April 5 - May 4, 1862 - Peninsula Campaign: Yorktown plus Lee Hall and Lebanon Church
April 5 - May 4, 1862
(Siege of) Yorktown
Yorktown, VA
George B. McClellan's whole damn Army of the Potomac
vs.
Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate force
* McClellan trying to get to Richmond through the backdoor is stopped by a much smaller force. He gets through eventually with minimal actual sieging, mostly just the threat of big guns. The Confederates slip away and provide a bigger challenge up the peninsula at Williamsburg.
* Magruder did a good job building defenses and, using his experience as an actor, was ostentatiously moving troops back and forth to make his force appear larger. It worked.
* Yes, it is the same Yorktown battlefield from the Revolution - even some of the same entrenchments dug by Cornwallis are used. (Feel free to skip over all of the many following historical markers for that OTHER war!)
* One of my personal favorites, Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, is around here with his Union Army Balloon Corps, trying to make observations.
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Previously on The American Civil War - Chronologically: Gloucester Point, Endview, and Lee Hall. And we'll get to Redoubt 12 at Williamsburg later on this trip. Now: first Yorktown, then the waterfront.
Yorktown |
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=162585
Slabtown
Civil War Yorktown
There is a large settlement near Yorktown, called Slabtown, settled by the government during the war with those who came within the lines. The colored people there are doing such work as they can get to do, oystering, & c. -Testimony of Dr. Daniel Norton [McNorton], before a United States Congressional subcommittee on conditions in the South under reconstruction, February 3, 1866. Dr. Daniel Norton was a former slave, born in Williamsburg, Virginia who fled to the North and became a licensed physician. About 1864 he came to Yorktown to practice medicine, achieving prominence in Virginia politics and advocating education for previously enslaved Americans.
From May 1862 through the end of the Civil War, Yorktown was occupied by United States troops. Some enslaved Americans, who became known as “contraband of war," escaped from the Confederate controlled South and sought freedom behind the Federal lines at Yorktown. In July 1863, when Brigadier General Isaac J. Wistar was assigned command at Yorktown, he reported over 12,000 contraband were living off subsistence from his commissary. To provide them with shelter and an opportunity for self-sufficiency, he established housing on nearby land that was unoccupied by the owner. Wistar assigned his own troops to oversee the construction, reporting to his commanding officer, Major General John A. Dix, that he had “a large force at work laying out and erecting negro quarters...”
The new neighborhood became known as Slabtown, reflective of the pine wood slabs that the cabins were built from. Almost as soon as Slabtown was populated, the Friends’ Freedmen's Association of Philadelphia began sending teachers to establish schools in the community and a few businessmen to set up a store which provided supplies such as clothing, vegetable seeds, and farming tools. Army officers also arrived to recruit soldiers for the newly formed United States Colored Regiments.
After the war, Slabtown, sometimes called Uniontown, remained a vibrant community with a few businesses, school and church. However, ownership of the land reverted to its former Confederate owner. Not until the 1880s and 1890s did the inhabitants have the opportunity to purchase the property that some had lived on for many years. In the 1970s, the National Park Service, as part of an effort to restore more of Yorktown’s 1781 battlefield, purchased the Slabtown lots; and razed all the buildings. Some of the residents relocated less than a mile from their former homes.
(sidebar)
While Slabtown was constructed quickly, this 1867 military map of the community illustrates it was established with well surveyed streets and arrangement of buildings. Sergeant Charles Brooke of the 5th Michigan Cavalry description of Slabtown on March 5, 1864 confirms the planning that went into developing Slabtown: The streets are laid out regularly, about four roads wide. Each cabin is about twelve by eighteen feet, and one story high. They are all built of pine slabs, and the roofs are of the same. They each have an alley between, of four feet. Many are whitewashed and with neat fences round them. The interiors are generally neat and clean. The streets are kept swept, and every thing shows good discipline... These people have nearly all been slaves, and those that were born fee say that they were no better till our forces gained possession... They have their own stores, post-office, schools.. church...
(captions)
Dr. Daniel Norton, 1883 Courtesy of Virginia State University, of which Dr. Norton was a member of the university's first board of visitors.
General Issac Jones Wistar's General Order #13 directed that From and after the 23d day of July...all negroes..be removed from within Fort Yorktown to the new quarters now being provided for them...
- Courtesy of the Wistar Institute
Oh and there was another war here too...I guess we can talk about that.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=185394 |
Second Allied Siege Line
Colonial National Historical Park
At the present distance of our batteries … they might fire till Christmas without materially lessening the enemy’s force …. I am impatient to get nearer to the enemy, that our work may be more speedily accomplished, and our ammunition not thrown away.
- Colonel Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General, Continental Army
You are standing near the left side of the reconstructed Second Siege Line. A large portion of the line – to Cornwallis’s consternation – was constructed under the cover of darkness, October 11 and 12, 1781. At daybreak, the British saw that their enemy now had them within point-blank artillery range, just 360 yards away.
Erected by Colonial National Historical Park, National Park Service.
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| OK, I won't. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10661 |
Surrender at Yorktown
Colonial National Historical Park
Near this spot on the afternoon of October 19, 1781 – as silence prevailed among the Allied soldiers and onlookers – all eyes were trained on the approaching British troops. Cornwallis, sending word that he was ill, appointed his second in command, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara, to surrender his sword. O’Hara mistakenly approached French General Rochambeau to present the sword. He was quickly corrected and led to Washington, the supreme commander of the Allied forces. Washington refused to take the blade from O’Hara’s “good hand,” and referred him to Major General Benjamin Lincoln, his second in command. Lincoln, accepting it, escorted O’Hara to an open field about one and a half miles from here, where British and German soldiers, regiment after regiment, grounded their arms.
Erected by Colonial National Historical Park, National Park Service.
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More from the wrong war, but hey - when in Rome...
NOT historical markers
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10654 |
Victory Monument
Historic Yorktown
— Colonial National Historical Park —
“Resolved, That … Congress … will cause to be erected at York, in Virginia, a marble column, adorned with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his Most Christian Majesty; and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the surrender of Earl Cornwallis to his excellency General George Washington … to his excellency the Count de Rochambeau … and his excellency the Count de Grasse ….”
-Journals of Congress, October 29, 1781
Just 10 days after the victory at Yorktown, the Continental Congress directed a monument be built to commemorate the siege and the American-French alliance. However, funds were not legislated for its construction until 1880, as the continental anniversary of the battle approached.
A congressional committee of legislators from the original 13 colonies delegated oversight of the project to the Secretary of War, who in turn, chose architects, Richard M. Hunt and Henry Van Brunt, and sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward to design the new monument. The country’s spirit of reconciliation in the aftermath of the Civil War affected the design, as evidenced by the inscription, “One Country, One Constitution, One Destiny” on the monument’s shaft.
On October 18, 1881, the cornerstone for the monument was dedicated during events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the siege.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=11192 |
Monument to the Alliance and Victory
Yorktown Monument Commissioners , 1881
R. M. Hunt, Architect, Chairman
Henry Van Brunt, Architect,
J. Q. A. Ward, Sculptor
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Oskar J. W. Hansen, Sculptor of Liberty, 1957
Front of Monument:
At York on October 19 1781, after a siege of nineteen days by 5500 American and 7000 French troops of the line, 3500 Virginia Militia under command of General Thomas Nelson and 36 French ships of war, Earl Cornwallis, commander of the British forces at York and Gloucester, surrendered his army, 7251 officers and men, 840 seamen, 244 cannon and 24 standards, to his Excellency George Washington, Commander in Chief of the combined forces of America and France, to his Excellency the Comte de Rochambeau commanding the auxiliary troops of his most Christian Majesty in America and to his Excellency the Comte de Grasse Commanding in Chief the naval army of France in Chesapeake
Left Side of Monument:
The Provisional Articles of Peace concluded November 30, 1782 and the definitive Treaty of Peace concluded September 3, 1783 between the United States of America and George III King of Great Britain of Ireland declare his Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to be free, sovereign and independent
Back of Monument:
Erected in pursuance of a resolution of Congress adopted October 29, 1781 and an Act of Congress approved June 7, 1880 to commemorate the victory by which the independence of the United States of America was achieved.
