Historedia
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Mine Detonation

When
July 30, 1864
Where
Elliot's Salient
Part of
Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, 30 July 1864

Union forces detonated a mine beneath Confederate lines, creating a gap in defenses near Petersburg, Virginia.

The mine was dug under Elliot's Salient by the 48th Pennsylvania. The explosion occurred on July 30, 1864, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses. This was intended to achieve a surprise breakthrough during the stalemate.

Sources

  1. Battle of the Crater Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-31
  2. Ambrose Burnside Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.