The National tribune., 1908-03-12

had erected strong battery at Norfieet's
Point to cover their crossing of the riv-
er, but Getty brought up.enough guns
to speedily knock it out. This enabled
the vessels to return to the help of the
infantry, an opportunity of which Lam
son promptly avaifed himself. Then
the Confederates started in to strength
en- the battery at Hiil's Point, which had
suffered severely from the fight with
Gushing and LamSOn. They raised the
hight of the works. made embrasures
and replaced the lighter guns with heav
ier pieces until they felt they had COM
plete command of the pass. Lamson
tried to land troops and destroy the
works, but did not succeed, and Admiral
! Lee ordered him to withdraw. This the
gallant Lamson was reluctant to dc.
and, of course, Gems. Peck and Getty
were still more unwilling to lose his
| valuable assistance.
| Brilliant Dash.
| The Confederates were active, and
| succeeded in badly damaging the Alert
and the Coeur de Lion, killing their
| pilots. Getty erected two batteries OPP
posite to control those of the enemy,
and at o'clock, April 19, they opened
I fire, supported by the flotilla. The gun
! boat Stepping-Stones, under the COM
mand of LamsOn. had been disguised as
la transport and loaded with troops
which were hidden from the enemy's
view by canvas. These troops were the
| Sth Conn, and S9th n. Y, commanded
by Gen. Getty himself. who had become
so earnest in the matter that he deter
mined to personally lead his men.
4 The Stepping Stones ran down toward
the battery, and as she approached it
| the Union battery ceased firing, and
| Lamson suddenly running his vessel
Iaground. the infantrymen leaped ashore,
| led by Gen. Getty, and rushed at the
| Confederate battery. The men in the
| battery were overpowered in an instant.
when second battery in the rear de-
veloped itself and opened fire. Without
| losing moment LamSon turned the
howitzers which he had brought with
the troops upon this, and Getty led his
men in a rush against it. In spite of
| the roughnesS of the ground they trav-
erSed the distance with great quickneSS,
and in a few minutes had about 200
prisoners in their hands, together with
five pieces of the noted Fauquier artil-
Iery. Their success had cost them only
four killed and 10 wounded, and the
daring dash seemed to paralyze the Con-
federateS.
Longstreet. like some of our own
Generals, seemed to have had all the
;iggressiveness taken out of him by this
spirited movement, and at once began
to make himself secure against our ag-
gressiveness. 1t was possible, he thought,
that we had been strongly reinforced,
and that his isolated divisions were in
danger of being Overpowered. Peck
ordered the captured battery on Hills
Point to be occupied for a day or two,
and the enemy did not dare retake it.
Regular Siege Begins.
Longstreet abandoned all thought of
forcing his way across the Nansem Ond
against Gettys thin line, and settled
Gown to a regular siege. The light works
which his advanced parties had thrown
out in front of Peck's position were
converted into regular siege lines, with
strong profiles presented toward thei
Union side, and guns of still heavierl
caliber were sent down from Richmond
To arm these. From the lines so eS-
tablshed Longstreet began the con-
struction of ZigZag approaches of siege
operations. Even the abandonment OF
the battery at Hills Point, which Peck
had ordered, did not tempt Longstreeti
to resume the offensive.
On the other hand, the Union soldiers
became more confident and aggressive.
Cushing landed with squad of sailors.
and pushed out three miles toward
Longstreet's line, driving off some cav
airy which attempted to interfere with
him. Gen. Corcoran's Brigade made a
sortie on the Edenton road, which drove
the Confederate advance into their main
works, and in the artillery duels the
Federal guns invariably cot the better
of the ConfederateS.
The heavy guns which arrived from
Richmond were placed in position and |
opened fire, and Hill came up from
North Carolina with 10000 fresh men
to LonSstreets assistance. when it SEEM
ed as if the latter would strike a de-
cisive blow. Just as he was preparing
for this he heard from Richmond of
stirring events on the Rappahannock, |
and he was ordered to Immediately
withdraw, to cover Richmond, or toI
join Lee, as circumstances might die
tate. His orders were imperative, and
called for immediate execution. on
May IS, therefore, he abandoned his
position and started for Richmond. Att
3 o'clock in the morning Peck learned
of his retreat, and Immediately sent out
detachments to press him and ascertain
whether it was a real movement or a
feint against some other part of his
line Quickly discovering that it was a |
real retreat, Getty started with 7,000l
men to harass Longstreet's rear, but
was met by HilPs Division, which took |
advantage of every favoring ground to
retard the pursuit. Getty made several
determined attempts to break thru |
Hills line, but without success. and
during the night Hill succeeded in plac- |
ing all his men beyond the Blackwater, |
when the pursuit was given up.
The defense of Suffolk was one of |
the most skilful episodes of the war,
and reflected the highest credit upon
the Generals and troops, who had held
at bay for more than a month Long
streets overpowering forces. 1t was
one of the most creditable performances
on the Eastern army, and splendidIy re-
deemed the reputation of the Fourth
Corps which had suffered from the i'm
putations of Mcclellan. On the other
hand. Longstreet and his subordinates
suffered much loss of prestige. In great
battles Longstreet had shown himself
a tactician superior to Stonewall jack
son; that is, he handled his men more
effectively in the actual crush of oppos-
ing hosts. Longstreet was ambitious of
rivaling JacksOn's reputation as COM
mander of independent operations. The
fai1IIrp ar SuffoII WAS pot wholly long