The Crater • Tour the Battlefield • Battle Maps • The Armies • Petersburg Timeline
At 7 a.m. Burnside decided to send in his last division, Ferrerro’s African-Americans who had been so carefully prepared to lead the attack in the first place. The First Brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Sigfried moved forward into the stalled mass of men in the crater. Two regiments pushed their way through while the rest worked around the north as they had been trained. They began attacking Elliott’s thin lines of Confederates on the far side, rounding up those who would surrender, killing those who resisted, and taking the cavalier trench to the west of the crater.
The Second Brigade under Colonel Henry Thomas had less luck. Their push fell apart under heavy fire, and the men fell back into the cavalier trench.
Around the same time Mahone and his lead brigade reached the battle area. The brigade, under Colonel David Weisiger, had been Mahone’s own before he had taken over division command. They were all Virginians, mostly from the Petersburg area. Their homes and businesses were just behind them, if not already in Yankee hands, and they had an intense personal stake in the fighting.
Mahone started forming his Virginians into line of battle, then went forward to get a better look. After counting the Union regimental flags around the crater he sent back for his third brigade to also come up from its reserve position.
Two regiments of Mahone’s second brigade, Georgians under Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Hall, formed up on the Virginian’s flank. Two North Carolina regiments also joined the forming battle line.
Burnside saw his chances for success rapidly evaporating. He ordered one last push up the 800 yards of slope to take Cemetery Hill. Lieutenant Colonel John Bross of the 29th United States Colored Troops gathered three regiments and a scattering of men from the other commands. Colors in hand, he formed them for one last attack. But at the same time, Mehone’s line began to advance downhill.