James River Area

Last Update: 05/JANUARY/2008

Compiled by Pete Payette - Š2008 American Forts Network

Berkeley Towne
(1619 - 1622), Berkeley Plantation
A seven-foot high palisade surrounded the 400-acres of the original townsite. Named after Richard Berkeley. Attacked during the 1622 Indian raids. The present mansion was built in 1726.

Harrison's Landing Defenses
(1862), near Berkeley Plantation
An extensive outer line of Union earthworks surrounded Berkeley and Westover Plantations, between Herring Creek and Kimage's Creek, during General McClellan's 1862 Peninsula Campaign against Richmond. An inner line of infantry parapets and two gun batteries (13 guns) protected the actual landing on the James River (Berkeley's Landing). The Berkeley mansion was within the inner line. Traces remain.

Evelynton Plantation
(1862), Evelynton Plantation
Located on Herring Creek, the original mansion (built in 1847 by Edmund Ruffin, Jr.) was surrounded by CSA breastworks. Remnants still exist. The mansion was burned during the war, not rebuilt until the 1930's using bricks from the original house.

Kittewan Battery
(1864), near Weyanoke
An extensive Union earthwork and gun emplacement located at Kittewan Plantation on the north-side of Kittewan Creek, which protected the rear approach to the pontoon crossing across the James River to Flowerdew Hundred. Built after the Battle of Cold Harbor. Still exists.
(thanks to Lyle Browning for providing info)

Fort Pocahontas (2)
(1864 - 1865), Charles City
A Union redoubt and supply depot built and manned by Negro soldiers, attacked in May 1864. It was given its name after the battle. The works are preserved at Wilson's Wharf, adjacent to Sherwood Forest Plantation (1780). Admission fee.

Smith's Hundred Fort
(1618 - 1622), near Tettington
A palisaded settlement located on Dancing Point. It was abandoned after the 1622 Indian massacre. Named after Sir Thomas Smith, treasurer of the Virginia Company. Smith's Hundred was known as Southampton Hundred after the 1620 sale to the Earl of Southampton, Sir Edwin Sandys.

James' Fort (1)
Historic Jamestowne || Colonial National Historical Park
(1607 - 1625 ?), Jamestown
The first permanent English settlement in North America. The first fort, a simple triangular log palisade, was burned in 1608 but was rebuilt the same year into a new triangular log and plank palisade roughly 100-by-100-by-140 yards, with three bulwarks, or bastions, and renamed James' Towne. The settlement was almost abandoned in 1610 after a hard winter, but new supplies and settlers arrived that year under Thomas West, Lord De La Warr. The fort was in use until about 1625 or so before it was abandoned for its lumber. The actual fort site, long thought eroded away, was rediscovered in 1996, and archaeological excavations are currently ongoing. The settlement outgrew the fort around 1612. Two blockhouses were built outside of the fort in 1614, one at the isthmus, and the other on the Back River. The settlement area outside the fort developed into New Towne or James' Citie after 1618, which was also palisaded until about 1625. Two small forts were built in 1667 to defend against Dutch raids. One, an earthen fort with four bastions, excavated in 1993 and 1998 (Turf Fort), was located about 1100 feet east of the church along the shoreline. It was abanoned around 1680. The second was abandoned by 1716. The town was the capital of colonial Virginia until 1699. The Memorial Church (1907) stands on the site of the 1617 frame and 1639 brick churches. The ruins of the 1647 brick church tower are adjacent. North America's first representative legislative assembly met here in the church in 1619. The first group of Africans in English America arrived here via the Dutch in 1619. The concrete seawall on the river's edge was built in 1901 by the Army Corps of Engineers. James' Fort is currently being excavated by the APVA. Admission fee.

A full recreation of the 1608 stockade fort, the three English ships, and a representative Powhatan Indian village are located nearby at Jamestown Settlement State Park. Admission fee.

