The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-07

done by crossing the river below the town.
Peck, with his cavalry alone-for he had 1900
splendid troopers-could have broken the enemys
line on the first or second day, but either half of
it would have been equal in number to all the
Union infantry that could have followed up the
Longstreet could have shelled the
troops out OF their camps and into the swamp,
but only by doing great damage to life and prop
erty in the town, whose people were all Southern
ers. Peck could have captured all the batteries
by crossing the river in force and taking them in
the rear, had there been any way of crossing,
but the one bridge which had spanned the stream
had been destroyed. and material to repair it had
to be obtained by cutting timber within half a
mile of the enemy's guns. While this was being
done. Hill was returning from North Carolina to
strengthen Longstreet's right and make possible
a confederate assault in overwhelming force at
the front or left.
So the artillery fight for the possession of
available crossing places on the river went on.
The end may be anticipated to the extent OF say
isg that the only confederate detachment known
to have crossed-except as prisoners-was one
man, who got over during the first day of the
siege, captured a solitary picket on a railroad
track, and safely recrossed with his prisoner.
Even the privilege of fighting with the cannon
instead of small arms was begrudged by both
sides by nature. for the soil was so light and
porous that some of the earlier batteries con-
structed on both sides were carried into the
river by their own weight, and others were
shaken out of shape by the shock of their own
guns. To remedy this, both sides resorted to
revetting, and many thousands of Valuable pine
trees were diverted from the customary uses OF
such timber and laid as wooden walls against
which to pack the treacherous soil. AS all the
on both sides. had to be done under
artillery fire at point blank range, the work was
not so monotonous as army fatigue work gener-
ally is. In this respect the Union forces suffered
most, for all their logs had to be obtained within
a few rods of the river, where sharpshooters
bullets were as effective as shells; while the
enemy, with no town or swamp in the rear.
could 60 further and suffer less, sending their
details for ~chopping beyond rifle range altogeth-
or, and where artillery could only reach them by
chance.
About this time there was as much grumbling
In Suffolk as any equal number OF men any
where could have perpetrated. Fully half the
troops were not accustomed to intreLchlng, and
some, not all of whom We're recruits, intimated
that they had enlisted to fight, not dig. They
were prevailed upon. by short and sharp
methods, to change their minds. AT any time of
the day or night thousands of men could be
found at work, the parties being divided into
eighth hour reliefs. Among the knights of the
spade were about 1000 fugitive slaves, who,
with their families. had been for months coming
into Suffolk from all the adjacent country.
Most of them had original ideas as to liberty and
its blessings, ore being that they would have
plenty to eat and wear and nothing to do. They
were as we'll fed as any of the troops. but their
anticipations of unlimited leisure underwent a
depressing change during the siege. They at
tempted to fall back upon the plantation habit
of '~'loafng' when the overseer was not watch
ing. one man being deputed to watch the officer
in charge
The peculiar features of the situation at Suf-
folk seem to have been talked of at Washing
ton, for a week after Hallecks return Secretary
Seward, who was an old friend of General Pecks,
visited the post tits to be hoped that his pres
ence cheered the General; it certainly grati6ed
the soldiers, hundreds of whom have since re-
called the picture of the little old man, in civil
ian garb. who for hours paced to and fro in front
OF the headquarters, smoking as placidly AS If
there was not an enemy within a hundred miles.
While the artillery was busy the cavalry aud
infantry were not idle. Reconnaissance were
numerous, and none of them failed in their pur-
pose. which was to learn where the enemy were.
A strong picket line was always found, each mem
Der of which had a rifle pit of his own. Advanc-
ing beyond those the Union troops never found a
line of battle, but were always stopped by hard
firing from behind works as solid as If they had
been intended to be permanent Indeed. after
the seige was raised the extent and quality OF
the enemyis works demanded and received IN
stinted admiration from the Union engineers.
All were revetted-that is. the inner slope was
of wood. there were embrasures for all the cannon.
and the parapetS were never less than twelve
feet in thickness. The famous confederate lines
at Port Hudson and Vicksburg were ;nsig-
nihcant when compared with those at Suffolk.
They were afterward leveled, but it took a very
large force to destroy them in four times the
period In which they were built. A Michigan re-
cruit. who was with the razing detail. wiped the
sweat from his brow one day, leaned on his spade,
and exclaimed:
Gosh! They say Southern men can't and
won't work! If they ever handle a spade for a
livin' as lively as they did on this darned fort,
what bang up farmers they'll make"
Finally the bridge material was in readiness;
and on the night of the twenty-second day of the
ciaOo IL waC laid an eItqptlv that the QnaInv
though not a mile away. did not know what was
being done. The next morning, under cover of
a very heavy fire from the three batteries near
the bridge. a strong accommodating force crossed
and engaged the enemy. Both sides were re-
enforced, and the fighting continued all day,
the confederate being finally forced into the
works which protected the flank of his line of
while the Union troops remained
through the night on the ground they had gained.
On the same day other detachments crossed
the river at two points further down. and threat
ened to divide and subdivide the enemy's river
line.
Longstreet was a man of rare ability and cour-
age. but a general attack upon this particular
portion of his own line was something he had not
counted upon. No general likes to have the rear
of his own works threatened by the enemy, es
p~ecially when most of his artillery is there. IL
he was not to be allowed to cross the river. there
was nothing of interest to longer detain him at
Suffolk. Undoubtedly. too, he knew what was
happening AZ CUdUC0lOESVit6 Cu6 5dtuo Jay, lOE
from the first he had Geographic communi cation
with Richmond. So on the next day-May A.
he posted a very strong picket guard. behind
which he retired across the Blackwater. Before
q spy, a deserter, or q coutraband could reacn
Peck, Longstreet was four hours away and with
In a few miles of the Blackwater. so the Union
troops had only rear guards to chase. Hill, too.
after spending a single day near Suffolk, was
crossing the Blackwater.
The siege of Suffolk was raised. The Union
frOnnah oH mot Inst a GlnOia aarthUnrk n ram
non. Beside the killed and wounded, who aggre-
gated 246. only fourteen mon were missing,
while the enemy had lost one earthwork contain
ing five guns, four hundred of their men. repre-
forty different regiments and batteries.
had been taken prisoners, and five hundred had
deserted, their loss by men killed and wounded
had been large. and they had not taken Nor
folk. Portsmouth, Suffolk's garrison, or even Suf-
folk.
Seldom had so able a soldier as Lonestreet