Virginia Civil War Series, Part 1: Eastern Region

This blog post is the first of my Virginia Civil War research series. This research has been conducted in tandem with my MFA thesis, a collection of short stories about women in Virginia during the Civil War.

Gateway to Confederate Capital

Virginia’s eastern region was a strategic gateway to Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Fort Monroe gave the Union advantages, such as command of the Chesapeake Bay. The fort’s proximity to the James and York Rivers provided multiple pathways from which to attack. Regardless of these advantages, the Union’s attempts to seize Richmond from the east and end the war started unsuccessfully. In March 1862, the Union launched their Peninsula Campaign. It was short-lived, and the Union lost the Seven Days Battles in July. Through the campaign, the Union cemented their occupation of the tidewater region, which included Hampton and Williamsburg.

Stampede of slaves from Hampton to Fortress Monroe. [? from a Print In1861] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/92515012/>. — *Stampede of slaves from Hampton to Fortress Monroe.* [? from a Print In1861] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/92515012/>.

Hampton, Fort Monroe, and the Fight for Freedom

In May 1861, three enslaved men from Norfolk, Virginia climbed into a rowboat and escaped to Fort Monroe. They were the first of thousands of refugees to flee to the Union military base during the Civil War.

Across the United States, enslaved African-Americans escaped their homes and plantations to seek freedom in Union-occupied territories. The federal government referred to these refugees as contrabands, or seized property, as the Union intended to use their labor against the Confederacy. The people did not use this terminology to define themselves, and the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper even wrote that it “is not a proper term to be applied to human beings.” The American Missionary acknowledged the enslaved’s fight for freedom, and preferred the designation of refugees. (Taylor, 9)

Fort Monroe’s position in the Chesapeake Bay, between the York and James Rivers, was a constant threat to Hampton, Virginia. The city was Union-occupied before the First Battle of Bull Run, and when the Confederacy won the battle, the Union retreated. However, the Confederacy understood that it was only a matter of time before the Union seized it again. Upon hearing that the Union intended to house refugees in the city, the Confederate army burned Hampton in August 1861. It was from these ashes that a refugee camp was established.

Refugee camps appeared around Union territories across the nation. At Fort Monroe, the encampment continued from Hampton to the fort and on toward Newport News. On this land, refugee housing took many forms: tents, abandoned buildings or plantations, and planned villages built from scratch. The villages often consisted of windowless buildings and marked footpaths that permitted travel and constant military patrol. The military imposed their definition of citizenship upon the refugees, especially in terms of the family, from how many people should live in a house to what constituted a legal marriage.

The Freedmen's village, Hampton, Virginia / photographed by Gar...r, Washington. Sept. 30. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/92515995/>. — *The Freedmen's village, Hampton, Virginia / photographed by Gar...r, Washington.* Sept. 30. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/92515995/>.

Life under the control of the Union army did not preclude refugees from danger. Refugees faced armed Confederate soldiers and rogue Union officers, illness and disease, enslavers who claimed to be Unionists, and the constant threat of relocation.

Map 1861 Hampton-Roads-Sea-Chart-925 Fortress Monroe Gosport Willoughby; https://www.suffolkriverheritage.com/historic-maps/

Refugee Relocation Efforts

One of the dangers that impacted black women was sexual abuse and assault. Military guards on patrol would leave their posts to prey on black women, and though the government made efforts to discipline reported perpetrators, it did not stop these instances. In an attempt to solve this issue, the government made plans to relocate thousands of refugees to Craney Island, a destitute former Confederate fortification ten miles south of Fort Monroe at the mouth of the Elizabeth River. Able-bodied men were left in Hampton, Virginia to work while women, children, and aged men were sent away. The forced removal of over 1,000 refugees took place in November 1862. (In the Key to East Virginia map - left - see Fort Monroe in the top right and Craney Island barely visible in the center left, just above the V in Virginia).

