while the 48th pennsylvania infantry dug the mine, ambrose burnside crafted a battle plan. three weeks ahead of the assault, he informed edward ferrero, you see there, commanding 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. lead regiment of the brigade was to be perpendicular to the confederate line and execute this by maneuvering to the north, the right of the explosion site, and the brigade on the left was to do the same but in reverse. the remaining regiments were to 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 we still don't know all the details of, were the u.s. color troops trained, were they not trai

the greatest enthusiasm was from brigadier general potter and ambrose burnside.8th pennsylvania infantry began ex ka kating the mine the 25th of june. for whatever reason people remember it started at 12:00 noon. if you are detail oriented, they left it for us. the work was performed night and day. seven days a week, even in the intense summer heat which often exceeded 105 degrees. the concerns about ventilating the mine were addressed, kind of represented in the images here. fresh air entered an eight-inch square wooden duct and circulated through and fire was created which would send the bad air out. a canvas door was placed over the entry to keep fresh air in and allow miners to get in and out of the shaft. the wooden duct system was 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, burn

the union army will also have within it general ambrose burnside, who will be commanding the ninth army corps. burnside is the general who headed the army of the potomac during the battle at fredericksburg. grant is now bringing him back to join the army of the potomac. because of burnside's former position, grant decides that burnside can't serve underneath mead, and instead will report directly to grant who will coordinate him with general mead. you can see of the command confusion that's going to take place, and some of that will become evident here at cold harbor. the union cavalry, most of the commanders that you historians would have been familiar with are now gone. john buford has died. general kill patrick has been exiled to the west. what grant decides to do is bring one of his generals from the west, general phil sheridan, eastward and put him in charge of the cavalry of the potomac. general grant will be selecting the cavalry commander who will be reporting to general mead. a very awkward command relationship. and a command relationship that won't work, because each of these

the union army will also have within it general ambrose burnside, who will be commanding the ninth army corps. burnside is the general who headed the army of the potomac during the battle at fredericksburg. grant is now bringing him back to join the army of the potomac. because of burnside's former position, grant decides that burnside can't serve underneath mead, and instead will report directly to grant who will coordinate him with general mead. you can see of the command confusion that's going to take place, and some of that will become evident here at cold harbor. the union cavalry, most of the commanders that you historians would have been familiar with are now gone. john buford has died. general kill patrick has been exiled to the west. what grant decides to do is bring one of his generals from the west, general phil sheridan, eastward and put him in charge of the cavalry of the potomac. general grant will be selecting the cavalry commander who will be reporting to general mead. a very awkward command relationship. and a command relationship that won't work, because each of these

the union army will also have within it general ambrose burnside, who will be commanding the ninth armyide is the general who headed the army of the potomac during the battle at fredericksburg. grant is now bringing him back to join the army of the potomac. because of burnside's former position, grant decides that burnside can't serve underneath mead, and instead will report directly to grant who will coordinate him with general mead. you can see of the command confusion that's going to take place, and some of that will become evident here at cold harbor. the union cavalry, most of the commanders that you historians would have been familiar with are now gone. john buford has died. general kill patrick has been exiled to the west. what grant decides to do is bring one of his generals from the west, general phil sheridan, eastward and put him in charge of the cavalry of the potomac. general grant will be selecting the cavalry commander who will be reporting to general mead. a very awkward command relationship. and a command relationship that won't work, because each of these are extraordi

the union army will also have within it general ambrose burnside who commands the ninth army corp., most of you probably know, is the general who headed the army of the potomac during the battle at fredericksburg and grant brings him back to join the army of the potomac and because of burnside's former position, grant decides that burnside can't serve i understand northeast meade and unstead, will report directly to gant who coordinates him with general meade so you can see the command confusion that's taking place and some of that is evident here at the cold harbor. the union calvary is in a very interesting situation. most of the calvary commanders that you're familiar with are now gone. john fwu fobuford has died, what decides to do is to bring one of his generals from the west, general phil sheraton. eastward and put him in charge of the calvary of the army of the potomac. in effect, general grant will be selecting the calvary commander who will be reporting to general meade. aid very awkward command relationship and a command relationship that won't work because each of these

the charge of general ambrose burnside's 9th corps, 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 area not more than 150 yards long and 100 yards wide. confederate colonel 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 on 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 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 discern