Fort Monroe National Monument ⓘ

The Medal of Honor is America’s highest and most prestigious medal for valor in combat that can be awarded to members of the armed forces. The medal was first authorized in 1861 for sailors and marines, and the following year for soldiers. The medal is normally awarded by the President in the name of Congress at a White House ceremony. According to the US Dept. of Defense website, over 3,490 Medals of Honor have been awarded to service members, only one has been awarded to a female service member.

Sgt. William Harvey Carney, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, was an early recipient of the medal and the first African American to receive the honor. (more later on that point) Carney was born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia in February 1840. At the age of 14, he learned to read and write by attending a secret school sponsored by a local minister. Both Carney and his father sought their Freedom and self- emancipated via the Underground Railroad network arriving in the whaling post of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Initially, Sgt. Carney wanted to be a minister however, after the American Civil War started he heeded the “Call” of the Union Army. In the November 6, 1863, edition of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper Carney stated “ Previous to the formation of colored troops, I had a strong inclination to prepare myself for the ministry; I felt I could best serve my God serving my country and my oppressed brothers. “

Enlisting on February 17, 1863, Carney joined the newly formed 54th MA Infantry. His regiment was the first African American military unit organized in the northern states. Newspaper advertisements and recruiting posters encouraging men of African descent to enlist, drew volunteers from far and near. One-fourth of the regiment’s volunteers came from slave holding states, others from the Caribbean and Canada. Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ sons Charles and Lewis traveled from Washington, DC to Boston in-order to join the 54th Massachusetts. By May 14, 1863, 1,000 men had volunteered for the regiment.

On May 28, 1863, the regiment departed Boston, Massachusetts on the DeMolay steamer for the coast of South Carolina under the leadership of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The 54th regiment saw its first military combat on July 16, 1863 in a skirmish on James Island, South Carolina. On July 18, 1863, after several days without sleep, food or water the 54th regiment was directed to lead the attack on Fort Wagner. Adequate reconnaissance had not been conducted and the 54th MA was unaware that 1,800 Confederate soldiers were awaiting inside. The 54th regiment had only 624 soldiers.

At 7:45pm, Colonel Shaw raised his sword as he stood by the Stars and Stripes color barrier and lead the charge of his men down the beach toward Fort Wagner. After shouting “Forward 54th!“ Col Shaw received three fatal wounds. Sergeant William Carney was in the midst of fighting when he noticed the soldier bearing the American flag stumble and fall, he too had been mortally wounded. Carney threw away his musket, raised the flag keeping it from touching the ground and struggled up the parapet, though now wounded in the legs, chest, and arm. Carney was able to plant the flag at the top of the foot wall.

Despite his wounds and the gunfire around him, Carney was able to keep the flag aloft. Carney and the rest of the 54th Massachusetts were pinned down. Only after reinforcements arrived was the decimated unit able to withdraw. Struggling back to the Union lines Carney collapsed saying “Boys, the old flag never touched the ground.”

“During the American Civil War, the job of color bearer was one of the most hazardous as well as important duties in the Army. Soldiers looked to the flag for direction and inspiration in battle and the bearer was usually out in front, drawing heavy enemy fire while holding the flag high.”

After the battle Carney was discharged from the military on June 30, 1864, due to his wounds. Several months later Sgt. Carney on a cane due to the injuries to his right leg, posed for a picture (depicted here) holding the very flag he had risked his life for that day at Fort Wagner.

Carney returned home to New Bedford, Massachusetts becoming the city’s first African American postal employee and a public speaker, often times speaking at events for veterans. In 1865, he married Susannah Williams, a local school teacher who was one of Massachusetts first African American public school teachers. They had one daughter, Clara Heronia.

On May 31, 1897, Sgt. Carney received a standing ovation while attending the unveiling ceremony for the monument to Col Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th MA. Carney led 75 veterans of the regiment into the event carrying the flag used in the attack at Fort Wagner in 1863. The monument was sculpted by Augusts Saint Gaudens and is featured in the film’’ Glory.’’ The principal speakers for the dedication ceremony were Booker T. Washington, President of Tuskegee University and Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University.

