GDG- Re: Gettysburg Digest, Vol 27, Issue 10
Margaret D. Blough
mdblough1 at comcast.net
Sat Aug 12 15:01:29 CDT 2006
I have a friend with some contacts in the area on CW matters. If you decide to tour Suffolk, let me know, and I'll contact him about it.
Margaret
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Tom Ryan" <pennmardel at mchsi.com>
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> Margaret,
>
> Interesting story. I am not familiar with French, but if he was a
> disgruntled type, Lee would likely been happy to allow D.H. Hill to keep him
> in NC.
>
> Funny thing is that I have driven through that Suffolk/Franklin area
> many
> times traveling back and forth from Delaware to Georgia where my son and his
> family live. On a casual basis I do not see many signs of CW reminisces as
> I pass through. One of these days I will have to get in touch with a
> knowledgeable person in that area and request a tour of where all this
> activity took place.
>
> Tom
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
> [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Margaret D. Blough
> Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 11:15 AM
> To: GDG
> Subject: RE: GDG- Re: Gettysburg Digest, Vol 27, Issue 10
>
>
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> 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 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"
>
> > 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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