Right Side of Monument:
The treaty concluded February 6, 1788 between the United States of America and Louis XVI King of France declares the essential and direct end of the present defensive alliance is to maintain effectually the liberty and sovereignty and independence absolute and unlimited of the said United States as well in matters of government as of commerce.
Shaft:
One country, one constitution, one destiny.
Erected 1881 by United States of America.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10925 |
Yorktown Victory Monument
This monument was authorized by Continental Congress, October 29, 1781, just after the news of surrender reached Philadelphia. Actual construction began 100 years later and was completed in 1884. The original figure of Liberty atop the Victory shaft was severely damaged by lightning. A new work replaced it in 1956. The shaft of Maine granite is 84 feet in height to which Liberty adds another 14 feet.
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And now, let's take a stroll along the heavily-signed Yorktown Riverwalk. Some of the signs are even about the Civil War.
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| Introduction. Most of the signs were erected in 2010 by York County. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64601 |
Yorke Village
In 1629, the Virginia Council encouraged the settlement of the south bank of the York River. The following year, Governor John Harvey was given a land patent of 752 acres at Wormley Creek, establishing Yorke Village. By the 1650s, settlement had developed so rapidly that the county court had regular meetings at Captain Robert Baldrey’s house at Yorke.
Although the exact size and population of Yorke Village is unknown, history clearly indicates that it served as the social, economic, political, and religious center for this area during a large part of the 1600s. The only significant, remaining feature of the village is the gravestone of Major William Gooch. Dating back to October 1655, it is one of the oldest legible tombstones in America.
The eventual abandonment of Yorke Village coincided with the upriver development of Yorktown as a superior deep-water port in the late 1690s. The original village site is now home to the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center.
Original art by Dennis Crawford. Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard TRACEN Yorktown.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10911 |
York Under Siege 1781
Early in October French-American forces closed their grip on the besieged British army in Yorktown and bombarded the town with their combined artillery. Incessant shellfire drove townspeople to seek shelter under this bluff and forced the British commander, Lord Cornwallis, to move his headquarters to a nearby cave. The end came quickly with the British surrender on October 19. Yorktown returned to peace, but never to its former prosperity.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=11007 |
York “Under The Hill”
Initially Yorktown was laid out above the bluffs, but the thin strip of ground here between water and cliff was essential to the town’s commercial life. Port facilities crowded the area – wharves, warehouses and stores as pictured here. These same facilities, and the excellent harbor, prompted Cornwallis to establish his base at Yorktown in the summer of 1781.
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| Caves in the Yorktown cliffs |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=80986 |
An Archer House
Yorktown had a "great fire" in 1814. This destroyed all but the foundations of this house, thought to be one of Thomas Archer's "Houses under the Hill." The present restoration is the nineteenth century dwelling built on the older stone foundations.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=11009 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=266133 |
Yorktown’s Waterfront
Ships, Tobacco & Trade
18th century commerce moved by water whenever possible. Yorktown’s waterfront reflected this. Tobacco warehouses, ship’s chandleries, grogshops and wharves lined the waterfront … Among them passed the diverse array of merchants and sailors, planters and inspectors, travelers, laborers, and slaves who kept business moving briskly.
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Remembering Ancestors
The Middle Passage
For more than 350 years, approximately 12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean in the largest forced human migration in history. Two million, unknown and forgotten, died during the voyage. Of the ten million who survived, at least 500,000 arrived between 1619 and 1860, in what is now the United States of America. These enslaved survivors and their descendants contributed labor and skills to develop this nation.
Slavery was crucial to the growth of the fledgling colony whose economy became dependent upon the enslavement of an increasing number of Africans. In many cases, a planter did not have enough slaves to produce tobacco on a Tidewater plantation and to create new fields on undeveloped land in the Piedmont. Elite colonists purchased imported Africans to expand their labor forces. According to historian Lorena S. Walsh, “Although most bought only one, two, and seldom more than four slaves from individual ships, they nonetheless acquired their adult labor force in a span of no more than ten to fifteen years.” From 1619 until 1774, more than 390 vessels brought captured Africans to Virginia, delivering to major trade ports and directly to plantations along the James, York, and Rappahannock Rivers. Their diverse knowledge, culture, and beliefs impacted the heritage of Virginia.
Yorktown and the York River District
In 1691, the Virginia Assembly established Yorktown as an official port for the colony. It was the main port of entry for Williamsburg which was established as Virginia’s colonial capital in 1699. During the first part of the 18th century, it served as the primary port of entry for Africans brought into the Virginia colony where the trade was widespread and profitable until 1771. The entire York River District between 1698 and 1750 was the center of the overseas trade, and during this period over 80 percent of “imported Africans were disembarked on the shores of the York and Rappahannock Rivers.”
In her 2001 article, The Chesapeake Slave Trade, Walsh also noted that, “Most arrived directly from Africa in vessels that carried, on average, 125 captives. London slavers predominated in the York at the turn of the century but were then soon supplanted by Bristol shippers….Just over 9,000 (56 percent) came from the Bight of Biafra, one-fifth from West Central Africa, a tenth from the Windward and Gold Coasts, and two additional twentieths from Senegambia and Madagascar.”
The Great Valley
In front of you, and to your left, is the “Great Valley.” One of the few natural washes down the marl cliffs of Yorktown, it was used during the eighteenth century as a roadway to connect the busy waterfront to the town above. This was the primary passageway for the Africans arriving by ship to the market that awaited them on Main Street. Over 31,000 Africans entered the York River District between 1698 and 1771.
Erected 2013 by Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project. (Marker Number 1.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=168251 |
Yorktown Waterfront
Union Port and Supply Depot
— 1862 Peninsula Campaign —
In spring 1862, the Confederate heavy artillery batteries on the bluffs at Yorktown, as well as those positioned along the waterfront on both sides of the York River, effectively blocked the U.S. Navy’s attempts to bypass Magruder’s 2nd Peninsula Defensive Line. The waterfront fortifications were built by Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder’s Army of the Peninsula and Confederate naval personnel. The earthworks on Yorktown’s inland perimeter were mostly constructed atop the British defenses from the 1781 siege.
On the night of May 3-4, 1862, the Confederate army abandoned the 2nd Defensive Line. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, CSA, believed that the Confederate positions could not withstand Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s, USA, elaborately prepared bombardment with heavy siege guns. The Confederate army was prevented from evacuating its heavy equipment and artillery via the York River because McClellan’s Siege Battery Number 1, comprised of 100- and 200-pound Parrott siege cannon, had already bombarded the waterfront.
The Confederate evacuation suddenly changed Yorktown into a busy port supporting the Union advance on Richmond. Members of the 1st Connecticut Heavy artillery retrieved the ordinance from the siege batteries around the town, and troops assembled at Yorktown to be transported up river to the Federal base at White House on the Pamunkey River, a tributary of the York River. As the Peninsula Campaign continued, casualties from battles around Richmond were transported to Yorktown, which became a major hospital area.
Following the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Yorktown became a Union garrison and headquarters for a federally held district which also included Williamsburg and Gloucester Point. Its waterfront area was an active port for Union forces until the summer of 1864, when the Union army established a supply base at City Point on the James River during the Petersburg Campaign.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64606 |
Great Fire of 1814
Yorktown was heavily damaged during the Siege of 1781 and many residents abandoned their properties. Those who stayed demolished damaged buildings and repaired others. Everyday life reemerged, but on March 3, 1814, another disaster struck. The Richmond Enquirer carried the news.
