From Frank Leslie's Illustrations, page 45.
The full caption for the engraving reads:
"THE NINTH ARMY CORPS charging into the crater at Petersburg, Va., July 30, 1864. -- Assault of General
James H. Ledlie's brigade after the explosion of the mine. The assaulting party was chosen by lot from
the colored troops of the Ninth corps and fell upon Ledlie. His men dashed over the lip of the crater
immediately upon the lifting of the smoke from theexplosion and plunged wildly into its depths, then
found to be a yawning chasm 185 feet long, 97 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. The explosion had buried the
Confederate batteries and separated the troops oneither side of the crater, where they reorganized, as
brigade after brigade followed into the crater, crowded in disorganized mass. A hand-to-hand fight
ensued, when a cross fire from the Confederate batteries effectually emptied the crater; only 30 men
and three stands of color were captured. General Meadereported 4,400 killed, wounded, and missing. General
Beauregard gives the Confederate loss as 1,172. From a sketch by A. McCallum."
It was Ledlie's First Division, not a brigade, and was all white.
The USCT brigades formed Ferrero's Fourth Division, last into the assault.
Andrew McCallum's sketch can be found in the Becker Collection in Boston, MA.
McCallum was a private in the 50th NY Volunteers, assigned to Willcox's Third Division.
There are roughly 120 soldiers shown in the this sketch.
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chapter 10
