Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Crater


Petersburg, VA is one of those small USA towns that struggle to prosper. The town takes advantage of it's history to attract tourists. Most of the stores are filled with antiques. And there are a few historical buildings preserved as museums: The Seige Museum, Center Hill Mansion, The Blanford Church/Cemetary. We also discovered the Hiram Coffee House which is where Edgar Allen Poe spent his honeymoon with his 13 year old cousin. It has been restored to the original look and now holds poetry readings, musical events and period coffee.
Hiram Haines Coffee House
For more pictures visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/minkcove/

We chose Petersburg as our first stop after Philadelphia in order to see the Civil War battles that took place during the seige. It was here that Grant came when he was unable to conquer Richmond. He realized that the key to taking Richmond was to stop the supply trains that came through Petersburg. One of the most noted battles of the War took place at Petersburg when the Union soldiers who were miners from Pennsylvania dug a tunnel under the Confederate lines and planted explosives beneath their fortifications. The explosion excavated a huge crater that the Union soldiers ran into on their way to battle the Confederates. The Union was slaughtered from above by the Confederates as they piled one upon the other in the crater. Grant eventually took the city of Petersburg, 2 days later Richmond and subsequently Lee surrendered at Appomatox.

Opening into the tunnel.