York, March 4 — Yesterday about 3:00 p.m. Mrs. Gibbons’ house...took fire and together with the county Court-house, the Church, the spacious dwelling of the late President Nelson, and the whole of the town below the hill, except Charlton’s and Grant’s houses, were consumed. The lower town was occupied principally by poor people, who are now thrown upon the world without a shelter or a cent to aid them...The wind was high and the [buildings] were old — the fire spread...like a train of powder.
Again, little was done to rebuild. The new Courthouse was completed in 1818. It took nearly 30 years to repair the marl walls of the church, renamed Grace. A legend that British sympathizers burned the town has never been proved.
A fire in Virginia, circa 1800.
Image courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64607 |
Tobacco Inspection
In 1730, a law was passed requiring that all tobacco exported from Virginia be inspected by officials at one of the public inspection warehouses which were located in port towns or along the rivers throughout the colony. Any tobacco not meeting a minimum standard of quality was promptly destroyed. That which passed, would remain in the warehouses until it was shipped to Great Britain.
Yorktown’s earliest official inspection location was a warehouse and wharf owned by William Buckner. The site was located on the waterfront near here, below town lots one and four. The Buckner family provided inspection facilities at Yorktown until 1747, when a new warehouse was built at public expense. This structure, along with its wharf, was located just below the foot of Read Street. Buildings on the waterfront such as the tobacco warehouses were often in need of extensive repair or even rebuilding. In 1769, the county authorized the construction of another new warehouse, probably to replace one destroyed earlier that year by a hurricane.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64608 |
Yorktown's Stormy Past
Because of its location, Yorktown is susceptible to damage from storms such as nor’easters and hurricanes. One such storm played a role in the outcome of the Siege of Yorktown. On October 16, 1781, under intense fire, the British Army attempted to flee by crossing the river to Gloucester Point. The storm was so severe that the army was forced to return to Yorktown and eventually surrender.
Some residents remember the morning of August 23, 1933, when a hurricane almost completely destroyed the Yorktown waterfront. Many structures were smashed by waves or washed away in the storm surge. The National Park Service suggested owners rebuild following colonial style. The only business to comply was the steamboat office, the now remodeled Freight Shed building.
On September 17, 2003, Hurricane Isabel caused heavy damage here. Several feet of water and silt flooded many of the structures on the waterfront. One popular establishment, Nick’s Seafood Pavilion, was damaged so severely that it was not feasible to repair, thus leading to its eventual demolition.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64610 |
Steamboats on York River
In 1817, the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, or the “Old Bay Line,” began regular steamboat service between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia. The company’s boats transported mail, crops, freight, and people along the length of the Chesapeake Bay. Smaller packets on the rivers connected to the larger craft. The local York River packets stopped in at Yorktown, as well as at Allmond’s Wharf, Cappahosic, and Clay Bank on the Gloucester side, when heading toward West Point, Virginia. The Bay-going steamboats transported travelers to hospitals and stores in the cities as well as on vacation excursions. A trip “on a party of pleasure to York-Town (Va.)” was offered in 1819 by the Old Bay Line.
In addition to sailing vessels, steamboats were the only means of reliable transportation until highways were paved in the twentieth century. The use of steamboats peaked around 1910 and declined as motor cars became more popular.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64611 |
Civil War Hot-Air Balloons
In April and May of 1862, Union and Confederate commanders deployed observation balloons near Yorktown during the Peninsula Campaign. Professor Thaddeus Lowe and Brigadier General Fitz-John Porter gathered intelligence about the Confederate defenses from the hydrogen balloons Constitution and Intrepid. In response, the Confederates launched a hot-air balloon that observed the Union’s siege lines.
The Union and Confederate balloons were natural targets for artillery and small arms fire, but neither side scored a direct hit. The gunfire, however, caused uneasiness as Confederate aeronaut John Randolph Bryan noted: “For some minutes shells and bullets from the shrapnel whistled and sang around me with a most unpleasant music, but my balloon and I escaped.” Furthermore, Bryan and General Porter had accidental free-flight experiences when their tethered ropes broke and both narrowly escaped serious injury or capture. Neither side adequately supported balloon operations, but this was an important technological development that foreshadowed the rise of air power in the twentieth century.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64617 |
The York River
Native North Americans called the York River Pamunkee, combining two words meaning upland and sloping to describe its high banks. English colonists renamed the river Charles, in 1634, and later York, in 1643.
The river’s watershed area drains from the Piedmont Region and courses through Virginia’s heartland, covering about 2,700 square miles. Two upstream branches, the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers, converge at West Point. The main stem of the York flows southeast from there for about 25 miles to Yorktown and then continues for 7 to 8 miles to join the Chesapeake Bay. The York River below West Point has an average width of two miles and average depth of 20 feet. The channel is 80 feet deep beneath the George P. Coleman Bridge, which is 90 feet above the river at its highest point.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64627 |
Kiskiak Indians
Algonquin-speaking people occupied eastern Virginia when the English landed at Jamestown in 1607. The Kiskiak, one of their chiefdoms allied under the principal chiefdom of Powhatan, was located near here on the banks of Indian Field Creek. John Smith estimated that the Kiskiak village included “around 40-50 fighting men.” Although primarily located about 15 miles from Jamestown, the Kiskiak ranged across the Peninsula and up and down the south bank of the York River, known to them by the name Pamunkey.
Encroachment on Indian lands by a growing number of land-hungry European newcomers resulted in conflict as settlement pressed north and west from Jamestown. After participating in the Indian uprising of 1622 and ensuing retaliatory acts by the settlers, the Kiskiak abandoned the area in 1629. They moved to the Piankatank River region, leaving their village and the surrounding vicinity that would eventually become York County.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64628 |
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Across the York River in Gloucester County is the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), one of the nation’s leading centers for the interdisciplinary research in coastal oceans and estuarine science. Chartered in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory, the organization was originally located in Yorktown. Construction of the Coleman Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1952, caused the relocation of VIMS to Gloucester Point. Its current campus includes more than 40 acres. The School of Marine Science at VIMS is a graduate school of the College of William and Mary. VIMS is mandated by the Commonwealth of Virginia to conduct research and provide sound scientific advice on the use and conservation of York River and Chesapeake Bay resources, which include blue crabs, oysters, and commercially and recreationally important fishes such as striped bass.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64629 |
Heavy Artillery at Yorktown
Within a few years of Yorktown’s founding in 1691, a small gun battery was established along the shoreline. Later, Virginia’s Royal Governor Spotswood rebuilt and enlarged the fortification to include 11 cannon. By 1731, the town’s battery of between 12 and 20 guns was relocated to the slope overlooking the waterfront where it remained until falling into total disrepair by the 1770s.
In October 1781, Lord Cornwallis deployed 244 brass and iron pieces of various calibers against some 150 cannon, howitzers and mortars in the American and French arsenals. At the height of the siege, Allied artillery fired as many as 1,500 rounds each day, more than one round per minute. The British were forced to surrender.
During the Civil War, Confederate troops armed Yorktown’s bluffs with heavy artillery. Union General George McClellan highly overestimated their strength and prepared for a “second Siege of Yorktown.” After exchanging fire throughout April 1862, in May the Confederates left and Union troops moved in to occupy the same positions.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64630 |
Wars & Yorktown
This lower Chesapeake Bay location has been strategic since early colonial days when a fort was built to protect the colony from warring European powers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, ships loaded with tobacco would form convoys at Yorktown to await royal gunships to guard them against privateers and pirates on Atlantic crossings. Most famously, it was the site of the Siege of Yorktown, the last significant battle of the American Revolution. The battle is remembered at Yorktown museums operated by the National Park Service and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In the American Civil War, Confederate troops encamped behind the reinforced Revolutionary War era earthworks. In 1862, the Union army began the Peninsula Campaign to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital. Union troops seized Yorktown after the Confederates abandoned it and prevented the Confederacy from using the York River for the rest of the war.
