My previous post recounts the events that led up to the Battle of Smithfield. The situation at dawn on February 1, 1864:
Captain Lee and his men were trapped in Smithfield. They were positioned at the end of main street near Pagan Creek, hoping a gunboat would arrive soon to support them. Their hopes were not in vain. General Graham had dispatched the gunboat Smith Briggs from the Nansemond River at 6:30 that morning. Graham ordered the Smith Briggs to carry a dispatch describing the current situation to Newport News, then sail with all haste to Smithfield. Meanwhile, the Confederates were moving rapidly toward Smithfield with a section of artillery (a 12-pound Napolean and a 6-pound howitzer) and three infantry companies.
At 7:00 a.m., General Graham landed 80 men at Holliday’s Point and marched to Chuckatuck Village. When the Union force arrived in Chuckatuck, they arrested every man, white and black, in the village. There being no sign of Captain Lee, Graham sent a small detachment a mile to the west, hoping to make contact with the expedition from Smithfield. The remainder of the Union men “set to eating and drinking.” After an hour or so, having found no sign of Lee’s detachment, the Yankees released all their prisoners but one (Mr. J. L. Walraven) and returned to Holliday’s Point.
Captain Sturdivant arrived at Smithfield around 11:00 a.m. A local resident guided the Rebels to a small hill at the end of main street and just outside of town. The Yankees were in plain view, positioned atop Todd’s Hill at the opposite end of main street. Sturdivant immediately sent a courier with a note demanding the Yankees’ surrender.
William Rodgers of the 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery recalled Captain Lee’s response to Sturdivant’s demand. “[O]ur Commander By the Name of Captain Lee a Newyork man was a Coward and he Drew us up in Line on the first road Next to the Little River … told the Boys all who were in favor of Surrender Hold up their Right Hand the New yorkers Hands went up almost to a man only one Pennsylvanian Sent up his hand the New yorkers had the Strongest Side So Captain Lee Signed the Surrender Looking as white as this Paper i am writing upon Now.”
Before Lee could return the signed surrender to Sturdivant, one of his soldiers sighted the Smith Briggs coming up Pagan Creek. Lee had an immediate change of heart. He told Sturdivant’s courier that he would not surrender. The courier rushed back to the other end of town and breathlessly told Captain Sturdivant of Lee’s refusal and the approach of the Smith Briggs. Sturdivant ordered his guns to open fire. The Yankee artillery responded in kind. The firing was “sharp and rapid” as the two sides dueled down Main Street.
While the artillery duel raged, local townspeople led two companies of the 31st North Carolina through the back alleys of the town, unseen by the enemy. When the rebels popped out of the alleyways, less than a hundred yards from the Union line, the Yankees began surrendering. Some of the Union soldiers ran down the riverbank towards the Smith Briggs.
Sturdivant quickly moved his artillery close to Pagan Creek and engaged the Smith Briggs. The second shot from the Napolean ruptured the gunboat’s steam jacket, and the boat lost all power. The Smith Briggs’ captain immediately surrendered. With the loss of the gunboat, the remaining Yankee troops gave up. Captain Lee and three men managed to slip away during the chaotic fight by swimming across Pagan Creek.
Lieutenant Edmund J. Williams, Company I, 31st North Carolina, was the first Confederate to board the Smith Briggs. Williams found the captain and demanded his sword. The Union officer complied. Williams, recently promoted to the officer ranks, did not have a sword at the time and appreciated the old but fine saber that he liberated from the gunboat’s captain. Williams then unrolled his blanket and piled it with all the tea, coffee, and sugar he could carry. He delivered the booty to the 31st North Carolina’s sick soldiers.
After looting the gunboat, Confederates torched its magazine causing a colossal explosion that blew out most of the windows in Smithfield. Union losses, in addition to the destruction of the Smith Briggs, were 17 killed, 5 wounded and 110 captured. The Union prisoners were marched to Ivor Station. They were then taken by train to Richmond and confined on Belle Isle. A month later, they were transferred to Andersonville.
General Graham had attempted to rescue Captain Lee’s detachment, but he was too late. He arrived at the mouth of Pagan Creek at 4:00 p.m. only to be informed that the troops and the Smith Briggs had been captured. A few minutes later, Graham heard a terrific explosion as the Confederates blew up the gunboat. At almost the same time, crewmen saw a white flag waving along the bank of Pagan Creek. A small boat was sent to investigate and returned with Captain Lee and his three men.
In his after-action report to General “Beast” Butler, General Graham stated, “The men fought most heroically, inflicting terrible loss on the enemy.” The Confederates lost one man killed and one wounded during the three days of skirmishing.
Sources
Clark, Walter, ed. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65. Volume 2, pp. 506-520
Daily Dispatch (Richmond), 3, 4, 5 Feb. 1864
Erickson, Mark St. John. “Cannon fire thundered down Main Street 150 year ago in the fiery Battle of Smithfield”, Daily Press, 17 Aug. 2019
Isle of Wight County Museum, http://www.historicisleofwight.com/uploads/5/4/0/5/5405029/teacher_packet.docx
Official Records, Serial 60, Chapter XLV, pp. 103-106 and Serial 108, Chapter LXIII, p. 850
Southern Historical Papers, Volume 34. “Yankee gunboat Smith Briggs. from the Times-dispatch, March 18, 1906, and July 15, 1906” Found at: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0292%3Achapter%3D1.14
Virginia Relics, “Battle of Smithfield”, (https://www.virginiarelics.com/information/battle-of-smithfield/)
Wikipedia, “Battle of Smithfield”
Williams, Edmund J. Letter to mother, 13 Feb. 1864. Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Edmund Jones Williams Letters, #866-z
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