TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Making Plans With the basic roles of the campaign determined (Grant-offense; Lee-defense) the commanders had to create the means to accomplish their goals. Frustrated by the lack of progress in front of Petersburg, Grant decided to make use of his two brigade bridgehead. He was determined to turn it into a base for a thrust […]

[Read more →]

Introduction By the third week of June 1864 Union forces were stalemated in front of Petersburg. The promise of an early victory there wasted by the timidity of the commanders and poorly coordinated assaults. Grant, in an effort to disperse the Confederate defenders ordered Butler to seize and hold a bridgehead on the north shore […]

[Read more →]

Many students of the Civil War know about the famous Battle of the Crater, which occurred on July 30, 1864.  Very few have heard of the First Battle of Deep Bottom, a prequel of sorts to the Crater.  Fought from July 27-29, 1864, the First Deep Bottom operation was designed to lure Confederate troops north […]

[Read more →]

Editor’s Note: This Civil War book review originally appeared at The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater earlier today. Hess, Earl J. Into the Crater: The Mine Attack at Petersburg. The University of South Carolina Press (September 30, 2010). 352 pp., 45 illustrations, maps, order of battle, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN: 978-1-57003-922-5 $44.95 (Cloth). […]

[Read more →]