Yorktown also supported military efforts during World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam, and more recent and ongoing conflicts. Active Navy, Coast Guard and Armed Forces training bases are located in York County along the York River.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=291489 |
Lafayette’s Tour
Mapping the Farewell Tour
— The Lafayette Trail —
From Oct. 18-20, 1824, General Lafayette was honored in Yorktown with celebrations marking the October 19, 1781 American and French Victory.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=289355 |
Converging on Yorktown
The summer of 1781 saw two British armies occupying the port cities of Charleston, South Carolina, and New York. Here they remained safe as long as George Washington lacked the naval component to establish a siege on water and on land. On 2 August 1781, Lord Cornwallis, secure in the knowledge that the Royal Navy would come to his rescue if he were to come under siege, chose Yorktown as the site where his forces would spend the winter of 1781-82.
On 28 July 1781, the Comte de Grasse informed Washington from Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti) of his decision to sail for the Chesapeake rather than to New York City. These two decisions offered allied forces the opportunity to capture Cornwallis. Having read de Grasse' letter on 14 August, Washington ordered the Continental Army and Comte de Rochambeau's French forces to Virginia, where the British army had begun constructing earthworks outside Yorktown. If he could be forced to remain in Yorktown and the French fleet would be able to maintain the water component of the siege ring, Cornwallis and his army would be taken prisoner.
On 15 August, Washington instructed Lafayette to keep His Lordship in the trap he had wandered into. "You will immediately take such position as will best enable you to prevent their sudden retreat thro' North Carolina, which I presume they will attempt the instant they perceive so formidable an Armament... You will be particularly careful to conceal the expected arrival" of the French armada whose presence would complete the blockade of the bay.
On 5 August, de Grasse had set sail with 28 ships of the line (SOLs) from Cape Francois and headed north. When the allied armies set out from White Plains, New York, for Yorktown on 18 August, the components of the siege ring were moving into place. In the afternoon of 29 August, the French fleet anchored off Cape Henry. The next day, Sourbader de Gimat, a French officer in American service, boarded the French flagship Ville de Paris to inform de Grasse that Washington and Rochambeau were on their way. But, by the evening of 30 September, the Continental Army had only reached Princeton, New Jersey, 350 miles to the north, with French forces even farther behind. With the 3,300 infantry de Grasse had brought from the West Indies added to his forces, Lafayette was now strong enough to prevent Cornwallis' escape on land.
Cornwallis' only hope of escape was by sea. On 5 September, de Grasse foiled this last hope in the Battle of the Capes. The siege on water held firm - no longer could his army either be rescued from the sea or escape on land. The siege ring tightened even more when Admiral Barras, with 8 SOLs, carrying the siege artillery, sailed into the wide-open Chesapeake Bay on 10 September. Faced with the vast numerical superiority of his 18 SOLs vs 36 French SOLs, British Admiral Thomas Graves returned to New York City. De Grasse' bold move to take all but one of his SOLs to the Chesapeake, the victory in the Battle of the Capes, and the timely arrival of Barras had created the temporary naval superiority that Washington had dreamed of ever since the fall of New York City in 1776.
Having left Boston Harbor on 10 September 1781, with 6,000 pounds of powder for the siege artillery, L'Hermione, the French frigate that had carried Lafayette and the news of Rochambeau's impending arrival into Boston on 2 May 1780, became the last vessel to join the blockade of the Chesapeake on 28 September. On that same day, allied land forces marched the final miles from Williamsburg to Yorktown. Entrapped by more than 18,500 Allied Forces on land and almost 25,000 naval personnel on de Grasse’s fleet, the British Army at Yorktown surrendered on October 19, 1781. Cornwallis had been captured not only because of Washington's and Rochambeau's generalship, but also as the result of the "most perfectly executed naval campaign of the age of sail.” ”
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=289288 |
Admiral de Grasse, the French Navy and American Independence
The Global Context
"His Majesty, Sir, has entrusted me with the command of the naval forces which he has destined to protect his possessions in America and those of his allies in North America. The forces which I command, Sir, are sufficient to fulfill the offensive designs which it is in the interest of the Allied Powers to execute in order to bring about an honorable peace."
Admiral François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse' letter written from on board his flagship the 104-gun ship Ville-de-Paris, on March 29, 1781, reached General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 10, six weeks after de Grasse had reached Martinique on April 28. In the same letter he informed Washington that he could be in American waters by July 15 though would only stay until October 15. These lines bolstered General George Washington's hope that de Grasse offensive designs indicated an attack on New York City, the center of British political and military power in the United States. That was the decision Washington and Rochambeau had taken in the Conference at Wethersfield, Connecticut, on May 22, 1781.
De Grasse sails to Virginia
In a letter of May 28, Rochambeau however hinted strongly that he would prefer the admiral to sail for Virginia rather than New York City. Knowing that his 74-gun ships could not cross the sand banks at the mouth of the Hudson River, de Grasse on July 28 decided to head for the Chesapeake. His letter reached allied headquarters in Westchester County, New York, on August 14. De Grasse had forced Washington's hand. Allied land forces would have to go wherever de Grasse took his fleet. On August 18, Washington and Rochambeau set out for Virginia.
De Grasse' fleet of 28 Ships of the Line and four frigates and two cutters set sail from Cap Français, today's Cap-Haïtien, in Haiti, on August 5. Their regular crews ranged from around 600 to almost 900 for a Ship of the Line. In addition, they carried 2,814 Line Infantry soldiers from 17 different regiments doing duty as marines. Rochambeau had requested additional troops and de Grasse had boarded the Câtinois, Agenois, and Touraine infantry regiments, a detachment from the Metz Artillery Regiment, and the Volontaires de St. Simon about 100 hussars strong, altogether 3,289 officers, non-commissioned officers and rank and file under the command of Claude Anne de Rouvroy, Marquis de Saint-Simon Montbléru. In the evening of August 29, look-outs discovered Cape Henry.
George Washington on board the Ville-de-Paris
Bienvenue, mon petit général - welcome, my little general!
This is how Admiral de Grasse, 6'4" tall, greeted General George Washington, at 6'2" also much taller than most of his contemporaries, as he boarded the Ville-de-Paris.
Though the greeting may be apocryphal, de Grasse heartily welcomed Washington in the morning of September 18, 1781. Washington, accompanied by the Comte de Rochambeau, the Chevalier de Chastellux and Generals Henry Knox and Presle Duportail had come to plead with de Grasse to stay beyond the deadline of October 15. Washington received the answer he had hoped for. De Grasse would stay until the end of October.
Battle of the Capes
Just as St. Simon's regiments were landing near Jamestown on September 5, the look-out on the frigate l'Aigrette spied Vice Admiral Thomas Graves' armada of 19 Ships of the Line and six frigates approaching the Chesapeake Bay. There was nothing de Grasse could do while wind and tide were against him. When he cut cables around noon, his crews were short some 90 officers and around 1,500 sailors who had not yet returned to their ships.
As the French fleet struggled out of their anchorage, Graves wasted valuable time lining up his vessels. Thanks to Graves' maneuvering, de Grasse now had 24 ships and 1,794 cannons in his battle line versus 19 British ships with 1,410 guns when the battle commenced at 3:46 p.m. When Graves ordered fire to cease at 6:30 p.m., his 74-gun-ships Shrewsbury and Ajax were almost un-sailable, the Terrible had to be burned at sea. His fleet had suffered 336 casualties. The French side mourned around 230 casualties but the 74-gun-ships Diadème and Pluton and the 64-gun-ships Réfléchi and Caton needed extensive repairs.
