No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864
by by Richard Slotkin
BTC’s Take:
This is the first book to really have at least a secondary focus on the questions surrounding the use of an entire division of Black troops on the Union side, and the consequences of their presence on the battlefield. Slotkin discusses the massacre of Black troops by Confederate soldiers, as well as the post-war political situation which made the fight for the Crater’s memory perhaps more important than most Civil War battles. Slotkin’s dive into the subject has since been surpassed in Kevin Levin’s look at the Crater and its memory. I include a link to a review Levin did on Slotkin’s book at Civil War book review. In addition to the new social history slant, Slotkin also delivers a pretty good tactical history of the battle, probably third in line behind Hess and Schmutz. Add it all up, and though Slotkin’s book isn’t the best at either the strict tactical history or the new social history, it is one of the best three or four books on the battle when taken as a whole. Slotkin also wrote a novel about the Crater with the rather unimaginative title The Crater: A Novel. I cannot comment on that one, having not yet had an opportunity to purchase it.
Book Summary/Review:
- Review of No Quarter by Kevin Levin at Civil War Book Review
BTC Siege of Petersburg Book Notes:
Publisher Info:
In this richly researched and dramatic work of military history, eminent historian Richard Slotkin recounts one of the Civil War’s most pivotal events: the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. At first glance, the Union’s plan seemed brilliant: A regiment of miners would burrow beneath a Confederate fort, pack the tunnel with explosives, and blow a hole in the enemy lines. Then a specially trained division of African American infantry would spearhead a powerful assault to exploit the breach created by the explosion. Thus, in one decisive action, the Union would marshal its mastery of technology and resources, as well as demonstrate the superior morale generated by the Army of the Potomac’s embrace of emancipation. At stake was the chance to drive General Robert E. Lee’s Army of North Virginia away from the defense of the Confederate capital of Richmond–and end the war.
The result was something far different. The attack was hamstrung by incompetent leadership and political infighting in the Union command. The massive explosion ripped open an immense crater, which became a death trap for troops that tried to pass through it. Thousands of soldiers on both sides lost their lives in savage trench warfare that prefigured the brutal combat of World War I. But the fighting here was intensified by racial hatred, with cries on both sides of “No quarter!” In a final horror, the battle ended with the massacre of wounded or surrendering Black troops by the Rebels–and by some of their White comrades in arms. The great attack ended in bloody failure, and the war would be prolonged for another year.
With gripping and unforgettable depictions of battle and detailed character portraits of soldiers and statesmen, No Quarter compellingly re-creates in human scale an event epic in scope and mind-boggling in its cost of life. In using the Battle of the Crater as a lens through which to focus the political and social ramifications of the Civil War–particularly the racial tensions on both sides of the struggle–Richard Slotkin brings to readers a fresh perspective on perhaps the most consequential period in American history.
Hardcover Edition
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6675-9
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: July 2009
Pages: 432 Pages
The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater Pages Which Mention This Book: