Hampton Is Burned

Hampton Is Burned. "Suddenly the flaming torches were seen". New development dominates this area, but during the Civil War a house stood at this site that was one of many in the town destroyed by fire. The burning occurred when Confederate commander John Bankhead Magruder heard the rumor that Union Gen. Benjamin Butler intended to shelter troops and enslaved people, known as "Contraband of War," in Hampton. To prevent that, Magruder ordered Hampton resident Capt. Jefferson C. Phillips of the Old Dominion Dragoons to burn the town. Local residents, including members of the Warwick Beauregards and the York Rangers, carried out the harsh directive on the night of August 7, 1861., Of the approximately 500 structures in Hampton, less than ten were left standing the following morning., Archeologists examined the site and determined that both Union soldiers and formerly enslaved families scavenged the burnt structure for salvageable building materials. People quickly filled the open basement with refuse. Archaeologists found shoe leather, fish and animal bones, an inkwell, along with buttons from Georgia, New York, and Massachusetts troops., U.S. forces continued to use the devastated town. Soldiers camped in St. John's churchyard, and formerly enslaved families settled in the large "Grand Contraband Camp" in Hampton and "Slabtown" near Fort Monroe., Witness to the Flames , "Suddenly the flaming torches were seen dancing about wildly in all directions .... The houses were entered and fired, and soon the whole town was enveloped in a flame casting a bright light over the bay." , Pvt. William H. Osborne, 29th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, (captions) , Ruins of Hampton - Courtesy Library of Congress , "The Burning of Hampton by the Rebel Forces Under Colonel Magruder," Harper's Weekly, Aug. 31, 1861