The Battle of the Crater

June 1864: the Civil War is in its fourth year of bloody conflict with no end in sight. The armies of the North are stalled in fetid trenches, and the reelection of Abraham Lincoln to a second term seems doomed to defeat-a defeat that will set off the call for an end to the conflict, dismembering the Union and continuing slavery. Only one group of volunteers for the Union cause is still eager for battle. Nearly two hundred thousand men of color have swarmed the recruiting stations and are being mobilized into regiments known as the USCTs, the United States Colored Troops. General Ambrose Burnside, a hard-luck commander, is one of the few generals eager to bring a USCT division into his ranks. He has an ingenious plan to break Fort Pegram, the closest point on the Confederate line defending Petersburg-the last defense of Richmond-by tunneling forward from the Union position to explode the fort's defenses. Burnside needs the USCTs for one desperate rush that just might bring victory.