| Maryland, Baltimore — Baltimore Riot Trail — Combat on Pratt Street — Baltimore – A House Divided |
| |
(Preface):On April 19, 1861, Confederate sympathizers attacked the 6th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as it changed trains en route to Washington, which the secessionists hoped to isolate. To learn more about the Baltimore Riot, the city’s role in the Civil War, and railroad history, please visit the Baltimore Civil War Museum—President Street Station, at the corner of President and Fleet Streets. Open daily 10 a.m.–5 p.m. When Capt. Albert S. Follansbee’s four companies . . . — Map (db m6206) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Baltimore Riot Trail — Flag Waving at Fawn Street — Baltimore – A House Divided |
| | (Preface): On April 19, 1861, Confederate sympathizers attacked the 6th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as it changed trains en route to Washington, which the secessionists hoped to isolate. To learn more about the Baltimore Riot, the city’s role in the Civil War, and railroad history, please visit the Baltimore Civil War Museum—President Street Station, at the corner of President and Fleet Streets. Open daily 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Capt. Albert S. Follansbee quickly ran into . . . — Map (db m6208) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Baltimore Riot Trail — Barricade at Jones Falls Bridge — Baltimore – A House Divided |
| | (Preface): On April 19, 1861, Confederate sympathizers attacked the 6th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as it changed trains en route to Washington, which the secessionists hoped to isolate. To learn more about the Baltimore Riot, the city’s role in the Civil War, and railroad history, please visit the Baltimore Civil War Museum—President Street Station, at the corner of President and Fleet Streets. Open daily 10 a.m.–5 p.m. While Capt. Albert S. Follansbee waited at . . . — Map (db m6209) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Brig. General Lewis A. Armistead |
| | Within this cemetery is buried Brig. General Lewis A. Armistead Born New Bern, N.C. Feb. 16, 1817 Died at Gettysburg, Pa. July 3, 1863 Where men under his command made the farthest northern advance by any Southern troops Captain U.S. Army before joining Confederacy This tablet dedicated October 11, 1949 by Gen. Lewis A. Armistead Chapter No. 2136 United Daughters of the Confederacy — Map (db m21366) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — British Bomb |
| | Fired by the British Naval Forces during the bombardment of this fort Sept. 13-14, 1814 when by the light of “Bombs bursting in air” the National Anthem – The Star Spangled Banner had its birth. — Map (db m10882) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Evolution of Fort McHenry |
| | After the Battle of Baltimore in 1814, Fort McHenry continued as a military post for more than a hundred years. The U.S. Army constructed buildings outside the star fort and modified existing structures to serve the needs of the time. During the Civil War, the lawn in front of you was the site of a detention center for Confederate prisoners-of-war. In the next century, as World War I came to an end, the fort property was transformed into a huge hospital complex to care for soldiers returning . . . — Map (db m10881) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Mortars vs. Guns |
| | When the British attacked in 1814, guns of this type – but larger – were fired from the ramparts and the water batteries near the riverbank. They kept the British warships from entering Baltimore Harbor, but they could not shoot far enough to hit the vessels that were hurling bombs at the fort. According to the American Commander’s report, the British fired more than 1,500 bombs. These are the famous “bombs bursting in air” mentioned in our National Anthem. Displayed . . . — Map (db m10885) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — National Independence in the Revolution and War of 1812 |
| | Among the illustrious men interred within this enclosure who assisted in the achievement of National Independence in the Revolution and War of 1812 are the following Samuel Chase, 1741 – 1811, Signer of the Declaration of Independence Colonel John Eager Howard, 1752 – 1827, Hero of the Battle of Cowpens, 1781 Governor of Maryland 1831-1833 Colonel Tench Tilghman, 1744 – 1786, who as General Washington’s aide-de-camp bore the sword of the surrendered Cornwallis from . . . — Map (db m21364) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Outer Battery |
| | This complex of earthen embankments and masonry structures has been the site of Fort McHenry’s heaviest artillery since about 1840. The U.S. Army kept this battery heavily armed during the Civil War to discourage any Confederate attempts to take Baltimore through naval attack or civil insurrection. The large cannon you see today were mounted after the Civil War and are not associated with the famous 1814 bombardment. The big guns remained in service as late as 1912 but were never fired in battle. — Map (db m10891) |
| Maryland, Baltimore — Remember 1814 |
| | Fort McHenry protected the water approaches to Baltimore for more than a hundred years, but was attacked only once. On September 13-14, 1814, British ships fired rockets and mortars at the fort for twenty-five hours. Fort McHenry withstood the bombardment, and when the smoke cleared the American flag was still waving where you see it now. Francis Scott Key watched these dramatic events from the deck of a truce ship down the river to your left. His description of the battle was immortalized in . . . — Map (db m10875) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — W 92 — Confinement of Jefferson Davis |
| | In this casemate Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, was confined, May 22-October 2, 1865. As his health suffered in the casemate, he was removed to Carroll Hall in the fortress, where he remained from October, 1865, until May, 1867, when he was released on bail. He was never brought to trial. — Map (db m10144) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — NO 90-W — Fort Monroe |
| | The fort was begun in 1819 and named for President James Monroe. It remained in possession of the Union forces, 1861-65, and from it as a base McClellan began the Peninsular Campaign, 1862. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned here, 1865-67. — Map (db m10319) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — Fort Monroe — Freedom’s Fortress — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | Fort Monroe is the largest stone fortification ever built in the United States. Construction began in 1819 and continued for 15 years. Second Lt. Robert E. Lee served as an engineer at Fort Monroe from 1831 to 1834. During the Civil War, Fort Monroe played an important strategic role for the Union because of its proximity to the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, and the James and York rivers. The fort also sat on the southern tip of the James/York Peninsula, a strategic route to Richmond. The . . . — Map (db m10357) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — John Mitchel |
