Fort Pocahontas (Charles City County, Virginia)
Charles City County · Virginia · American Civil War
History & Significance
Fort Pocahontas is the best-preserved site in Virginia associated with African American Federal troops in combat. Construction began on May 5, 1864, when Federal troops arrived to fortify the bluff as part of Grant's broader strategy to capture Richmond.
The garrison of 1,500 soldiers—primarily from the 1st and 10th Regiments of United States Colored Troops and Battery M of the 3rd New York Light Artillery—beat back assaults by 2,500 Confederate cavalrymen in what was the only Civil War battle in Virginia in which nearly all Union troops were black. After completion, the fort served as a refuge for escaped slaves and was used to hold suspected Confederate sympathizers during the Siege of Petersburg until the war ended in April 1865.
The crescent-shaped, earthen fort features a ditch, two bastions that supported cannons, and earthworks ranging from seven to eleven feet in height. The remote site remained largely forgotten and untouched for 130 years until military historian Ed Besch's research led to its purchase in 1996 by Harrison Ruffin Tyler. Fort Pocahontas was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 27, 1999.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Earthen fortification built by United States Colored Troops during the Civil War
- James River setting and strategic Union supply depot location
- Exhibits on African-American soldiers and the fort's role sheltering enslaved people and detainees
- Well-preserved earthworks and archaeological remains from the 1864 siege
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Pocahontas
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/ftpoc.htm
- https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/018-5001/
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=9520
- https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/fort-pocahontas
- http://www.fortpocahontas.org/