A Patriot two-gun battery (1781) and two Confederate forts and three minor batteries (1861 - 1862) were also built here. The well-preserved CSA Square Redoubt (four guns) is off of the auto loop tour road near the center of the island. CSA six-sided Fort Pocahontas (1) (18 guns) is located within and around the original 1607/08 James' Fort site. It is currently being removed as excavations proceed on James' Fort. One of the minor CSA batteries also still exists, the Bridge Redan (one gun) near the old bridge to the mainland. The other two works were located at Goose Hill (aka Sand Battery) (five guns) and at Black Point (two guns). They were never fully manned nor armed, and were soon occupied by Union forces.

Middle Plantation Fort
(1633 - unknown), Williamsburg
This was originally a stockaded outpost built to protect Jamestown from Indian attacks. It evolved into the town of Williamsburg and became Virginia's capital in 1699 after Jamestown burned down in 1698. The Magazine and Guardhouse were the arsenal of the colony. The Magazine (1715) is a brick repository of arms and ammunition and survives to this day. The Guardhouse and a high protective wall were added to the Magazine during the French and Indian War. Colonial Williamsburg is a recreation of the old capital city. Admission fee.

A Patriot fort (1781) was located south of town, west of CSA Fort #1. It was still noted on Civil War maps.

Civil War Defenses of Williamsburg
(1861 - 1865), Williamsburg
Fort Magruder (2) was the main defensive position of the four-mile long CSA Williamsburg Line across the peninsula from Queen's Creek to Kingsmill Neck. Also known as Redoubt #6. Captured by Union forces in May 1862 during the Battle of Williamsburg. It was an elongated pentagon eight-gun earthwork with walls 15 feet high and nine feet thick, and a dry moat nine feet deep. A small portion still exists with a monument located in a small park on Penniman Road.

Other CSA works southwest of here behind the ravine of Tutter's Neck were Redoubt #1 (one gun) (extant), Redoubt #2 (two guns with rifle pits) (extant), Redoubt #3 (two guns) (extant), Redoubt #4 (two guns), and Redoubt #5 (two guns). Northeast to Jones' Millpond were Redoubt #7 (one gun), Redoubt #8 (two guns), Redoubt #9 (two guns with rifle pits), Redoubt #10, Redoubt #11, Redoubt #12, Redoubt #13, and Redoubt #14 (three guns). Most of these works were not armed and were ungarrisoned during the Battle of Williamsburg. Many of these, especially Redoubts 11, 12 (marked), and 13, still exist along Penniman Road and the Colonial Parkway.

The College of William and Mary was surrounded by earthworks and ditches by the Union to protect the grounds and buildings from Confederate raids after the town was occupied in 1862 - 65. Doors and windows on the north and west faces were boarded and bricked up, with loopholes.

George Sandys' Fort (2)
(1630 - 1650), Kingsmill-on-the-James
A fortified colonial plantation. Site excavated in 1996 - 1998.

Burwell's Landing Batteries
(1781, 1861 - 1865), Kingsmill-on-the-James
Confederate earthworks that were part of the defenses of Williamsburg, also known as the Kingsmill Wharf Batteries (three, at least one still exists). Probably used by the Union when they occupied the town in 1862.

A Patriot earthwork battery from the American Revolution still exists at Burwell's Landing, near the later CSA work. It was captured by the British in 1781.

Wolstenholme Towne
(1619 - 1622), Carter's Grove
A trapezoidal palisaded fort, about 93 by 130 feet, was located at the main village of Martin's Hundred Plantation (aka Martin's Hundred Fort), named after Richard Martin, attorney for the Virginia Company, and Sir John Wolstenholme, an investor of the company. A watchtower was in the southeast corner, a one-gun bastion in the southwest corner, and a possible bastion in the northwest corner. Most of the settlers were killed in the March 1622 Indian raids along the James River. Excavated from 1976 - 1980, with artifacts at the Winthrop Rockefeller Archaeology Museum. The modern reconstruction is operated by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, located on the grounds of Carter's Grove Plantation. Admission fee. (NOTE: Carter's Grove and the fort site has been closed to the public since 2003 due to lack of funds. Sale to a private owner is pending.)

John Boise's Fort, a palisaded house with a swivel gun, was located about 600 feet downriver from the main fort.

