Battle of the Crater (1864) - When the U.S. Army tried to Blow a Hole in the Earth.

💥 THEY DUG A TUNNEL FOR 500 FEET... AND LIT THE FUSE. 💥 In 1864, trapped in a bloody siege at Petersburg, Union soldiers came up with a plan so audacious it seemed like science fiction: dig a massive tunnel under the enemy, pack it with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder, and BLOW A HOLE IN THE EARTH to end the stalemate.

It worked. The explosion was the largest man-made blast in history up to that point, vaporizing Confederate soldiers and carving a crater 170 feet long and 30 feet deep. And then... it all went horribly, tragically wrong.

On this episode of Pastpulse, we uncover the story of the Battle of the Crater—a stunning Union victory that turned into a brutal slaughter due to one of the worst tactical blunders and most shameful acts of racism in the entire Civil War.

WE'RE DESCENDING INTO THE CRATER:

🕳️ The Underground Mission: How former coal miners from Pennsylvania dug a 511-foot tunnel right under the noses of Confederate troops.

💣 The Blast Felt for Miles: Witness accounts of the apocalyptic explosion that instantly created a crater and stunned both armies into silence.

🤦 The Tragic Blunder: How Union commanders, in a moment of catastrophic incompetence, sent their men directly INTO the crater instead of around it, trapping them in a death pit.

⚔️ The Betrayal of the USCT: The gut-wrenching story of the specially-trained United States Colored Troops who were pulled from the lead attack at the last moment due to racist doubts, only to be sent in later to be slaughtered in the chaos. A story of brutal prejudice on the battlefield.

This isn't just a battle story. It's a story of brilliant engineering, staggering incompetence, and a profound moral failure that cost thousands of lives.

This is the Civil War history they don't teach you in school. If you're ready for the uncensored truth, SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON & SUBSCRIBE to Pastpulse!

Was the failure at the Crater due to simple incompetence or deep-seated racism? Could this battle have ended the Civil War a year early? DEBATE THE AFTERMATH IN THE COMMENTS! 👇