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Petersburg • East • Southeast • West • Monuments • Markers • Facts • Timeline

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The ‘A Stupendous Failure’ wayside marker is on the walking trail on the north side of The Crater at Stop Eight on the Perersburg National Battlefield Eastern Front Auto Tour. The marker is equipped with a solar-powerd audio presentation. It is next to ‘The Crater‘ wayside marker.

From the marker:

A Stupendous Failure

“It is agreed that the thing was a perfect success, except that it did not succeed.”

– Major Charles F. Adams, Jr., USA

The explosion cleared the Union path to Petersburg. But instead of pushing through, the first waves of Union attackers simply stood at the Crater, gawking at the incredible scene.

Union hesitation allowed the Confederates to regroup. Southern batteries fired from right and left; the Federals crowded into the Crater for protection. A thin line of Confederate survivors formed in the depression beyond the Crater. Though the Federals seized 150 yards of works on each side of the Crater, they advanced no farther. Dazed, confused, and leaderless, for hours they huddled in and around “the horrid pit.” Meanwhile, Confederate reinforcements prepared to counterattack.

Left: The brutal fighting in the Crater during the Confederate counterattacks – hours after the explosion.

Map: The 15,000 Union attackers – including 4,300 African-American troops – never reached their immediate objective, the heights of Cemetery Hill (upper right). Through the Confederates’ morning counterattacks forced the Federals back into the Crater, it took four more hours to drive the Federals away altogether. General Grant called the episode “a stupendous failure.”

From the credit for the painting at the bottom:

The Battle of the Crater ©Tom Lovell 1988,
The Greenwich Workshop, Inc.

Learn more about the Battle of the Crater