Though Sgt. Carney was the first African American to have conducted an act deemed worthy of the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War, he did NOT receive his medal until May 9, 1900, a gap of 37 years. Robert Blake, a Contraband Union Navy sailor, actually received his Medal of Honor medal first. Blake received his medal in 1864, a mere four months December 25, 1863 heroic actions. Sgt. Carney retains the title of the first African American recipient due to his military combat actions occurring first.

While Dr. W.E.B. Dubois and Sgt. Major Christian Abraham Fleetwood, a Civil War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient were preparing an exhibition for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, a world’s fair held in Paris, France, it was discovered that Sgt. Carney had not received his Medal of Honor medal. Fleetwood believing Carney had already been awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Fort Wagner, asked if he could borrow Carney’s medal to display it along with his own medal in the [Negro] exhibition section of the American exhibition. The [Negro] Exhibition section was designed to show the economic and social progress of African Americans since emancipation. Carl J. Cruz, a descendant of Carney, states it was Sgt. Major Fleetwood, 4th USCT who actually completed the required paperwork needed for Carney to receive his Medal of Honor.

Over the years Carney’s story inspired song, sculpture, prints, and paintings. In 1901, Carney’s actions inspired a patriotic song written by James Weldon and Rosamond Johnson, “Boy the Old Flag Never Touched the Ground.’’ The Johnson brothers also wrote and arranged the popular “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The Carney tribute song was featured, in the Broadway musical “Shoo Fly Regiment,” the musical opened June 3, 1907.

Upon Carney’s death in 1908, the Massachusetts governor ordered the flag at the state house flown at half-mast. This was an unprecedented act of honor formerly reserved for presidents, governors, and members of Congress. He is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1920, Norfolk, Virginia, the city of Carney’s birth authorized a statue honoring Sgt. Carney and other soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) to be placed in Section 20 of West Point Cemetery. In 2015, Sgt. William Harvey Carney's medal traveled to Washington, DC and was displayed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum exhibitition titled, "Freedom Just Around the Corner."

Many Presidents of the United States have visited Fort Monroe over the years since construction on the fort began in 1819, either before, during, or after their time in office.

President Andrew Jackson frequently visited Fort Monroe and Fort Calhoun, later renamed Fort Wool, during the summers of his presidency, in 1829, 1831, 1833, and 1834. Both forts were under construction at the time. Broken-hearted after the death of his wife, President Jackson spent a lot of time at Fort Calhoun. According to historian Mike Cobb, he made it his “White House.”

President John Tyler took sanctuary on nearby Fort Calhoun, later renamed Fort Wool, after the death of his first wife in 1842. He returned in 1844 for a month long honeymoon. He and his new wife Julia Gardiner also spent their first anniversary at the Hygeia Hotel on Old Point Comfort.

President Abraham Lincoln stayed as a guest in Quarters No. 1 during his visit May 6-11, 1862. During his visit, President Lincoln, Major General John E. Wool, and Commodore Louis M. Goldsborough planned the attack on Norfolk, Virginia.

On February 3, 1865, President Lincoln returned to Old Point Comfort for a peace conference with Secretary of State William Seward, Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens, Confederate Senator Robert Hunter, and Confederate Assistant Secretary of State John Campbell. They met on a riverboat. It was known as the Hampton Roads Peace Conference, and did not result in ending the war, but it helped shape the nature of the later surrender and reconstruction.

Future president Ulysses S. Grant ended a three-day military conference on April 3, 1864 at Old Point Comfort.

President Rutherford B. Hayes delivered a speech at a Naval Review at Fort Monroe, July 4, 1879.

President James A. Garfield met with Brigadier General George W. Getty at Fort Monroe on June 5, 1881 before traveling to the Soldiers' Home in Hampton, VA.

President Theodore Roosevelt visited Fort Monroe several times before and during his presidency. He visited in 1897, 1906, 1907, and 1909. His visit to Hampton Roads in 1906 included a Memorial Day speech in Portsmouth, VA to Union and Confederate veterans of the American Civil War, which he delivered to a crowd of 50,000 (estimated by the Richmond Times-Dispatch).

