Suffolk was a Civil War engagement fought in Virginia, 1863. The outcome was inconclusive.
On April 19, a Union infantry force landed on Hill's Point at the confluence of the forks of the Nansemond River. This amphibious force assaulted Fort Huger from the rear, quickly capturing its garrison, thus reopening the river to Union shipping. On April 24, Brig. Gen. Michael Corcoran's Union division mounted a reconnaissance-in-force from Fort Dix against Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett's extreme right flank. The Federals approached cautiously and were easily repulsed. On April 29, Gen. Robert E. Lee directed Longstreet to disengage from Suffolk and rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg. By May 4, the last of Longstreet's command had crossed the Blackwater River en route to Richmond.
From April 11 through May 4, 1863, Confederate and Union forces clashed near Suffolk, Virginia in an engagement remembered both as the siege of Suffolk and the Battle of Suffolk, part of the American Civil War.
Command of the Suffolk garrison fell to Peck, whose force belonged to Major General John Dix's Department of Virginia. Brigadier General Michael Corcoran's division from the VII Corps furnished the initial manpower. When Longstreet's advance became apparent, Peck secured a second division on loan from George W. Getty's IX Corps, and a third arrived after being pulled from the defenses around Washington. Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee contributed naval strength as well, sending two flotillas drawn from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
In arranging the city's protection, Peck laid out his forces in a broad circle encircling Suffolk. Colonel Robert Sanford Foster held the Southwest Front, while Brigadier General Charles C. Dodge took charge of the Southeast Front. To the northwest, command rested with Brigadier General Henry Dwight Terry, and Colonel Arthur Dutton oversaw the Northeast Front. Overall supervision was split between Corcoran, who watched over the southern sectors, and Getty, who managed the northern ones; the navy took responsibility for guarding the rivers.
Geography favored Peck considerably: the Great Dismal Swamp shielded his eastern side, and the Nansemond River guarded the west, giving him a strong natural position. As for the naval contingent, Lieutenant Roswell Lamson commanded one flotilla and Lieutenant William B. Cushing the other.
Disheartened by the pullout of federal troops from Hill's Point, Lamson pulled his gunboats out of the Nansemond River, though he struck an agreement with Getty promising their return once pickets could be posted at Hill's Point. Getty sent his infantry across the river on three separate attempts, and each time they were driven back.
On the twenty-fourth of April, Corcoran led his division out from Fort Dix in a probing attack aimed at the far right of Pickett's line. The advance came slowly and cautiously, and Confederate defenders had little trouble beating it back.
Longstreet had chosen a siege over a swift assault on the Union garrison, and that choice freed his men to carry out a remarkably productive foraging effort throughout the Blackwater area. Because Suffolk sat so near the capital, both General-in-Chief Halleck and Secretary of State Seward found occasion to inspect its defenses. Seward went so far as to spend a night there, and Peck honored him by naming one of the forts after him.
Lee sent word to Longstreet on April 29 telling him to break off operations at Suffolk and bring his men back to join the Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg.
At last, on April 30, sailors under Lamson came ashore at Hill's Point and established picket positions. Around this same time, Peck was gathering intelligence on enemy movements and told Hooker he remained confident he could contain Longstreet at Suffolk. The following day, May 1, marked the opening of combat at Chancellorsville, and Hooker pressed Peck with the claim that Longstreet had already returned to Lee's side, a claim Peck flatly denied, maintaining that Suffolk still faced Longstreet's presence. In truth, none of Longstreet's troops had yet rejoined Lee, though the wagons loaded with Confederate forage had already begun heading back northward. As the scale of the clash between Lee and Hooker became apparent, Longstreet notified authorities in Richmond that he intended to remain in place
Judged against what Longstreet had originally set out to do, two goals had been fully met: gathering supplies and shielding Richmond from threat. Taking the Federal garrison at Suffolk was the one aim that eluded him entirely. Union forces, for their part, had set their sights mainly on holding Suffolk, and in that they succeeded. Yet even as Peck mounted his defense of the town, his men could do nothing to stop Longstreet's foraging efforts from proceeding. In truth, each side could claim to have secured a fair share of what it had set out to accomplish. Dix praised Peck for the way he had managed the defense of Suffolk. For Longstreet, this campaign marked his first turn at independent command.
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