Joint Expedition Against Franklin The Joint Expedition Against Franklin was a joint engagement between the United States Army & Navy against the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . The engagement was intended to move Union forces into an area where Confederate forces were gathering as they prepared to move on Suffolk , Virginia . Originally planned as a coordinated two - pronged attack with a naval flotilla supporting an infantry advance on Franklin , Virginia , communications delays caused the Navy to depart for the mission which the Army was not yet supporting . Instead , found Union Naval forces on the Blackwater River greatly outnumbered by Confederate infantrymen and ultimately forced to retreat . The naval action alone is also known as the Action at Crumpler ' s Bluff or the Battle of Crumpler ' s Bluff . Simultaneously , a nearby Army reconnaissance team conducted a failed assault on the town on the basis that the audibly nearby Naval forces — which they did not know were then in retreat — would bring support . The outcome left the Union forces with a combined 5 casualties and 21 wounded . Dialogue between officers following the conflict left the Union navy questioning the usefulness of gun boats in joint expedition settings in which they would not be capable of supporting themselves . The conflict . Background . Receiving orders early September 12 , 1862 , the Confederate Army ' s 4th North Carolina ( NC ) Cavalry immediately proceeded from Garysburg , North Carolina to Franklin , Virginia , arriving late the next day . There , the 4th NC Cavalry , under the command of a Colonel Dennis Dozier Ferebee , was joined by the 52nd North Carolina Infantry , Edward Graham ' s Petersburg Artillery and ( two weeks later ) the 11th North Carolina Infantry . The 4th NC Cavalry ' s first major assignment was to construct a floating bridge across the nearby Blackwater River to replace the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad bridge and thereby facilitate the eastward transfer of men and equipment into Franklin ; Col . Ferebee reported the bridge finished on the 18th . A small Union Army cavalry force was stationed in nearby Suffolk , Virginia under the command of Major General John J . Peck . On September 23 , Peck sent Colonel Samuel P . Spear to reconnoiter Franklin and the Confederates therein . Spear reported back to Peck about the Confederate ' s replacement bridge capable of supporting artillery pieces , as well as an estimated Confederate concentration of 10 , 000 – 12 , 000 men . Peck forwarded this information on to his commanding officer , Major General John Adams Dix who , in turn , developed a twofold mission to roust the enemy from Franklin and destroy the floating bridge with a joint service attack with the Union Army and Navy respectively . Dix requested Union naval support from Acting Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee . Lee , in turn , sent orders to Lieutenant Commander C . W . Flusser , directing him to give all assistance to General Dix ' s purposes . Three United States Navy steam - powered ferryboats stationed at Albemarle Sound were sent ; the , commanded by Lieutenant Commander Flusser , the , commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edmund R . Colhoun , and the , commanded by Acting Master Charles A . French . Acting on Union picket intelligence of the Confederate ' s position in Franklin , both Generals Peck and Dix felt that it would be wiser to wait on the joint assault . Unfortunately , because Dix ' s messenger arrived five hours late , Commander Flusser never received the word the former ' s forces were delaying " until about the 10th " . Peck did however order a reconnaissance mission be undertaken in the area ; at 9 : 00 p . m . on October 2 , Colonel Spear left Suffolk with 1 , 300 soldiers , one Artillery section , and orders to survey Franklin and determine the extent of the Confederate forces south of Suffolk . Attack . The evening of 2 October , Confederate pickets observed the three riverboats waiting around South Quay , Virginia , approximately downriver from Franklin . At 5 : 45 a . m . the next day , the three ships began moving towards the city while shelling the nearby banks . The attack was led by the " Commodore Perry " , followed by the " Whitehead " astern the " Hunchback " . While the Union shelled the banks of the Blackwater , Confederate troops began distributing themselves along the riverside to take advantage of the concealment there . Some of the 4th North Carolina Cavalry was dismounted and taken up by Colonel Marshall of the 52nd , and positioned along with his men at Crumpler ' s and neighboring bluffs to fire upon the riverboats . Colonel Ferebee took the rest of the 4th NC Cavalry and dismounted and positioned them behind the trees and bushes along the banks of the Blackwater , under the command of a Lieutenant Ruffin . According to a Union naval officer later , the Confederate ' s forces