The Beginning of Freedom: Fortress Monroe

July 7, 2006

• Refugees in America: the Dismantling of Slavery in the South

  Initially the aim of the Civil War was to preserve the Union; however, it soon became clear that the preservation of the peculiar institution was also in question. The question of slavery in the United States had been debated since the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but during the Civil War it reached its climax. Long before Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slavery had begun to fall apart in the South, especially in boarder states like Virginia.

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  • Virginia Adams
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• It is a rock; it is an island.

  Today it seemed like the only reason we went to Fortress Monroe was to make the connection that that was one of the locations of the biggest slave contraband concentration - and they didn't even have much on that subject in the museum! I suppose part of that would be the time the museum was made (1950's) and the audience and original purpose it was made for. The Civil Rights movement was still going on and blacks were still seen as inferior to whites, so maybe those who opened the museum didn't think anyone would want to see much of a black reference there. Also, it was made to be more of a military museum, concentrating on that aspect of the fortress.

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  • Holly Anderson
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Fort Monroe: Contrabands, Freedom Fortress, restless anxiety in war exposes societal flaws, social issues and evolutions that followed Emancipation

  Fort Monroe situated at Old Point Comfort in the strategic position of the tip of the Virginia Peninsula was a very revealing place to visit. Its geographic location let me know a bit more about the Union mindset during the time. Named in honor of the President we stood above in Hollywood cemetery: James Monroe. I enjoyed moving from his grave to a fort named after him in 1834. The Casemate museum was satisfying but not completely useful, yet this can be attributed to its old age. The readings were especially important because of the explanations of the slave and woman experience in Fort Monroe and other areas of the South.

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  • Kevin Brazda
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• The fort, one thing that has never been attacked...

  I really enjoyed visiting Fort Monroe. The first thing that struck me was that the fort was built in 1609, and that it has been active since the early 1800's. It's incredible that the same building has been in use for so long, and that different generations have been able to adapt the building to their needs. When I went to Italy over spring break with a group from my school, we kept talking about how remarkable it is that so many ancient Roman ruins are still in tact. All the ancient civilizations created such amazing works, all without the use of modern machinery. There, we were impressed just to walk around.

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  • Martha Crockett
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• A Day at Fort Monroe.

  Today we went to Fort Monroe. Fort Monroe is that giant star shaped fort on the coast of Virginia. The fort was also surrounded by a moat. Fort Monroe was built to be a major defense against European powers that were coming into Virginia, however that day never came and the forts guns were never fired. However it was used in the civil war although the confederates never attacked it.

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  • Christopher Cutlip
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Contrabands

  At the end of the Civil War, slavery was abolished. Was this the real purpose of the war? Slaves were an important part of the war, but throughout the duration, they were continually treated as property by both sides.

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  • Heather Dalsing
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Operation Lift the Very Heavy Gun

  I remember Fort Monroe like it was...three days ago. The cramped spaces, smell of chlorine, a very British looking mustache, and the aspiration of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Unfortunately the recorded sightings of various historic figures can not be put up on this site, but oh well.

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  • Christopher Ford
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• A Dream Coming Into Focus

  Fortress Monroe; whether from fear of the amount of artillery surely hidden behind its walls or from the mere fact that it did not pose an immediate threat to the Confederacy during the Civil war, the fact is that no shot was fired out of anger from or at this gigantic military structure from its founding in 1834 to the present day. Why then did this area of land that never became involved in any battle whatsoever cause such a great incursion during the year of 1861 and afterwards?

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  • David Haddad
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Land of the Free?

  When one looks through American history one is forced to realize all the hipocisies that where once a part of our nation. One of the biggest of those hipocrisies is slavery. In the Revolution we fought for our freedom while we denied it to the blacks. Thomas Jefferson himself, the author of the Declaration of Independance, kept slaves and never freed them.

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  • Jacob Hartman
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Slavery's impact on the Civil War and Fort Monroe

  Today started off with a van ride to Fort Monroe which was constructed in 1818, after the War of 1812 to increase the defense of the nation. They built this fort as a defense of the river so that it would not be taken by the British in any future conflicts. The fort was in the shape of a star for the strategic purpose of being able to shoot down on enemies from two sides at the same time. The fort was build as the largest masonry fort with a mote around it and was able to be easily defended along with having a strategic location on the end of a peninsula which allowed for advantages for holding the river in a war.

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  • Jan Heddens
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• War and Refugees

  As I stepped off the van I found myself in the presence of the great Fort Monroe. The fort itself was built for defense purposes. It was located by the Chesapeake and was built in 1818, after the War of 1812. Due to the burning of Washington DC, the fort was placed in the area in hopes that it could defend the nation's capital from another attack. However, the fort was much more than just a defense against enemies, it held a much broader significance. Although no battles were ever fought at Fort Monroe, the events that happened at it were what made the area memorable.

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  • Yueh Ho
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• In Which I Visit The Fortress Of Freedom!