For the next few days, de Grasse drifted to the southward pulling Graves with him. This opened the Chesapeake for Admiral jacques-Melchior Saint-Laurent, Comte de Barras' fleet from Newport with the siege artillery to enter. When de Grasse returned to Lynnhaven Bay on September 11, he saw Barras ships riding at anchor. The Battle of the Capes had achieved its goal; with 36 Ships of the Line under his command, de Grasse had established an unassailable naval superiority around Yorktown. Lord Cornwallis escape route was cut off.
Departure
On October 19, British forces laid down their arms. De Grasse' chief administrative officer Lieutenant de Vaisseau Guillaume Jacques Constant de Liberge de Granchain represented the French Navy in the surrender negotiations. De Grasse never set foot on American soil. On November 4, his fleet sailed for the West Indies and anchored in Port Royal, today's Fort-de-France on Martinique, on November 25.
I consider myself infinitely happy to have been of some service to the United States... reserve me a place in your memory."
"Je me considère infiniment heureux d'avoir rendu service aux États-Unis ... réservez-moi une place dans votre mémoire."
- Admiral de Grasse to George Washington.
November 3, 1781
The Siege
The victory of September 5 established the siege ring on water. The landing of St. Simon's forces reenforced the lines around Yorktown. On September 29, a day after the siege of Yorktown had begun, Rochambeau asked de Grasse for troops to tighten the siege lines across the river. In the afternoon of August 30, 21 officers and 800 men from the regiments doing duty as marines departed for Gloucester where they joined American militia under General George Weedon and the Duc de Lauzun's Legion. Together they defeated Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton on October 3 in the Battle of the Hook, the largest cavalry engagement of the War of Independence. The presence of the French Navy was felt on land and on water, it impacted every aspect of the siege.
The contributions of the French Navy made the victory at Yorktown possible.
1) It brought 3,000 troops under the Marquis de St. Simen to strengthen the siege lines in Yorktown
2) The victory on September 5 closed the siege ring on water and ended all hope of escape for Lord Cornwallis
3) It provided 800 men from its ship garrisons to Gloucester to strengthen the siege lines around Gloucester Point
4) It brought the majority of Rochambeau’s forces from Annapolis to Yorktown, allowing for an early start of the siege
5) It brought 1.2 million livres from Havana, allowing Washington to pay his Army before embarking at Elkton
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The Olympic Flame
Honoring America for the first time
the Olympic Flame arrived here
to begins its journey to
the XIII Winter Olympic Games
January 31, 1980
Yorktown, Virginia
Where independence was won
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N.S. Savannah
N.S. Savannah, a joint project of the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Atomic Energy Commission, was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship. She was built to carry up to 60 passengers and 9,250 tons of cargo. In 1962, after reactor tests at Yorktown and sea trials, Savannah sailed from Yorktown to Savannah, Georgia, her home port.
From then until 1970, nearly 1.5 million people visited Savannah to explore her technological marvels. N.S. Savannah operated reliably and safely, established precedents for future commercial nuclear-powered merchant ships, and demonstrated the peaceful use of atomic power.
At the end of her service, Savannah was displayed at the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in South Carolina and was later stored in the Maritime Administration’s Virginia reserve fleet. In 2008, Savannah was moved to Baltimore in preparation for final decommissioning.
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Nick's Seafood Pavilion
After a vacation stopover in Yorktown, Nick and Mary Mathews decided to return in 1944 to open a restaurant. The original Nick’s had 35 seats. Later, Nick’s Seafood Pavilion, famous for it’s fine seafood menu and ornate decor, expanded to seat 440.
Nick’s welcomed many dignitaries and entertainers. Among others, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred McMurray, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Randy Travis, the 1980 Winter Olympic torch relay runners, and two Russian military defectors dined at Nick’s. The couple openly expressed their love of America and Yorktown and generously supported many projects and causes, including donating land for the development of the Yorktown Victory Center. That generosity also extended to military members in uniform, who always ate free-of-charge at Nick’s.
In 1983, “Miss Mary” was chosen to sponsor the USS Yorktown (CG48), becoming the first immigrant to christen a U.S. Navy ship. “Mr. Nick” passed away, unexpectedly, on the way to the christening ceremony. Mary died in September 1998. The Mathews and the restaurant are fondly remembered, however, the restaurant was severely damaged in 2003 during Hurricane Isabel and was subsequently demolished.
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George P. Coleman Bridge
Completed in 1952, the George P. Coleman Bridge is 3,750 feet long. The structure replaced a ferry system that operated here for more than 200 years.
The bridge was widened and reconstructed in 1995. Prefabricated in six sections, the entire superstructure was barged from Norfolk to this location and set in place in ten days. The Coleman Bridge is one of two double-swing-span bridges in the world; it is the only one in the United States. Two 500-foot spans swing clockwise, allowing large vessels to follow the York River’s natural channel.
George Preston Coleman, a native Virginian and former mayor of Williamsburg, was Virginia’s highway commissioner from 1913 to 1922.
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General Lafayette
The American Revolution
— The Lafayette Trail —
General Lafayette
Disembarked in Yorktown
From the frigate Nymphe
on November 15, 1784, as he
conducted a celebratory
visit of the new nation.
VA Children of the American Revolution
William G. Pomeroy Foundation 2025
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Chesapeake Bay Watermen
Rugged men and women have made their living on the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers for centuries. Known as watermen, they hand down skills learned by observing water, climate, and wildlife. Consequently, younger generations learn time-honored maritime traditions from their elders. The work is often dangerous, especially during bad weather, but affection and respect for the marine environment motivates those who work on boats. Watermen harvest fish, oysters, crabs, clams, and scallops. They operate ferries, tugboats, police boats, and research vessels. Thomas Jefferson, who promoted the idea of “a school of instruction for our navy,” recognized the valuable skills developed by working watermen and referred to their industries as providing good instruction. More than 200 years later, watermen are still seen here as they go about their work on the York River.
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York River Ferry
Records indicate that regular ferry service began here as early as 1647 to cross the river between Yorktown and Gloucester Point. Ferries were licensed by the Virginia House of Burgesses and tolls, equipment, and services were regulated by colonial and later state government.
Two women, Janet Mitchell and Mary Gibbons of Yorktown, managed the ferry business in 1774. They advised “Gentlemen who cross to pay their Ferriages at the Swan Tavern” and they also assured customers reading the April 1 issue of the Virginia Gazette that “the Ferry shall be kept inferiour to none in the Colony.”
The first ferries were powered by men using oars. Later, a cable was used to pull boats across. The invention of the internal combustion engine meant boats could motor across the channel. When the George P. Coleman Bridge opened in 1952, the Virginia Department of Transportation discontinued ferry service in this location.
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Yorktown's Tea Party
While the Boston Tea Party of December 1773 is famous, a lesser known protest against the Tea Act also occurred in Virginia. On November 7, 1774 some concerned citizens of York County openly boarded a ship in the harbor and dumped two small chests of tea into the York River, tea that had been imported despite a boycott.
The earlier Boston event was only the most extreme of many protests, not against taxation itself, but against British attempts to tax Americans without allowing them representation in Parliament. This destruction of valuable private property outraged most Britons and was a turning point in the conflicts leading up to the Revolution.
The residents and patriot leaders of this area, like others throughout the colonies, demonstrated their support of the Revolutionary cause and their refusal to import tea with this dignified, highly symbolic tea party of their own. The local merchant, who had ordered the small shipment of tea, quickly apologized in the newspaper and asked the local citizens for forgiveness.