| | In memory of John Mitchel Nov. 30, 1815 – Mar. 20, 1875 Fearless and courageous southern journalist Staunch supporter of the Confederacy Editor-in-Chief, Richmond (VA) Enquirer Associate Editor, Richmond (VA) Examiner 1862 – 1865 who was confined in this casemate no.6 from June 17, 1865 to Oct. 29, 1865, a defiant and unrelenting opponent of oppression, an indefatigable and uncompromising proponent of the southern cause, a martyr to the effectiveness and influence of the printed . . . — Map (db m16343) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — Lieutenant John Trout Greble |
| | In memory of first U.S. regular army officer killed in action during the Civil War Lieutenant John Trout Greble 2d U.S. Artillery USMA class of 1854 A member of this garrison killed in action at Big Bethel 10 June 1861 USMA graduates Fort Monroe 10 June 1961 — Map (db m16346) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — Omaha Beach Memorial Tree |
| | This tree, planted with authentic soil from Omaha Beach of Normandy, France, commemorates the 40th anniversary of Allied forces’ landings on 6 June 1944. It stands as a memorial to sacrifices in battle and a tangible symbol of our heritage. Planted 6 June 1984 by Col Richard E. Mackin, Post Commander and Col Jean Burel, French Liaison Officer. — Map (db m12038) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — The Lincoln Gun |
| | Cast in 1860, this was the first 15-inch Rodman Gun. Its range was more than four miles. Weight of the projectile was over 300 lbs. during Civil War it was used to bombard Confederate batteries on Sewells Point. The gun was named for President Lincoln in March 1862. — Map (db m10320) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — The Old Cistern |
| | One of several large cisterns shown on a map of 1834. No potable water was ever found on Old Point Comfort, although one well was sunk to more than 900 feet. The garrison had to depend on cistern water and water brought in from wells on the mainland. — Map (db m10334) |
| Virginia, Fort Monroe, Hampton — Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge — Ardennes |
| | In the largest land battle ever fought by the United States Army six hundred thousand valiant Americans rallied to defeat three powerful German armies in the snows of the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg. Almost 20 thousand soldiers made the supreme sacrifice to win the victory in the Battle of the Bulge and to secure freedom for the heroic peoples of Belgium and Luxembourg and hasten the end of World War II in Europe. This monument is dedicated to the memory of the courageous men and . . . — Map (db m11478) |
| Virginia, Fredericksburg — Gen. Stonewall Jackson |
| | Gen. Stonewall Jackson, by Gen. Lee’s request, on this corner, planned the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Nov. 27, 1862. U.D.C — Map (db m7976) |
| Virginia, Hampton — W 94 — Freedom’s Fortress |
| | Fort Monroe was the site of Major General Benjamin F. Butler’s decision in 1861 to accept escaping slaves as “contraband of war.” Thousands of former slaves who cast off their bondage and sought sanctuary here called this “The Freedom Fort.” The First and Second Regiments of U.S. Colored Cavalry and Battery B. Second U.S. Colored Light Artillery, were raised here during the Civil War. In 1865, the Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees (“Freedmen’s Bureau”) established its state headquarters here. — Map (db m10366) |
| Virginia, Hampton — Stalemate in Hampton Roads — In a “big glass case” — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | After the March 8-9, 1862, Battle of Hampton Roads, CSS Virginia went into drydock for refitting. USS Monitor guarded Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s transport vessels in the York River near Fort Monroe, and the Federals reinforced the bows of fast steamers to ram Virginia if she ventured into the Chesapeake Bay. The Confederates concocted a plan (but did not execute it) to disable Monitor’s crew after reading a report in Scientific American: immobilize the turret, . . . — Map (db m10351) |
| Virginia, Hampton — No. 85-W — Wythe’s Birthplace |
| | Eight miles north George Wythe, Revolutionary Leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born, 1726. — Map (db m10634) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — A Supply Hub |
| | City Point’s location at the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers made it an ideal hub for the movement of men and material. From City Point, supplies and men traveled by road and rail to the Petersburg front. Troops or equipment bound for Bermuda Hundred lines north of the Appomattox or for the works fronting Richmond simply continued up the James to wharves at Broadway Landing, Bermuda Hundred or Deep Bottom. — Map (db m6545) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — City Point Defenses — Securing the Union Position |
| | The fort behind you is all that remains of the inner defense line built by the Union army in 1864 to protect its base headquarters at City point. With a powerful fleet of ironclads and gunboats controlling the James River and a numerically superior army, the Federals believed their position at City Point secure. Then, in September 1864, just one month after the unexplained explosion of the ordnance wharf at City Point, Confederate Gen. Wade Hampton led his cavalry around Union forces to . . . — Map (db m3791) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Depot Field Hospital — Union Medical Care at its Best |
| | “I think this is a very good place with the exception of too many lice.” - Stephen P. Chase, 86th New York Volunteers. Lice may have been the only problem the staff of the Depot Field Hospital could not handle. The largest of seven hospitals built at City Point during the Siege of Petersburg, the facility put to use all the Union army had learned since the beginning of the Civil War. While severely wounded soldiers were sent to the North, those who remained in the field . . . — Map (db m14597) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — General Grant's Headquarters |
| | General Grant’s headquarters at Appomattox Manor 1864-65 during the siege of Petersburg and Richmond. President Lincoln spent 3 weeks in City Point during April, 1865. — Map (db m3797) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Grant's Cabin |
