Battle of the Crater

July 30, 1864 · Petersburg, Virginia

Result Confederate victory

Union assault of 30 July 1864 in which unit after unit, mostly U.S. Colored Troops, charged into and milled in confusion at the bottom of the crater. Grant called the failed assault the saddest affair he had witnessed in the war.

Union

Confederacy

Strength and losses

Strength
8,500c. 8,500, 27,974
Casualties
3,798
Killed
504328, 504
Wounded
1,8811,852, 1,881
Missing
1,413721, 1,413
Strength
6,100c. 6,100, 20,008
Casualties
1,491
Killed
361
Wounded
727
Missing
403

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Battle of the Crater