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York Spit Lighthouse
• Built in 1870 at York Spit, Virginia, at the entrance to the York River.
• The lighthouse was a white hexagonal cottage with two bedrooms, a kitchen & a sitting room. The cottage was supported by 14 wood piles encased in cast iron. It was originally equipped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens but was changed to a larger, fourth-order Fresnel lens with a fixed red light.
• The lighthouse had two larger "wing-like" decks extending from two sides of the house. These were used for additional storage, as well as greater support for fog machinery.
• Keeper William J. Diggs reports major damage to the lighthouse during a bad storm in August 1933. He states, "Floors began to burst up. Sailboat broke away. Sea breaking over deck. Oil tanks broke away" When his boat was found onshore, many thought Keeper Diggs had drowned, but he was taken off the lighthouse earlier by a passing fisherman. A temporary light was established until repairs could be made.
(timeline)
1855 A lightship is placed in the Chesapeake Bay, at the entrance to the York River at York Spit
1860s The lightship is captured by Confederates in 1861 and replaced in 1863, where a lightship remains for the next six years
1870 Construction of the wood cottage is completed at Lazaretto Depot in Baltimore, MD. & towed to the site - the light is first exhibited on November 15th, and the lightship is removed
1876 The existing fifth-order Fresnel lens is replaced with a larger fourth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed red light
1886 A new fog bell tower resembling a small lighthouse, is constructed at Lazaretto Depot and installed at the lighthouse
1896 The fourth-order Fresnel lens is sent to the lighthouse depot for repairs & temporarily replaced by a lens lantern
1899 New model fourth-order lamps are installed
1901 After soundings are made, it is determined that there is a significant amount of erosion around the lighthouse
1903 2,350 tons of riprap stone is placed around the piles to protect the foundation from further damage
1916 Keeper John F. Hudgins rescues nine people from a disabled boat & brings them to the lighthouse where they are fed and spend the night
1960 An automated flashing beacon is constructed next to the lighthouse-the cottage is dismantled & removed
Designed by CC-USLHS Historian Jennifer C. Jones
Historical placard placed in 2021 by the Watermen's Museum, www.watermens.org and the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society, www.cheslights.org
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Tue Marshes Lighthouse
• Built in 1875 on the Goodwin Islands at the entrance of the York River.
• The lighthouse was a white square cottage supported by 5 piles, with a brown roof. The first level consisted of a storeroom, sitting room & kitchen. A privy was cantilevered off the main deck. It was equipped with a sixth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed white light with a red sector.
• The most unique feature of this lighthouse was the gingerbread wood details on the eaves of the roof.
• The original spelling was "Too's Marshes", but it was changed to the current spelling sometime in the late 1890s.
• In the 1850s, the Lighthouse Board began replacing lightships and lighthouses with screwpile structures. The depth of the pilings varied depending on the firmness of the bedrock but usually were not driven more than six feet deep. The tapered iron pilings were between 6-10 inches in diameter and the corkscrew flanges at the ends were usually 2-3 feet from tip to tip. These blades twisted the pilings into the river bottom.
(timeline)
1874 Congress appropriates $15,000 to build a lighthouse at Tues Marshes in the York River
1875 Construction of a square, screwpile lighthouse is completed - the light is shown for the first time on August 15th
1899 Miscellaneous repairs are made, & new fifth-order lamps are installed in November
1900 Two iron landing ladders are installed
1915 Keeper John F. Jarvis is awarded the Inspectors Efficiency Gold Star — an annual award presented by the local District Lighthouse Inspector
1918 Keeper John F. Jarvis is awarded the Commissioners Efficiency Star • an award presented to keepers who receive the Inspector's Gold Star for three consecutive years
1921 A military ship from the Naval Air Station is seen in distress near the lighthouse- Keeper John F. Jarvis & Assistant Robert F. Powell send a message to request aid to help the ship
1960 The U.S. Coast Guard deactivates the lighthouse. The cottage is dismantled & removed — An automatic light is mounted on a skeletal tower that is mounted to the remaining screwpile foundation
2014 The U.S. Coast Guard announces that the original screwpile foundation will be removed, due to structural failure
2015 The U.S. Coast Guard removes the original screwpile foundation
Designed by CC-USLHS Historian Jennifer C. Jones
Historical placard placed in 2021
by the Watermen's Museum, www.watermens.org and the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society, www.cheslights.org
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Yorktown's Windmill
For over 100 years, one of Yorktown’s most prominent landmarks was a tall, wooden “smock” windmill that stood at the edge of the steep bluff near here. A rotating cap with sails sat atop the tower and could be turned with a long tail pole to face the wind. The original mill was built by William Buckner about 1711 and ground grain for nearby residents. The windmill shown in several later 18th-century views of the town may have replaced Buckner’s first structure.
It is likely that the windmill was damaged during the 1781 siege of Yorktown. In 1801 it was referred to as the “Old Tower Windmill” suggesting it may not have been in operation. By 1840, the octagonal tower, missing its sails, was obviously in ruins as shown in the sketch above.
The use of wind to power mills for grinding grain dates to ancient times. A bluff-top site like this one was perfect for employing wind power to rotate the heavy grinding millstone, easing the task of producing flour and meal from wheat and corn. In Virginia, tidal and millpond water impoundments also provided power for gristmills.
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The Watermen's Museum
Part of a Network of Special Places
—Chesapeake Bay Gateways—
The Watermen's Museum is one of the Chesapeake Bay's special places linked together by the Gateways Network. Visitors to Chesapeake Bay Gateways experience first-hand the varied stories and adventures shaped by the extraordinary environment of America's largest estuary. There are more than 150 Gateway sites and water-trails and all of them offer ways to explore and connect to the authentic Chesapeake. To learn more, visit the Gateways website at: www.baygateways.net or ask here for the informative map and guide.
Chesapeake Bay Facts:
• 2,500 sq. miles of water
• Width: 3.4 to 35 miles
• Approximately 11,684 miles of shoreline
• Average depth – 21 feet; maximum depth 174 feet
• Largest of the 130 estuaries (a place where salt and fresh water intermix) in the United States
• Watershed drains 64,000 sq. miles of land in 5 states
• The estuary supports more than 3,600 species of plants and animals
While in the area visit nearby Gateway sites to learn even more stories about the Chesapeake Bay.
Watermen fishing the Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is filled with maritime lore. Watermen still head out in pre-dawn darkness to harvest the Bay’s bounty.
Osprey
Millions of waterfowl make their way along the Bay and through its watershed every year. Witness these migrations and countless other natural wonders.
Yorktown Battlefield
At Gateway sites like Yorktown Battlefield history comes alive. The Bay provided the background for events that created our nation.
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Join the Adventure
Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail
—National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior—
Explore the places Englishman John Smith traveled in the early 1600s. Learn about the thriving American Indian communities he encountered and imagine the bountiful Chesapeake he observed. Experience the natural and cultural richness that exists in the region today.
The 3,000-mile Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail traces the exploratory voyages Smith conducted from 1607 to 1609 on the Chesapeake Bay and along several major rivers. The trail includes parks, museum sites, driving tours, and water trails that align with Smith’s historic voyage routes and offer opportunities for recreation and discovery.
Experience the Trail
• Explore rivers, coves, and open water by kayak, sailboat, or motor craft.
• Bicycle or hike along woodland trails and shoreline paths.
• Follow winding back roads through rural landscapes and historic villages.
• Visit places that celebrate American Indian heritage.
• See birds and other wildlife foraging in marshes1 waterways and forests
• Attend festivals and demonstrations, or join a guided tour.
