Waiting Their Turn

By 6:00 am on July 30, 1864, black Union soldiers filled the trenches before the battle, waiting to enter the Battle of the Crater. White Union troops ahead of them were struggling to advance because of Confederate fire and the confusion and crowding around the hole. As the fighting grew louder, the black Union troops sat and listened, then stood to make way for wounded men going to the rear. Their commander, Colonel Henry Thomas, recalled an endless procession of wounded men, from those with flesh wounds to those close to death, moaning in agony, and wrote that after standing there for over an hour unable to strike a blow, his men were sickened by the sight of death and mutilation. At 7:30 am, they were finally ordered forward.

Petersburg, Virginia · United States