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Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee, Chapter 14: siege of Petersburg. (search)
mewhere, Lee impatient to improve any opportunity that might be offered. By mere chance both were gratified. The Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, Burnside's corps, was largely composed of Schuylkill coal miners, and its lieutenant colonel, Pleasants, had been a mining engineer. One hundred and thirty yards in front, on General Johnson's front, at the center of General Elliott's brigade, was a salient in the Confederate lines. It was a re-entrant commanded by a flank from either side; in up could not be assaulted with success, because it was commanded in both flanks by the fire of the Southern troops, and could be taken in reverse from their position on the Jerusalem plank road and from their works opposite the Hare House. Pleasants deserves great credit for his perseverance. Burnside, his corps, and Potter, his division commander, of the officers of high rank, alone encouraged his efforts. On July 23d the mine was ready for the powder; for forty workmen, even with infer
Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Raid on the Virginia Central Railroad-raid on the Weldon Railroad-Early's movement upon Washington-mining the works before Petersburg-explosion of the mine before Petersburg- campaign in the Shenandoah Valley-capture of the Weldon Railroad (search)
en directed that Smith should hang to Forrest and not let him go; and to prevent by all means his getting upon the Memphis and Nashville Railroad. Sherman had anticipated me in this matter, and given the same orders in substance; but receiving my directions for this order to Smith, he repeated it. On the 25th of June General Burnside had commenced running a mine from about the centre of his front under the Confederate works confronting him. He was induced to do this by Colonel [Henry] Pleasants, of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, whose regiment was mostly composed of miners, and who was himself a practical miner. Burnside had submitted the scheme to Meade and myself, and we both approved of it, as a means of keeping the men occupied. His position was very favorable for carrying on this work, but not so favorable for the operations to follow its completion. The position of the two lines at that point were only about a hundred yards apart with a comparatively deep ravine intervenin
General Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant, Chapter 17 (search)
ich had now been completed. The operations attending it were novel and interesting, though the result was the greatest disaster which occurred during the siege of Petersburg. After the assaults on the 17th and 18th of June, Burnside's corps established a line of earthworks within one hundred yards of those of the enemy. In rear of his advanced position was a deep hollow. In front the ground rose gradually until it reached an elevation on which the Confederate line was established. Colonel Pleasants, commanding the 48th Pennsylvania Regiment, composed largely of miners, conceived the idea of starting a gallery from a point in the hollow which was concealed from the enemy's view, pushing it forward to a position under his earthworks, and there preparing a mine large enough to blow up the parapets and make a sufficiently wide opening for assaulting columns to rush through. Before the end of June he communicated the project to Burnside, who talked the matter over with General Mead
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events, Diary from December 17, 1860 - April 30, 1864 (ed. Frank Moore), 1861, August (search)
The Convention of Western Virginia passed the ordinance creating a State, reported by the select committee on a division of the State, this morning, by a vote of fifty to twenty-eight. The boundary as fixed includes the counties of Logan, Wyoming, Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, Webster, Randolph, Tucker, Preston, Monongahela, Marion, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur, Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Clay, Kanawha, Boone, Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, Mason, Jackson, Roane, Calhoun, Wirt, Gilmer, Ritchie, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Doddridge, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock. A provision was incorporated permitting certain adjoining counties to come in if they should desire, by expression of a majority of their people to do so. The ordinance also provides for the election of delegates to a Convention to form a constitution; at the same time the question for a new State or against a new State shall be submitted to the people within the proposed boundary. The election is to be held on the 24th of O
William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V., Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865: A Treatise on the extent and nature of the mortuary losses in the Union regiments, with full and exhaustive statistics compiled from the official records on file in the state military bureaus and at Washington, chapter 10 (search)
d and 86 wounded. Though an efficient regiment in battle, the Forty-eighth became famous by reason of its connection with the Mine at Petersburg. This mine was excavated entirely by the men of the Forty-eighth under the supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants, who conceived the idea, planned and carried it out. The main gangway was over 500 feet long; 8,000 pounds of powder were successfully exploded, forming a crater 250 feet long, and 25 feet deep. Colonel Pleasants and his men received Colonel Pleasants and his men received a special acknowledgment of their services in General Orders, No. 32. The regiment fought its last battle April 2, 1865, at the Fall of Petersburg, in which Colonel Gowan was killed. He entered the service as a Lieutenant, serving with honor in every campaign, only to meet his fate in the final battle. Forty-Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry. Russell's Brigade — Wright's Division--Sixth Corps. （1) Col. William H. Irwin; Bvt. Brig. Gen. （2) Col. Thomas M. Hulings, R. A. (Killed). （3) C
