The siege of Suffolk, also known as the Battle of Suffolk, took place from April 11 to May 4, 1863, near Suffolk, Virginia during the American Civil War.
Background
In 1863 Lt. Gen. James Longstreet was placed in command of the Confederate Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Longstreet was given four objectives: (1) to protect Richmond, (2) give support to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia if and when needed, (3) forage and gather supplies for the Confederate armies, (4) to capture the Union garrison at Suffolk if possible. Longstreet had three divisions of troops from the Army of Northern Virginia and North Carolina.
Defenses
Maj.-Gen. John Peck commanded the Suffolk garrison, which was part of Maj.-Gen. John Dix's Department of Virginia. The garrison was manned by one division from the VII Corps under Brig.-Gen. Michael Corcoran. Once Longstreet approached another division was borrowed from the IX Corps under George W. Getty, and a third division was transferred from the Washington defenses. Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee lent two flotillas from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron for naval support. Peck organized the Suffolk defenses roughly into a large circle, ringing the city. The Southwest Front was led by Col. Robert Sanford Foster; the Southeast Front was led by Brig.-Gen. Charles C. Dodge; the Northwest Front led by Brig. Gen. Henry Dwight Terry; the Northeast Front led by Colonel Arthur H. Dutton. Corcoran supervised the southern fronts and Getty supervised the northern fronts; river defenses were left to the navy. Peck had a good natural defensive position with the Great Dismal Swamp protecting the eastern flank and the Nansemond River protecting the western flank. The two navy flotillas were commanded by Lt. Roswell Lamson and Lt. William B. Cushing.
The siege
Longstreet's forces moved against Suffolk on April 11, crossed the Nansemond River, captured several pickets and routed a cavalry regiment. However, General Peck quickly secured the garrison and the Confederate advance led by Brig. Gen. Micah Jenkins' brigade decided not to assault the garrison and instead entrenched on the west bank of the Nansemond.
Peck felt that the southern fronts would be hit the hardest and withdrew most of the infantry from the river defenses for support thus leaving the river almost entirely to the navy. Longstreet's forces did in fact strike the southern lines first. Maj. Gen. George Pickett's Confederate division probed Foster's and Dodge's fronts driving in the Union picket lines. Confederate reconnaissance showed the Union works to be too strong for a frontal attack. The next day Foster sallied out and recaptured his lost picket lines. For the next several days Pickett tested Corcoran's lines trying to find a weakness. Pickett even sent scouting parties into the Dismal Swamp looking for a possible flanking route but abandoned that idea. Longstreet quickly realized any action on the southern front would be futile and a flanking maneuver would have to be against the lightly defended river front. Action subsided on the southern front as the attention of both Peck and Longstreet moved to the north.
A second Confederate division under Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood moved up and entrenched above and below Suffolk on the west bank. Hood's infantry picked at Lt. Lamson's upper river flotilla, which made for an easy target but it was apparent that infantry alone could not clear the river.
Norfleet House
To solve their problem on the upper Nansemond, the Confederates constructed batteries at an old Confederate fort in the lower reaches of the Nansemond and nearer to Hampton Roads, Fort Huger (this became known as the Hill's Point Battery), and a second battery at a bend in the river just below Suffolk, near a local farm owned by the Norfleet family. This battery was known as the Norfleet House Battery.
On April 14 Lamson's sailors spotted fresh dirt on the river bluffs, tell tale signs of the battery's construction. This work was the Norfleet House battery and Lamson's ships opened fire. The USS Mount Washington became grounded and was crippled in the attack. The Hill's Point batteries also opened fire trapping Lamson's flotilla between them. As the tide rose the USS Stepping Stones helped free the Mount Washington. The boats escaped but proved the navy alone could not protect the river and began a feud between General Dix and Admiral Lee over the use of gunboats along the river. Dix insisted on their use while Lee became skeptical of the safety of his boats on the river.