The next day, in another attempt to reach the railroad, Maj. Gen. Marcus Wright’s VI Corps marched west and south three miles below the Southern trenches and reached the Weldon Railroad. Mahone reacted to Wright’s maneuvering by marching 10 miles of circuitous routes to link with another division. The divisions attacked, striking the VI Corps and sending the Yankees back to their lines on the Jerusalem Plank Road.

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The greatest drama Weisiger’s men were to face at Petersburg, however, was yet to unfold. About a mile northwest of the intersection of the Norfolk & Petersburg Railroad and the Baxter Road, the Union and Confederate trench lines, occupied respectively by Burnside’s IX Corps and the infantry of Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s Confederate division, were only 100 yards apart.

In an attempt to end the siege of Petersburg, the Federals developed a plan whereby they would use an underground mine to blow a hole through Johnson’s line. The operation called for 8,000 pounds of black powder to be placed under the Confederate trenches by way of a 511-foot-long tunnel. After the mine was exploded, a concentrated Union artillery bombardment, followed by a massive assault by 15,000 Federal troops, was planned to help secure a breakthrough.

Union miners completed the tunnel on July 23, and in order to draw defenders away from the point of attack, Hancock’s II Corps and part of the Union Cavalry Corps were sent across the James River at Deep Bottom to menace Richmond. Lee fell for the ruse and sent all but three of his infantry divisions north of the James. Mahone’s Division was one of those that remained behind, holding the Confederate right.

The Union mine had been dug under Elliot’s Salient, where Lt. Col. William J. Pegram’s artillery battery was supported by Brig. Gen. Stephen Elliott’s South Carolina Brigade. The Federals hoped to swarm past the ruptured stronghold and capture the high ground behind it where Blandford Church Cemetery was located. The date for the detonation was set for Saturday, July 30.

At 4:43 a.m. on the 30th, a fearsome explosion evaporated Elliot’s Salient. Colonel George T. Rogers of the 6th Virginia recalled years later that ‘just as the day began to dawn came that low, deep, quivering, ominous sound’ that made him jump to his feet. Three miles away, members of the 16th Virginia sat up in their dugouts and exchanged questioning looks as a sound they had never experienced in three years of war washed over their camps. South of Petersburg, near the Wilcox house, the entire 12th Virginia was also awakened by the blast.

The Crater, as the hole in the ground resulting from the blast would forever be called, was 170 feet long, 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The smoking pit had entombed half of Pegram’s guns and crews and entire companies of Elliott’s command, some 278 men. The stunned survivors were ill-prepared to resist the oncoming Federal assault.

It took a full half-hour for the defenders to start to reorganize and put up any type of effective defense. Fortunately for the Rebels, the Union onslaught slowed as Yanks stared in awe at the destruction.

Instead of moving around the hole and heading for the high ground, Federal foot soldiers stumbled into the reeking abyss, marveling at half-buried corpses and huge boulders that had been flung about like marbles. By the time Union officers tried to get their men moving forward, portions of Confederate regiments had surrounded the Crater’s rim.

Lee rushed to the scene from the Gee house, 500 yards from the Crater on the Jerusalem Plank Road. At 6 a.m. he sent for the nearest troops at hand: Mahone’s Division. At 6:30, Weisiger’s men moved out, followed by Wright’s Brigade. The Rebels raced east and then north on the Jerusalem Plank Road. Once on the road the men came under heavy artillery fire. To speed their progress they dropped their blanket rolls and haversacks. The men left the Plank Road until they reached the bottom of a ravine; they then followed the gulley to a point opposite the Crater.

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