Fort Nelson-- Part 3: Built, Rebuilt and Torn Down

Built by Benedict Arnold for a 150-man garrison.  Some entrenchments built in 1774.  In 1779 it was nearly surrounded both land and sea by British forces and evacuated.  The British destroyed it.

When the First System Fort was built, it was named for Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson and built in 1794 and rebuilt in 1804.

Rebuilt as a Second System Fort in 1808 and mounted 37 guns.  Its garrison was moved to Fort Monroe in 1823 and the fort torn down to make way for the Naval Hospital.  Some of Fort Nelson's bricks were reused in the construction of the hospital.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Norfolk, Virginia-- Part 1: First and Second System Fort

From the History of Fort Norfolk.

In the last posts, I wrote about Fort Nelson, built to defend Norfolk, Virginia.  It was built opposite Fort Norfolk.  Some more on that fort.

There was an earlier fortification at the site dating 1776-1779.  It was a First System Fort built 1794, mainly an earthwork.  It was later rebuilt into a masonry fort of the second System in 1808 and designed for 30 guns, but only ten were ever mounted.

It never saw action in the War of 1812 because the British were repulsed by the fort on Craney Island.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Nelson-- Part 2: Two Locations

From Fort Wiki.

Fort nelson was attacked and burned down 9 May 1779 and rebuilt at another location in 1794 and abandoned in 1824.

The garrison abandoned it in the 1779 attack.

The second site of Fort Nelson was chosen opposite of Fort Norfolk on the west side of Norfolk  harbor and was a bastioned earthwork with two batteries of 24-pdrs in embrasures.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Nelson, Norfolk, Virginia-- Part 1

From the Colonial America.com site.

In the last post I mentioned that Captain Hannibal Montresor Allen was buried at Fort Nelson with its cemetery unknown.  Couldn't remember it, so had to look it up.

It was located on the site of the present-day Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia.  During Virginia's revolution, the government constructed a fort of timber and rammed earth in 1776.  Three years later, the British fleet under Admiral Sir George Collier came and confiscated the artillery and destroyed most of the parapet.

The fort was reconstructed in 1799 of earth lined with with brick following a design by architect B. Henry Latrobe and was again abandoned after the War of 1812.

The Confederates strengthened Fort Nelson during the Civil War, but on 10 May 1862, the Union Army under General John E. Wool occupied Norfolk and Fort Nelson.

--Brock-Perry

Battle Off Newport News Point-- Part 2

The American gunboats were shoal draft coastal ships (so they could go in shallow water) about 65-feet long and mounted 2-3 guns.  The use of oars enabled them to maneuver even in calm winds.  When Thomas Jefferson started to go with these ships to do the Navy's fighting, he started mothballing our super frigates.

Even so, Jefferson's gunboats were called "Bulldogs" and were poorly regarded.  Even militia refused to serve on them.  Many of the USS Constellation's men were reassigned to the gunboats after that frigate was bottled up behind the guns of Fort Norfolk and Fort Nelson by the British.

On June 18,  1813, the commandant of Gosport Navy Yard, John Cassin,  ordered 15 gunboats to go out past Craney Island where they drove off a flotilla of British attack barges that threatened two American sloops and a schooner.

--Brock-Perry

Virginia's Fort Nelson

In the last post, I came across the name of a Fort Nelson, located across the Elizabeth River from Fort Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia.

From HMDB.

Fort Nelson, currently the site of Portsmouth Naval Hospital.  Built by Virginia in 1776, during the Revolutionary War of timber and earth.  Three years later, the British fleet captured it and removed the artillery and tore down the parapets.  From 1779-1781, it was occupied by the British under Lord Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold.

The U.S. reconstructed it in 1799 of earth lined with brick.

The Confederates occupied the fort until the capture of Norfolk in 1862.

--Brock-Perry

Unearthing a Secret from the War of 1812

From the June 21, 2013, Hampton Roads (Va.) Daily Press by Mark St. John Erickson.

Another of those informative articles by the War of 1812 expert (also pretty good on the Civil War).

In 2004, Williamsburg archaeologist Alain Outlaw got a chance to probe a long-lost piece of Fort Norfolk just two weeks in advance of a downtown waterfront development project.

The City of Norfolk demolished a giant early 20th century warehouse that had covered the site.

Outlaw unearthed the remains of a defensive palisade thrown up by the Virginia militia to protect the fort from land attack.  The palisade was built by troops under the command of Captain Walker K. Armistead, and Army Corps of Engineers officer.  A c. 1780s well was also found.

Earlier fortifications dating to the War of 1812 have been destroyed, including the defensive works on Craney Island and Fort nelson, across the Elizabeth River from Fort Norfolk, which still remains.

--Brock-Perry