Fort Monroe
Entrance to Fort Monroe.
A view of the moat surrounding Fort Monroe.
Construction of a new fort, to be named after America’s fifth president James Monroe, began at Old Point Comfort in 1819.
Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, who would later command Confederate forces during the American Civil War (1861-1865), was stationed at the site early in his military career and oversaw the fort’s ongoing construction from 1831-1834.
That construction of the fort was, for a time, overseen by the eventual Confederate general is something of a historical irony considering that the Union would later use it as a prison for captured Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
Location of Robert E. Lee’s residence while he oversaw construction of Fort Monroe.
President Lincoln’s quarters during his visit to Fort Monroe.
A marker noting the location of Lincoln’s residence at Fort Monroe.
In 1862, with the Civil War under way, President Abraham Lincoln visited Fort Monroe for 4 nights.
There he oversaw a successful Union effort to capture the city of Norfolk from the Confederacy.
Engineer Wharf, where a detained Jefferson Davis disembarked from a Union vessel before being imprisoned at Fort Monroe.
In May of 1865, Union forces captured Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, in Georgia after Davis fled the sacked Confederate capital at Richmond.
He was transferred by boat to Old Point Comfort where he disembarked at Engineer Wharf.
He was then imprisoned at Fort Monroe for 2 years before being released on bail in May of 1867.
Upon his release, Davis journeyed north eventually reaching the Canadian city of Montreal where his children had been residing and the U.S. government eventually abandoned its efforts to prosecute Davis for treason.
A View from the top of Fort Monroe
A ramp to the top of Fort Monroe.
Written By: Aiden Singh Published: July 18, 2020