineer has decided that that's all that they need. a single fuse arrived in segments, 10 to 15 in length which required multiple splicing. the plans for the attack which burnside had proposed were changed by general meade. on the morning of july 28th, meade and burnside had a showdown about the battle plan.

meade stated black soldiers were just too green for this attack. later that year, grant testified to congress, congressional committee investigating the crater. general meade said if we put the color troops in front, we had only that 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. but that could not be said if we put white troops in front. since burnside protested this last-minute change, meade stated he would talk with grant about it, and it's important to understand that technically burnside outranks meade. kind of been a contentious sort of thing since burnside had arrived back east in the spring, and so grant outranks both of them, he can decide once he hears the plans which he only

will hear from meade so meade really represents what his opinion is and gives kind of the postscript version of what burnside feels and grant agrees with meade. however, neither general bothered to inform burnside of this until july 29th. at 11:00 a.m. meade and another union general appeared at burnside's headquarters. burnside still wants the plan that he had to go forth and he is going to ask meade can not this be change, and meade says, no, the order is final. besides the use of the u.s. colored troops, meade objected to the maneuvers that burnside wished to perform. meade simply wanted the men to go up promptly and take the crest. the problem with that not very detailed order is that it doesn't take into account the other confederate troops that are to the north of the explosion site and i should point out that the objective here is to take the high ground

at blandford cemetery which is to the north a few hundred yards of elliott salient. so meade and this other union general leave burnside to figure out what he's going to do. calls forth these eligible division commanders now. and that will include orlando wilcox, in the center there, james ledley on the left, and robert potter on the right. despite burnside's later realization he should have probably selected wilcox or potter, he felt like their divisions had been very used up, so he selects james ledlie. ledlie, some as you know, has a fondness for alcohol, and it's been exhibited most kind of notably at the battle of north hannah river, late in may of 1864 and again in the initial attacks on petersburg on june 17th.

during the day and night of july 29th, final preparations are made that include moving 110 federal cannon and 54 mortars across a two-mile front to be used right after the explosion takes place and try to, of course, pin down confederates as the attack moves forward. white troops move into their position. of course, now in front, ferrero's troops are going to be in the back of this attacking column. colonel pleasants will go in on july 30th, light the fuse, 3:30 in the morning. it didn't go off. 4:15, two people volunteered to go back inside to figure out what has gone wrong. most of the time on my tours, i don't have very many people say that would be me. occasionally i get it, though, and i say, you brave person.

they re-lit the fuse, and at 4:44 a.m., the gun powder explodes, as represented in this image from with the ha"harper's" quarter master sergeant james payne of the 27th u.s. color troops wrote afterwards, on saturday morning the 30th, one of the enemy's forts which the garrison were imposing in pleasant slumber, dreaming of no danger nor apprehending any was blown up, destroying nearly all who were in it at the time. the hole in the confederate line was now 170 feet long, 30 feet deep, 60 feet wide. few confederates in the position are going to live to tell the tale. somewhere between 278 and 350 men from south carolina regiments in position and 19 men in the confederate artillery there are going to become casualties in the blast. but the battle that follows reveals more about personalities and racial divisions than about military tactics and objectives.

artillery shells belch from the federal's 110 cannon and 54 mortars as the battle began. ledlie's division deployed around 5:00 a.m., supported by robert potter and orlando willcox's men. of course, the confederates are going to respond, going to be a somewhat weak response at this particular moment from the infantry. though intense confederate artillery fire began to develop pretty rapidly. particularly mettlesome to the federals that it's coming from the right, so part of the army that james is going to be deployed to try to cover and push out some north carolinians that were to the north of the crater and silence whatever this gun battery is that's sending shells ripping through the ranks, and that's what's represented here, but i'm not going to really spend a lot of time talking about the white troops.

