Civil_War_Quarterly_-_Spring_2016_

of the 14th New York Heavy Artillery, “but

the effect produced by the falling earth and

the fragments sent heavenward that

appeared to be coming right down upon us,

caused the first line to waver and fall back.”

At his headquarters north of the Appo-

mattox River, General Lee was notified of

the attempted breakthrough at 6:15 AM. He

rushed orders for Brig. Gen. William

Mahone, whose division was camped about

three miles west of the Crater constituted

Lee’s closest reinforcements, to send two

brigades to the scene of the crisis. Mahone,

nicknamed “Little Billy” for his diminutive

size and shrill, piping voice, chose a Geor-

gia unit and his own Virginia Brigade, also

known as the Old Dominion Brigade and

including many men from Petersburg eager

to defend their homes, to make the march.

Using streambeds, back roads, and covered

ways, Mahone and his men arrived a little

after 8 AM. Lee rode to the front, arriving at

Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s command

post not far from Cemetery Hill, from

which vantage point Lee could clearly see

the Crater and the Union units massed in

and around it. He, Johnson and Beauregard

rode to the Gee house at the juncture of the

Baxter and Jerusalem Plank roads, 500

yards west of the Crater, where they climbed

to the second floor to monitor the action.

As Confederate musket fire picked up,

Bartlett pushed some of his troops into

trenches south of the Crater while Marshall

directed his soldiers to the north and west.

Only a relative few men in the Union

advance got as far as the maze of works

beyond the Crater, where they began

exchanging fire with a small group of

Southern defenders. Unit leaders of the

main body were ignored as they shouted

and pointed their swords toward Cemetery

Hill, and there wasn’t anyone of superior

authority to salvage the situation. Burnside,

at least, should have been in close commu-

nication with the front. He was not.

Troops of one of the heavy artillery units

fighting as infantry found a working gun

and began utilizing it against the defenders

to their west. Union reinforcements con-

tinued pouring into the breach as Burnside

ordered his next two divisions forward,

those of Potter and Willcox, but most of

the attackers, rather than going forward

toward Cemetery Hill, either joined their

comrades in the Crater or branched out to

the immediate right and left along the

lines. As the Federals continued wasting

precious time, 8- and 10-inch mortars in

the Confederate rear, along with well-

placed artillery batteries, began pouring a

deadly storm of shell and canister into the

crowded masses milling in and around the

base of the Crater. Finally, fairly large

groups of Union soldiers formed near the

Crater’s western edge and began filtering

into the captured Rebel trench system.

Two light Confederate artillery batteries

under Major John Haskell hurried up the

Jerusalem Plank Road and unlimbered

near Cemetery Hill. Exposed to Union

sharpshooters and artillery fire, Haskell

nonetheless opened fire on his own and

began the most effective effort of the day

by either side. Haskell entered the covered

way, which led 500 yards from the

Jerusalem Plank Road directly to the Con-

federate works north of the Crater, and

asked Elliot for infantry to support his

exposed guns. Responding to Haskell’s

request, Elliot was severely wounded when

he tried, with a brave handful of fellow

South Carolinians, to comply. Colonel Fitz

McMaster assumed command and led 200

survivors of the 26th South Carolina into

a creek depression west of the Crater,

within the defensive works, where com-

rades from Elliot’s other regiments rallied

upon them. They were, for the moment,

the only Confederate forces standing

between the Crater and Cemetery Hill.

Several North Carolina brigades com-

manded by Brig. Gen. Robert Ransom

moved south to link up with the left flank

of the 26th South Carolina and Virgini-

ans from Brig. Gen. Henry Wise’s brigade

to repair the line and support McMaster.

A number of disorganized Union thrusts

were repulsed. By 8:30 AM, after Potter’s

and Willcox’s divisions entered the fray, a

large part of the Union IX Corps, about

10,000 men, had reached the destroyed

enemy salient, most of them milling

around the Crater. When Willcox led his

division into action, he ordered a brigade

commanded by Brig. Gen. John Hartranft

to expand the breakthrough south of the

Crater. Its lead regiments, however, were

once again drawn inexorably toward the

massive hole, where they became entan-

gled with Ledlie’s troops. Two other reg-

iments simply halted on the rising slope.

Stunned by this development, Willcox

strongly cautioned Burnside against

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