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General Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant, Chapter 24 (search)
nearly eighty thousand cubic feet of earth. Butler had been somewhat reluctantly authorized to dig the canal, and work upon it had been begun on August 10. The enemy soon erected heavy rifle-guns, and afterward put mortars in positions which bore upon it; and our men were subjected to a severe fire, and frequently had to seek shelter in dugouts constructed as places of refuge. Under the delays and difficulties which arose, the canal was not finished until the end of the year. On the 31st of December General Grant received a message from Butler saying: We propose to explode the heading of Dutch Gap at 11 A. M. to-morrow. I should be happy to see yourself and friends at headquarters. We must be near the time because of the tide. The general-in-chief replied: Do not wait for me II your explosion. I doubt my ability to be up in the morning. After the bulkhead wall of earth had been blown out, the debris at the north end was partly removed by means of steam dredges. The canal was