| | From November 1864 through March 1865, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant lived in this modest cabin. From here he directed Union armies in the climactic final campaigns of the war and hosted some of the notable figures of the era: President and Mrs. Lincoln, Major General William T. Sherman, Secretary of State William Seward, and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. This was one of 22 cabins that stood on the Eppes property. After the war, Grant’s cabin was moved to Philadelphia, where it remained on . . . — Map (db m3798) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — The Depot Field Hospital |
| | “The sick and wounded are as promptly and carefully taken care of as those in a City or Town, and probably much better.” - Gen. Rufus Ingalls, USA
Across the cove from you, on the site of the modern hospital, stood the largest of the Union hospitals at City Point. The Depot Field Hospital covered 200 acres and could take care for as many as 10,000 patients. When Abraham Lincoln visited the hospital on April 8, 1865, he shook hands with over 6,000 patients, both Union and . . . — Map (db m6546) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — The Peacemaker |
| | “Let them surrender and go home, they will not take up arms again. Let them all go, officers and all, let them have their horses to plow with, and, if you like, their guns to shoot crows. Treat them liberally . . . I say, give them the most liberal and honorable terms.” - Abraham Lincoln, City Point Virginia, on board the President’s Ship, River Queen, March 28, 1865 The best-remembered visitor to General Grant’s headquarters at City Point was President Abraham Lincoln. . . . — Map (db m19658) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Union Fort |
| | One of ten small forts protecting City Point docks and Gen. Grant's Headquarters from Confederate raiders 1864-65. — Map (db m6544) |
| Virginia, Hopewell — Weston Manor — Weston Plantation |
| | “… a very pretty, large white house situated on a hill that sloped to the river; with pretty fruit and shade trees scattered over the lawn.” - Emma Wood Richardson Weston Manor provided a safe haven for young Emma Wood and her family during the Civil War. Years later, Emma recalled the hardships her family endured during the war, ranging from the lack of food, clothing and medicine to the inflated prices of what little was available. Most of all she remembered the . . . — Map (db m14586) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Civil War Lynchburg — Supplying Lee’s Army — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | Established in 1786, Lynchburg was a thriving commercial center famous for its tobacco and manufacturing industries when Fort Sumter, South Carolina was bombarded in April 1861 and the Civil War began. Lynchburg’s Fair Grounds and Camp Davis immediately began receiving troops for training from all over the South. During the war, the city’s foundries and factories produced munitions, mills ground flour for rations, and railway trains and canal boats transported men and supplies to the front. . . . — Map (db m3935) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Q–6-I — Fort Early |
| | Named for Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, this roughly square earthen redoubt served as a part of the outer line of defense for Lynchburg in June 1864. Fort Early and the outer fortifications were constructed to provide additional protection for the vital railroad facilities in Lynchburg threatened by Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter’s troops after Early arrived on 17 June. On 18 June, Hunter advanced his troops towards Confederate positions, while Union artillery bombarded Fort Early and . . . — Map (db m3602) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Fort Early — The Confederate Center — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | Following the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg in July 1863, Lynchburg’s citizens became concerned about the lack of defenses around the city. Gen. Francis Nicholls, post commander, prepared a series of earthen redoubts and trenches at strategic points to take advantage of Lynchburg’s topography. He designed the earthen redoubt here to protect an artillery battery covering the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike (Fort Ave.). When Union Gen, David Hunter attacked Lynchburg in June 1864, he advanced his . . . — Map (db m3926) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Q-6-2 — Fort McCausland |
| | The fort on the hill here was constructed by General J.A. Early to protect the approach to Lynchburg from the west. Union cavalry skirmished with the Confederates along the road immediately west of the fort. The Unionists, driven back by General McCausland, were unable to enter the city from this direction. — Map (db m3600) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Fort McCausland — The Confederate Right Flank — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | To your right, Confederates built an earthen redoubt in 1864 to defend the strategic Virginia & Tennessee Railroad trestle over Ivy Creek. The six-gun battery of the Botetourt Artillery manned the redoubt and a position on the other side of Forest Road (Langhorne Road) crossing in front. To capture Lynchburg, Union Gen. David Hunter had divided his army and sent Gen. Alfred N.A. Duffie’s cavalry to seize the city by turning the Confederate right flank. Gen. John McCausland cavalry moved to . . . — Map (db m3924) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Q-6 9 — Inner Defences |
| | Near here ran the line of inner defences located by Gen. D. H. Hill, June, 1864. He had been sent from Petersburg by Gen. Beauregard to assist Gen. Breckinridge then in command. On Gen. Early’s arrival, troops were moved to the outer work. — Map (db m15539) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Q-6 3 — Inner Defenses — 1864 |
| | Here ran the Inner line of Lynchburg defenses thrown up by General D. H. Hill in June, 1864. General John C. Breckinridge. Confronting General Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, made a forced march to forestall Hunter. Hill constructed a shallow line of trenches, occupied by Breckinridge, and hospital convalescents and Home Guards. It became a reserve line when General Early arrived. — Map (db m15541) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Jubal Early Memorial |
| | Memorial to Jubal Anderson Early, Lieutenant General C.S.A., and to the brave Confederate soldiers under him who came to the rescue of Lynchburg when it was threatened by an invasion of Federal forces and erected these earthworks behind which they intrenched themselves in their defense of the city. — Map (db m3601) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Lynchburg — Early and Hunter |