should have come to kevin's talk yesterday about them. we're going to focus on the black troops. about 8:00 a.m., ferrero's division is ordered to attack. the first brigade in will be joshua siegfried and the first regiment, bates' 30th u.s. color troops. as they crash into the confederates, they begin to scream out, no quarter, and remember ft. pillow. and some of you know, but for those who don't, ft. pillow earlier in the year in april, confederate troops refused to accept surrender of most of the garrison of white and black troops. and when the battle comes to its crazed end, we have 150 white p.o.w.s and 58 black men. everybody else in the garrison of 600 has been killed or mortally wounded. it doesn't matter that these

black troops weren't there, that these white troops weren't there. this becomes a battle cry for the rest of the war with black troops. one confederate officer screamed to his men as he saw the black column coming, rally, boys, rally, and drive them back. they are nothing but niggers. immediately somehow in the sounds of battle, this is overheard by sergeant john offer. and a dozen other black combatants who charged the officer and one of the soldiers thrust a bayonet into the officer's chest. following the 30th is the 43rd usct. within that regiment, captain albert d. wright captures the flag that you see here on the left. thanks to cathie wright for providing that image. and he was wounded, himself. the mingling already of white and black troops in and around the crater and southern artillery is going to start to slow progress for the 27th and 39th usct of siegfried's brigade.

as these regiments moved through the remains of the salient colonel bates was shot in the face. the bullet traveled through his cheek and exited near his left ear. amazingly, bates survived and returned to duty in the fall of 1864. he has a pretty impressive mustache here already. gets bigger to cover up the, you know, part of his face that has been partially collapsed from the bullet. he'll receive a medal of honor for his actions here at the crater. sergeant decatur dorsey of the 39th usct ran his regiment's flag ahead of the rest of the men, planted it on the surviving confederate fortifications which encouraged the men to move forward. following on the heels of siegfried's men, a brigade commanded by colonel henry g. thomas. thomas recalled, quote, deadly, eight guns on our right and murderous crossfire decimated us.

the firepower forced thomas to admit his first regiment in, the 31st usct, will be mowed 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 the bombproofs. you remember that. his attempts to rally and charge again are going to be met with doom. see thomas here on the left and colonel john bross, who gets himself all dandied up to go into this attack. he's got his best coat on, his best sword, best hat. he will stand on top of confederate earthworks that are surviving trying to encourage his men forward. and he will get shot down. captain robert beacham of the 23rd wrote that his soldiers in their attempt to charge the confederates again formed promptly.

there was no flinching on their part. they came to the shoulder touch just like true soldiers. as ready to face the enemy and meet death on the field as the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived. but think for a moment of forming for an effective charge in that death valley, under a murderous fire, crowded literally jammed in with other troops, confused and broken up as we were. officers, of course, are going down. confederate artillery firepower 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, this particular day on the south side of the appomattox river led temporarily, turned out to be permanent, by brigadier general william mahone. mahone is going to decide to move up to initially brigades, later a third. initially virginians he once commanded and currently

commanded by david wisager, a native of petersburg, and his georgia brigade now commanded by matthew hall, a lieutenant colonel. the virginians, as they get on to the battlefield, are kind of moving toward the battlefield, are going to encounter confederates who are running backwards. one informed mahone, hell has busted back thar. that's t-h-a-r, how it was spelled. another told the men, ah, boys, you have hot work ahead. they are niggers and show no quarter. lieutenant colonel william stewart, commanding the 61st virginia, wrote very frankly many years later, this report from the men passing us was the first intimation that we would have to fight negroes and it seemed to infuse our little band with impetuous daring as it pressed forward to the fray. i never felt more like fighting in my life. our comrades had been slaughtered in a most inhuman

and brutal manner, and black slaves were trampling over their mangled and bleeding forms. revenge must have fired every heart and strung every arm with nerves of steel. for the herculean task of blood. mahone gives a rallying speech that amazingly isn't filled with any sort of racially charged language. just before the virginians attack at 9:00 a.m. confederate officer in the 6th virginia, commander actually, wrote, with fixed bayonets and strong double quick they sprung forward from the ravine and rushed the foe, the packed trenches. he admits that the bayonet was used in a way he had never seen used in a war. this was a veteran from 1861. virginians pay a heavy price to capture a few hundred feet of earthworks. the georgians will follow them