“This day is hallowed and sacred in our history, for on this day throughout the land we meet to pay homage to the memory of the valiant dead who fell in the great Civil War. No other men deserve so well of this country as those to whom we owe it that we now have a country. [...] They have left us the memory of the great deeds and the self-devotion alike of the men who wore the blue and of the men who wore the gray in the contest where brother fought brother with equal courage, with equal sincerity of conviction, with equal fidelity to a high ideal, as it was given to each to see that ideal.”

On this visit, Roosevelt also privately addressed African American and American Indian students at what was then Hampton Institute.

President William Howard Taft visited Fort Monroe on November 19, 1909, at the end of his cruise to Panama to inspect the dam and locks. He returned on June 3, 1912, when the US Navy met the arrival of the German Moltke -class battle cruiser SMS Moltke on its visit to the United States.

Frequently overworking himself, President Woodrow Wilson was prescribed forced rest and relaxation by a physician. Golf was President Wilson’s pastime and tonic, and the Hampton Club was located close to Old Point Comfort’s Hygeia Hotel and Chamberlin Hotels, leading health resorts of the day. May 16, 1915, was his first visit to the Hampton Club. It is believed he returned the next year and at other times, but was able to do so without fanfare. When he was in the area, he often visited the Chapel of the Centurion .

On February 12, 1916, President Wilson visited Fort Monroe with his new bride, Edith Bolling Wilson, and they were permitted to tour the grounds without an escort.

President Herbert Hoover delivered a radio address on October 18, 1931, from the Commandant’s House at Fort Monroe. He spoke on the topic of unemployment relief and began a six-week campaign to raise local relief funds.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Fort Monroe on July 29, 1940, while touring military installations. He arrived at the wharf next to the Chamberlin Hotel and then observed a firing demonstration at Wilson Park.

Before entering politics and being elected president Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie Eisenhower attended the wedding of their son, Capt. John Eisenhower to Barbara Jean Thompson, at the Chapel of the Centurion on June 10, 1947.

Former President Harry S Truman made frequent to his cousin Gen. Louis W. Truman from 1960 to 1962. There are many tales of “Uncle Harry” visiting Fort Monroe, often incognito. Residents on post were occasionally startled when he appeared unannounced during his famous early morning walks. He also attended at least one meeting of the Masonic Lodge housed in Casemate 20.

"As part of my daily routine, I usually take a walk of a mile and a half, at a pace of 120 steps a minute . . . If you walk 120 paces a minute, your whole body gets a vigorous workout. You swing your arms and take deep breaths as you walk . . . After you are fifty years old, this is the best exercise you can get . . .. [S]ome aging exhibitionists try to prove that they can play tennis or handball or anything else. . . And every once in a while one of them falls dead of a heart attack. I say that's not for me."

