Captain Dearing was promoted to Major in early 1863, and was appointed Chief of Artillery in Pickett's Division. In April his battalion - made up of the batteries of Captains Stribling ("Fauquier"), Caskie ("Hampden"), Macon ("Richmond Fayette") and Blount (Dearing's old Lynchburg) - was officially organized as 38th Battalion, Virginia Light Artillery. He led his unit with the division into Longstreet's Tidewater Operations and the Siege of Suffolk.