in, and as a virginian who was watching recalled, they made two attacks and they fell like autumn leaves. the georgians leave us some of our best accounts of their anger at the sight of armed black men, such as james verderi of the 48th georgia infantry sharing with his dear sister the day after the battle, the prisoners came leaping over our breastworks by 50 but our men took none, for they, he underlined this part, were niggers. burnside's ninth army corps. as fast as they came over, the bayonet was plunged through their hearts. the muzzle of our gun was put on their temple and their brains blown out. others are knocked in the head with the butts of their gun. few would succeed in getting to the rear safe. dorsey binian, also the 48th georgian, someone who ought to know about beating black bodies since he had been over -- he was an overseer before the war began, told his dear sister, mary, just 11 days afterwards, when we got to the works it was

filled with negroes and yanks crying out, no quarter. when a hand-to-hand conflict ensued with the breach of our guns and bayonets, and you may depend on it, we did not show much quarter, but slaved them. keep in mind, we're writing to the prim and proper southern women, the scarlett o'haras of the south. they want to know what their men are doing on the battlefield. and now that they're fighting armed black men, they're providing the very details we have put down the slave insurrection out here. alabamians finally get on the field around 1:00 in the afternoon. and it's perhaps during this time that sergeant dorsey of the 39th realized this battle was going to end in federal disaster. he grabbed his unit's flag, ran it across the no man's land filled with confederate artillery fire and planted that flag on top of the union picket line. for that, he will receive a

medal of honor. sanders' alabamians attack along with the remnants of the other confederates on the field at that particular point. confederates are going to eventually -- launching bayoneted weapons over top of the rim of the crater. as they get very close, they put their hats on the tops of their muskets and just ease them over the rim of the crater. the federals fire their last volley, and this hand-to-hand conflict really gets under way. inspiring, an alabamian, william mcclellan, to say that all black soldiers, quote, would have been killed had it not been for general mahone who would beg our men to spare them. one soldier blatantly disobeyed mahone telling the virginian he would kill another and deliberately took out his pocket

knife and cut one's throat. they bashed the heads of the negro skulls, the north carolinians said, like egg shells. and when the black troops cried out that 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 old, when he left slavery and enlisted in the 30th u.s. color troops, promoted to corporal. during the battle, he's wounded. tried to make that arrow there so folks all the way in the back could see. he's shot in the hip. the bullet exited his butt. what's interesting to me about this photo is scott must have obeyed the rules of whoever his owner was. there's no sign of whip marks across his back. that desire to be free was so great that he had served.

he's lucky that he manages to get off the field at all because the bullet is only going to pass three inches from his spinal column. another former slave of maryland, george carr, 20 years old, is going to be wounded this day. entering his right leg, second bullet entering the middle third of the inside of the leg and passed through. free-born charles harris in the 31st u.s. color troops, native of new york, hit by a ball in the back of the right leg which passed through the tibia and fibula and exited that leg that hit the left foot, causing compound fractures. as the confederates went about killing union troops, especially those of african descent, white union troops realized how angry the southerners were, and so as william taylor of the 100th pennsylvanian wrote the day after the battle, and as george kilmer remembered many years after the battle, white union

troops will start killing black union troops as they readily admit in an effort to preserve white people's lives. the battle finally ends about 2:30 in the afternoon. battle's aftermath, going to be a court of inquiry. general meade picks who's on the court of inquiry. if you want details we can discuss later. more or less the blame will be heaped up on burnside. there's going to be some blame for james ledlie and edward ferrero who were drinking together during the battle. ferrero is going to more or less be slapped on the wrist. ledlie goes home on a furlough, never returns. burnside goes home on a furlough, never returns. grant calls this the saddest affair i have ever witnessed. federal casualties will be around 3,800 and u.s. color troops are going to suffer 219 killed, 957 wounded.

