SUFFOLK (Va.), Operations Around and Siege of. Soon after the occupation of Norfolk and Portsmouth by the Union troops, 10 May 1862, a force was pushed out to occupy Suffolk, 25 miles southwest of Portsmouth by the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, and at the head of Nansemond River, by which it had com munication with the mouth of James River, and also Petersburg and Richmond by the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad. It was not only an Important outpost to Portsmouth, and the key to the mouth of James River, but also the key to all operations in the region bordering on the Nansemond and the Dismal Swamp, and was a favorable point for operations against the Weldon and Petersburg Railroad. The Confed erates began active measures to reoccupy the place. Late in August it was held by General Mansfield with about 6,000 men and six guns. About half of the garrison was withdrawn early in September and sent to the Army of the Potomac, and with them went Mansfield. Tak ing advantage of the reduction of the garrison, the Confederates began preparations to attack the place, and on 22 September Gen. J. J. Peck was placed in command, with 9,000 men, under orders to repel the advance from the Black water of a reported column of 15,000 Confed erates, under Generals French and Pettigrew. On the 25th Peck began the construction of a system of defenses, encircling and covering the place, which, by the end of January 1863, mounted 60 heavy guns. Early in January 1863 the Confederate authorities came to the con clusion that Peck was preparing a base of operations for a grand movement on Peters burg and Richmond, in co-operation with the Army of the Potomac, and began the construc tion of a series of works from the line of the Blackwater to Fort Powhatan, on James River.
General Peck was a vigilant officer, and made frequent reconnaissances of the Confed erate positions along the line of the Blackwater, bringing on several collisions at Franklin, Zuni and other points, during the months of October, November and December 1862. Late in Janu ary 1863 General Pryor, who for some time had commanded a Confederate brigade on the Black water, crossed to the east side of that stream on a foraging expedition. He had three Vir ginia regiments of about 1,800 men and seven guns. On 30 January Gen. M. Corcoran, with a regiment of cavalry, five of infantry and 12 guns, in all about 4,800 men, started from Suf folk at 1 a.m., and at 3.30 A.M. the cavalry came upon Pryor's camp at Kelly's store, nine miles west of Suffolk. Artillery was run forward and engaged that of the Confederates for nearly three hours, when the infantry advanced, and after a short contest Pryor fell back two miles to a strong position, from which he was forced and pursued as far as Carrsville. Corcoran re turned to Suffolk the same night, with a loss of 23 killed, 108 wounded and 12 missing; Pryor's loss was 8 killed and 31 wounded.
General Lee, informed that Union troops were 'being sent down the Potomac with the evident intention of operating against Rich mond by the south side of James River, on 18 February ordered General Longstreet, with two divisions of his corps, to Petersburg and placed him in command of all Confederate troops south of James River, including those in North Caro lina, to defend Petersburg and Richmond. Late in February Longstreet had, not including those in North Carolina, about 24,000 men, 12,000 of whom were on the line of the Blackwater, and 12,000 near the railroad to Petersburg, so posted that within 24 hours he could concentrate them all near Suffolk. It was left entirely to his dis cretion whether he should assume the offensive, but he saw the importance of confining Peck at Suffolk, and of collecting all the subsistence in that section of the country and getting it inside the Confederate lines, and Longstreet began a very thorough system of foraging. He em ployed the month of March in constructing elaborate defenses on the Blackwater, in assist ing Gen. D. H. Hill in his operations against Newbern, Washington and Plymouth, N. C. (qq.v.), and in gathering all the forage and subsistence possible, under Lee's orders "to draw from the invaded districts every pound of pro vision and forage." He reported to Lee on the 30th that there was no particular advantage in giving battle at Suffolk, nor was it prudent to make the attempt, unless he could get assist ance from the navy in protecting his left on James River and the Nansemond. On 4 April he advised Lee of his intention to cross the Blackwater in a few days to get what supplies there were east of the stream, and, if he found it possible, to make an effort to get the Suffolk garrison. He crossed the Blackwater by pon
