Source: Atlas Obscura
In June of 1864, during the American Civil War, Union forces began to siege the Confederate-controlled city of Petersburg, Virginia. Petersburg was an important railway hub, integral to keeping the Confederate army and their nearby capital of Richmond supplied, so they were desperate to hold onto the city.
With Confederate forces well entrenched, Union leadership began looking for unconventional methods of breaking through the enemy’s barricades.Top Places in Virginia
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Some soldiers from Pennsylvania who had worked as miners before the war approached their commanders with a plan to take their efforts underground. They wanted to dig tunnels to a point below the Confederate fortifications, fill the end of…
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