Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-03-12


lost one earthwork containing five guns,
400 of their men, representing 40 different
regiments and batteries, had been taken
prisoners, and 500 had deserted, their loss
by men killed and wounded had been
large, and they had not taken Norfolk,
Portsmouth, Suffolk's garrison, or even
Suffolk.
Seldom had so able II soldier rs Long
street failed so utterly. The comments of
the Southern press were savage, Tor the
newspapers had promised great results,
rs any one would have been justified in
doing in similar circumstances. That Il
man with such able lieutenantS as Hill,
French, Hood, and Picket could have fail
| ed to achieve success seemed ineXplicable.
But Longstreet was not to blame it was
all the fault of the man who located the
town of Suffolk had the parties and com
manders been reversed, the result would
have been identical, for what can man do
against a town which nature has half sur
rounded with deep, tortuous river and
500 square miles of swamp!
But the indirect results of the siege were
infinitely the most significant. At the
Confederate capitol the movement of
Longstreet and Hill was discreetly allud-
ed to rs a "foraging expedition" Results
would have justified the expression had
Suffolk fallen for then Lee could have
drawn supplies by rail from the fertile
and never ravaged farms of North Carroll
ma. To be deprived of this great granary
always seriously troubled the head of the
Confederate commissariat.
But greater indirect result of the fail
ure at Suffolk must be alluded to. What
| occurred at Characteristic during the
last days of LOngstreet's detention rs
a matter of history. the Union army,
three times as strong as its adversary,
was shamefully defeated. If Lee with
only 81, 900 men was able to defeat Hook
a. ~ hn ii Nth n pH
to the Union arms and cause had Long
street and Hill with nearly $4,000 soldiers
more, been at hand ? Attempts have been
made to prove that Longstreet did reach
Lee at Charlottesville, but they are frus-
trated by Lees own words. 'Longstreet,"
he says, did not rejoin the army until
after the battle of Charlottesville. And
says Gen. Meade in letter to Gen. Peck,
Lees army at Gettysburg was from 40
900 to 10000 stronger than at Chancellor
vile, and it is only reasonable to infer
that this difference was in front of you at
Suffolk"
Both sides found lessons in the siege of
Suffolk. Lee did not again seriously
weaken his army no matter what prize
seemed to offer. Oar own War Depart
ment began to abandon useless posts,
particularly those To which the enemy
could come without hindrance by rail-
suffolk was evacuted Il few weeks after
ing on the suburbs OF Portsmouth, First,
however, about 20 miles of each railroad
track were destroyed and the rails placed
where the Coniederates could not reach
them. The troops VINO had defended Suf-
folk for year or more, losing hundreds
of good men vet gaining no glory for
themselves or good for the cause, Were
transferred to larger fields of action, and
took honorable part n,engagements which,
if no more bloody in proportion to the
numbers engaged. had distinct influence
in the work of closing the great conflict.
But knowing the facts above set forth,
and that IA greater siege that did not end
disastrously to the defenders did not occur
during the war, the survivors ON bot h
sides cannot help temporarily losing their
tempers when III response to some men
ton of the affair Il listener says:
''Siege Suffolk? When did it happen !?
Where is Suffolk -
JOHN IIABBERTON.