Pig Point Battery

Suffolk County · dedicated 1998 · Rte. 58, near intersection with Rte. 672

In June 1861, Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, in order to clear a route for the capture of Suffolk, sought to neutralize the Confederate battery at Pig Point three miles north on the James River at the mouth of the Nansemond River. At 9:00 A.M. on 5 June, the steamer USS Harriet Lane shelled the battery. The Portsmouth Rifles, manning the guns there, returned fire and struck the vessel twice. One shot hit a tub of musket balls; the flying balls wounded six men. No Confederates were injured in the engagement, which ended after twenty minutes when the Harriet Lane withdrew. Correction: Pig Point is eight miles north of the marker, not three.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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