| | In early May 1864, while Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee confronted the Union Army of the Potomac west of Fredericksburg, Union Gen. U.S. Grant sent Gen. Franz Sigel’s army to destroy Lee’s supplies in the Shenandoah Valley. After the Union defeat at New Market on May 15, Grant relieved Sigel and ordered his replacement, Gen. David Hunter, to seize Lynchburg, a strategic railway and supply center for the Confederate army. Hunter routed Confederate forces at Piedmont June 5th, captured both . . . — Map (db m3942) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Lynchburg Civil War Hospitals — Knight and Miller Tobacco Factories — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | These tobacco factories, built in 1845, were typical of the nineteen in Lynchburg converted into hospitals during the Civil War. Surgeon J.K. Page supervised Knight’s and Miller’s as divisions of General Hospital No. 2. The Thirty-two hospitals established in Lynchburg treated 3,000 to 4,000 patients at any given time, a remarkable achievement since Lynchburg’s 1860 population was 6,853. Citizens opened their own homes after major battle such as Gettysburg and the Wilderness when the deluge of . . . — Map (db m3925) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Old City Cemetery — Lynchburg, Virginia — Civil War Sites |
| | “With a graveyard on one side, quartermaster’s glanders stable on the other, and smallpox hospital in the middle, one (is) reminded of the mortality of man.” “A Confederate Surgeon’s Story,” Confederate Veteran, 1931, John Jay Terrell, M.D. This Old City Cemetery served three distinct and important roles in the Civil War: it was a burial ground for over 2200 soldiers, both Union Confederate; it was the location of the Pest House smallpox quarantine hospital; and it was . . . — Map (db m3937) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Quaker Meeting House — The Battle Begins — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | From here in June 1864, Confederate cavalrymen watched Gen. David Hunter’s Union army advance toward them on the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike (Fort Ave). Hunter departed Lexington on June 14 and crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains near Peaks of Otter. Liberty (Bedford) fell the next day, but Confederate Gen. John McCausland’s cavalry was so successful in delaying Hunter’s army that it did not reach the ridge seen in the distance until the afternoon of June 17. Gen. John D. Imboden’s cavalry joined . . . — Map (db m3928) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Sandusky — Hunter's Headquarters — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | Union Gen. David Hunter’s army reached the outskirts of Lynchburg on June 17, 1864, despite being delayed by engagements with Gen. John McCausland’s Confederate cavalry. That evening, Hunter made his headquarters here at Sandusky, aware that Confederate reinforcements were arriving. He remained confident, however, that he could carry out Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s orders to capture Lynchburg. That night, in Sandusky’s parlor, Hunter and his commanders planned the assault on Confederate Gen. Jubal . . . — Map (db m3923) |
| Virginia, Lynchburg — Spring Hill Cemetery — Confederate Generals Rest — Battle of Lynchburg |
| | During the Battle of Lynchburg on June 17-18, 1864, Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early moved his reserves into the cemetery to reinforce his lines across the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike (Fort Ave.) at Fort Early. Before dawn on Sunday, June 19, these troops marched forward into the lines to the right of Fort Early, but by then the Union army had retreated. Organized in 1852, Spring Hill Cemetery was designed by John Notman of Philadelphia, noted for Laurel Hill Cemetery in that city and Richmond’s . . . — Map (db m3936) |
| Virginia, Manassas Park — Signal Hill — “Look out for your left, you are turned” |
| | This elevation behind the Confederate right flank at Mantissas in July
1861 was one of four Confederate
signal stations established by Capt. Edward Porter Alexander; Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s signal officer. Because the hilltop was devoid of trees, it offered excellent sight lines
to the north and
west without
building a signal
tower. As Union
Gen. Irvin
McDowell’s army
approached, the
Centreville station
was abandoned,
but Alexander’s
signalmen remained at the other three stations . . . — Map (db m3577) |
| Virginia, Newport News — “Every Kind of Obstruction was Skillfully Used” — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The Battle of Dam No. 1 proved a lost opportunity for the Union Army to break the Warwick-Yorktown line and force a Confederate withdrawal toward Richmond. Instead, Major General George McClellan spent another 17 days completing his heavy artillery emplacements. Furthermore, the Confederates retreated two days before the proposed Union grand barrage on May 5, 1862. Major General “Prince” John Magruder’s troop maneuvers and elaborate defenses on the Warwick-Yorktown line halted the . . . — Map (db m11241) |
| Virginia, Newport News — “Just Like Sap – Boiling, in the Stream” — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The Vermont troops waited in vain for reinforcements; Corporal Alonzo Hutchinson was mortally wounded while crossing the Warwick River and died without signaling for support. The Union leaders also failed to exploit the break in the Confederate lines. Brigadier General William Smith had fallen twice from his horse and was knocked unconscious. Moreover, Captain Fernando Harrington was missing from the battlefield. Thus, Captain Samuel Pingree took command and rallied the men against a second . . . — Map (db m11215) |
| Virginia, Newport News — “The Bullets Would Whistle Around my Head” — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | After the 15th North Carolina’s repulse, Brigadier General Howell Cobb (a former governor of Georgia and secretary of treasury) rallied the Confederates and prepared to drive the Vermonters into the water. Cobb commanded a brigade in Brigadier General Lafayette McLaw’s division and reinforced the line with the 7th, 8th, 11th, and 16th Georgia Infantry regiments. With great noise and shouting, the Georgians attacked Captain Samuel Pingree’s beleaguered command and forced their withdrawal across . . . — Map (db m11218) |
| Virginia, Newport News — “Their Conduct was Worthy of Veterans” — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | Brigadier General William Smith massed 18 cannons in an open field within 500 yards of the opposite shore. In addition, General Smith deployed Brigadier General William T.H. Brooks’s Vermont Brigade along the Warwick River with two brigades in support. Four companies of Colonel Breed N. Hyde’s 3rd Vermont Infantry were selected to cross the river under the command of Captain Fernando Harrington. Moreover, Brooks gave Corporal Alonzo Hutchinson a white handkerchief as a signal for . . . — Map (db m11202) |
| Virginia, Newport News — A Great Confederate Naval Victory |
