May 7, 1861 - Battle of Gloucester Point

May 7, 1861

Battle of Gloucester Point (AKA Tyndall's Point) 

Gloucester, VA

Union Flag Officer Garrett J. Pendergrast > Navy Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge Jr.; Lieutenant Selfridge, in command of the USS Yankee

vs.

Lee appointed Colonel William B. Taliaferro commander of defenses at Gloucester Point and instructed him to cooperate with Virginia Navy Captain William C. Whittle ("This force had not yet been formally transferred to the Confederate States Army or Confederate States Navy, but the Virginians were acting in concert with the Confederacy and in its defense."); commanded by Lieutenant John Thompson Brown

* USS Yankee and Confederate batteries exchange fire, briefly and uneventfully: "the first cannon shot of the war in Virginia."

* "John Thompson Brown ultimately became a colonel. He was commander of the artillery for the 2d Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Gettysburg. Brown was in charge of a division of three battalions of artillery at the Battle of the Wilderness when he was killed in action on May 6, 1864"

* "Similar minor engagements between Union gunboats and Virginia shore batteries occurred soon after the action at Gloucester Point at the Battle of Sewell's Point, the Battle of Aquia Creek and the Battle of Pig Point. The Battle of Gloucester Point can be considered with those subsequent actions as part of the Union campaign to blockade the Chesapeake Bay and the entire coast of the Southern States." As of Summer 2025, I've been to all these sites, except Sewell's, which is no longer accessible by citizens. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=167797

Long a home to Virginia Indians, this strategically important promontory was initially called Tyndall's Point by the English, after Robert Tyndall, who mapped the area in 1608. A tobacco warehouse was erected here here in the 1630s, and a fort was built ca. 1667 during the Anglo-Dutch Wars. The port village of Gloucester Town thrived here in the 18th century. In 1781, during the Revolutionary War, British Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis fortified the point. Confederate troops maintained a fort and battery, constructed by enslaved African Americans, from 1861 to 1862. Union troops then occupied the fort until 1865. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science moved here in 1950.

Learn about the Revolutionary War on your own time! 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=18698

Welcome to Gloucester Point

A Point for the Defense

You are standing at the entrance to Tyndall’s Point Park. These protected remains of a Civil War fort survive to help take us back into the history of Gloucester Point. Nearby, you will find signs and brochures explaining events that occurred here during the American Revolution and the Civil War. You can also explore the eight-sign Point Walk ahead, strolling through 400 years of history.

English settlers, redcoat and patriot armies, and blue and gray citizen soldiers have defended and attacked this point during rebellions, revolutions and civil war. Today, the County of Gloucester and the National Park Service work together to protect the grounds while the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, located across Route 17, guards against environmental enemies of the Chesapeake Bay.

Enjoy your visit but please stay on the walkway and respect the plants and earthworks in this preserve. With your assistance, these unique pieces of history will survive for future generations.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=268470

What’s in a Name?

Virginians waited over 250 years to officially name their Point “Gloucester.” Robert Tyndall noticed the Point in 1608 and put his name on it. The English built the first fort here in 1667 and named it for King James II. In the 1860s, Union forces named their camp and fort located here Gilpin and Keyes. By the late 1800s, Gloucester Point finally joined the county and town named for Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King Charles I.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=185301

Where North Meets South

Virginia Fortifies Gloucester Point

“Just throw three or four shells among those blue-bellied Yankees and they’ll scatter like sheep.” Bravado from a North Carolina Confederate in May, 1861

Eighty years after the decisive events at Yorktown, a major war again came to Gloucester Point. This time it was a civil war. As Virginia joined the Confederacy in April, 1861, its leaders were soon defending the Chesapeake tidewater. Within days, the first shots of the war in Virginia were fired at Gloucester Point by Union gunboats.

The new Confederate armed forces were rich in engineering talent. General Robert E. Lee sent naval Captain William S. Whittle and Gloucester native Commander Thomas Jefferson Page to secure the entrances to both the York and James Rivers. Engineer Captain Charles H. Dimmock was set to work shoring up the defenses on Gloucester Point.

You are standing in the remains of the largest fort ever built here on the Point. By early 1862, Captain Dimmock, using slave labor, had thrown up this enormous earthwork to protect the land side from attack. Nearby, right at the Point, a 100 yard long and 75 yardwide earthen water battery had twelve large guns pointed at passing ships. A covered way linked the two forts.

New Forts with Old Principles

Civil War forts were built with guidelines that went back to 17th-century France. With the advent of artillery, the Marquis de Vauban revolutionized warfare by building forts that had low profiles, interior protection from plunging fire and deep defenses with guns that hit the enemy from every angle. As you walk through these remains, imagine where you would have placed artillery to defend the Point.

***

Later [and I never get tired of repeating this], the Union occupied the area. Much as I love McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, this stuff is going here too. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=268475

Classic Camp Life

The Union Army Occupies Gloucester Point

“The name of our Fort is Fort Keyes, and it is strongly fortified. There is about 2000 men on this side of the [York] river and 2 batterys…” Private Stephen T. Buckson, 4th Delaware infantry Regiment, March 16, 1863, at Gloucester Point

The Union army fought its way up the York River, only to lose the hard fought Seven Days Battles around Richmond in June and July of 1862. The Union army left behind a large force that strengthened the defenses around Yorktown. That force would also occupy Gloucester Point for the rest of the Civil War.

