Steuart was exchanged later in the summer of 1864, returning to command a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, in the division of Major General George Pickett. Steuart's brigade consisted of the 9th, 14th, 38th, 53rd and 57th Virginia regiments, and served in the trenches north of the James River during the Siege of Petersburg (June 9, 1864 – March 25, 1865). By this stage of the war, Confederate supplies had dwindled to the point where Lee's army began to go hungry, and the theft of food became a serious problem. Steuart was forced to send armed guards to the supply depot at Petersburg in order to ensure that his men's packages were not stolen by looters.