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 5. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 94 (search)
then next following, by his proclamation, in what States and parts of States insurrection exists: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the States of South-Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, North-Carolina, and the State of Virginia, except the following counties, Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Pleasants, Tyler, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Webster, Fayette, and Raleigh, are now in insurrection and rebellion, and by reason thereof the civil authority of the United States is obstructed so that the provisions of the Act to provide increased revenue from imports to pay the interest on the public debt, and for other purpo
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 47 (search)
le-quick, passing through brush and logs, with which the road was blockaded, and approached in view of Helena at half-past 4 o'clock A. M., taking our position on Colonel Hawthorne's left in line of battle, and commenced firing on the enemy in front. The enemy threatened to flank us on the left, when Captains Hurley's and Donaldson's companies were detached and thrown out to engage him, under my command, to protect our left flank. The regiment then advanced over the first hill. Here Captains Pleasants and Smith were wounded, and many men killed and wounded. The ground at this point was almost impassable, and the whole road and deep ravine full of timber, over which I scattered my men, and it was impossible to keep in line; but we succeeded in getting through, after remaining in the timber and hollows nearly two hours under a heavy fire, and made a charge, when, the enemy giving way, we entered the rifle-pits. Here many of our men fell, perfectly exhausted, from over-heat. At th
Edward Porter Alexander, Military memoirs of a Confederate: a critical narrative, Chapter 22: the Mine (search)
hat it was found impossible to ventilate for any greater distance. I replied that in the Federal army were many Pa. coal miners who could be relied on to ventilate mines any distance that might be necessary, and it would not do to rely upon military precedents. It proved that my suspicion was correct. It was June 30 when I guessed it. The gallery had been commenced on June 27. It was undertaken, in opposition to the advice of all the military engineers at Federal headquarters, by Lt.-Col. Pleasants of the 48th Pa. regiment, a coal miner, who saw the opportunity which the situation offered. A gallery was successfully extended 511 feet, with two branch galleries at the end, to the right and left, each 37 feet long. These branch galleries were charged with gunpowder in eight parcels of 1000 pounds each, connected by open troughs of powder to be fired by safety fuses coming through the tamping and along the gallery. His method of ventilation was very simple. When the tunnel had
Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865, Chapter 38: (search)
nt actually selected by the Federals proved to be that occupied by Elliott's brigade, with Pegram's battery; and the mine, commenced on the 25th of June, Colonel Pleasants's testimony, in Conduct of the War (1865), vol. i., p. 112. was ready to receive its charge on the 23d of July. The work was executed by the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 400 strong, mostly composed of Schuylkill coal-miners, and whose colonel, Pleasants, was himself an accomplished mining engineer. The mine, starting from the interior of Burnside's line of riflepits, immediately across Taylor's Creek, terminated beneath Elliott's salient, at a distance of one hundred and seventy Pennsylvania boldly volunteered to descend into the mine and ascertain the cause. They relit the extinguished fuse, and at 4.44 the explosion took place. Colonel Pleasants's testimony, in Conduct of the War, p. 114. He says, exploded at sixteen minutes to five. In consequence of the withdrawal of troops to meet a threatened
D. H. Hill, Jr., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 4, North Carolina (ed. Clement Anselm Evans), Chapter 16: (search)
(spared through God's mercy) to this brigade of 700 skeletons. But every feeble body contained an unbroken spirit, and after the fall months came, those who had not fallen into their graves or been disabled, returned to their colors, and saw them wave in victory in their last fight at Bentonville. Scarcely more than 100 yards from the salient held by Elliott's South Carolina brigade, which had Ransom's North Carolina brigade on its left, Burnside constructed a line of rifle-pits. Colonel Pleasants, a mining engineer, secured Burnside's approval of a plan to run a mine under the Elliott salient, blow it and its defenders in the air, attack by a heavy column in the confusion, and take the Confederate works. The mine was painstakingly excavated, charged with 8,000 pounds of powder, tamped with 8,000 sandbags, and on the 28th of July was ready to be sprung. At that time, only the divisions of Hoke, Johnson and Mahone were in the trenches. The mine was under Johnson's portion o
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