The garrison at Gloucester Point remained a sideshow to the great battles fought in the region. It was classic military camp life, months of monotonous routine punctuated by occasional attacks and forays into the countryside.

A Delaware Quaker, caught up in the emergency with millions of other Union volunteers, wrote a set of letters home about his life at Gloucester Point. Lieutenant Rodman Smith described his regiment’s camp. “On Gloucester Point proper is a large fort constructed by the rebels covering some 15 acres…to the rear of the fort where we are encamped is an extensive plain, a most magnificent drilling ground, as level as a pancake …the right section of the [picket] line rests on Sailor’s [Sarah’s] Creek, which…abounds in finest oysters and fish.”

A New Type of Soldier

Delaware citizen soldier Rod Smith and his comrades brought a new dimension to warfare, the ability to read and write. Millions of letters from both sides of the conflict help make the Civil War a vivid memory. In a letter home, Smith thanked his family for a care package, and described the quality of the contents: "…canned peaches, tomatoes...are favorites…lemons, apples, oranges…are acceptable…and nothing so readily devoured [as] nuts."

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=268469

On to Richmond!

McClellan Invades the Virginia Tidewater

“It is indispensable to you that you strike a blow...you must act.” - President Abraham Lincoln to General George B. McClellan, April 6, 1862

The York River Confederate defenses were tested early in the Civil War. A large Union force, the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George B. McClellan, steamed down the Chesapeake Bay from Washington D.C. in March, 1862. McClellan, called “Little Mac” by his adoring troops, intended to use the York and James Rivers to capture Richmond. The general had created a world class army but was a cautious field commander.

A spirited defense of the James River turned McClellan toward the York. His Union army faced strong forts at Gloucester Point and Yorktown. When the Union navy refused to attack the Gloucester guns on April 5, the Army of the Potomac settled in for a siege on the Yorktown side of the river.

General McClellan was befuddled by a daring Confederate army, one-third the size of his own force. He spent a month bringing in huge mortars and siege guns. A few days before he was ready to begin his massive bombardment, the Confederates withdrew and moved to defenses closer to Richmond. Only the Gloucester Point artillery kept firing. Thomas J. Page, boldly commanding the Confederate cannons, finally ordered a retreat on May 4th as the Union forces closed in.

The Search for Dependable Siege Guns

In the 1860s, rifled and large cannons were revolutionizing siege warfare. Firing artillery, however, could be as dangerous for the crew as their intended target. Bags of gunpowder and projectiles were still loaded at the muzzle and giant cast iron guns often blew up. The nearby gun breech belongs to a Parrott Rifle that fired a rifled shell. It was a new style cast iron cannon, invented by Robert Parrott in 1860, and featured a heavy band added to reinforce the breech. The reason this gun exploded is lost to history.

[And there's a picture of] A Union observation balloon goes up during the month long 1862 Siege of Yorktown. The balloonist [oh yes, I have ever reason to believe it is Prof. S.C. Lowe in three!] has a good view of the Confederate forts, with flag flying, at Gloucester Point across the York River. Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society

[And] A Confederate smoothbore cannon on a naval carriage lies silent after the 1862 Yorktown siege. Soldiers look out at the Union fleet in the York River from the captured Gloucester Point water battery. Courtesy of the U.S. Army Military History Institute, U.S. Army Heritage

Gloucester Point

Ancient Defender of the York

—1862 Peninsula Campaign—

The earthworks before you are the remains of the star-shaped “covering work” that helped to defend the York River against Union attack from 1861 to 1862. Tyndall’s (Gloucester) Point was first fortified in 1667 and was officially named Fort James when it was rebuilt with brick in 1671. The narrowing of the river between Yorktown and Gloucester Point provided a good defensive position to effect control of the upper reaches of the York River and the inland countryside. These fortifications were the eastern terminus of Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder’s, CSA, 2nd Peninsula Defensive Line.

In June 1861, the Confederate Army fortified Gloucester Point by constructing a star-shaped fort and water battery overlooking the York River. The main battery was at the extremity of the point, its terreplain only two feet above high tide. It was a fully enclosed earthwork, 100 yards long and 75 yards wide. Its parapet was 7½ feet high on the inside and 20 feet thick, with embrasures for 12 guns. While the battery was under construction Gloucester Point came under fire from Union gunboats. The attack was repulsed and the battery completed under the instruction of Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA. Its armament consisted of eight 9-inch Dahlgrens and four 32-pounders. The water battery was protected from land attack by the star-shaped fort constructed on the bluff above it.

[So is the date on the marker wrong? This description sounds like the occurrence on May 7th, but is reported to happen in June.] 

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s concept to capture Richmond by way of the Virginia Peninsula was based on his ability to utilize the James and York rivers as avenues of approach to the Confederate capital. The emergence of the powerful ironclad ram, the CSS Virginia (Merrimack), blocked the James River to McClellan’s use and forced him to concentrate his army on the York River. When McClellan’s advance was blocked by Magruder’s 2nd Defensive Line, the U.S. Navy refused to make any attempt to run past the batteries at Yorktown and Gloucester Point. The entire 2nd Defensive Line was abandoned by the Confederates on the evening of May 3-4, 1862. Only then was the U.S. Navy able to transport McClellan’s troops and equipment up the York River to White House Landing on the Pamunkey River and continue operations against Richmond.

Gloucester Point 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gloucester_Point_(1861)