Joint Expedition against Franklin

Joint Expedition Against Franklin
Part of the American Civil War
Extract from 1892 map detailing the subject area. The Blackwater River flows north-south in the left of the image. The image measures approximately 22.25 miles (35.81 km) × 8.5 miles (13.7 km), or 189.125 square miles (489.83 km2).
Date October 3, 1862 (1862-10-03) Location Franklin, Virginia & nearby Blackwater River 36°40′29″N 76°55′50″W / 36.674722°N 76.930556°W / 36.674722; -76.930556 Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
Union Navy Union Army	Confederate States Army
Commanders and leaders
C. W. Flusser Edmund R. Colhoun Charles A. French Samuel P. Spear	Dennis Dozier Ferebee J. K. Marshall Edward Graham Collet Leventhorpe
Strength
3 Gunboats 1,300 Infantry    w/1 × Artillery section	10,000–12,000 Infantry
Casualties and losses
5 KIA, 21 wounded	estimated 70–100
Franklin, Virginia

The Joint Expedition Against Franklin was a joint engagement between the United States Army & Navy against the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The engagement was intended to move Union forces into an area where Confederate forces were gathering as they prepared to move on Suffolk, Virginia. Originally planned as a coordinated two-pronged attack with a naval flotilla supporting an infantry advance on Franklin, Virginia, communications delays caused the Union Navy to start the mission before the Army was ready to support it. Instead, October 3, 1862 (1862-10-03) found Union Naval forces on the Blackwater River greatly outnumbered by Confederate infantrymen and ultimately forced to retreat. The naval action alone is also known as the Action at Crumpler's Bluff or the Battle of Crumpler's Bluff.

Simultaneously, a nearby Army reconnaissance team conducted a failed assault on the town on the basis that the audibly nearby Naval forces—which they did not know were then in retreat—would bring support. The outcome left the Union forces with a combined 5 casualties and 21 wounded. Dialogue between officers following the conflict left the Union navy questioning the usefulness of gunboats in joint expedition settings in which they would not be capable of supporting themselves.

Receiving orders early September 12, 1862, the Confederate Army's 4th North Carolina (NC) Cavalry immediately proceeded from Garysburg, North Carolina to Franklin, Virginia, arriving late the next day. There, the 4th NC Cavalry, under the command of a Colonel Dennis Dozier Ferebee, was joined by the 52nd North Carolina Infantry, Edward Graham's Petersburg Artillery and (two weeks later) the 11th North Carolina Infantry. The 4th NC Cavalry's first major assignment was to construct a floating bridge across the nearby Blackwater River to replace the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad bridge and thereby facilitate the eastward transfer of men and equipment into Franklin; Col. Ferebee reported the bridge finished on the 18th.