 It lies majestic lay at the tip of Virginia's peninsula on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay a Fortress of stone and brick Staring at each ship passing through the Hampton Roads Harbor Noticing the change from sail to steam and over a century of history passing by Hello, I'm Larry helpman Through the entire history of Virginia Old-point comfort has played an important role in the defense of the lower Chesapeake and Hampton Roads This program will look at the history of old-point comfort and the fortress that now occupies the land Fort Monroe now a symbol of America's dedication to a freedom of defense for more than a hundred years Fort Monroe's origin dates back to more than three centuries the English colonists in Christopher Newport first landed in America First landing at Cape Henry in 1607 Shortly thereafter made their way across the bay to a point of land. They called comfort It soon became known as old-point comfort John Smith of the famed Jamestown Colony had studied old-point comfort and the colonists believe that guns mounted there could prevent passage of Hostile ships up the James River thereby protecting the colony Thus Fort Algernon a crude fortification was constructed, but soon fell into disrepair Attempts to revive it in the 1660s run successful Still realizing the strategic importance of old-point comfort the Virginia assembly in 1728 Approved construction of new works and thus Fort George was created However, it too soon fell only this time to a hurricane With the destruction of Fort George colonial coastline fortification in Virginia virtually came to an end The actual conception of a modern fortress at the entrance to Hampton Roads Harbor did not occur until the early 1800s It was the war of 1812 that brought about the building of a permanent fortification The experiences of the war of 1812 exposed the vulnerability of the entire maritime frontier The British gave a convincing demonstration of that vulnerability in 1813 By sailing a fleet into the unprotected mouth of Hampton Roads An attempt to capture Norfolk was thwarted But the British turned their attention to the other side of Hampton Roads by capturing Hampton The destruction of Hampton was one of the darker episodes of the war The following year in August 1814 British sailed up the Chesapeake Bay unopposed and landed their army behind Washington DC At the same time a naval force pushed up the Potomac River While the Royal Navy occupied Alexandria the army burned Washington In 1818 the board of officers recommended fortifying old-point comfort A one member of the board was Brevet Brigadier General Simon Bernard Bernard a former aide to Camp de Napoleon was appointed by President Madison as an assistant engineer Collection of materials and completion of preliminary arrangements were begun under the supervision of Colonel Walter Armstead And lasted throughout 1818 The actual work of construction was begun in March of 1819 The estimated cost of Fort Monroe totaled nearly a million dollars It is believed that General Bernard designed the plans of the fortification The fort had seven fronts covering about 63 acres of ground Surrounded by an eight-foot deep moat Fort Monroe was typical of its period with its impressive size Irregular plan and large bastions The bastion was simply a projected point of fortification The full armament of Fort Monroe was originally designed to be 380 guns, but was subsequently increased to 412 But these were never all mounted The fort required a peacetime garrison of 600 men and a wartime garrison of over 2600 men No other fort in the United States was of comparable size And it was generally believed at the time that no fort in Europe not in closing a town was larger Although work on Fort Monroe was begun in 1819 Property continued to belong to the state of Virginia for a number of years Mr. RP Weiner Fort Monroe historian It was not until March 1821 that the Virginia General Assembly passed an act which authorized the governor to convey by deed to the United States Titled the lands at old-point comfort and the rip-rap shoals upon which Fort wool was built And this deed was not actually executed until 1838 One of the provisions of the deed is that if the lands are used for any other purpose by the United States And for fortifications or national defense the property shall revert to the state of Virginia In 1824 the adjutant general ordered organization of the Artillery Corps for instruction The Army's first professional service school a Since Fort Monroe was nearly three-quarters complete Troops and officers were directed here to set up the school which remained in operation until 1834 The progress in construction of Fort Monroe continued satisfactorily However, the fort was still far from finished on its projected completion date in 1826 in August 1832 a cholera epidemic broke out among the workmen Suspending all operations a work was finally resumed and by the spring of 1834 work was nearly finished At this point Fort Monroe was turned over to the artillery for completion One of the more colorful figures in Fort Monroe's history arrived in December of 1828 Private EA Perry reported for duty in the adjutant's