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.

[4][5] Peck forwarded this information on to his commanding officer, Major General John Adams Dix who, in turn, developed a twofold mission to roust the enemy from Franklin and destroy the floating bridge with a joint service attack with the Union Army and Navy respectively.

[8] Acting on Union picket intelligence of the Confederate's position in Franklin, both Generals Peck and Dix felt that it would be wiser to wait on the joint assault.

[3][4][9] The evening of 2 October, Confederate pickets observed the three riverboats waiting around South Quay, Virginia, approximately three miles (4.8 km) downriver from Franklin.

As Perry was too close to bring its large-bore guns to bear, Commander Flusser ordered his sailors to shelter themselves as best they could while the ship tried to steam past the enemy.

[4] Freed, Perry rounded the bend and maneuvered to provide suppressive fire to allow Hunchback and Whitehead to follow;[10] the combined shelling of all three ships forced Lt. Ruffin and his detachment to withdraw from the banks of the river.

After six hours of combat, running low on ammunition, realizing that he only had 1,300 men (not the 1,700–2,000 he'd thought),[4] and losing two riflemen to Confederate defection, Spear withdrew the Union forces around Franklin, and returned to Suffolk abandoning one brass field piece, a few overcoats, and a horse.

[4] After the Union shelling, most of Franklin's civilians left the town, leaving it in the hands of the Confederate soldiers there; they did not return until after the April 1865 surrender of General Lee.

"[8] In his After Action Report to Admiral Lee of October 6, 1862 (1862-10-06), Lieutenant Commander Flusser described his losses as heavy and opined that it was "folly to fight these people on the banks, where they have every advantage", and that he could not be of any further service to the Army forces.

[11] In the aftermath of the failed mission, both Navy and Army flag officers implied that the cause was attempting to cooperate with the respective sister service.