General John A. Dix, who led the Craney Island initiative, imagined that the refugees would sustain themselves through fishing or picking oakum (fiber from deconstructed rope), but his subordinates confiscated many boats that the refugees owned, leaving them fully dependent on the government for food and resources. Lucy Chase, a white Quaker teacher from the north, reported a total of 1,800 refugees on the island by New Years Day. The initiative ended in the fall of 1863.

Craney Island wasn’t the only relocation effort launched from Fort Monroe. Northerners feared black immigration and often sought alternatives for refugee relocation. General Dix made efforts to send refugees northward to Massachusetts, but Republicans and Democrats were both against the idea, often arguing that it would be disruptive to employment and wages. They also thought that the black population would require a warm climate to live.

Charles Wilder, superintendent of contrabands, was a staunch believer in colonization - a belief that African-Americans could resettle beyond the borders of the United States, in places like Costa Rica or Haiti. In spring 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed a colonization contract with New York financiers, and recruiters were sent to Fort Monroe. They wished to start a colony on Île-à-Vache, an island off the coast of Haiti, and for all willing to go, they promised housing, employment, access to education, and a chance to meet the president. 450 refugees left Hampton in April 1863 and 10% died within a year. The boat never went to Washington, DC. The refugees were robbed and forced to sign labor contracts. In February 1864, Lincoln sent a boat to retrieve the remaining refugees and relocate them to Northern Virginia. (Taylor, 98 and 99)

Freedom and Control

Despite relocation efforts, the refugee population continued to grow throughout the war, and many relief efforts proved inadequate. Refugees were assessed on a basis of “worthy” or “unworthy” poor, and the government constantly assessed their status before giving out food rations or clothing. There was an equal effort to reduce government aid and maintain control of black refugees. If the refugees started gardens to supplement their food rations, which were only a portion of soldiers’ rations to begin with, they were given even less. Even with an influx of clothing donations from the north, refugees were forced to wear the same fabrics that they had worn in slavery. Despite northern aid efforts and support of emancipation, quality of life at the Hampton refugee camps demonstrates how white Americans struggled to define freedom for African-Americans, especially as African-Americans were defining it for themselves.

Williamsburg

The Union’s goal for the 1862 Peninsula Campaign was to march through Yorktown and onwards to Richmond. General Magruder’s Confederate forces stood in their way, as did the town of Williamsburg.

1862 at a Glance

16 February 1862 - the Union takes Fort Donelson, a significant victory for the North, who took Southern Kentucky and parts of Tennessee
22 February 1862 - Jefferson Davis is inaugurated president of the Confederate States of America
26 March 1862 – Reported landing of Major General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac (Union) at Old Point Comfort (Fort Monroe). They plan to march up the peninsula toward Richmond. Williamsburg is in their path.
21 April 1862 - Confederate General Magruder orders all available private buildings to be converted into hospitals.
5 May 1862 - On a rainy Monday, the Battle of Williamsburg
9 September 1862 - Raid of the Confederate calvary. The Confederates take control of the town for a few hours before retreating.
22 September 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln gives the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. On January 1, 1863, all enslaved in Confederate states will be considered free.

The Lunatic Asylum and the College

There are two buildings that set Williamsburg apart from other occupied cities during the Civil War: the Eastern Lunatic Asylum and the College of William and Mary.

The Eastern Lunatic Asylum, which was established in 1773, was the first insane asylum in the United States. Until 1862, the asylum and its 200 patients were under the direction of Dr. John M. Galt. He ensured that the asylum was a racially integrated institution, and he had enslaved attendants. The fate of the asylum became uncertain following Dr. Galt’s death, an assumed suicide during the first months of Union occupation. Leadership went to Dr. W. Clinton Thompson first, who lasted less than a month, and then to Dr. Gillet F. Watson. Dr. Watson left in August 1862, and with his departure followed accusations that he stole provisions and furniture.