&
John Smith Explores the Chesapeake
Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail
Captain John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay in the early 1600s seeking precious metals and a passage to Asia. He traveled the James, Chickahominy, and York rivers in 1607, and led two major expeditions from Jamestown in 1608. Smith and his crew sailed and rowed a primitive 30-foot boat nearly 3,000 miles, reaching as far north as the Susquehanna River. Although Smith did not discover gold or a river passage to the Pacific, his precise map and detailed observations of American Indian societies and the abundant natural resources guided future explorers and settlers.
An Abundance of Life
Smith discovered a treasure trove of natural wonders in the Chesapeake region: thick forests of giant pines, oaks and hickories; vast marshlands; huge turtles, 800-pound sturgeon, and great schools of shad and striped bass. Massive flocks of ducks, geese, and swans darkened the sky; and enormous oyster reefs rose above the water’s surface.
Native Inhabitants
At the time of Smith’s exploration, an estimated 50,000 American Indians dwelled in the Chesapeake region—as their ancestors had for thousands of years. Their sophisticated societies included arts and architecture, systems of government, extensive trade and communication networks, and shared spiritual beliefs. The native peoples hunted, fished, grew crops, and gathered food and raw materials from the land and waterways.
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Pages Rock Lighthouse
• Built in 1894, located approximately 5 miles north of Yorktown, off Blundering Point in the York River.
• The lighthouse was a white hexagonal cottage supported by 7 wooden piles encased in cast iron, which could be driven deeper than regular screw piles. A privy was cantilevered off the main deck. It was equipped with a fourth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed white light with a red sector.
• The lighthouse had a total of three, 600-gallon water tanks , two iron, and one wood. These tanks were fed from rainwater running from the roof clean.
• To construct the cottage, workers built a platform on top of 80 piles. When construction was complete and the working platform was removed, several piles were left standing above the waterline to act as ice breakers.
• Keeper Claudius Foster Sutton was Keeper from 1902-1931, a total of 29 years. His salary ranged from $560 to $1,740 per year.
(timeline)
1883 The U.S. Lighthouse Board recommends building a lighthouse at Pages Rock, in the York River
1891 After multiple requests from the U.S. Lighthouse board, Congress appropriates $25,000 to construct a lighthouse at Pages Rock
1880 Construction of the wood cottage is completed at Lazaretto Depot in November, but instead, is used to rebuild the Thimble Shoal Light, which burned down in October
1892 Results of soil borings show that the river bottom is not firm enough to support a lighthouse on screwpiles, so it is decided to use wooden piles
1894 The cottage is completed at Lazaretto Depot & towed to the site — the lighthouse is completed, and the light is first exhibited on September 30th
1884 A schooner hits the foundation of the lighthouse in June, breaking three support columns - they are replaced a few weeks later
1899 New model fourth order lamps are installed & minor repairs are made
1912 Assistant Keeper Eugene S. Riley rescues the Captain from the sinking barge Comet, on January 5th
1960 The lighthouse is automated & boarded up
1967 The lighthouse is dismantled & removed - An automatic light is mounted on a skeletal tower that is mounted to the remaining screwpile foundation
2014 The U.S. Coast Guard publishes its intention to remove the remaining screwpile foundation, due to structural issues
2015 U.S. Coast Guard removes the screwpile foundation
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Bells Rock Lighthouse
• In the late 1800s, West Point, Virginia, became a major terminal for the York River & Richmond Railroad. The lighthouse was built in 1881 in the York River near the fork of the Pamunkey & Mattaponi Rivers to assist ships sailing to West Point.
• The lighthouse was a white hexagonal cottage supported by 7 piles in ten feet of water, with a brown roof. The first level consisted of a sitting room, kitchen, & 2 bedrooms. The second level consisted of another bedroom, & storage. A privy was cantilevered off the main deck. It was equipped with a fourth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting a fixed white light & red sector.
• Over the 47 years, there were only four lighthouse keepers stationed at the lighthouse. The average pay for keepers was $650 per year.
• Fresnel lenses are made up of hundreds of glass prisms that resemble a big glass beehive and are divided into 7 classes, or "orders". First-order lights, used in larger bodies of water, were approximately 8.5-feet tall & weighed 12,800 pounds. Fourth, fifth & sixth-order lens was mainly used in smaller rivers, ranging from 17 to 28 inches tall, weighing 220 to 661 pounds.
(timeline)
1879 The U.S. Lighthouse Board recommends building a lighthouse at Bells Rock, in the York River
1880 Congress appropriates $35,000 to construct a screwpile lighthouse at Bells Rock
1880 Construction of the wood cottage is completed at Lazaretto Depot in November, but instead, is used to rebuild the Thimble Shoal Light, which burned down in October
1881 The new cottage is completed at Lazaretto Depot in February, & towed to the site - the lighthouse is completed, and the light is first exhibited on May 30th
1883 A new support column is installed to replace a broken column - new tanks are also installed
1884 A schooner hits the foundation of the lighthouse in June, breaking three support columns - they are replaced a few weeks later
1892 A red sector is installed into the fixed white light on March 10th
1899 New model fourth order lamps are installed
1900 A storage platform is built under the lighthouse
1928 The lighthouse is dismantled & removed — An automatic light is mounted on a skeletal tower that is mounted to the remaining screwpile foundation
2021 The light remains an active aid to navigation
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Naval Weapons Station
Supply, amphibious, and combat ships pass Yorktown on their way to and from the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. The military installation’s pier is located three miles upstream.
When the 20-square-mile site was acquired by the Navy on August 7, 1918, it was the largest naval installation in the world. Commissioned as the U.S. Navy Mine Depot, operations supported the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage. During World War II, the Depot continued to produce a wide range of ordnance materials such as underwater mines, depth charges, and torpedoes. Activities were reduced after World War II, but were soon increased again to meet the needs of the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.
In 1958, the Depot was renamed Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. Today, the installation and its tenant commands provide technical, logistical, and supply-related services to the Atlantic Fleet.
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The Collier Betsy
York River Maritime Heritage
— Watermen's Museum —
The Betsy was a collier, a unique style cargo ship with a rounded bow and a shallow draft
Yorktown was the primary port for Virginia through the 1760's. The Chesapeake Bay and its rivers were vital to the colonial cause for moving supplies and troops to the Continental Army. A part of the British army, led by General Benedict Arnold, invaded Virginia in December 1780. General Cornwallis arrived with his forces from the Carolinas in June 1781 and after a successful campaign throughout the colony, brought his forces to Yorktown in August 1781 to wait for the British navy to pick up some of his forces and take them to New York.
The two masted brig Betsy was built in the port of Whitehaven in 1772 for use in the coal trade. In 1780 the British navy pressed the Betsy as a transport in a convoy bound for North America, where it joined Cornwallis's fleet at Yorktown. When the French fleet occupied the Bay after the Battle of the Capes on September 5-9, the British began sinking ships in a line along the shore to impede the French from attacking. The Betsy, one of these ships, was scuttled on September 18, 1781 about ½ mile east of the museum.
A team of underwater archeologists from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources led by John D. Broadwater, excavated the Betsy in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The ship's hull still lies in place, filled with sand to protect it from further deterioration. The original model was built by Jim Rindfleisch. It took three years to build and was made completely out of recycled metal materials.