along the Blackwater also included " some nonuniformed irregulars and even ' some negro es . At 7 : 00 a . m . , approximately from Franklin , the " Commodore Perry " came under fire from the Confederate forces along the river and atop the bluffs . As the " Perry " was too close to bring her large - bore guns to bear , Commander Flusser ordered his sailors to shelter themselves as best they could while the ship tried to steam past the enemy . Unfortunately , due to the narrowness of the bend , the " Commodore Perry " ran aground ; Lt . Ruffin and his men were so close to the grounded riverboat , they later claimed to have heard the " Perry " s officers cursing her enlisted sailors . Freeing herself , the " Perry " rounded the bend and maneuvered to provide suppressive fire to allow the " Hunchback " and " Whitehead " to follow ; the combined shelling of all three ships forced Lt . Ruffin and his detachment to withdraw from the banks of the river . However , all three ships ' progress was soon halted by a barricade in the river . While the barricade was removable with Commander Flusser ' s available manpower , he could not attempt to do so due to the " terrible fire to which [ they ] were exposed . " While continuing to assault the Confederacy with their " IX - inch grape and shell " guns , " 32 - pounder " guns , field gun , and musket s , the three ships waited at the barricade hoping to hear the gunfire of General Dix ' s infantry forces . At 10 : 15 a . m . , Commander Flusser ordered retreat from the river barrier . All three ships remained under heavy fire by enemy forces from multiple angles until between 2 : 30 and 3 : 30 p . m . An incomplete rear barricade of felled trees failed to stop the ships which " [ pushed through ] with a heavy head of steam . " Flusser later opined that this new barricade would have been impassable had the ships remained north of it for several more hours , waiting for General Dix ' s quiescent forces . Meanwhile , Colonel Spear arrived around 1 : 00 p . m . and anticipating support from the now - retreating naval gunships , the Union infantrymen conflicted with the Confederates in Franklin . After six hours of combat , running low on ammunition , realizing that he only had 1 , 300 men and not the 1 , 700 – 2 , 000 he ' d thought , and losing two riflemen to Confederate defection , Spear withdrew the Union forces around Franklin , and returned to Suffolk abandoning one brass field piece , a few overcoat s , and a horse . Aftermath . Upon return to Ablemarle Sound , Commander Flusser sent the " Hunchback " on to Plymouth to bury their dead sailors ; at Roanoke Island , Flusser was lent the to carry the wounded to Norfolk Hospital . Outcome . The Confederate forces around Franklin held back the Navy and ultimately forced them , and the Army reconnaissance team , to retreat . While the Union Navy lost no ships , they suffered four casualties and 15 wounded ; the Army suffered one fatality and six wounded , although General Dix believed the infantry to have robbed the enemy of 70 – 100 in return . For the Confederates , this was the 4th NC Cavalry ' s first combat action of the war , and gave Colonel Ferebee and his men confidence in their abilities ; they and the other Confederate forces in Franklin spent the rest of October 1862 surveilling the Union forces across the river . After the Union shelling , most of Franklin ' s civilians left the town , leaving it in the hands of the Confederate soldiers there ; they did not return until after the April 1865 surrender of General Lee . The Joint Expedition has been described as the only fighting of significance to occur in Southampton County , Virginia during the war . For their distinguished services in the battle , Union servicemen Thomas Barton , John Breen , James H . Burbank , Daniel Lakin , Alfred Peterson , Edwin Smith , and John Williams were all awarded the Medal of Honor . In his summation of the Joint Expedition Against Franklin , Acting Rear - Admiral Lee said , " The Department will perceive that Lieutenant - Commander Flusser ( senior officer present ) displayed his usual gallantry , and that the officers and crews of the three gunboats did their parts well , under very trying and difficult circumstances . " In his After Action Report to Admiral Lee of , Lieutenant Commander Flusser described his losses as heavy and opined that it was " folly to fight these people on the banks , where they have every advantage " , and that he could not be of any further service to the Army forces . In the aftermath of the failed mission , both Navy and Army flag officer s implied that the cause was attempting to cooperate with the respective sister service . Admiral Lee wrote to Naval Secretary Gideon Welles that " where the situation does not allow [ . . . ] gunboats to take care of themselves , they can not assist the army . " Further , General Peck wrote to General Dix saying , " there is great uncertainty in operations with gunboats . "