VA-K261 Pig Point Battery

Marker text: PIG POINT BATTERY

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 <i>Harriet Lane</i> 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 <i>Harriet Lane</i> withdrew.

Department of Historic Resources, 1998.