The Battle of the Crater is known as one of the Civil War's bloodiest struggles-a Union loss with combined casualties of 5,000, many of whom were members of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) under Union Brigadier General Edward Ferrero. In an attempt to break the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, the Union tunneled under the Confederate position and detonated 8,000 pounds of explosives, creating a catastrophic battle environment as the earth erupted. The violent clash that followed pitted Confederate soldiers for the first time against African American soldiers. After the Union lost the battle, these black soldiers were captured and subject both to brutal abuse and the threat of being returned to slavery in the South. Yet, despite their heroism and sacrifice, these men are often overlooked in public memory of the war. Unlike traditional battle narratives, "Remember the Battle of the Crater: war as murder" reveals how Americans have remembered and commemorated one of the Civil War's most devastating engagements. Author Kevin M. Levin illuminates the political, social, and economic pressures bearing upon previous evaluations of the battle. In the decades following the war, a small number of black writers and former USCT officers recounted personal experiences that preserved an important aspect of Civil War history. Their chronicle runs counter to previous accounts and calls attention to the continued racial injustices of the 1950s and 1960s, as white Americans observed the Civil War centennial. The political inroads made by African Americans in the 1970s and beyond have inevitably led to a push for the country's historic sites, including Civil War battlefields, to reflect a broader and more diverse past. "Remembering the Battle of the Crater" pays careful attention to the involvement of African American soldiers in the encounter and how its participants remembered the experience, as well as contemporary interpretations of the battle. Addressing the way in which Americans have chosen to remember, or in many cases forget, the presence of the USCT, Levin analyzes how the racial component of the war's history has been portrayed since its conclusion, considering the social changes and challenges experienced by the nation as a whole. While acknowledgement of the participation of the USCT at Petersburg has been minimized in most accounts of the battle, "Remembering the Battle of the Crater" gives the troops a new voice. Levin not only chronicles the dramatic shift in public memory of the interpretation of African American contributions to the war effort, but also honors the role these forgotten veterans played at the Crater.

Introduction -- The battle: "Until every Negro has been slaughtered" -- The lost cause: maintaining the antebellum hierarchy -- Virginia's reconstruction: William Mahone, "hero of the Crater" -- Reinforcing the status quo: reenactment and Jim Crow -- Whites only: the ascendancy of an interpretation -- Competing memories: Civil War and civil rights -- Moving forward: integrating a Black counter-memory.