Ventilation Shaft

On July 23, 1864, Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants of the 48th Pennsylvania said he had succeeded in carrying ventilation through the tunnel without digging a hole to the surface. The most serious problem facing Pleasants was getting fresh air to the men working in the mine, and he used a solution common in the Pennsylvania coal mines. One hundred feet into the mine, his men dug a vertical ventilation shaft. They placed an airtight canvas door across the mine opening and ran a wooden duct the length of the mine to the forward end of the chamber. A fire burning continuously at the ventilation shaft drew stale air out of the mine, while fresh air was drawn through the duct to the men working at the head of the tunnel. Once beneath the Confederate works, the Federals dug lateral magazines and packed them with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder. The tunnel was 511 feet long.

Petersburg, Virginia · United States