The Battle of Smithfield was a relatively small skirmish during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

– taking place on from January 31 to February 1, 1864, in

Smithfield, Virginia Smithfield is a town in Isle of Wight County, in the South Hampton Roads subregion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia in the United States. The population was 8,089 at the 2010 census. The town is most famous for the curing and production ...

Background

In 1863 and early 1864,

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

units harassed Union gunboats on the

Nansemond River The Nansemond River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the James River in Virginia in the United States. Virginian colonists named the river ...

and operated with relative impunity in the Smithfield area. Union Navy and Army commanders decided to cooperate in a joint operation by sending landing parties into the towns of Chuckatuck in

Nansemond County Nansemond is an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony and in the Commonwealth of Virginia (after statehood) in the United States, from 1646 until 1974. It was known as Nansemond County until 1972. From ...

– present day

Suffolk, Virginia Suffolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and as such has no county. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,324. It is the 9th most populous city in Virginia and the largest city in Virginia by boundary land area as ...

- and Smithfield in

Isle of Wight County Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, th ...

to converge and trap an offending rebel unit. The plan went awry when Union troops marching south from Smithfield encountered Confederate troops near an abandoned

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

site southwest of the town. Both sides disengaged and pulled back – Union troops into Smithfield and Confederate soldiers toward Zuni. Then, Confederate forces led by Col. Nathaniel A. Sturdivant rallied from their nearby winter quarters on the

Blackwater River A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black te ...

and rushed to repel the invasion.

Skirmish

On February 1, 1864, Southern cannons were fired down Main Street in the middle of town with a Union cannon responding in kind. The Confederates made an all-out assault on both flanks of the enemy and drove them back to their landing site on the edge of town. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

was sent to rescue the detachment but was destroyed. Nearly the entire landing force was captured and sent off to the Confederate prison near

Andersonville, Georgia Andersonville is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 237. It is located in the southwest part of the state, approximately southwest of Macon on the Central of Georgia railroad. ...

Aftermath

On January 31, one Confederate soldier was killed in action. On February 1, Union casualties included 17 killed in action, 5 wounded in action and 110 prisoners of war. The Confederates counted one soldier wounded in action.

References

*Historical Notes on Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Helen Haverty King, 1993. *Isle of Wight County, 1608-2007. Col. E. M. Morrison and Doris Gwaltney, 2006. *Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Prepared by Edward K. Rawson, Comdr George P. Colvocoresses and Charles W. Stewart, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1901. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smithfield Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia Battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War January 1864 events February 1864 events 1864 in Virginia