  Today we visited Fort Munroe, built after the war of 1812 to guard the water routes inland into Virginia from assault by sea. During the Civil War it was controlled by Union forces for the duration of the war, dominating the entrance to the major Virginian waterways uncontested. Major General Benjamin Butler, in command of the fort, refused to return runaway slaves to their confederate owners, calling them contraband and arguing that by their masters' abandonment of them and the union's lack of claim to them, they could be considered free.
  Soon, thousands of slaves began to flock to Union lines and Fort Munroe, seeking asylum. The reaction among the Union army was mostly annoyance at having to deal with them at all.

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  • Allen Iano
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Freedom's Fortress: The Beginning of the End

  In 1861, General Benjamin F. Butler wrote a letter to the Secretary of War in which he spoke of the slaves who ran to Fortress Monroe for protection from their Confederate masters. In this letter, he says that the flood began with just three slaves, who Butler refused to return to their owner on the grounds that they were "contraband of war," property likely to be used to forment rebellion. Word of his actions spread throughout the South, and soon thousands of slaves poured into Fort Monroe hoping for freedom and protection. Butler put the able-bodied men to work and dispensed rations to them, and let them build a village outside the fort in Hampton. Butler, whether he knew it or not, had just begun the end of slavery.

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  • Kathleen McCarthy
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Freedom's Forced Fortress

  Fort Monroe was the beginning of the end of slavery. General Butler refused to return escaped slaves the day after Virginia seceded from the Union. Butler was acting without orders from the Government, but was his refusal to return the slaves an act of moral righteousness, or self-serving? And was the slavery ever and issue in the Civil War until escaping slaves forced it to be?

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  • Taylor Riccio
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• [No Title]

  After going through the gates of Ft. Monroe, and waiting for the Casemate Muesum to open, we were taken on top of the walls of the for. After seeing a map on the wall that showed where the Clash of the Ironclads happened, I began to wonder, "What did the battle between the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia look like from the fort?" After walking around on the walls, the Casemate Museum opened up and we went inside. Inside was a cell that Jefferson Davis was locked up in after he was captured by Union forces. After going through the muesum, it was time to leave for campus.

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  • James Segerstrom
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Freedom's Fortress: A Haven for Contrabands of War

  We had incredible luck with the weather today while we toured Fort Monroe. The conditions inside the Casemate Museum were decidely less pleasant than the conditions outside. The museum's stale air and low ceilings helped detract from an otherwise fun outing. During my seminar, a lot of people criticized the Casemate Museum, but I think it's important to understand that their goals aren't to talk about the contrabands of war. They're talking about the history of the whole fort. I thought they talked about the contrabands of war enough to meet the needs of some tourist. Their target market isn't a group of students in a precollegiate summer program focusing on slavery.

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  • Thomas Sobol
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Being A Nuisance Turned Out To Be the Best Way To Win Freedom

  What a beautiful day at Fort Monroe, the original "Freedom Fortress!" Today it was a cool 67 degrees and breezy on site today, unheard of here for my native Virginia in July. After the tour about the strategic value of the fort conducted by Dr. Whittenburg, we walked through the Casemate Museum. It was dedicated primarily to military history going chronologically from the construction of the fort (1818 to 1828), and had little to do with today's main theme, the deterioration of slavery in the south.

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  • Travis Thompson
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Contrabands of War & South's Internal Weakness

  Today we visited Fort Monroe, founded in 1818 and expanding over sixty-three acres. Built to resemble a star, to better protect themselves from the British navy, Surrounded by the largest moat made by the United States and to better protect themselves from the British navy, the fortress resembled a star. With the projecting sides and about 450 cannons, the army within the fort would have at least two angles to attack from, instead of just one. Though the enormity of the fort is imposing, the story behind it is even greater.

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  • Reed Whitcraft
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• Appearances Can Be Deceiving

  Fort Monroe represented one of the first official bastions of freedom for the slaves of the South during the Civil War. As we learned today in both our reading and at the Casemate Museum, the fort's commander, Butler, refused to return fugitive slaves to their Confederate master in 1861. He claimed that the slaves were "contraband of war," and if not confiscated, could be (and would be) used against the Union by the Confederacy. Thus, though the slaves gained freedom from the control of their master, they were not recognized as human beings with rights, but rather as property appropriated in the course of war.

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  • Allison Wilkinson
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War

• The Fort That Never Fought in Battle

  Today we traveled to Fort Monroe. In the Fort we walked around a little bit and saw the Lincoln Gun. It was very very big. The main part of the trip though we visited the Casemate Museum. I thought the museum, which is run by the military, was very informative and true to what it meant to portray. The museum wasn't made to portray slavery, it was made to show the military. I don't understand why everyone seemed disappointed about that fact. No the museum didn't have very much about the slaves that lived there during the Civil War, but it wasn't made to.

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  • Lara Zuk
  • 2006 Pre-Collegiate Program Session I: From the Revolution through the Civil War