Talk:Battle of the Crater

Mushroom cloud

I am surprised that the mushroom cloud from the explosion that created the crater was not mentioned. Ancheta Wis 02:02, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

Just about any large explosion creates a mushroom cloud. Nothing special about this one. Hal Jespersen 16:05, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

"No Quarter"!

In reference to the following quote I would like to share a few facts below: ".....to w many of the Confederates offered no quarter."

1. There was "no quarter" from both sides during this battle. If you check the attacking and defending number of soldiers associated with this battle, you might be shocked! 2. The attacking Union forces called for "no quarter" as they charged. Unfortunately, they received what they called for. 3. Union Troops killed their own men in this battle.

To isolate incidents of White Confederate soldiers killing USCT or the murders of White Soldiers by White Soldiers on both sides presents incidents of USCT being killed by White Confederates as a FALSE and inflammatory image.

I invite you to vist the Crater at www.petersburgexpress.com You decide!

G. Ashleigh Moody Petersburg, Virginia www.petersburgexpress.com history@peterburgexpress.com

"The sadness had many aspects: the squandered effort to dig a mine, packed with gunpowder, under enemy lines; drunken, incompetent Union officers; rookie black units thrown into battle, to be slaughtered by Confederates determined to take no black prisoners. Most horribly, some white Union troops, driven by fear of Southern retribution and their own racism, attacked the black troops on their own side" [1] Tsinfandel (talk) 03:57, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Better Reference?

Can anyone provide a better reference than an article calling for the boycotting of Cold Mountain for this section:

(so vicious were the Confederates in targeting the black soldiers that white Union soldiers in the crater began shooting their black comrades to diffuse the Confederate rage).

Without getting into/calling into question the validity of the assertation (as I don't know if it's true or not), it would simply look better were it from a more scholarly source than a column which has in the past re-printed email chain letters of questionable veracity as true. 156.34.221.174 18:10, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

photo

Someone put this comment at the end of the article:

{Note-the above photograph of Union soldiers in a trench was actually taken in May, 1863 before Fredericksburg, Virginia}.

Putting notes at the bottom of articles is not the appropriate way to correct them. In this case, the handwritten note on the edge of the photograph clearly says it was taken at Petersburg. Unfortunately, whoever uploaded the photograph provided virtually no information. What justification do you have for saying that it is of Fredericksburg? Hal Jespersen 22:45, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Casualties?

The article states that the explosion killed between 260-360 Confederates immediately. However, the casualties for both sides show the Confederate death toll to equal 200. Anyone mind explaining?--Red Wiki 21:10, 8 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Valkyrie Red (talk • contribs)

Well, it seems as if Bonekemper's estimates are low. It's hard to see how he collected the various sources and came up with 200. I replaced his with Trudeau's. Thanks for catching the inconsistency. Hal Jespersen (talk) 23:43, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Aggregate troop strength

The article claims the IX Corps had a total of 8,200 men on July 30. "The Battle of the Crater: A Complete History" (J.F. Schmutz) states that it was about 13,000 (8,500 white and 4,500 black troops) 208.101.141.209 (talk) 19:40, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Largest explosion?

(Removed a subjective comment from the beginning of the talk page.)

Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions doesn't include the Crater, but every example before the 1885 demolition of Flood Rock is an accidental one, including the explosion of the Mobile arsenal in 1865. About 4 tons (8,000 lbs) of gunpowder was used at the Crater, which is nothing close to some of the magazine explosions. But might it have been one of the largest intentional explosions up to that date? There is probably some definition by which it is the superlative explosion, even if it's just "the largest explosion in the history of Petersburg." Roches (talk) 18:30, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Time of the explosion

According to Wolfram Alpha sunrise for Petersburg, VA on July 30, 1864 was 5:16 am LMT. The explosion went off at 4:44 am, or about half an hour before sunrise. It is likely the sky was light enough to see reasonably well, and thus the battle scene in Cold Mountain is a fairly accurate representation (especially the beginning of the scene which appears to be early morning). Refer to youtube for the video if you'd like to corroborate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 155.109.5.26 (talk) 09:13, 1 November 2014 (UTC)

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Copyright problem

The second and third paragraphs of the first section are copied almost verbatim from here. I don't see any reason why the usual copyright rules shouldn't apply. Changing a few words here and there is not enough, see WP:CLOSEPARAPHRASE. I'll leave this for a short time to give someone the opportunity to fix the copyright problem, but if that isn't done I'll have to delete it. Zero^talk 00:33, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

"No quarter to the Rebels!"

Confederate troops were murdered in this battle. Mention of this was in the article - with sources. Why was it removed? Topcat777 18:55, 5 December 2023 (UTC)