36°55′00″N76°26′06″W / 36.91667°N 76.43500°W /36.91667; -76.43500
| Battle of Pig Point | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAmerican Civil War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States (Union) |  CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| John Faunce | Robert B. Pegram John C. Owens | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Gunboat crew | Shore battery garrison | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 5 wounded | 0 | ||||||
TheBattle of Pig Point was an early naval battle of theAmerican Civil War, after Lincoln had extended the Union blockade to includeVirginia. On June 5, 1861, theUnion gunboatUSRCHarriet Lane under Captain John Faunce was ordered to attack Pig Point, but due to shallow water, the shots fell short, and the Union suffered five men wounded before withdrawing.
On April 15, 1861, the day after the small U.S. Army garrison surrenderedFort Sumter in the harborCharleston, South Carolina to Confederate forces,PresidentAbraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to reclaim federal property and to suppress the incipient rebellion of the sevenDeep SouthSlave states. FourUpper South States which also permitted slavery, including Virginia, refused to furnish troops for this purpose and began the process ofsecession from the Union.[1] On April 17, 1861, a convention inRichmond, Virginia passed an ordinance providing for Virginia's secession from the Union and authorized the governor to call for volunteers to join the military forces of Virginia to defend the state against Federal military action.[2] TheVirginia Secession Convention made the act of secession subject to a vote of the people of the state on May 23, 1861, but the actions of the convention and Virginia political leaders, especiallyGovernorJohn Letcher, effectively took Virginia out of the union.[3] In view of developments to complete secession in Virginia, President Lincoln also did not wait for the vote of the people of Virginia on secession to take action that treated Virginia as part of the Confederacy. On April 27, 1861, he extended the blockade of the original Confederate States that he had declared on April 19, 1861 to include the ports of Virginia and North Carolina.[4]
On May 27, 1861,Major GeneralBenjamin Butler commandingFort Monroe at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula between theJames River and theYork River sent forces eight mi (13 km) north to occupy Newport News, Virginia. By May 29, the Union Army established a camp and battery at Newport News Point that could cover the entrance to the James River ship canal and the mouth of theNansemond River. Meanwhile, the Confederates established a battery atPig Point across the Nansemond River from Newport News with guns captured from theGosport Navy Yard inNorfolk County, Virginia, now part ofPortsmouth, Virginia.[5] After establishing the Union position at Newport News, Butler wished to move up the Nansemond River to captureSuffolk, Virginia. He had to dispose of the battery at Pig Point to accomplish this objective.
General Butler ordered CaptainJohn Faunce to take theHarriet Lane, one of the boats which had tried to reinforce and resupply Fort Sumter, and attack the Confederate battery at Pig Point on June 5, 1861 in order to ascertain its strength. Faunce attacked the battery but due to shallow water, he had to fire his 30 shots from too great a distance. Most fell short of the Confederate position. The Confederate defenders, including the Portsmouth Rifle Company[6] returned fire and wounded five of the Union steamer's crew. From this brief engagement, Faunce determined that the battery was strong and considered his mission complete. He withdrew theHarriett Lane from the engagement in the face of the superior Confederate firepower.[7][8]
Captain Robert Pegram commanding the Confederate battery reported that theHarriet Lane fired 33 shots and inflicted no casualties or damage. The Confederates returned fire with 23 shots.[9] A later account stated that theHarriet Lane had disabled a 48-pound cannon at the battery.[10] Five of theHarriet Lane's crew were wounded by the Confederate gunfire.[11]
On the same date, June 5, 1861, theUSSQuaker City captured the Confederate shipGeneral Greene off the nearbyVirginia Capes.[12]
The Confederates maintained control of Pig Point and operation of the battery until they abandoned Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia at the start of the Peninsula Campaign on March 9, 1862. Union forces occupied Norfolk and Portsmouth on May 10 and 11.[13]