The College of William and Mary was founded in 1693, even though the town itself was not established until 1699. On May 10, 1861, one month after the vote of secession, William and Mary closed its doors with an expectation of re-opening in the fall. It wouldn’t re-open with a full faculty until 1869. In1854, Benjamin Ewell was appointed as William and Mary’s sixteenth president, and at the beginning of the Civil War, he left to fight for the Confederacy. According to The History of the College of William and Mary, 90% of the students entered state service during the Civil War. Throughout wartime, many of the college’s buildings were converted into hospitals and a series of fires scorched the campus.

The Ladies of Willliamsburg during Occupation

In the 1860 census, 1,900 people occupied the Town of Williamsburg and 750 (40%) were enslaved (Gruber). Most men - brothers, fathers, and sons - joined the Confederate military, shifting the dynamic of daily life. After the Battle of Williamsburg, churches and private homes were converted to hospitals to care for wounded and ailing, both Union and Confederate. Women assumed key roles, such as Letitia Tyler Semple, who established the College Hospital and assumed housekeeping for all converted hospitals in the town. There were also social groups like the Working Society, a sewing group that made beds and pillows for the hospital, as well as uniform pantaloons, jackets, tents, and standards.

During occupation, the women went out of their way to show their disdain for the Union. They flattened their dresses when passing soldiers and covered their faces with hats or veils. When soldiers raised the Stars and Stripes above the Courthouse Green, women would step off the sidewalk to avoid walking under its shadow. Though McClellan ordered guards at the homes of Williamsburg residents, the guards allowed hungry and bored Union soldiers to pass through, which only heightened the ladies’ disdain of the Union.

Departure

Townspeople left throughout the war, but it became significantly harder to stay in spring 1863. General Dix required an oath of allegiance to the Union, which though threatened, was not taken seriously. To test the loyalty of the town, he followed his command by cutting off supplies. Many who had stayed started their evacuation under a flag of truce. In fall 1864, General Dix required an oath of allegiance once again and detained residents at Norfolk.

“History & Culture.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/fomr/learn/historyculture/index.htm.

College of William and Mary. "The History of the College of William and Mary: From its Foundation, 1693, to 1870.” John Murphy & Co, 1870.

Dubbs, Carol Kettenburg. “Defend This Old Town: Williamsburg During the Civil War.” Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge. 2002

Erickson, Mark St. John. “Rebel Raids, Yankee Occupation.” Dailypress.com, Daily Press, 13 Aug. 2019, https://www.dailypress.com/history/dp-civil-war-williamsburg-20130114-story.html.

Gonaver, Wendy. “So Different: The Asylum and the Civil War.” The Peculiar Institution and the Making of Modern Psychiatry, 1840–1880, University of North Carolina Press, 2018, pp. 145–72, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469648460_gonaver.9.

Gruber, Drew. “Williamsburg's Dividing Line.” Emerging Civil War, 27 Dec. 2015, https://emergingcivilwar.com/2015/03/12/williamsburgs-dividing-line/#_ftn2.

Harper, Judith E.. Women During the Civil War: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, New York. 2004

Rennicke, Jeff. "FREEDOM'S FORTRESS." National Parks, vol. 84, no. 4, Fall, 2010, pp. 42-47,50. ProQuest, http://mutex.gmu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.mutex.gmu.edu/magazines/freedoms-fortress/docview/756241272/se-2?accountid=14541.

Taylor, Amy Murrell. Embattled Freedom: Journeys though the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. 2018.

V, Jacque V. "A rejected alternative: Union policy and the relocation of southern "contrabands" at the dawn of emancipation." The Journal of Southern History, vol. 69, no. 4, 2003, pp. 765-790. ProQuest, http://mutex.gmu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/rejected-alternative-union-policy-relocation/docview/215778732/se-2?accountid=14541.

Resources to return to:

The diary of Lucy Chase, a Quaker teacher on Craney Island in 1862-1863; she recorded her experiences during the refugee removal and relocation.