GDG- Re: Gettysburg Digest, Vol 27, Issue 10

[Margaret D. Blough]

French seems to have been perennially disgruntled.  He wrote the following letter complaining about Longstreet in Suffolk (see especially the last paragraph) [O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XVIII [S# 26], pp. 329-330] and was promptly slapped down by Colonel Gilmer, Colonel of Engineers and Chief of the Engineers Bureau (Gilmer's letter also sets forth a contemporary Confederate statement on the primary purpose of the much-misunderstood Suffolk expedition).

Regards,

Margaret


>>
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF SOUTHERN VIRGINIA,
May 25, 1863.
GENERAL: During the three weeks that Lieutenant-General Longstreet kept the enemy confined within Suffolk there was an effort made to remove the iron from the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad. Commencing near Suffolk, the engineer department succeeded in taking up about 3 miles of the rails and removed it toward Franklin and deposited it at or near a place known as Beaver Dam, where it could be protected by the forces near Franklin. After we withdrew from Suffolk the enemy discovered the effort made to secure the iron on our part, and soon marched to Carrsville with a force of between 9,000 and 10,000 infantry, 30 pieces of artillery, and cavalry, and immediately fortified their position and commenced taking up the track and removing it toward Suffolk. General Jenkins assembled all the available forces, and with about 3,000 men crossed over and drove in all their advanced lines behind their intrenchments and kept them there for near three days, causing them to abandon the road this si
de of Carrsville, and thus enabled our forces to save the road to that point, except a few hundred yards, and the iron brought from near Suffolk. The enemy <ar26_330> would not leave his works to attack us, and with our small force had we driven him from his intrenchments it would have been a victory barren of results and involving a heavy sacrifice of men on our part. All this time while confronting him we were removing the iron as rapidly as possible. The road destroyed, the enemy fell back and immediately with his whole force assumed a position at Windsor, on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, and simultaneously moved up the Chowan with gunboats above the Nottoway River.
Leaving some force to attack the gunboats in case they came up I assembled about 3,000 men and on Saturday afternoon crossed the Blackwater at the Blackwater Bridge by means of pontoons and moved in the direction of Windsor. I found the enemy again with all his force in a thick woods, his lines running from the railroad to across the Black-water road. His outposts and advanced lines were rapidly driven in, and I assumed a line of battle in hopes he would move to the attack. This he did not do, and after dusk I withdrew to the right bank of the river. There were no results that seemed in anywise attainable that would have justified me in attacking the enemy, outnumbering us fourfold.
While over the river information was received that the enemy's gunboats had moved up the Meherrin and taken possession of Murfreesborough, N.C. General Jenkins the same night moved to Franklin, and with his forces was directed to operate against the gunboats. I do not know what forces Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill has in North Carolina to guard those streams.
It is to me a source of great regret that so little of the iron from the two railroads referred to was taken up during the time General Longstreet was at Suffolk. I am sure had there been any concert or a proper concert of action in the departments the bridge over the Blackwater could have been built, and by constructing a small curve at the crossing of the roads near Suffolk trains could have been run from Petersburg to Franklin via Suffolk and both roads taken up. Had a bridge been thrown across the Zuni before General Longstreet moved and during the month he was making preparations, every bar of iron could have been secured while we were there at Suffolk.
Yours, very respectfully,
 S. G. FRENCH, 
 Major-General, Commanding.
 General S. COOPER, 
Adjutant and Inspector General.
[Indorsement.]
ENGINEER BUREAU, June 9, 1863.
Respectfully returned to the honorable Secretary of War. No effort was spared to remove the iron from the Norfolk and Petersburg road and from the Seaboard road while General Longstreet was in command; but his efforts, assisted by the engineers under his control, were given to the collection of supplies for the army, these being considered of the first importance. Everything possible with the engineers has been done to save the iron in question, and I am now able to report that a large part of' the iron from the Seaboard Railroad is on the right bank of the Blackwater.
 J. F. GILMER, 
 Colonel of Engineers and Chief of Bureau<<

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Tom Ryan" <pennmardel at mchsi.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> Teej, 
> 
> Whiting reportedly had a flinty personality that caused considerable 
> friction between himself and his fellow general officers. He was not 
> considered a good field commander, but was recognized as an excellent 
> engineer. After Whiting had run-ins with Joe Johnston and Stonewall 
> Jackson, Lee decided tha best thing to do was to remove him from the scene. 
> He sent him to NC and there he did a good job in helping to construct Fort 
> Fisher. I think Whiting was the type of general who tended to get 
> overwrought in battle, therefore had trouble maintaining balance as a 
> commander. 
> 
> As you probably recall, Whiting ended up being in charge of Fort Fisher 
> when Grant sent a task force to attack and capture it in the latter stages 
> of the war. Unfortunately for Whiting, President Davis placed Braxton Bragg 
> in overall command of that district, and Bragg failed to support Whiting 
> with reserve troops, and Fort Fisher fell as did Wilmington, the last port 
> open to the South and Lee's last major supply line. The end of the war was 
> not far behind. 
> 
> Tom 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com 
> [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Teej Smith 
> Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 11:00 PM 
> To: GDG 
> Subject: Re: GDG- Re: Gettysburg Digest, Vol 27, Issue 10 
> 
> 
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> 
> > Esteemed GDG Member Tom Ryan Contributes: 
> > 
> > I assume you mean "deportees" in the negative sense. Blv you are correct. 
> > Which of the generals do you think fit that category? I know Lee was 
> > trying to get some of his better people back from that area (Ransom and 
> > Jenkins), but likely there were some he would just as well have stayed 
> > there. I suspect he would have preferred not to have Whiting or Colston. 
> 
> Colston I can understand but why Whiting? 
> 
> Regards, 
> Teej 
> 
> 
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