Siege of Suffolk

At the beginning of 1863, a federal detachment occupied the Virginia city of Suffolk , 16 miles west of Norfolk. If strengthened, he could attack the Petersberg-Weldon railway, the main supply line for the North Virginia Army . When the Fredericksburg campaign ended and the Potomac Army retreated to winter apartments, General Lee thought that part of the Potomac Army could be sent to Suffolk. Throughout January, nothing suspicious happened, and only on February 14 it became known that the IX Federal Corps was loaded onto transports and moving towards Hampton. The appearance of a large veteran unit in Hampton meant that at any moment he could strike: for example, climb up the James River and attack Richmond. Just in case, Pickett’s division was sent to Richmond, and John Hood was ordered to keep the division ready to move ^[1] .

The transfer to Richmond of the two divisions of Corps I meant that his commander, James Longstreet, should command them under Richmond. On February 18, a corresponding order was issued: Longstreet was ordered to take up positions near Richmond and report on the execution to the Secretary of War. If necessary, they promised to transfer to him the rest of his divisions. This implied an independent command for Longstreet. We do not know how Longstreet related to this appointment. Several times he already commanded the North Virginia Army in the absence of General Lee, and at the same time made it clear to Jackson that he should report directly to him. Douglas Freeman wrote that the taste of power was probably not unpleasant for him, and the new appointment gave more than just taste ^[2] .

On February 25, Long Street officially took command of the Virginia and North Carolina Department, which ran from Richmond to the Cape Fier River. The department consisted of three divisions: the Richmond department (com. Arnold Elsie ), the South Virginia department (com. Samuel French ) and the North Carolina department (com. Daniel Hill ). Almost all the commanders in the department were transferred from the North Virginia Army and were well acquainted with Longstreet: Beauregar, Whiting , Ransom , Evans , Pettigrew and others. These people were commanders of a very average level, and even lower than average at the level of temperament, and this had some influence on the entire Longstreet campaign ^[3] .

Federal forces on the Virginia coast were commanded by Major General John Dicks. The Suffolk garrison was directly commanded by Major General John Peck, who had three divisions at his disposal:

• Division of Michael Corcoran (from the VII Corps): brigades of Henry Terry, Robert Foster and Matthew Murphy
• George Getty Division (from Corps IX): brigades of Rush Hawkins, Edward Harland and Archer Dutton.
• Reserve Division of George Gordon (from the VII Corps): brigades of Burr Porter and Robert Houston.

as well as two cavalry regiments, several artillery batteries and one reserve brigade.

Longstreet had three divisions and a small cavalry unit at its disposal:

• George Pickett Division: Lewis Armistead , Montgomery Corse , James Kemper , Richard Garnett Brigades and James Doering Artbattalion
• John Hood Division: Evander Low brigades, Texas brigade Jerome Robertson , George Anderson, Henry Benning and artillery battalion Matthias Henry.
• Samuel French Division: Mickey Jenkins and Joseph Davis Brigades.

Already on the second day after taking command, Long Street invited Hill to attack the city of New Bern. This city on the News River was occupied by federal troops as early as March 14, 1862 and was of great strategic importance. It was a convenient port for patrol vessels and an important railway passed through it. From New Bern it was convenient to attack in the direction of Goldsboro in order to destroy the railway track and destroy the bridge over the River News. On December 17, 1862, General Foster’s detachment had already raided and burned the bridge. To prevent this from happening again, Long Street decided to recapture New Bern. He believed that an attack from two sides, plus shelling from Whitworth's long-range guns, would force the garrison to capitulate. For this purpose, Long Street hoped to identify several Whitworth guns, some of which were at the disposal of General Whiting in Wilmington. He also expected that Whiting would give Hill about 4,000 people of his strength, and as a result, Hill would have 14 or 15 thousand people ^[4] .

Here, Longstreet began its first problems. Whiting categorically refused to devote part of his pitchfork to help Hill, citing the fact that his unit was extremely insufficient for the defense of Wilmington. He also refused to give Whitworth's gun to Hill. Despite this, the offensive on New Bern was a start. Longstreet sent Garnett’s brigade to the city, and Hill sent Pettigrew and Daniel brigades with Beverly Robertson cavalry. Hill was very worried about the lack of reinforcements from Whiting, and in addition, he was sick, and even doubted that he would survive this expedition. His attack on New Bern, according to Douglas Freeman, was more like reconnaissance in battle. March 13 - 15, his brigades maneuvered on both sides of the News River, but fell under the fire of naval artillery. The bombardment did not give a result, the feds lost only 1 person killed and 4 wounded. General Foster wrote that southerners were advancing weakly and inefficiently. March 15 Hill withdrew troops. He complained about Garnett’s slowness, Robertson’s inefficiency, and especially Whiting. ^[5]

Norfleet House

Hills Point

Siege Removal

Longstreet's success was negligible. He managed to forager around Norfolk and prevented the feds from sabotaging Richmond , but he failed to capture the federal garrison in Suffolk. However, his absence affected the course of the Battle of Chancellorsville, where he would have been more useful.

General Peck managed to restrain Suffolk, but could not prevent Longstreet's forages. Peck received thanks from General Dix for Suffolk's successful defense. He will die in 1878 from the effects of wounds suffered by Suffolk - at least according to a newspaper obituary. The same obituary reports that under Suffolk he had 13,000 people against 30,000 at Longstreet ^[6] .

• Cormier, Steven A., The Siege of Suffolk: The Forgotten Campaign, April 11 - May 4, 1863, HE Howard, 1989, ISBN 978-0-930919-82-5 .
• Freeman, Douglas S. Lee's lieutenants v. II. - New York: Charles Scribners sons, 1942 .-- 772 p.

• A brief description of the battle