People often associate military history primarily with men, but women have always played a vital role as well, even when officially prohibited from serving in the armed forces. The history of women at Fort Monroe goes back to before the construction of the current fort, but unfortunately this history is often buried more deeply than the stories of the men who served here such as Robert E. Lee and Edgar Allan Poe. Several fortifications were built on Old Point Comfort before Fort Monroe, the first in 1609 to protect the Jamestown Colony . One early mention of women living here comes in 1749, when one of these forts, Fort George, was destroyed by a hurricane. The fort’s commander, Captain Samuel Barron, had his family with him at the fort, and he had both his family and the entire garrison gather on the upper floors of the wooden buildings in the fort to ride out the storm. While the fort itself was destroyed, the walls protected the buildings inside the fort enough that everyone survived the hurricane. This fort was not replaced until Fort Monroe was begun in 1819. Fort Monroe was started in 1819 and largely completed by 1834. Between the engineers building the fort and the Artillery School of Practice based at the fort in those years, many officers and their families rotated through Fort Monroe. Catherine Morgan Dix, wife of Captain John A. Dix (who became a Major General during the American Civil War) described their living situation in 1826 soon after she moved here. The fort was still under construction during her time here and the sandy nature of the soil here did not help the quality of local produce: “We are expecting our furniture very anxiously, and the moment it comes we shall take possession of our two rooms, without waiting for a carpet. We should build a kitchen if we considered ourselves established here for any length of time. We have two very handsome rooms, with marble mantelpieces and folding-doors; but not a storeroom, nor a closet, nor a pantry to be found on our premises. We are going to have pine cupboards made, and our dinner table can be supplied with meat from the mess-room. I have seen nothing here that deserves the name of a vegetable. It is the poorest place, I believe, on the whole face of the earth. The worst part of Sweden is a garden compared with it. I give you my word there is not an eatable [sic] thing to be procured here but oysters and fish. They send to Norfolk, and Washington even, for the commonest articles of food, and have to pay high for them…” On June 30, 1831, Mary Anna Custis married a young US Army 2nd Lieutenant named Robert E. Lee at her father’s Arlington House, just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. Lee had been assigned to Fort Monroe as assistant engineer the month before. The Lees lived in one half of a duplex, Building #17, which still stands today and is now the park headquarters (not open to the public). Their first child, George Washington Custis Lee, was born here in their quarters at Fort Monroe. Mrs. Lee would frequently visit her family at Arlington while her husband was stationed here. Not all of the women at the fort were in the fairly comfortable position of being officers’ wives. There were so many servants around the fort before the American Civil War, many of whom would have been women, that there were fairly strict rules controlling their movements onto and within the fort. Most enlisted men would probably not have had their families at the fort (if they had families), but each company was allowed to have three laundresses, who were usually the wives of soldiers and were allowed to live in the barracks. In 1827, three laundresses were court-martialed at Fort Monroe for trying to bring alcohol onto the base. Alice Butterfield, Elizabeth Voorhies, and “Patsy alias Martha Ann Buchannan… all laundresses, followers, and retainers of the Camp, … were severally charged with ‘Disorderly conduct tending to the subversion of good order and military discipline.’ … did jointly and severally on the evening of the 11 th of February 1827 obtain and secrete in the woods and land near Fortress Monroe, a large quantity of spirituous liquors, viz: Eight gallons, more or less, with intent to introduce the same, clandestinely without the chain of sentinels.” The women were found guilty and were sentenced “to be deprived of their rations and other privileges as laundresses, followers and retainers of the Camp, to have their heads shaved and a bladder drawn over them, and then to be drummed out to the tune of the Whore’s March; to be prohibited for the future entering within the line of sentinels and to be excluded from all barracks, encampments, or grounds within the military jurisdiction of the Post.” The sentence was carried out with the exception of shaving the laundresses’ heads. As two of the women were married to soldiers in the 4 th Artillery and the third was “residing with Musician Murphy, […] 3 rd Artillery,” being banned from the camp would have been a harsh punishment for them. In the years before the American Civil War many of the casemates, or fortified gun emplacements, of the fort were converted into living quarters for officers and their families. The open archways were bricked up and doors and porches were added at this time. As more freestanding housing was built, the casemates were later used to house non-commissioned officers and their families. The Hygeia Hotel, located right outside the fort walls, was built originally in 1822 to house workers building the fort, but quickly became a popular tourist attraction, also adding to the fort’s social life. The women who stayed at the hotel were very popular with the officers of the fort, and vice versa. The hotel was a high-end resort and even attracted presidents and their families. President John Tyler honeymooned with his second wife, Julia Gardiner, at Old Point Comfort in 1844, staying in a cottage, and they stayed at the hotel a year later for their first wedding anniversary. Although frequently forgotten in official histories, women have played an important role in the history of Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort over the years. Not only did their presence here help make the fort a home for the soldiers serving here, but many, such as the laundresses, labored to make life easier for the men stationed here. We hope that the next time you visit, you will think about not only the soldiers who served here but also what it was like for the wives of soldiers and officers in the early days of the fort, the hard work of the laundresses and servants, and the lavish entertainments enjoyed by ladies and officers alike at the Hygeia Hotel before the American Civil War.