office Perry was promoted to regimental sergeant major only a few days before his 20th birthday Private Perry is better known to us as Edgar Allen Poe Intent on pursuing his literary ambitions Poe revealed his real name hoping for a discharge After this attempt failed Poe said about to obtain an appointment to West Point He received his appointment to the Academy and left Fort Monroe a week later The Fort Monroe received its official name on February 1st 1832 Fort Monroe historian dr. B. E. Fleeber explains Adjutant general's order number 11 1832 said It is the order of the secretary of war that all military post known as components Will hereafter be called forts and that the works at Old Point Comfort will be called Fort Monroe not Fortress McGraw To the best of my knowledge Fort Monroe never had a formal name given to it It always had been known as Fortress Monroe And this was logical that it would be called this because it was the largest of the installations built under the 1818 system and it was logical that they called it after the incumbent president James Monroe It was late in 1831 when a young lieutenant of engineers arrived at Fort Monroe Second lieutenant Robert E. Lee was assigned to the post as an assistant engineer Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe for three and a half years He came as an assistant engineer of limited experience, but left fully qualified to direct a large engineering project He designed some of the buildings Wars and fortifications at the post and had the moat excavated to its proper depth In November of 1834 after a successful tour at Fort Monroe Lee was ordered to report for service as assistant to the chief of engineers in Washington, D.C. In June of 1855 There was an explosion in a laboratory of the Fort Monroe arsenal Two men were killed However, Lieutenant Julian McAllister miraculously survived In gratitude to God for the mercy of divine providence He set about to raise funds and Contributed of his own money For the building of a chapel the chapel which is known as the Chapel of the centurion Is named after Cornelius a Roman soldier who was converted to the Christian faith Through the ministry of the Apostle Peter His conversion marked the opening of the Christian faith to Gentiles Cornelius as a centurion was commander of a hundred men It was his faith that inspired the name Chapel of the centurion Hanging from the walls of the nave are reproductions of the colors of old regiments of the US Army These flags are a tribute to many American fighting units The original faded and worn flags hung here in the chapel until 1977 The stained glass windows in the chapel are dedicated to military men who served at Fort Monroe The spirit of the Chapel of the centurion is clearly expressed by these unique windows In 1858 the artillery school opened this doors for a second time However, it suspended operations after two years because of the Civil War The next five years were to be the most dramatic and in many ways the most important in the history of Fort Monroe Because of its strategic location and large garrison the post figured prominently in the plans of the federal government after the Civil War began By 1861 the fort even though not completely armed and far short of its plan to wartime garrison Was sufficiently strong to preclude easy capture As the last remaining symbol of federal authority in the upper south The strategic location of Fort Monroe was to have a profound effect upon the course of the war in Virginia Mr. George Hicks case make music the South seceded from the constitutional union in April of 1861 by July of 1861 The congressman and their ladies had assembled in Manassas along the shores of Bull Run Creek For a picnic to us to watch the great encounter of the Union and Confederate armies By the end of the day the great encounter was not all that it was supposed to have been That is to say that the Yankees or the Union army was In a headlong retreat back towards Washington as a result of the defeat at Manassas or Bull Run Creek The congress put out an urgent call to bolster the defenses around the nation's capital The call was answered by the nation's largest permanent fortification at the time Fort Monroe, Virginia troops were withdrawn from Fort Monroe and sent to Washington Prince John Magruder in command of the Confederate troops in the area Decided to use that as his opportunity to attack the area which was instigated by report In the New York Tribune New York Tribune said that Hampton was going to be used as a camp for runaway slaves Report was utterly false that nevertheless Prince John Magruder burned Hampton on August 7th 1861 Now Fort Monroe and the peninsula was Extremely critical at the time because it was the gateway or the landward approach to the Confederate capital enrichment It had been known to the federal authorities for some time that the Confederates were rebuilding The Merrimack which had fallen into their hands when Norfolk was abandoned Washington authorities learning of the possible ravages of this rebuild vessel Responded by directing the ironclad monitor to proceed to Hampton roads The CSS Virginia Commonly called the Merrimack rounded Sewell's