An Affair
of Honor
If one were killed another
would take up the fight until
the last of them was dead.
By T. II. PEARCE
It has been claimed that the War Be¬
tween the States brought an end to the
age of Chivalry. Whether or not that
is true, the men of the period valued
their honor above everything else — and
certainly more than life itself. Nothing
could demonstrate this more emphati¬
cally than an event, or scries of events,
which took place near Suffolk. Virginia
during April of 1863.
The Fifty-Fifth North Carolina Regi¬
ment. commanded by 26-ycar-old Col.
John Kerr Connally. of Salem, as a part
of General Joseph Davis’ Brigade, in
Maj. Gen. Samuel French's Division of
Lt. Gen. James Longstrect’s Corps,
was part of the Confederate force oc¬
cupying the works along the Nanse-
mond River near Suffolk, Va. The
troops were stationed there for the pur¬
pose of preventing Federal gunboats
from passing up the river, or at least to
make matters as unpleasant for them
as possible.
On April 16 Gen. French ordered
three companies of the Fifty-Fifth to
the vicinity of the river, to be used in
protecting Capt. Robert Stribling’s bat¬
tery of artillery, if needed.
Overwhelmed By Yankees
Accounts of what happened on April
19 arc somewhat varied, but from the
Official Records it seems factual that
there was a mix-up in orders. Part of
the confusion evidently came from the
fact that General French was sick. He
gave no order for Connally’s Regiment
to occupy the fort to reinforce the two
companies of the Forty-Fourth Ala¬
bama Regiment of General L. M.
Law’s Brigade, who supported the bat¬
tery of artillery inside the fort. As a re¬
sult, the men of the Fifty-Fifth were
some distance away, where they could
protect the road and be available when
called on.
Sometime between four and six P.M.
on that April Sunday, a strong Yankee
Force was landed from the gunboats
and quickly overwhelmed the artillery
battery and the two companies of Ala¬
bama troops who supported it.
Capt. Stribling described the incident
in the Official Records: "When the
enemy landed on the evening of the
19th there was no picket or lookout up
the river; no gun was fired or no notice
whatever served of their approach, and
as the shore was heavily wooded, we
could sec nothing from the fort. 1 had
been led to suppose that the banks of
the river were picketed and that 1
would receive notice of the approach
of a land force, and also that there was
a regiment in supporting distance. The
construction of the fort was of such a
nature that I could not use my guns
with full effect against a land force,
though it was admirably adapted to re¬
sist an attack from the gunboats and to
blockade the river at that point."
Colonel Connally's official report of
the Fifty-Fifth North Carolina’s part
in the events stated in part, "On Sunday
evening the 1 9th, Col. Cunningham
rode up to my quarters some time be¬
tween four and six o’clock and told me
in substance — I do not remember his
language — that General French wished
me to support the batteries. The order
was general and I immediately ordered
Lt. Col. M. T. Smith (of Granville
County) and Major A. H. Belo (of
Salem) to go and ascertain the position
of the batteries, the number of men
necessary for their support, the ground
to be occupied by the support and to
report to me as early as possible. They
had not been gone more than an hour
or an hour and a half when I heard
loud cheering in the direction of the
river. A few minutes afterwards an offi¬
cer rode up and reported that Strib¬
ling’s battery had been charged by the
enemy and captured.”
Connally added that he immediately
ordered up the other seven companies
of his regiment with the idea of retak¬
ing the fort and the captured guns, and
that Lt. Col. Smith, with two com¬
panies, advanced to within 500 yards
of the fort, but was ordered to rejoin his
brigade by General Law.
Blame Shifted to Tar Heels
The Alabamians were bitter over the
loss of their two companies in the fort,
and were anxious to blame someone
for the disaster. Gen. French appar¬
ently blamed the two companies of
Alabamians for the defeat. From his
report in the Official Records, "It ap¬
pears to me that if the garrison was sur¬
prised. they were negligent; if not sur¬
prised, they did not offer sufficient re¬
sistance."
Corps Commander Longstreet said,
in endorsing French’s report of the
affair that, "There seemed to have been
a general lack of vigilance and prompt
attention to duties on the part of most
of the parties connected with this af-
Ю
THE STATE. SEPTEMBER 1973