The Old Point Comfort Lighthouse was built upon a peninsula, whose location made it pivotal in Early American History. The site is located at the entrances of the Nansemond, James, and Elizabeth Rivers. The entire peninsula, also known today as Fort Monroe, was once simply called Old Point Comfort. A quick survey of the landscape would reveal that it is riddled with structures of historical significance. The largest and most ominous being the stone and earth work known simply as Fort Monroe. While larger in size, it certainly is not the oldest structure on-site. A neighboring structure, The Old Point Comfort Lighthouse is one of the oldest standing structures found on the peninsula today. The lighthouse stands as a navigational beacon on Old Point Comfort and was thought to be active as early as 1775. Upon the formation of the United States government, lighthouses were identified as critical to the economy. The young republic starting the construction projects, one of which was being a permanent navigation aid on Old Point Comfort. The Lighthouse Friends website noted that in 1798 the US Congress passed a law that originally allocated $3,050 for a lighthouse at Old Point Comfort. Additional building funds of $5,000 were allocated between 1800 and 1801 to commission the services of Elzy Burroughs to finish the octagonal lighthouse. Upon completion the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse stood 54 feet tall. The first light keeper, Captain Eli Vickery, was assigned in 1804. The main portion of the light house’s tower consisted of a spiral staircase that lead up to a trap door to the lights. The light source came from ten oil lanterns that consumed 486 gallons every year configured in a beam with a range of 14 miles. As the War of 1812 ensued, the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse briefly fell under British control. The British used the lighthouse as an observation tower. Once the war had ceased, Old Point Comfort was massively altered. The United States government created forts Monroe and Calhoun. Fort Calhoun was later renamed Fort Wool. The light house underwent many improvements over the years. In 1854 a Henry-Lepaute Fresnel lens replaced the array of lamps and reflectors that reduced the amount of oil needed to sustain the lighthouse while producing a much brighter light. In 1917, an electrical fog bell striker replaced the station’s mechanical striking mechanism, and in 1918 the lighthouse’s source of power transitioned from oil to electric. The incandescent electric light vastly improved the lighthouse’s beam. The Lighthouse Friends website speaks to the application of technology to the light house; “In 1936, a prototype device was incorporated to governor the fog bell that produced a stream of light was emitted every two minutes from Fort Wool to a photoelectric cell located on the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse. If the beam of light was impeded either by rain, fog, or snow and did not reach the cell on the opposing lighthouse, it would trigger the fog bell.” With the vast developments in flight technology, the lighthouse itself was designated as an aerial landmark and functioned as part of a series of landmarks that facilitated aviators to navigate their route from Washington DC to Norfolk. The light has gone through several changes throughout the centuries. The light was initially white, and was changed to a red light around 1900. In 1905, a white sector was utilized for a brief stint before changing back to completely red across the entire 133° arc of visibility. Currently the lighthouse tower is white, crowned by a muted red, rounded copper light enclosure. The lighthouse has four large windows, with green frames and a solid steel door at the bottom of the lighthouse. Two Coast Guardsmen and their families lived at the keeper’s quarters immediately next door until the lighthouse became automated in 1973. The iconic lighthouse still overlooks Hampton Roads and serve as a nighttime beacon to the many ships that pass through the Chesapeake Bay.

Following Major General Benjamin Butler’s "Contraband Decision," Fort Monroe was not only a stronghold for the Union but was also a destination of enslaved people seeking to liberate themselves at “Freedom’s Fortress.” Local Confederate forces were growing uneasy at the close proximity of the army and growing number of contrabands. By June, Confederate defenders along with most of the local population abandoned the city entirely.

For a short time, Hampton was occupied by Union forces, but following a Confederate victory at Bull Run, Union soldiers were called away from Hampton and nearby Camp Hamilton. With nearby Union forces depleted, Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Magruder sent troops to challenge the Union encampment at Newport News. He then discovered the Union’s intentions of housing "contrabands" in the abandoned homes of Hampton. Magruder realized that the proximity of Fort Monroe would prevent the Confederacy from keeping Hampton, even if it could be regained, and he was determined that Union would not benefit from Hampton’s buildings and resources.

On August 7, 1861, led by Capt. Jefferson Curle Phillips, a mostly local Confederate detachment of 500 men burned the city of Hampton, leaving a desolate forest of brick foundations and chimneys. On the ruins of the once picturesque town, Union armies created camps to house contrabands from Fort Monroe. After the war, many of those men and women remained and helped rebuild the city of Hampton.