The complicated history of Fort Monroe

You might have noticed in my articles that I use words like “presumed”, “highly likely”, and do not imply that anything historic is an absolute fact. History, even as it was created yesterday, is only a compilation of human interpretations of events that occurred, or, maybe even didn’t occur. It’s kind of like eyewitnesses at a crime scene, everyone saw something, but no one saw the whole.

Fort Monroe is a National Monument located approximately 65 miles from Richmond, Virginia on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula, also known as Old Point Comfort. After the British invasion of 1812 and the burning of Washington, D.C., Fort Monroe was constructed to help defend the coastlines of the United States. Named after President James Monroe, it was completed between the years of 1819-1836.

The history of this point predates Fort Monroe going back to 1609 with the establishment of Fort Algernon. That fort was accidentally burned to the ground in 1612 and as attempts to rebuild were sketchy, it was only used when there were threats to the colonies lying down river. In August 1619, “20 and odd” Africans arrived at Point Comfort on the ship White Lion. They landed being treated as human cargo captured by the White Lion and English privateer ship from a Spanish slave ship, San Juan Bautista after a battle at sea. Victorious in battle, the White Lion began the journey back to Europe but desperate for provisions, stopped at Point Comfort hoping to trade the “20 and odd” Africans for provisions, which they did, and the first enslaved Africans came live in what would become the United States, marking the beginning of 246 years of slavery in our country.

Knowing that, should not Point Comfort and Fort Monroe be a questionable location for a National Monument to some? But, here is the irony in the story of the location. History again shows us that the past is not always an indication of the future.

After the construction of Fort Monroe, Robert E. Lee was stationed there as a young lieutenant and directed the final phases of construction, leaving the Fort in 1834. When the Civil War began in 1861, most of Virginia became part of the Confederacy, but Fort Monroe remained in the Union’s hands. During the war Fort Monroe became an outpost of freedom even though surrounded by the Confederacy, when nearly 4,500 officers and men under the command of Major General Benjamin F. Butler defended the fort. When three slaves escaped into the Union lines, Butler declared them “contraband of war” and protected them from being returned under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The result was an outpouring of African American “refugees” from slavery seeking what became known to those refugees as “Freedom’s Fortress”. Eventually this led to the Union army providing wages, food, and clothing to former slaves in hidden camps throughout the Confederacy.

After a stint away from Fort Monroe, Butler returned in 1864 to command the newly formed Army of the James (river) which included some twenty-five regiments of the United States Colored Troops that were assigned within a total of two corps under his command to push against Richmond and Petersburg.

So, is Fort Monroe, the “Freedom’s Fortress”, Old Comfort Point, is a good place for a National Monument? Or does its prior history make it a bad place for a National Monument? Were the people living there throughout the centuries good people or bad people? How does one decide, or is it even necessary to do so since it is our history? If we wipe out history, do we wipe out bad and keep good or do we instead keep it honest and understand that no man/woman living today or 400 years ago is entirely bad or good but rather a human being placed in situations that we don’t always have any reference points to understand?

SWNGS is moving to a new location, Suite 207 in the Masonic Temple Building. It will take us several weeks to accomplish the painting, cleaning, and organizing of our library during which we will not be open for normal library hours, but you can always search our free website: www.swngs.org.