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| So many signs. Apologies to any Constant Readers who made it this far. Now, on to Williamsburg - the Civil War part, not Colonial! |
Sources / Suggested Reading:
https://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_yorktown1862.html#google_vignette
https://www.nps.gov/places/watermens-museum.htm
* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, not too far away, also in VA
May 4, 1862
Peninsula Campaign: Lee Hall and Lebanon Church
Newport News, Virginia
* First occupied by Rebel commanders, then a brief skirmish was fought at Lee Hall on 4 May 1862 during the Confederate retreat to Williamsburg: 5th U.S. Cavalry vs. the Jeff Davis Legion
* Confederates launched observation balloons from there
* Magruder used it to station cavalry (horses in the sanctuary?!- no objections here), and later Baldy briefly had headquarters at the Lebanon Church on the way to the Battle of Williamsburg
"Lee Hall, a stately Italianate plantation dwelling, was built by 1859 for affluent planter Richard Decatur Lee. Confederate generals John Bankhead Magruder and Joseph Eggleston Johnston used the mansion as their headquarters during the April – May 1862 Warwick-Yorktown siege phase of the Peninsula Campaign. An earthen fort in the yard used to launch a Confederate hot-air balloon on 17 Apr. 1862 remains from the military occupation. A brief skirmish was fought here on 4 May 1862 during the Confederate retreat to Williamsburg. After the war, Lee strove to revitalize his farm but went bankrupt in 1870 and was foreclosed the next year."
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"Lee Hall
Siege Headquarters
— 1862 Peninsula Campaign —
The small redoubt in front of you is the only visual evidence of Lee Hall’s military occupation by the Confederate army from May 1861 to May 1862. The antebellum mansion to your right served as a headquarters building for both Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder, CSA, and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, CSA, during the Peninsula Campaign’s Warwick – Yorktown Siege.
Lee Hall was built between 1848 and 1859 by Warwick County’s leading landowner, Richard Decauter Lee. Lee had risen to prominence by following Edmund Ruffin’s concepts of “scientific farming” which had given new life to the tobacco depleted soil and had provided him with the resources to build this avant-garde Italianate style mansion.
When John Bankhead Magruder first came to the Peninsula in May 1861, it was R.D. Lee who showed him the Warwick River and how it could become the Confederate main line of defense. Magruder used Lee Hall as one of his headquarters buildings during his year-long command of the self-styled Army of the Peninsula.
When the Peninsula Campaign’s Warwick – Yorktown Siege entered into its second week, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and the main Confederate army was sent down the Peninsula to help block the Union army’s advance. Johnston used Lee Hall as his temporary headquarters on April 12, when he surveyed Magruder’s fortifications and once again on April 17, when he returned from a conference in Richmond. During his second day at Lee Hall, Johnston approved Capt. Randolph Bryan’s aerial observations of the Federal siege lines. A hot air balloon was sent aloft that day in front of the mansion to test the concept’s feasibility.
Once in command on the Peninsula, Joe Johnston reorganized the Confederate command structure. Magruder was basically demoted from army to divisional commander, in charge of the Confederate right wing from Dam No. 1 to Mulberry Island. Three other generals now outranked him on the Peninsula which was particularly irksome to Prince John Magruder. No longer the lead actor, Magruder began to sulk in his re-established headquarters at Lee Hall, criticizing the design and armament of the very defenses he had developed."
The small redoubt in front
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=16551 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=185337 |
"Situated on high ground two miles behind the Warwick-Yorktown line, this redoubt (a four or multiple-sided field fortification) was constructed by the Confederate Army of the Peninsula. It provided a field of fire down the Great Warwick Road toward Lee’s Mill. Moreover, this redoubt marks the site of a skirmish on May 4, 1862.
The Confederates had evacuated the Warwick-Yorktown line on May 3, 1862, after a three-week siege. The next morning the Union Army occupied the Confederate earthworks and pursued their retreating enemy. The Federal IV Corps advanced up the Great Warwick Road from Lee’s Mill toward Lee Hall. Brig. Gen. William “Baldy” Smith’s division led the infantry march screened by Capt. William Chambliss’ squadron of the 5th U.S. Cavalry. Elements of the Jeff Davis Legion of Mississippi, covering the Confederate retreat, awaited the Union advance in this redoubt.
In his report Capt. Chambliss wrote, “At the recent headquarters of General Magruder, situated on a commanding eminence, with an earthwork in front, I again discovered the pickets of the enemy, strongly posted in the work and in the rear of the building.” Here, the 5th U.S. Cavalry fought a brief skirmish with the Jeff Davis Legion. The Union troopers carried only revolvers and sabers while the Confederates were armed with shotguns and carbines. Faced with heavy fire, Chambliss regrouped his squadron and sent out a flanking party. This prompted the Mississippians to abandon this position and rejoin their other comrades behind Skiffes Creek. Afterwards, Smith’s division marched past Lee Hall toward the cavalry and artillery battle near Williamsburg."
Sidebar: The Confederate Army needed laborers on the Peninsula between 1861-1862. In the summer and fall of 1861, Richard Lee rented 8 males (John, Bob, Moses, Jerry, Jim, Peyton, Henry, James and Jack) for earthwork construction on Mulberry Island. Lee also rented three male slaves to Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder before abandoning his home in March 1862. During their exile in Richmond and Danville, the Lee family may have retained some of their slaves until the end of the war. In September 1865, Richard Lee returned to Lee Hall and found several freedmen living on his property. The Federal government had confiscated his property in February 1864 and tried unsuccessfully to establish a colony for former slaves. Lee regained his property from the Freedmen’s Bureau on November 24, 1865."
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| Exhibits on Big Bethel and The Monitor is the basement of Lee Hall |
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| Lee Hall ****************************************************** At the same time, nearby...  Lebanon ChurchIn the Line of March— 1862 Peninsula Campaign —Historic Lebanon Church, located behind you at the intersection of two strategic highways, served both the Confederate and the Union armies during the Civil War. Soon after Confederate Col. John Bankhead Magruder began organizing the Peninsula’s defenses at Yorktown on May 21, 1861, elements of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry established a courier station here. Countless Confederate soldiers marched by here between April 5 and May 3, 1862, to fill Magruder’s trenches. Three lines of fortifications blocked Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s advance from Fort Monroe; the strongest line stretched 12 miles from Mulberry Island on the James River and followed the swampy Warwick River to within a mile of Yorktown. Capt. Richard H. Adams, Jr., of the 5th Alabama Infantry wrote, “We took up a line of march for Lebanon Church, a very disagreeable one too. Stayed about 2 hours [in the rain] march to Lee’s Farm, Gen. Magruder’s Headqtrs.” The Confederates abandoned their lines and marched by here in their retreat to Williamsburg. On May 4, the day before the Battle of Williamsburg, Union Gens. William F. Smith and Winfield Scott Hancock established their headquarters here. Federal troops occupied the area afterward, and the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry used the church as a stable until 1863. The troopers burned the floors for firewood, removed bricks from the walls, and partially destroyed the roof.Sidebar: Followers of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, known as Campbellites, established the first Lebanon Church congregation in York County early in the 19th century. The members worshipped in an abandoned Episcopal church in nearby Kiskiack from 1825 to 1833. The next year, they moved to Warwick County and began constructing a log church that burned down before it was completed. The congregation then met in a small building here. By 1853, a new clapboard structure was completed; fire destroyed it in 1859. The members immediately built this brick church, but it soon suffered the ravages of war. Afterward, the congregation failed to secure federal funds for balcony repairs and other purposes, and the building was not repaired until early in the 1900s."  https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=10389 "The Campbellite congregation now associated with Lebanon Church was established about 1825. These followers of prominent religious leader Alexander Campbell originally shared the Chishiack “Cheesecake” Church in York County with other denominations. Friction with another sect using “Cheesecake” Church prompted the Lebanon congregation to move to Warwick County by 1848. The brick chapel was constructed here in 1859. Confederate General J. B. Magruder stationed cavalry at this strategic crossroads from Jan. through Apr. 1862. Union General W. F. Smith briefly had his headquarters here on 4 May 1862, en route to the Battle of Williamsburg. Union troops occupying the Peninsula continued to be stationed here until 1864." |
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