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 Harriet Lane 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 Harriet Lane withdrew.
Marker is on U.S. 58 (U.S. 460), on the right.
Courtesy hmdb.org
