emain on the
Rappahannock, while the other operated south of Richmond; and soon
after his arrival he urged upon his superior that, in case Hooker
moved, the Army of Northern Virginia should retire to the North Anna.
In short, to his mind the operations of the main body should be made
subservient to those of the detached force; Lee, with 30,000 men,
holding Hooker's 130,000 in check until Longstreet had won his
victory and could march north to join him. Such strategy was not
likely to find favour at headquarters. It was abundantly evident, in
the first place, that the Army of Northern Virginia must be the
principal objective of the Federals; and, in the second place, that
the defeat of the force of Suffolk, if it were practicable, would
have no effect whatever upon Hooker's action, except insomuch that
his knowledge of Longstreet's absence might quicken his resolution to
advance. Had Suffolk been a point vital to the North the question
would have assumed a different shape. As it was, the town merely
covered a tract of conquered territory, the Norfolk dockyard, and the
mouth of the James River. The Confederates would gain little by its
capture; the Federals would hardly feel its loss. It was most
improbable that a single man of Hooker's army would be detached to
defend a point of such comparative insignificance, and it was quite
possible that Longstreet would be unable to get back in time to meet
him, even on the North Anna. General Lee, however, anxious as ever to
defer to the opinions of the man on the spot, as well as to meet the
wishes of the Government, yielded to Longstreet's insistence that a
fine opportunity for an effective blow presented itself, and in the
first week of April the latter marched against Suffolk.

April 17.

His movement was swift and sudden. But, as Lee had anticipated, the
Federal position was strongly fortified, with the flanks secure, and
Longstreet had no mind to bring matters to a speedy conclusion. "He
could reduce the place," he wrote on April 17, "in two or three days,
but the expenditure of ammunition would be very large; or he could
take it by assault, but at a cost of 3000 men."

The Secretary of War agreed with him that the sacrifice would be too
great, and so, at a time when Hooker was becoming active on the
Rappahannock, Lee's lieutenant was quietly investing Suffolk, one
hundred and twenty miles away.

From that moment the Commander-in-Chief abandoned all hope that his
missin