| | On March 8, 1862, the day before her epic battle with the U.S.S. Monitor, the Confederate ironclad ram Virginia (formerly the U.S.S. Merrimack) engaged and sank in the James River two powerful Union sailing Ships of War, the U.S.S. Cumberland and the U.S.S. Congress, and also silenced Union shore batteries on the bluffs at Newport News. Despite the gallant defense of these vessels, that day’s action vividly demonstrated the superiority of metal over wood. The victory was a high point in the . . . — Map (db m10341) |
| Virginia, Newport News — A Large Brick Kitchen |
| | In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Chesapeake planters moved the preparation and cooking of food from their homes to a separate structure. Thus, the odors, noise and heat from cooking were eliminated from the main house. Most importantly, separate kitchens reduced the chances of fires in the dwelling house. This move also represented the emerging racial lines of chattel slavery in the late 1600s. Sidebar: The plantation kitchen was second only to the dwelling house in . . . — Map (db m16553) |
| Virginia, Newport News — A Nameless Grave — By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
| | “A soldier of the Union mustered out,” is the inscription on an unknown grave at Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave, nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout of battle when the loud artillery drave its iron wedges through the ranks of brave and doomed battalions, storming the redoubt. Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea in thy forgotten grave. With secret shame I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn, when I remember thou hadst given . . . — Map (db m16595) |
| Virginia, Newport News — An Earthwork in Front |
| | 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 . . . — Map (db m16548) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 232 — Aviation Field Yorktown |
| | From July 1919 until Aug. 1921, the U.S. Navy operated an aviation training school north of here at what was then known as the U.S. Navy Mine Depot (U.S. Naval Weapons Station). The school provided the first advanced aviation and gunnery operations. In Oct. 1922 the aviation field supported the first flight made from a U.S. aircraft carrier, USS Langley, which was anchored in the York River. Also, on 8 May 1925 likely the first overland commercial flight from New York City to this region landed there. — Map (db m10339) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Balthrope — Boldrup |
| | Preface: Newport News was a small community located in Warwick County until late in the 19th century. Established as a town in 1880, it was incorporated as a city in 1896. Warwick County, one of the eight original Virginia shires formed by 1634, became extinct in 1952 when it was designated the city of Warwick. It merged with Newport News in 1958. In 1626, William Claiborne patented 500 acres along the Warwick River above Denbign. Captain Samuel Stevens acquired the estate, called . . . — Map (db m13959) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Battle of Dam No. 1 — The Water Boiled with Bullets — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | You are presently standing at the site of Dam No. 1, one of three dams constructed by Confederate commander John Bankhead Magruder to make the sluggish Warwick River into a defensive barrier. Dam No. 1 was the mid-point between two prewar tide mills at Lee’s Mill and Wynne’s Mill. The Union attack against the Confederate earthworks across the river on April 16, 1862, would veer to the left of the existing foot bridge. On April 5, 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Union army found its . . . — Map (db m10355) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Battle of Lee’s Mill — Flames Appeared on all Sides — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The fortifications that appear before you are all that remain of the extensive Confederate fortifications defending the Warwick River crossing at Lee’s Mill. After an uneventful march up the Great Warwick Road through Young’s Mill on April 4, the Union IV Corps resumed its march up the Peninsula the next day determined to reach the Half-way House between Williamsburg and Yorktown. The lead division, commanded by Brig. Gen. William F. “Baldy” Smith, found its progress slowed first . . . — Map (db m10362) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Battle of Lee’s Mill (Dam Number 1) — April 16, 1862 |
| | A stalwart defense of the Warwick River by units of the 15th North Carolina, 7th Georgia and 2nd Louisiana Infantry, C.S.A., commanded by General J.B. Magruder is commemorated here. The defensive line extending across the Virginia Peninsula was held under Federal fire during April 1862 by the numerically superior Army of the Potomac under General G.B. McClellan. At the Battle of Lee’s Mill (also called Battle of Dam No. 1) companies of the 3rd, 4th and 6th Vermont Infantry twice succeeded in . . . — Map (db m10340) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Berdan’s Sharpshooters — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | From this rifle pit, Colonel Hiram Berdan’s 1st U.S. Sharpshooters targeted Confederate troops on the opposite bank of the Warwick River. Hiram Berdan, considered the nation’s best marksman, organized the regiment from hand-picked volunteers who placed ten consecutive shots in a 10-inch circle at 200 yards. The Sharpshooters wore green uniforms for camouflage, and some of the men carried their own target rifles with telescopic sights. Berdan’s Sharpshooters served as skirmishers in the advance . . . — Map (db m11270) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Birth of Naval Aviation |
| | “The value of the aeroplane for the Navy is unquestioned.” – Eugene B. Ely Naval aviation dates from November 14, 1910, when stunt pilot Eugene B. Ely coaxed a Curtiss “Pusher” biplane from the deck of the cruiser “Birmingham” in these waters, landing in nearby Norfolk. Despite detractors, Ely secured private funding and Navy aid for his daring effort, launching a virtual revolution in military aviation. Newport News Historical Commission 1993 — Map (db m15420) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Collis Potter Huntington — as a young man |
| | Born October 22, 1821, Harwinton, Connecticut Died August 13, 1900, “Pine Knot Camp.” New York ---------- • ---------- Sculpted and presented by Anna Hyatt Huntington Dedicated October 22, 1966 Right of Monument: Collis Potter Huntington Founder, 1869 – 1881 Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Deep-Water Terminal ---------- • ---------- “This is a point so designed and adapted by nature that it will require comparatively little at the hands of man to fit it for our purpose. . . . — Map (db m16598) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Confederate Dead |
| | Forward Monument:
Confederate Prisoners of War who died in Federal Prison in Newport News Va between April and July 1865 are interred here. This memorial was donated by Mildred Rhodes Duncan Thomas Purnell Duncan, Jr.