toon-bridges on the 10th, and on the 11th, in three columns of nearly 20,000 men, advanced on Suffolk, capturing some of the Union out posts on the way, baking only when he came under artillery fire from the advanced works of the Suffolk defenses. Peck was fully pre pared; he had been watching for the movement, and 14 March had been reinforced by General Getty's division of the Ninth corps, raising his command to 15,000 men. Admiral Lee, at Fort Monroe, was asked by telegraph to send gun boats up the Nansemond to prevent Longstreet from passing that stream and thus getting to the rear of Suffolk and the railroad to Portsmouth. Lee promptly responded by sending two flotillas of tugs (by courtesy called gunboats) to hold the river, one of eight boats, under Lieutenant Lamson, to hold the upper Nansemond, and one of four, under Lieut. W. B. Cushing, to hold the lower Nansemond. Longstreet's first move was to control and blockade the upper Nanse mond, a narrow, tortuous stream, about seven miles long. For this purpose batteries were erected under cover of darkness, and on the morning of 14 April they opened fire on Lam son's boats, disabling one, seriously injuring others, and driving all into the lower Nanse mond. In the afternoon of the 19th Lamson opened a heavy fire upon Stribling's Virginia battery, which had been put in an old work at Hill's Point, a tongue of land just above the junction of the Western Branch and Name mond, and after a heavy cannonade one of his boats, carrying 270 men of the Eighth Connecti cut and 89th New York, ran in shore and landed the men, Lamson following with four howitz ers. They carried the work, capturing five guns, 55 gunners and 71 officers and men of the 44th Alabama. Next day the guns were carried across the river and the work aban doned. The erection of batteries gave Long street control of the upper Nansemond, but he made no effort to cross it, in the face of Getty's division on the eastern bank. He dem onstrated on the lines west and southwest of Suffolk, but found no weak point in them, and did not consider an assault advisable, reporting to the Confederate Secretary of War 17 April: "I have not fired again at the enemy's .strong hold, nor do I expect to do so. I am very well convinced that we could reduce it in two or three days, hut doubt if we can afford to ex pend the powder and ball. To take it by as sault would cost us 3,000 men. . . . The principal object of the expedition was to draw out supplies for our army. I shall confine my self to this unless I find a fair opportunity for something On 29 April he wrote to Gen. D. H. Hill: "I am of the opinion that I can hold my position against any attack from the front. We shall be here two weeks longer hauling out supplies?) Hooker had now opened his Chancellorsville campaign, and on the 29th Longstreet, with his army, was ordered to re turn to Fredericksburg and join General Lee. It took him four days to call in his foraging trains and get them beyond the Blackwater. D. H. Hill was recalled from North Carolina, and on the night of 3 May Longstreet with drew and recrossed the Blacicwater, his rear guard being closely pursued to that stream next day. The greatest number of troops Longstreet had before Suffolk was about 20,000. Peck had 30 April about 25,000. The loss of the Union army was 41 killed, 223 wounded and 2 miss ing. There was small loss in the navy. The Confederate loss is unknown. When it was definitely ascertained that Longstreet had with drawn from the Blackwater, leaving only French's division of about 5,000 men to observe Peck, General Dix ordered Peck to take up all the rails on both railroads from the Blackwater to Suffolk and send them to Fort Monroe, and suggested to the authorities at Washington that Suffolk should be abandoned for a more defen sible position on the line of Deep Creek, eight miles from Norfolk The suggestion was ap proved, the position at Deep Creek fortified. the roads dismantled, under several attempts of French to prevent it, nearly 7,000 tons of rail road iron removed, the 100 heavy guns in the works around Suffolk withdrawn, the works leveled, and 3 July Suffolk, except as an out post, evacuated. Consult 'Official Records' (Vol. XVIII, XXVII) ; 'Naval War Records' (Vol. VIII) ; The Century Company's and Leaders of the Civil War' (Vol. IV).