May 12, 1863, The New York Herald
THE SIEGE OF SUFFOLK.
Our Suffolk Correspondence.
SUFFOLK, Va., May 8, 1863.
The recent movement of General Hooker at Fredericksburg relieved us of the forces of Longstreet and Hill, who were closely besieging us up to Sunday last, and they are now probably far on their way to reinforce the closely pressed legions of the rebel General Lee. The fact that the siege of Suffolk was not abandoned sooner shows that Lee did not anticipate so rapid and immediate a movement on the part of General Hooker, and, more over, shows that Lee has need of every available man to oppose his active opponent. The rebels had drawn an excellent cordon of works around us, and were evidently prepared to sustain a repulse in case they made an assault upon us. On the South Quay road there are three parallels of redoubts and rifle pits, the outer line – some four miles from the Nansemond – being the strongest. On the Petersburg road there are two lines running through the dense woods which immediately appear near the Draw Bridge battery. Their lines are strengthened by every artifice which the surrounding materials furnished. In fact, their lines of contravallation proved that they undertook the siege of Suffolk with a powerful force, and with the firm intention of reducing the place. Large details from the different regiments here are now actively engaged levelling the rebel works, and ere long the face of nature in our vicinity will be somewhat smoother.
It is anticipated that, should the force of Lee be successful in repulsing General Hooker’s attack, there will be an immediate and powerful advance made upon this place, but we are prepared for them, and only regret that they did not attack us a week ago.
Upon the disappearance of the enemy the inhabitants of this forlorn looking excrescence of the Dismal Swamp began to open their heretofore closed doors and windows and air themselves. Their sallow, spiteful, Dismal Swamp faces they had evidently intended should not be again exhibited to the Yankee barbarians whom, within a week, they have so reviled, judging that our lenity was the result of pusillanimity. The lower the order of animal life the less it appreciates kindness.
The remarks of some of the negroes after the retreat of the enemy were amusing – “Guess the rebs didn’t take dis yer place,” exclaims a sable representative of Congo, as his face opens like a piano. “Dem Yankees knows right smart more dan de rebs,” exclaims another.
A free negro and his family, living some four miles distant from town, on the Petersburg road, informed me that the rebels had taken his three sons (free), fearing they would give information to our forces; that they had robbed him of eleven hogs out of fifteen, when, thinking it was better to kill and sell than have the balance stolen, he disposed of the remaining four at six dollars each, Confederate notes. He also said that they stole all his poultry, excepting one old hen, which, fortunately, being sick at the time, saved her life. Many of the rebel soldiers told him that had they known that the war would last so long they never would have commenced it, that they were heartily tired of the contest. Large numbers of the men were barefooted and covered with rags. Their rations when they first arrived before Suffolk were one-fourth of a pound of bacon or beef, and some meal or flour. The ration was afterwards increased to one-half a pound of bacon or pork. Longstreet had a large wagon train with him, and has probably cleaned the country in this vicinity of everything eatable.
Before the siege of Suffolk commenced, on the 11th April, quite a brisk trade was kept up with the rebel families who live within twenty miles of the place. Passes were so easily obtained that the country people flocked to Suffolk to supply themselves with what they required to carry on a successful war against us; and our military authorities conducted their duties so loosely that no difficulty was experienced by any one in entering and leaving town when they chose. This is the way we wage war. This is the way we expect to subdue this infernal rebellion.
The force that was besieging us is now probably opposed to Hooker. Would it have been able to do so if our Suffolk forces had followed it up? The force of a blow is its weight multiplied by its velocity; but we forget the principle, and still pursue our old track of blows in succession instead of unison. However, our military authorities know best, and will do but one thing at a time.
Our newspapers inform us that a war with England is not an improbability. I venture the assertion, from personal observation, that there is not a regiment in the service whose term is about to expire but would re-enlist for one dollar per month if they can have the privilege of participating in such a war. There is not a soldier in the army but what feels deeply the stinging insults which have been suffered to his native land by Albion – insults which are patent in the most feeble mind, and which engender a hatred of English piratical policy which can only culminate in blood.
Our soldiers are ready for the double task of foreign and internecine strife; and, however herculean the task, it will be undertaken with a determination to conquer all or bury the republic.
A word about contraband labor. It is more valuable than white: not because our soldiers cannot do more than a negro; but, not considering themselves hired as laborers, our troops, knowing that their pay – work slow or fast – is exactly the same, are disposed to shirk the task of throwing up earthworks. I have noticed that the contrabands employed upon our fortifications around Suffolk throw up double the number of cubic yards of earth in the same time that the same number of our troops do. Yet the contrabands do not come up to the standard of the quantity of earth a man can throw out of a ditch per day, as they seldom exceed six cubic yards per ten hours.