Front of Monument: Confederate Dead
Side of Monument:
Remains of 154 Confederate Soldiers Died at Newport News, VA. 1861 1865
Side of Monument:
To our soldier dead erected by Lee Camp No. 3 Confederate Veterans. of Hampton VA. A tribute from the . . . — Map (db m10451) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Congress – Cumberland — Give Them a Broadside Boys, as She Goes — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | In this section of the James River directly in front of you lies the remains of the USS Cumberland. At this location and along the shore to your left were the Union batteries that protected Camp Butler. On March 8, 1862, the Confederate ironclad ram CSS Virginia attacked the Federal fleet blockading the James River. The conversion of the Virginia during the past year from the former steam frigate USS Merrimack, scuttled when Federal forces evacuated Norfolk in 1861, . . . — Map (db m10344) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Custer’s Covered Way — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | George Armstrong Custer had the dubious honor of graduating last in the 1861 class at West Point. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Cavalry and fought with the Army of the Potomac in almost every major battle from Bull Run to Appomattox. During the Peninsula Campaign, Lieutenant Custer served with distinction as a staff officer and scout. He made an uneasy observation flight in the balloon Constitution at Warwick Court House and wrote that “My confidence in . . . — Map (db m11267) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Endview — Home of the Warwick Beauregards — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The white two-and-a-half story frame building in front of you in the distance is Endview. Endview was built circa 1760 by Col. William Harwood, Jr., who was a member of the House of Burgesses, a signer of the Virginia Resolves, and a Warwick County militia officer. When the French-American army began its march to begin the Revolutionary War’s Siege of Yorktown on September 28, 1781, Maj. Gen. Thomas Nelson, Jr.’s, 3,000-strong Virginia militia used Endview as a campground. Because of its . . . — Map (db m10381) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 84 — First Battle of Ironclads |
| | In Hampton Roads, southward and a mile or two offshore, the Virginia (Merrimac) and the Monitor fought their engagement, March 9, 1862. The day before the Virginia destroyed the Cumberland and Congress, wooden ships of Union Navy. — Map (db m10139) |
| Virginia, Newport News — First Peninsula Defense Line |
| | Earthworks on the hillside above mark the southernmost of three fortified cross-peninsula defense lines built by Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder in the spring of 1862 and extending three miles from Deep Creek here at Young’s Mill, to the Poquoson River at Harwood’s Mill. Although rated formidable by Union Gen. C.D. Keys, this line was abandoned in favor of a firm stand on the second defense line at Lee’s Mill, April 5, 1862. — Map (db m10175) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 56 — Fort Eustis |
| | Fort Eustis is named for a native Virginian, Gen. Abraham Eustis (1786 – 1843), a commander of Fort Monroe. In March 1918, the U.S. government established Camp Abraham Eustis as a coast artillery training center; it was designated a fort in 1923. It then served as a Federal Emergency Relief Administration transient camp during the Great Depression, an antiaircraft artillery training center, a prisoner of war camp during World War II, and the headquarters for the U.S. Army Transportation . . . — Map (db m10337) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Fortification Design — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The Confederate field fortifications constructed on the Virginia Peninsula were influenced by seventeenth-century French military engineer Marshal Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban and nineteenth-century American engineering professor Dennis Hart Mahan. Vauban designed superior fortresses with many fronts and bastions which presented an impenetrable defense in depth. He also revolutionized siegeworks by developing a system of parallels and zig-zag trenches for reducing fortresses with only minimal . . . — Map (db m11333) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Hampton Roads — World’s Largest Natural Harbor |
| | Preface: Newport News was a small community located in Warwick County until late in the 19th century. Established as a town in 1880, it was incorporated as a city in 1896. Warwick County, one of the eight original Virginia shires formed by 1634, became extinct in 1952 when it was designated the city of Warwick. It merged with Newport News in 1958. This body of water before you is the world’s largest natural harbor. Hampton Roads is formed by the confluence of the Elizabeth, James, and . . . — Map (db m13945) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Homestead by the Main Road |
| | Lee Hall Mansion is the only Italianate antebellum plantation house on the lower Peninsula. It was completed in 1859 and was home to Richard D. Lee, justice of the peace for Warwick County. In 1850 Lee purchased a 452-acre tract of land, which was listed as “the homestead by the main road.” He began construction of this house in the mid-1850s. Built on high ground, Lee Hall Mansion provided a commanding view of the countryside and was visible to travelers on the Great Warwick Road. . . . — Map (db m16547) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 77 — James A. Fields House |
| | James A. Fields acquired this late-Victorian Italianate-style brick house in 1893. Fields, born into slavery in Hanover County, escaped in 1862 and became a contraband of war. He graduated in 1871 from what is now Hampton University and taught school. After receiving a law degree from Howard University in 1882, Fields served as the commonwealth’s attorney for Warwick County in 1887 and represented the region in the House of Delegates (1889-1890). After Field’s death in 1903, four doctors . . . — Map (db m10607) |
| Virginia, Newport News — James A. Fields House — Up from Slavery |
| | James Apostles Fields was born into slavery in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1844. During the Civil War, Fields and his brother George escaped to Hampton, where in 1862 they found refuge as “contrabands of war” at Fort Monroe. James Fields served as a guide for U.S. Army troops there. He learned to read and attended the “Butler School,” named for commanding Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and operated by missionaries. When Gen. Samuel Chapman Armstrong came to . . . — Map (db m10611) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Largest and Most Valuable Estate in the County |