Fort Crafford
(1862), Newport News
A Confederate 16-gun fort near Mulberry Point on the modern Fort Eustis military reservation. It was abandoned to the Union, but they did not use it. Three magazines and two bomb-proofs remain within the existing earthworks. The foundation of the 1749 Crafford House (demolished 1924) are also within the fort's walls. Several additional CSA works were also on Mulberry Island, including Mulberry Island Point Battery (1861) (four guns). Public access restricted, inquire at gate.

Previously the site of an unnamed Patriot fort (1781) to defend Williamsburg, but did not see action.

Fort Eustis (U.S. Army Reservation)
(1918 - 1946/present), Newport News
As Camp Abraham Eustis, it was originally built as a Coast Artillery training range and cantonment when Fort Monroe became overcrowded. It was also the embarkation center for coast artillery troops in WWI for the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation. The post was renamed in 1923. It became the headquarters of the U.S. Army Transportation Command in 1946. Located here is the U.S. Army Transportation Museum.

Camp Wallace, established in 1918 as the Upper Firing Range for artillery training, was located near Grove Wharf across Skiffe's Creek in nearby in James City County. It consisted of 30 barracks, six storehouses, and eight mess halls.

Civil War Defenses of Newport News
(1861 - 1862), Newport News
About ten miles of preserved Confederate earthworks from the 1862 Peninsula Campaign are located along the Warwick Line in various city parks. These include Dam #1 Battery (one gun) in Newport News Park on Constitution Way, Lee's Mill Redoubt (three guns) on River Ridge Circle (Lee's Mill Park), Lee Hall Mansion on Yorktown Road (admission fee), and Skiffe's Creek Redoubt (three guns) on Enterprise Drive. Union works opposing the Dam #1 Battery are also still extant. The Wynn's Mill Redoubt and supporting earthworks on the upper Warwick River in York County (about 3000 yards south of the Red Redoubt in Yorktown) is still extant and well preserved.

The extant Young's Mill Redoubt (four guns) on Deep Creek, at Warwick Blvd. and Oyster Point Road, was part of the Poquoson River Line. The Howard's Bridge Redoubt (four guns) and the Harwood's Mill Redoubt (one gun) near Tabb in York County both may no longer exist. The Confederates evacuated this line in April 1862.

Also of interest is Endview Plantation on Yorktown Road (admission fee), and the U.S.S. Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum on Warwick Blvd. (admission fee).

Camp Winfield Scott
(1862), Newport News
A Union encampment surrounding the Old Warwick County Court House during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Located on Old Courthouse Way at Denbigh Blvd..

Blunt Point Blockhouse
(1623), Newport News
A blockhouse was proposed for this location before a site was chosen across the river at Warraskoyack (see Fort Boykin below). This post may never have actually been built.

(For Hampton Roads defenses please see page 8)

Ragged Island Battery
(1861 - 1862), near Bartlett
A CSA gun battery on Ragged Island Creek.

Fort Boykin (Park)
(1623 - 1862, intermittent), near Mogarts Beach
Originally built for protection against Indians and the Spanish and called The Castle or Fort at Warraskoyack. Also known as Roger Smith's Fort. Two palisaded houses were built nearby in 1625, one built by Capt. Samuel Each. This was the previous site of "(Edward) Bennett's Plantation" (not fortified), settled in 1622 but destroyed one month later in the great massacre by the Powhatan Indians.

Patriots rebuilt the fort during the American Revolution and gave it its present name, also known as Fort at the Rocks. It was rebuilt four times and is now in a seven-pointed star shape. It was also known as Fort at Rock Wharf in 1813. The fort was rebuilt again to protect Richmond during the Civil War. It was abandoned when guns from the Union ships could reach the fort, but the fort's guns could not reach the ships. Union troops landed and destroyed the fort's magazines in May 1862. Some of the earthworks have since eroded off the bluff and into the river. The sign at the park entrance says Fort Boykins (sic). On a clear day, the bluff offers an excellent view of the "Ghost Fleet", a reserve fleet of mothballed U.S. Navy vessels at anchor in the James River.

Located to the west was CSA Wrenn's Mill Battery, on the east-side of Wrenn's Millpond. Nearby was Day's Point Battery (1861 - 1862), although this may actually be a reference for Fort Boykin itself.

