|
Keywords |
historic marker Pig Point Battery Virginia VA attraction display education historical marker Historical Site information landmark marker Place of Interest sign Tourist Destination Travel Destination attractive destination educating historic markers historic site info signage tourist attraction appealing history no people text tourism travel South attract historic nobody word daytime displays historical markers landmarks markers signs appeal color image educate historical outdoor vertical day destinations historic sites tourist attractions US colour image outside day time USA day-time U.S. words color images daylight outdoors U.S.A. verticals colour images Jason O. Watson / historical-markers.org natural light outsides United States United States of America Suffolk County sign with text |
Caption |
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. |