Fort Monroe (Hampton, Virginia)
Hampton · Virginia · Civil War
History & Significance
Following the War of 1812, when British forces threatened the Chesapeake Bay region, Old Point Comfort was identified as a strategic location and work began in 1819. The modern fort was first garrisoned by 1824, with construction continuing until 1834.
The six-sided bastion fort is the largest fort by area ever built in the United States. Robert E. Lee oversaw completion of its construction while residing there as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1830s.
Brigadier General Abraham Eustis established the Artillery School of Practice at the fort, making it a prime training and assembly point for troops engaged in the Seminole, Black Hawk, and Mexican wars. During the Civil War, the fort remained the only federal military installation in the Upper South under United States control throughout the conflict.
On May 23, 1861, three enslaved men—Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend—fled bondage by making their way to the U.S. Army at the fort. General Benjamin Butler refused to return them, declaring that these persons were being used to wage war against the Union, coining the term "contraband of war."
When freedom-seekers grew too numerous for the fort, the "Grand Contraband Camp" was established in nearby Hampton, becoming the first self-contained black community in the nation, with a population reaching thousands by 1865. The fort served as the staging area for Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign of 1862. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned at Fort Monroe from May 1865 until his bail bond was accepted two years later.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Massive six-sided bastion fort with surrounding moat protecting Chesapeake Bay
- Civil War-era fortification that remained Union-controlled
- Historic role as 'Freedom's Fortress' sheltering escaped enslaved people
- Well-preserved 19th-century military architecture and engineering
- Museum exhibits documenting fort's strategic and social history
Sources
- https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/114-0002/
- https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/fort-monroe-during-the-civil-war/
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/featured_stories_fomr.htm
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/fort-monroe-and-the-contrabands-of-war.htm
- https://www.hampton.gov/1912/History
- https://dwr.virginia.gov/vbwt/sites/fort-monroe/
- https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-hampton-roads-fort-monroe