Fort Huger (2)
(1861 - 1862), near Rushmere
A CSA earthwork located directly across from Mulberry Point in Newport News. Originally known as Hardin's Point Battery. Also spelled Hardy. Abandoned by the CSA and then taken by Union troops in May 1862. The earthwork still exists. The site was opened as an Isle of Wight county park in December 2007, with nine replica display guns. Archaeological excavations are ongoing.

Hog Island Blockhouse
(1609 - 1610 ?), Hog Island
A blockhouse was built here to protect Jamestown's hog pens from the Indians.

Bacon's Castle
(1676), Bacons Castle
This house was built in 1655 by Arthur Allen. Rebels under Nathaniel Bacon seized and held it for three months in 1676. It was captured by sailors from a ship in the James River who were engaged in putting down "Bacon's Rebellion". Admission fee.

Sandys' Plantation Fort (1)
(1625 - unknown), Cobham Bay
A large palisaded one-gun fort located between present-day Chippokes and Cobham Wharf, on land patented by George Sandys. Also called "The Treasurer's Plantation".

Doller's Point Battery
(1862), near Cobham Wharf
Three CSA naval six-gun redoubts located at or near either "Wood's Landing" or "Carter's Landing", directly opposite Lower Point on Jamestown Island. In some sources spelled either Duller or Soller.

John Smith's Fort
(Smith's Fort Plantation)
(1609 - 1614 ?), near Surry
The fort, also known as New Fort, was built on a bluff above Gray's Creek as a retreat from possible Indian or Spanish attacks at Jamestown. It was never finished. The 18th-century plantation's mansion located here later took the name. A trail leads to the site of the old fort. The small site is protected on three sides by bluffs, and traces of the two-foot high and 120-foot long earthworks protect the land approach. Admission fee.

Swann's Point Battery
(1862 - 1865), Ingersoll
A Union battery located on Grays Creek at the James River, opposite Jamestown Island. No remains. Area is within the Colonial National Historic Park (NPS) boundary.

Fort Powhatan
(1808 - 1864, intermittent), Prince George County
Fort at Hood's Bluff, or Fort Hood (1), was built in 1781 after the British attack on Richmond, over the site of a local militia two-gun work called Hood's Battery (1779 - 1781). Fort Powhatan was built beginning in 1808 nearby at Windmill Hill. It was a 13-gun masonry fort with a water battery, barracks, magazines, and a blockhouse. It was still unfinished in 1811, but by 1814 had 22 guns mounted. It was never attacked by the British. It was no longer in use by 1830. The brick magazines still exist, and possibly traces of the water battery near the river bank. The Confederates built an earthwork battery nearby in 1862 (still exists), using the same name. The Union captured it in 1863, and was unsuccessfully attacked by Confederates in 1864. Located on the James River just downriver from Flowerdew Hundred Plantation, east of the mouth of Flowerdew Hundred Creek. On private property (Fort Powhatan Gun Club).

Flowerdew Hundred Fort
(1619 - 1622, 1624 - 1650's), Prince George County
A rectangular palisaded settlement located on the James River north of the mouth of Flowerdew Hundred Creek. Named by Sir George Yeardley after his wife, Temperance Flowerdieu. It was attacked by Indians in 1622, but was rebuilt. The first windmill in Virginia was built here on Tobacco Point in 1621. The land was sold in 1624 to Abraham Peirsey and renamed "Peirsey's Hundred". Located along the western boundary of the settlement was Peirsey's Rail, a large log palisade the enclosed the entire neck of land after 1624. The original settlement was abandoned by 1660. Ongoing excavations since 1971. Admission fee.

A Late Woodland - Early Contact Period (1300 - 1600) palisaded Indian village was located here. Site excavated in the 1980's.

Jordan's Journey
(1620 - unknown), Prince George County
A palisaded settlement located on Jordan Point, established by Samuel Jordan. Withstood the 1622 Indian attack. Jordan died in 1623, but the settlement prospered after 1624. Site now under the old Hopewell Airport and a residential development. Excavated in the 1980's.

NEED MORE INFO:
Towns: Battery Park in Isle of Wight County