point on March 8 1862 The two federal ships the Cumberland and Congress were anchored off Newport news As soon as the Merrimack came within range both federal ships opened fire Entirely undamaged the ironclad Merrimack destroyed both federal ships The despair of the federal authorities in Hampton roads soon lifted when the federal ironclad monitor arrived on the scene The morning after the monitor arrived the Merrimack came from Norfolk The two antagonists slowly approached each other and shortly were engaged in their memorable battle Fighting at such close range that at times their sides touched Neither ship seemed able to injure the other For four hours the battle continued But at last the Merrimack leaking from a hit near the waterline which drew from action Although the Merrimack challenged the monitor to another engagement on May 8th Monitor chose to stay under the protection of the guns of Fort Monroe The Merrimack steamed back to Sewell's point. This was the last direct confrontation of the unique warships As the war progressed the Hampton roads area was becoming increasingly important So important the president Abraham Lincoln came to Fort Monroe to plan the attack upon Norfolk The heavy concentrated bombardment of Sewell's point from Fort wool and the Union fleet in the bay Caused the Confederates to abandon Norfolk and their positions in the area The capture of Norfolk caused the destruction of the Merrimack which was blown up by the Confederates early on the morning of May 11 The Fort Monroe was the staging area for the major amphibious operations of the war Including the capture of Cape Hatteras in Roanoke Island, the Port Royal Sound expedition and the expedition to capture New Orleans It also served as the launching point for General McClellan's Peninsula campaign of 1862 And the move of the Army of the James up the river in 1864 at the beginning of the Petersburg campaign One final important act of the Civil War took place within the site of the walls of Fort Monroe in December of 1864 Francis Blair who was a political advisor of President Lincoln Visited President Davis in Richmond As a result of this meeting in January Davis wrote to Blair to tell him of his willingness to confer With the idea of seeking a peace for the two countries Lincoln saw this note and he in turn wrote of his willingness to seek peace for the people of our one common country Despite this divergence of objectives Two countries the one country a conference was held on February the 3rd Abored a Union transport called the River Queen anchored right off of Fort Monroe The South wanted an armistice to be followed by independence Lincoln insisted that the fighting would continue until the South can surrendered and the Confederacy returned to the Union Of course the conference was a failure and the war was to draw on until its termination the following April With the collapse of the Southern cause another major figure was about to emerge in the history of Fort Monroe President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy fled southward after the war. He was captured near Irwinville, Georgia in May of 1865 He was transferred to the steamer William P. Clyde and convoyed to Hampton Roads The Clyde dropped anchor in Hampton Roads on May 19th From engineer warf Davis was escorted to casemate number two here at Fort Monroe Of all the factors affecting the conditions under which Davis was held the most important is frequently overlooked The former president of the Confederacy was at first not a political prisoner. He was an alleged criminal Charged with being implicated in the assassination of president Lincoln Davis was in poor health at the end of the war and As a result he was moved out of the casemates in October 1865 to Carol Hall Which was an officer's apartment house mainly through the efforts of Dr. John Craven post surgeon An investigation soon revealed that the conspiracy charge was based on forged evidence Attempts to bring Davis to trial on the charge of treason were not seriously pursued by the federal government And he was finally released on bond in 1867 Then in 1869 the case was dismissed But Davis does not have a citizenship restored until recently Following the close of the Civil War the reestablishment of the artillery school brought about substantial activity to the post The modernization of Fort Monroe was largely due to the efforts of the Indicott board in 1885 President Grover Cleveland appointed Secretary of War William Indicott to convene a board of fortifications and other defenses The board's duties included the selection of defensive sites along the coast The determination of the type of armament and the recommendation of priorities Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort was fifth on the priority list and eventually received 10 inch and 12 inch disappearing guns among other weaponry an Important addition to post-life during this period was made by the construction of the Chamberlain Hotel a Joint resolution of Congress approved in 1887 Authorized John Chamberlain to construct a hotel provided the consent of the state of Virginia should be obtained The hotel became the social center of the post in the years