| | In 1844, Richard D. Lee inherited 481.5 acres from his father’s estate. For the next 16 years, Lee improved and expanded his land holdings until he owned 2,100 acres. In 1860, his farm yielded 2,900 bushels of wheat, 3,500 bushels of corn, 1,400 bushels of oats, 1,200 bushels of hay and truck crops. In addition, he owned 14 milk cows, 72 beef cattle, 35 sheep and 130 hogs. Lee was a successful scientific farmer who followed the agricultural practices of Edmund Ruffin and John Taylor. By 1800, . . . — Map (db m16549) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 228 — Lebanon Church |
| | 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 . . . — Map (db m10338) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Lebanon Church — In 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 . . . — Map (db m10389) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Lee Hall |
| | The village of Lee Hall, built after the arrival of the C & O Railway in the 1880’s, took its name from the fine residence begun in 1848 by Richard Decatur Lee overlooking his extensive Warwick County Plantation. Lee Hall became the headquarters of the Confederate General, John B. Magruder, in April and May 1862, during the Civil War Peninsula Campaign. The house is privately owned today. — Map (db m10257) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 54 — Lee Hall |
| | 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 . . . — Map (db m10267) |
| Virginia, Newport News — 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 . . . — Map (db m10376) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 58 — Lee’s Mill |
| | Lee’s Mill, a pre-war tide mill, formed part of Confederate Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder’s second Peninsula defensive line. When Union Gen. George B. McClellan began his Peninsula Campaign, his advance against Richmond was blocked here on 5 April 1862. Elements of the Union IV Corps led by Brig. Gen. William F. Smith skirmished with Confederates commanded by Brig. Gen. Lafayette McLaws at Lee’s Mill. The Federals believed that the extensive defenses could only be taken with heavy . . . — Map (db m10196) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 71 — Lee’s Mill Earthworks |
| | These earthworks were part of General John B. Magruder’s second line of defense. At this site on April 5, 1862, Confederate General Lafayette McLaw’s four companies of the Tenth Georgia with Captain Joseph B. Cosnahan’s two batteries stopped the advance of Union General William F. “Baldy” Smith’s two divisions of the Fourth Army Corps and Captain Charles C. Wheeler’s six batteries. Several skirmishes and engagements occurred here between April 5 and May 4, 1862 at which time the . . . — Map (db m10206) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Master and Slaves |
| | Unlike their ancestors who worked in tobacco fields, Warwick County slaves provided labor for raising staple crops. Slaves also cared for livestock and draft animals, worked in fields, repaired fences, washed clothes, cut wood and performed a variety of chores. In addition, male slaves were often used as skilled craftsmen (carpenters, blacksmiths and coopers) on the plantation. Richard Lee inherited 7 male slaves in 1844. As he prospered, he purchased or rented more slaves. By 1860, Lee owned . . . — Map (db m16551) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Monitor – Merrimack — The Battle of the Ironclads — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | Lincoln viewed the March 8, 1862, sinking of the USS Congress and USS Cumberland as the greatest Union calamity since Bull Run. Union Secretary of War Edwin W. Stanton feared that “the CSS Virginia (Merrimack) would soon come up the Potomac and disperse Congress, destroy the Capitol and public buildings…” Stanton believed that “McClellan’s mistaken purpose to advance by the Peninsula must be abandoned.” As the burning Congress set an . . . — Map (db m10347) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Monitor – Merrimack Battle |
| | From this spot March 9, 1862, observers anxiously awaited the outcome of one of the most famous naval battles of all time – between the Confederate ironclad Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) and the Union ironclad Monitor. After four hours inconclusive combat, with neither vessel able to destroy the other, the contest ended in a draw. But the world took notice and the age of iron shipbuilding was so ushered into being there. — Map (db m10142) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Mott’s Battery — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | On April 4, 1862, Major General George B. McClellan launched his offensive on the Virginia Peninsula against the Confederate capital at Richmond. Major General John B. Magruder’s 13,000 troops halted the Union advance along the Warwick-Yorktown line on April 5, 1862. With aggressive troop maneuvers and artillery duels, Magruder deceived McClellan into believing he faced impregnable fortifications defended by over 100,000 troops. “Our reconnaissance of yesterday,” reported McClellan, . . . — Map (db m11254) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 57 — Mulberry Point |
| | Mulberry Point is situated on the James River, on the grounds of present-day Fort Eustis. In 1609-1610, the harsh winter known as the “Starving Time” prompted the surviving colonists at Jamestown to abandon it. They and the recently arrived Lieutenant Governor Sir Thomas Gates sailed away on 7 June 1610, bound for Newfoundland and the English fishing fleet. The next day, about ten miles downstream at Mulberry point, they encountered relief ships under the governor, Lord De La Warr, . . . — Map (db m10336) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Newport News — 1607 - 1957 |
| | This area was blessed with abundant springs famous to mariners for centuries after the great sea captain Christopher Newport visited here enroute to Jamestown in May 1607 in command of the first permanent English settlers of the New World. Thus began the great ports of Hampton Roads. First called Point Hope, it became Newport News between 1608 and 1619 and is the oldest English place name of any city in America. The name derives by tradition from the news received here of Captain Newport on . . . — Map (db m16568) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Newport News Point — … Named in His Honor |