and somewhere around 410 who are either captured or go missing. the scene here represents the flag of truce that will finally happen on august 1st. burnside, who everyone likes to beat up as the civil war's idiot general, calls for a flag of truce a half an hour after the battle ends on july 30th. meade wants him to arrange a localized truce. he doesn't want to admit defeat and just leave and get the wounded off the field even though it's 100-plus degrees. so they lay out there july 30th and all day on july 31st, and finally they're picked up on the morning of august 1st. by that point, one of meade's staff members admits that he couldn't 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 byrd, 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 ] if you're not a french student. it was drink your blood, you'll have no more thirst, and they bayoneted the men that were nearby. news of the battle traveled, perhaps from our civilian perspective, of course we got to have an edmond ruffin reference. he said black troops were charging and shrieking, remember ft. pillow and wrote about the great slaughter. 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 just four days after the battle, and it helps to illustrate our perception of southern ladies is too scarlett o'hara infused, i still think, and not enough of catherine edmondston. the negro troops rushed into our line shouting, no quarter, remember ft. pillow, she wrote. they were met by such determination by their old masters and granted to the full what they so earnestly clamored for that in spite of the yankee bayonets behind them they turned and ran. 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, unlikely 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 like, cowardice of the niggers. the second the author stated that the niggers set down their weapons and refused to obey orders and praised the white troops for being honorable, brave, and courageous, and if it wasn't for the, quote, niggers, they would have won the battle. others amazingly do 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 didn't you kill all the yankee wretches? they're being marched, two white, two black, two white, two black, until you run out of black troops. the generals that had been captured, the highest ranking officers at the front of the ban. a 9-year-old 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 they'll be killing you. captain beacham of the 23rd gave us a really good comment about it. 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 won't 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, won't get

the same sort of treatment. and this representation of shockoe bottom in richmond will be important in a moment. interesting story i found -- we'll talk more about this if you want to. john haskel, confederate artillerist, out there, has mortars launching shells during the battle, found some 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, i'd 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 mutilation.

my first thought, is this christian civilization? after threatening to send some captured federal surgeons to andersonville, they joined in treating the black troops, which may suggest a preview to eric's talk in a moment about andersonville. among those captured is peter churchwell, former slave who escaped, served in the 23rd usct and is captured. he's 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 virginia's slave trading district, shockoe bottom in richmond, virginia.

and where the purple arrow is marked is where one of the petersburg region's former slave turned soldier robert banks will go to the dealers, dickinson, hill & company and be kept there until the war ends. so i'll stop there because i'm out of slides. and i'll let you ask questions. [ applause ] start over here. >> except for their -- my name is jeff smith. i'm from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. i'm curious, except for their last-minute interference, it seems like meade and grant really deferred to burnside in the operations. after this disaster, there's, 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, he's decided who's going to be on the court, and there are people who don't like burnside, from the battle of fredericksburg in 1862 and the mud march in 1863, so they already have a negative opinion of burnside. he's the civil war's worst general. and meade's recorder is one of his own inspector general from his staff. so none of them are going to say, meade, you're to blame, or grant, you're 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, it's depicted of all the troops black and white kind of pouring into the

crater, being trapped there. that's been told in other stories, too. is there any truth to that, or was that really a problem that people went into the crater and couldn't get out, or is that just a legend? >> in case people didn't hear, question is did troops, white and black, rush through the crater into the hole itself? it is partially true. ledlie's 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 couldn't 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. they're 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. you'll 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 men's lives. >> thank you. >> yep. >> it's 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 can't use blacks. and then troops -- and then ledlie's troops were used and

they weren't trained. was it because -- so soon that they didn't have time, or i guess what i'm 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 last-minute changes on july 29th and the battle is the next morning right at dawn. so there's no prep time. what's my time? okay. >> david rosen from alexandria, virginia. against the background of these circumstances, and what you've described, a little bit of humaneness compels the tension. i wonder if you could tell us something about mahone. >> yes.