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| Wartime Suffolk (Harper's Weekly) |
April 12, 1863-12 noon.
Major-General DIX,
Numbers 3 West Twenty-first street, New York, N. Y.:
General Peck telegraphs just now, "We are face to face. The attack is on the Somerton and Edenton front, and before this reaches you the fight will have commenced." I will have the Burden for you at Baltimore if you say so. I think you had better come down.
D. T. VAN BUREN,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
FORT MONROE, VA.,
April 12, 1863-4.30 p. m.
Major General H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief:
The following dispatches received to-day from General Peck at Suffolk, at 12.30 p. m.:
The two armies are at this moment face to face. The attack is on the Somerton and Edenton road.
4 P. M.
The enemy, after advancing within a short distance of my front, has fallen back 2 or 3 miles, and is reported moving from the Somerton road toward the Edenton road.
D. T. VAN BUREN,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
NORFOLK, VA., April 12, [1863.]-7.30 p. m.
(Received 9.15 p. m.)
Major General H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief:
T he enemy approached our lines at Suffolk to-day and exchanged some cannon-shots and retired. The force of the enemy is great and I think they will make a serious attack. General Peck has just telegraphed that he has reason to believe Longstreet is receiving re-enforcements and heavy artillery. Wise with his whole force is certainly in front of Williamsburg and Fitzhugh Lee is said to be approaching Gloucester Point, and some persons anticipate rebel gunboats down James River. Information from all quarters concurs to establish a simultaneous movement against all portions of our lines. I have made the best disposition in my power of our troops and supplies, but I would be glad to receive heavy re-enforcements if they could be spared. We have seven small gunboats on the Nansemond, which I think renders Peck's right flank secure.
E. D. KEYES,
Major-General.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
Norfolk, Va., April 12, 1863.
The proximity of the Confederate forces renders it proper, by virtue of the military and naval authority of the United States, to give the following notice:
All foreign consuls and their families, all women and children, and all other persons not in the service of the United States who prefer safety to the conflicts of war, are notified that on the approach of the enemy to any town or village within this department and the range of the Union guns, such town or village will be fired on without further consideration.
E. D. KEYES,
Major-General, Commanding Department of Virginia.
APRIL 12, 1863.
Major-General KEYES:
I believe Longstreet is receiving re-enforcements and heavy artillery by rail from Petersburg and Weldon.
PECK,
Major-General.
SUFFOLK, April 12, 1863.
Major-General KEYES:
A force is on the road leading to the Nansemond. How far they will come down remains to be seen; will keep you advised. The rails were removed by some of the Ninth Corps men through a misunderstanding of orders given by the commander of that front. I slept none in consequence of these affairs and of the responsibility.
PECK,
Major-General.
SUFFOLK, VA., April 12, 1863.
Major General JOSEPH HOOKER,
Headquarters Army of the Potomac:
Longstreet is now before me with a very heavy force. The attack is on my front, which cuts off much of the aid of the gunboats on the flanks. Prisoners say 30,000 and more.
JOHN J. PECK,
Major-General.
(Copy to General Halleck.)
Official Records, Series I., Vol. 18, Part 1, Pages 599-600.
After the siege Longstreet said Suffolk could be taken in a few days but that he did not think "we can afford to spend the powder and ball." Longstreet had originally been sent to southeast Virginia to interpose between Burnside and Petersburg, but after Burnside was sent with most of his force to Kentucky Longstreet was able to invest Suffolk. Should Lincoln have moved Burnside to Kentucky? It is interesting to consider whether the Gettysburg campaign would have been possible had a stronger force been maintained to threaten Richmond from the east.
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