Fort Monroe

[mofederal]

Hello and welcome to the CivilWarTalk from Southeast Missouri.

 

[USS ALASKA]

National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Division of Park Planning and Special Studies
RECONNAISSANCE STUDY OF FORT MONROE IN HAMPTON, VIRGINIA
THE NORTHEAST REGION OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia is a Third System fortification built between 1819 and 1834. Known also as "Fortress Monroe, the Gibraltar of the Chesapeake and Freedom Fortress," the resources associated with this historic place comprise a designated National Historic Landmark District. The history of Fort Monroe includes its strategic role as one of the few Union military installations in the South not occupied by Confederate forces during the Civil War. Because of its commander's "Contraband" decision, it became a site of hope for thousands of enslaved persons seeking freedom. The Fort experienced the full evolution of the nation's coastal defense theory and technology, serving for much of its history as the Army's artillery training facility.

https://fortmonroe.org/wp-content/uploads/NPS_ReconStudy-5-08.pdf

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[stu613]

I spent many a weekend there during the early 1980's while stationed at Langley AFB.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Journal Article
FORT MONROE, VIRGINIA
Paul Morando
On Point, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Summer 2011), pp. 44-48
Army Historical Foundation

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26363701

Journal Article
The Fort Monroe Seawall
G. R. Young
The Military Engineer, Vol. 28, No. 160 (JULY-AUGUST, 1936), pp. 261-265
Society of American Military Engineers

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44563784

Journal Article
The Lees at Fortress Monroe
ROBERT R. ELLIS
The Military Engineer, Vol. 42, No. 285, 1920 — 30th Anniversary – 1950 (January-February 1950)
Society of American Military Engineers

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44561027

Full articles at above links on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Foundation Document
Fort Monroe National Monument
Virginia July 2015

Establishment of Fort Monroe National Monument
Created by presidential proclamation on November 1, 2011, Fort Monroe National Monument is one of the newer additions to the national park system. Fort Monroe was the third oldest US Army post in continuous active service until its closure in September 2011. Old Point Comfort, the peninsula upon which Fort Monroe National Monument sits, is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service, the Commonwealth of Virginia through the Fort Monroe Authority, and the City of Hampton. Upon final land transfer from the army, the park will be approximately 325 acres. As of April 2015, land transfer to the National Park Service from the army or Commonwealth of Virginia had not been completed. A partial reversion of 313 acres to the Commonwealth of Virginia took place on June 14, 2014. The land that reverted back to the Commonwealth of Virginia included all of the acreage within the park boundary minus lands held by the army for direct transfer to the National Park Service or pending environmental clean-up. In 2005, the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended that Fort Monroe cease to be used as an army installation, resulting in the closure of Fort Monroe in 2011. Because of earlier agreements, much of Fort Monroe's 565 acres reverted to the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1960, the majority of the peninsula was designated a national historic landmark (NHL) district and subsequently listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1966 upon passage of the National Historic Preservation Act. The City of Hampton, Virginia, and the Virginia General Assembly established the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority in 2007 to determine the need for municipal services for the area and to develop a reuse plan for the area. In 2009, a programmatic agreement pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act was signed by the US Army, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the National Park Service, committing the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority to preparing a historic preservation manual and design standards to govern restoration, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and preservation of historic properties and compatible new development consistent with the character of the national historic landmark district. The Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority was succeeded by the Fort Monroe Authority (FMA) on July 1, 2010. From 2005 through 2011, individual and organized citizens of Hampton Roads and beyond called for the National Park Service to be involved in the future of Fort Monroe, both in preservation and interpretation of the historic fort. In 2008, the NPS Northeast Region Division of Park Planning and Special Studies completed a reconnaissance study and outlined the findings to Congress in 2010. On November 1, 2011, President Barack Obama declared Fort Monroe National Monument, a 325.21-acre unit of the national park system through a presidential proclamation. Before the Fort Monroe National Monument was established, the Fort Monroe Authority prepared a master plan for Fort Monroe. Subsequently, the National Park Service has been an active participant in the development of the more comprehensive master plan, regularly attending FMA planning groups and public meetings. The Fort Monroe master plan was approved by the FMA board and forwarded to the Commonwealth of Virginia on October 24, 2013, where it was approved by the governor on December 11, 2013. Every effort has been made to use FMA master plan terminology for area or zone names throughout this NPS foundation document because this language is consistently used in public meetings.

https://npshistory.com/publications/foundation-documents/fomr-fd-2015.pdf

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

US Army Corps of Engineers
Fort Monroe Historic Viewsheds
Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
2902 Newmark Drive
Champaign, IL 61822
Megan Weaver Tooker, Adam Smith, Chris Cochran, and Chelsea Pogorelac
August 2010
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

Abstract:
This document is an inventory and evaluation of the historic viewsheds of Fort Monroe. This document serves to meet the requirements for Federal agencies to address their cultural resources, defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object, specifically, Section 110 which requires Federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources. As a strategically located defensive fortification, views and firing lines have been critical to the design, planning and operation of Fort Monroe. This report identifies fifty significant views that remain at Fort Monroe. Significance and integrity were evaluated for each of these views. Recommendations were made for preserving these significant views. The identified views were identified based on historic photographic documentation and the presence of a specific historic viewpoint. Unfortunately very little historic photo documentation exists of the military views associated with Fort Monroe, for example firing points from the fortification and batteries. Maps have been included of these firing points and discussion of the military importance has been included.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA572120.pdf

File too large to attach, please use above link.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Zack]

Every period image I've seen when compared to the modern satellite views seems to suggest the land upon which the fort sits was greatly expanded after the war. Can anyone confirm?