| | Preface: Newport News was a small community located in Warwick County until late in the 19th century. Established as a town in 1880, it was incorporated as a city in 1896. Warwick County, one of the eight original Virginia shires formed by 1634, became extinct in 1952 when it was designated the city of Warwick. It merged with Newport News in 1958. In 1606, the Virginia Company of London received a charter from King James I to settle Virginia. The company selected Captain Christopher . . . — Map (db m13948) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Newport News POW Camp — Where Valor Proudly Sleeps |
| | The monument that stands before you was erected in June 1900 by the members of the Magruder Camp No. 36, United Confederate Veterans, to honor the 163 Confederate soldiers reinterred at this site who had died in the POW Camp next to Camp Butler on Newport News Point. Following the war’s end, the victorious Union army had thousands of Confederate troops to parole and return to their homes throughout the South. With Northern camps already filled with captured Confederates, a Newport News POW . . . — Map (db m10446) |
| Virginia, Newport News — One-Gun Battery — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The twelve miles of Confederate defenses followed the course of the Warwick River one mile from Yorktown to Mulberry Island. Dam No. 1, the mid-point, was protected by this one-gun battery mounting a 12-pound howitzer. In addition, a 6-pound smoothbore and a 24-pound howitzer were situated in the redoubts behind this point. On April 16, 1862, Brigadier General William Smith, a division commander in the IV Corps, directed an attack against Dam No. 1 to break through the Confederate lines. At . . . — Map (db m11201) |
| Virginia, Newport News — W 62 — Peninsula Campaign Warwick River |
| | Following the 10 June 1861 Battle of Big Bethel, Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, commander of the Confederate Army of the Peninsula, organized the construction of three defensive lines of fortifications across the peninsula. The main line extended 12 miles from Yorktown to the Warwick River and downstream to Lee’s Mill, then westward to Skiffes Creek, which flowed into the James River at the Mulberry Island Point battery. When Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan began his Peninsula Campaign to capture . . . — Map (db m10198) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Skiffes Creek — The Defense of Mulberry Island — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | The redoubt before you is one of five earthworks built by the Confederates to help defend the Mulberry Island/James River flank of Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder’s 2nd Peninsula Defensive Line. This series of redoubts (of which only two remain) stretched from Lee’s Mill on the Warwick River to Skiffes Creek, thereby blocking any Federal flanking movement by way of Mulberry Island or Skiffes Creek. Until the emergence of the powerful ironclad ram CSS Virginia (Merrimack), Magruder had . . . — Map (db m10363) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Stanley Hundred — A New Settlement |
| | Preface: Newport News was a small community located in Warwick County until late in the 19th century. Established as a town in 1880, it was incorporated as a city in 1896. Warwick County, one of the eight original Virginia shires formed by 1634, became extinct in 1952 when it was designated the city of Warwick. It merged with Newport News in 1958. Sir George Yeardley served as governor and captain general of Virginia from 1619 to 1621 and from 1626 to 1627. He had arrived in Virginia . . . — Map (db m13953) |
| Virginia, Newport News — Ten Pound Parrott Rifle and Limber |
| | The Civil War Parrott Rifle was a muzzle loaded rifled cannon capable of firing a 10 pound projectile about 3000 yards at 12º elevation. Invented by Robert P. Parrott, the cast iron Parrott Rifle gave greater accuracy and a larger effective range compared to the more commonly used smooth-bore Napoleon. The barrel of this cannon is an original, manufactured in 1864 at West Point Foundry, Cold Spring, New York. The gun carriage and limber are cast iron replicas. The limber, to which the horses . . . — Map (db m20090) |
| Virginia, Newport News — The Battle of Lee’s Mill — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | In March of 1862, Union Maj. Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac landed at Fort Monroe and Camp Butler. This large force contained 121,500 soldiers, 44 batteries of field artillery and 101 heavy siege cannons. Confederate Maj. Gen. John Magruder, promoted for his June 10, 1861 victory at the Battle of Big Bethel, rightly viewed his situation as precarious and requested more cannons and troops for the Peninsula’s defenses. On April 4, 1862, the Army of the Potomac moved up the Peninsula . . . — Map (db m11310) |
| Virginia, Newport News — The Cemetery — The Civil War at Endview — A living history museum |
| | Located near a circa 1630 house site, this graveyard has held the mortal remains of the Harwood family and other persons since the seventeenth century. Southern plantations typically had a private plot containing the graves of several generations of family members. However, the Endview cemetery has only a few markers left that clearly identify the deceased. Humphrey K. Harwood was the nephew of the last Harwood who owned Endview Plantation and the first cousin of Dr. Humphrey Harwood Curtis, . . . — Map (db m16564) |
| Virginia, Newport News — The Dairy Building — The Civil War at Endview — A living history museum |
| | In the South, dairy buildings were small structures, usually 14 feet square with a gable roof. The buildings’ overhanging eaves, louvered ventilators, and insulated walls were designed to keep the milk cool inside. Milk was placed in shallow tubs for approximately ten hours until the cream separated and rose to the surface. Slaves collected the cream and churned it into butter. Dairy buildings were a measure of affluence, as milk, butter, and cream were luxuries of the planter class. Sidebar: . . . — Map (db m16566) |
| Virginia, Newport News — The Endview Spring — The Civil War at Endview — A living history museum |
| | The fresh water bubbling from this natural spring has supported wildlife and the various residents on this property: Indian hunting parties, the Harwood/Curtis families, and military encampments. During the American Revolution, General George Washington’s soldiers stopped at Endview Plantation’s spring to quench their thirst on September 28, 1781. The Continental Army was advancing from Williamsburg to encircle the British garrison at Yorktown. According to family legend, the men drank so much . . . — Map (db m16563) |
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