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    Fort Monroe
    Fort Monroe
    Fort Monroe
    Ebook179 pages1 hour

    Fort Monroe

    By Paul S. Morando and David J. Johnson

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    About this ebook

    Fort Monroe was once a powerful symbol of America's national defense system. From 1823 to 1945, its primary military mission was to protect Hampton Roads and the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay from enemy attacks. Over the years, as military technology advanced, Fort Monroe's defensive posture changed. To counter potential threats, American coastal defense installations such as Fort Monroe developed sophisticated steel disappearing guns, mortars, anti-aircraft weapons, and submarine mines. As the site of the army's Coast Artillery School, Fort Monroe trained thousands of soldiers. After World War II, Fort Monroe's role as a coastal defense installation ended, and the post took on new missions as a training headquarters facility. With more than 200 original photographs, this volume unveils the layered history of this massive stone-and-brick installation from the end of the Civil War to the present. This volume will highlight more than 140 years of images that capture Fort Monroe's varied missions, historic buildings, the families who lived there, the resort hotels, and other aspects of this unique national landmark.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439622704
    Fort Monroe
    Author

    Paul S. Morando

    Author Paul S. Morando, director of Fort Monroe's Casemate Museum, and coauthor David J. Johnson, the museum's archivist, produced this fascinating volume using images primarily from the museum's archives.

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      Book preview

      Fort Monroe - Paul S. Morando

      Museum.)

      INTRODUCTION

      At the entrance of Hampton Roads, where the Atlantic Ocean and the James River converge at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, stands an American castle. Fort Monroe, with its brick arches and solid granite walls, looms over the sea as a powerful symbol of America’s national defense system.

      The ramparts and casemates are no longer filled with large seacoast guns. What remains are the rusted gun rails on which the wooden carriages traversed—remnants of Fort Monroe’s military past. The only constant is the water in the moat that slowly moves along the outer walls of the fort. It is a sustaining presence, always there like Fort Monroe’s history itself, ebbing and flowing with the tide.

      Named after the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, the fort’s size speaks for itself. The walls stretch 1.3 miles around, enclosing 63 acres of land to become known as the Gibraltar of the Chesapeake.

      During the construction of Fort Monroe (1819–1834) some critics denounced its size as being too big and a waste of government funds (overall cost was more than $1.8 million) while others saw it as a monumental achievement in military engineering. Nevertheless, Fort Monroe had an integral part in the history of the United States and was a witness to and participant in many significant events.

      This book does not set out to cover the entire story of Fort Monroe, which is more appropriate for a formal publication. A chapter could be dedicated to the founding of Point Comfort (the small peninsula that Fort Monroe sits on) by English colonists in 1607. Capt. John Smith called this area an Isle fit for a Castle in 1608 after establishing the colony of Jamestown. Another chapter easily could highlight the fortifications that were built here prior to Fort Monroe to include Fort Algernourne (1609–1612), Point Comfort Fort (1632–1667), and Fort George (1727–1749).

      More importantly, another chapter could uncover why the army built Fort Monroe. The need for a nationalized permanent system of fortifications came right after the War of 1812. After escaping defeat at the hands of the British, U.S. military leaders, and politicians realized that their defenses were inadequate to repel a formidable attack. A prime example of this vulnerability came in August 1814. After burning the city of Hampton, Virginia, in 1813, the British easily sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and burned Washington, D.C. As a counterpoint, the Battle of Baltimore (September 12–15, 1814) emphasized the importance of having strong, well-built fortifications at key locations. Fort McHenry proved useful in keeping the British at bay, thus preventing them from entering the Baltimore harbor and capturing the city. These events, along with the rise of Napoleon in Europe, compelled the young United States to begin a calculated strategy of defending its shores, coastal areas, ports, and cities.

      Another chapter could also describe Fort Monroe’s involvement in Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831), the Indian Wars (1832–1836), and the Mexican War (1846–1848). Focus could also be placed on the many famous individuals who were either stationed here or passed through Fort Monroe, including Edgar Allan Poe, Chief Black Hawk, Robert E. Lee, Benjamin Butler, Abraham Lincoln, and Jefferson Davis. The variety of historical buildings on the installation could be highlighted, featuring architecture in the art deco, Romanesque, Beaux-Arts, Colonial Revival, Empire, Federal, and Gothic Revival styles. Moreover, Fort Monroe’s most important period, the Civil War, with events such as the contraband decision, the Battle of Big Bethel, and the Peninsula Campaign has already been covered extensively in another Arcadia publication, Fort Monroe: The Key to the South.

      The purpose of this book is to complete the story by capturing the history of Fort Monroe from the end of the Civil War (1865) to the Department of Defense’s decision to place Fort Monroe on the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list in 2005. This book reveals through photographs how Fort Monroe adapted and overcame many challenges. From changing military technology and new missions, to hurricanes and budget setbacks, Fort Monroe and the U.S. Army have always managed to continue on.

      In 1865, with the rest of the nation still reeling from the aftermath of the Civil War, Fort Monroe was trying to define its role as an army installation by adapting new missions and abandoning old ones. The Artillery School of Practice, established by Brig. Gen. Abraham Eustis in 1824, was put on hold during the war. It was revived as the Artillery School of the United States Army and trained soldiers on artillery tactics using field and seacoast cannons, as well as teaching basic military courses. Fort Monroe also became a destination for many tourists with the construction of the second Hygeia Hotel in 1868. During this time, a local chapter of the Freedmen’s Bureau was created on Fort Monroe to help with Reconstruction that gave aid to thousands of former slaves.

      From 1891 to 1916, Fort Monroe went through a modernization of its coastal defenses, which had a profound effect on its mission. The smoothbore cannons inside the casemates and on the ramparts were no longer effective. Even the powerful 15-inch Rodman guns and 100-pounder Parrott guns were outclassed by modern guns available at the turn of the 20th century. New emphasis was now placed on the development of large disappearing guns housed in concrete batteries that were capable of firing 1,070-pound projectiles eight miles. These new weapons replaced the need for having large stone forts as part of America’s national defense system. In 1907, the Coast Artillery School was established at Fort Monroe and went on to train thousands of soldiers for the next 40 years. The urgency of World War I transformed Fort Monroe into a Coast Artillery Training Center to prepare officers and enlisted men for service overseas.

      The two decades before World War II proved to be a difficult time for Fort Monroe. The onset of the Great Depression reduced military spending, and the installation witnessed the burning of the Hotel Chamberlin in 1920 and suffered through a major hurricane in 1933. However, Fort Monroe prevailed and began to rebuild in 1934, and continued its coast artillery training mission.

      Another era in military technology entered Fort Monroe during World War II. The advent of air and

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