before World War one The hotel made every effort not only to attract the tourist trade But also to become a gathering place for the officers of the garrison The outbreak of the war was spaying closed the artillery school The interruption caused by the war continued for three years before courses were resumed The following the Spanish-American War a major reorganization of the army took place In 1907 the artillery was divided into two branches the field artillery and the Coast Artillery Corps Fort Monroe was the post to which all Coast Artillery men Sooner or later returned it was here that the spirit of the Corps lived The beginning of 1917 found the Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe Pursuing its schedule in accordance with its program of the preceding years The entry of the country into the First World War however was soon to call for a complete readjustment in the training program For one did not cause the Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe to close its doors Instead it converted the school into a training center brought about one of the most productive periods in the history of the institution Training at Fort Monroe had been stepped up with the biggest task of the Coast Artillery School was to train officer candidates Additional courses for officers already commissioned were introduced Officers available between January and September of 1918 For given instruction in gunnery orientation field fortification and target practice Also courses in anti-aircraft artillery were given to prepare officers Admission to the American anti-aircraft school in France The armistice after World War one brought all training activity to an abrupt halt at Fort Monroe Officers returning from France flocked to the post for many months during which time was gradually returned to normal condition Fort Monroe was again on peace status With the close of the war Debobilization the necessary changes in personnel and Doubts as to the future strength of the army and overall policies made Readjustment difficult It was during this time that Port Monroe's first ROTC camp Attended by about 60 cadets was held in 1919 Financial restraints stemming from the Great Depression Assulted in significant changes in the organization of the Coast Artillery The depression was slow and being felt by the Coast Artillery School But the economy bill of 1933 cut deeply into the budget of the school and cast an ominous cloud over Fort Monroe disaster struck Fort Monroe in 1933 On August 22nd a large hurricane approached Hampton roads Torrential rains accompanied by strong winds off the bay struck the post at high tide Waves washed across the post and the officer of the day reported the post headquarters in a rowboat Nearly one million six hundred fifty thousand dollars was appropriated to restore the post to its original condition Although Fort Monroe's guns did not have the capability to defend the Chesapeake Bay after World War one He did have the responsibility for the protection of Hampton roads the inner minefield The anti-submarine net and gate and the control of shipping With the outbreak of World War two in Europe Hampton roads became with New York the Atlantic base for overseas operations The greatest activity in the area took place in 1942 This was the height of the German submarine campaign and the threat of possible attacks on eastern coastal cities existed Large number of submarines were believed to be operating just outside Chesapeake Bay waters Although three ships were sunk outside the mouth of the bay in June of 1942 It is believed that no submarine entered the Chesapeake Bay during World War two For the first few months following the end of World War two. There was uncertainty as to the future mission of the post Plans were underway that would dramatically change the mission of the old port The War Department had announced on April 1st 1946 but the Army ground forces would move to Fort Monroe It was necessary to find a new location for the Coast Artillery School in the units attached to it The school formally departed Fort Monroe on June 1st for Fort Winfield Scott in California Virtually the entire post was cleared to allow for the renovation of the buildings and other facilities for the Army ground forces Army ground forces officially began operations at Fort Monroe on October 1st 1946 two years later army fuel forces were established at Fort Monroe and Relieved of tactical responsibilities so the greater effort could be concentrated on training in 1955 the headquarters Continental Army Command was established at Fort Monroe It assumed the mission of training had direct command of the Continental Army Today Fort Monroe's military heritage continues and the post headquarters the training in doctrine command This major army command's responsibility is to prepare the army to fight and win the next war When Fort Monroe was established over 150 years ago the primary mission of the post was the establishment of the service of artillery for defense of the Bay The development of a philosophy for coastline defense and training for soldiers Fort Monroe accomplished its mission for more than a century and leaves a legacy we can never forget