Eyewitness 1861: Pittsburgh reunion at Fortress Monroe
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Major Gen. Benjamin Butler
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In the months after Northern soldiers had been routed at the first Battle of Bull Run, it had become clear that the War of Southern Rebellion would not be over by Christmas.
Supporters of the Union, however, could take comfort in knowing that the Stars and Stripes continued to fly over Fortress Monroe, 80 miles southeast of Richmond, even after Virginia seceded in May 1861.
In October 1861, a reporter for The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette filed a report from what was the only U.S. military installation on the Virginia Peninsula not to have been occupied by Confederate forces.
U.S. Navy ships were there in force, according to the "Letter from Fortress Monroe" published on Oct. 26. The author was identified only by the initial: "R." As many as 40 military vessels had assembled, he reported. They were part of a blockade force designed to strangle the Confederacy by cutting off its trade with Europe.
"Some are propellers and some are side-wheel steamers; but all are fast sailers, and all able to protect themselves," according to the story.
Fortress Monroe was important for another reason. It served as a refuge for fleeing Virginia slaves. The fort's commander, Gen. Benjamin Butler, had announced in May that blacks who reached the fort would be considered "contraband," and federal forces would not return them to their owners.
By September, the U.S. was paying and providing daily rations for those who had escaped in return for their labor. Fortress Monroe became the first of many "contraband camps" that housed men, women and children seeking freedom.
Point Comfort, on which the military camp had been built, had been "a favorite summer resort for sea bathing," Gazette readers learned. When war came, the U.S. government had taken over the lone hotel there and converted most of it into a hospital.
First Published October 16, 2011 12:00 am
