Fort Wool

Fort Wool
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Fort Wool Island from the Miss Hampton boat cruise
Location	Island between Willoughby Spit and Old Point Comfort, Hampton, Virginia
Built	1819
NRHP reference No.	69000339
Added to NRHP	November 25, 1969

Battery Ferdinand Claiborne.

Fort Wool was a seacoast fortification designed by Brigadier General of engineers Simon Bernard, an expatriated Frenchman who had served under Napoleon as his chief engineer, was one of more than forty forts started after the War of 1812 when the British boldly sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to burn the Capital. Started upon a shoal of ballast stones that were dumped as sailing ships entered Hampton's harbor called Rip Raps, the fort was to have three tiers of casemates and a parapet mounting a total of 232 muzzle-loading cannons. Originally named Castle Calhoun for the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun Fort Wool was built to maintain a crossfire with Fort Monroe, located directly across the channel, thereby protecting the entrance to the harbor.

In 1902, as a result of the Endicott Board's findings, all of the original fort, except 8 casemates, was demolished and new fortifications were constructed. The new armament remained in place for decades, although modifications were made from time to time. Only six of the original three-inch guns remained through World War II, when a modern battery of two new long-range six-inch guns were installed. The outmoded fort was finally abandoned by the military in 1953.

History

Brigadier-general of engineers Simon Bernard was tasked by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun to create or improve fortifications for the protection of vital US ports. Bernard's plan was to build more than forty new forts, including Fort Wool, which he had named Fort Calhoun. The fort was to have three tiers of casemates and a parapet with a total of 232 muzzle-loading cannons mounted, and was to be manned by a garrison of 1,000 soldiers. It was to built on a 15 acre (61,000 m²) artificial island southeast of Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia. Construction got underway in 1819 when crews started dumping granite boulders into the water. It took four years to bring the rock pile up to the a 6-foot tall island called for in the plans.

A controversy soon arose over the stones purchased for the island. A nineteen page report sent May 7, 1822 to the House of Representatives from the Military Affairs committee included depositions from individuals alleging that the contract to deliver 150,000 perches of stone at $3.00 per perch awarded to Elijah Mix on July 25, 1818 was fraudulent. Before awarding the contract, inquiries had been made at several quarries, and it was no secret that the government needed lots of stone for the project. The allegation was that the contract was awarded to Mix by General Joseph Swift of the War Department without advertising for bids. While other contracts had been awarded without advertising for bids as was standard procedure before April 1818, in April of 1818 the newly reorganized Engineer Department required public notice be given for every contract after that date.

Two proposals were received before the contract was awarded to Mix, and two more afterwards. All four of these proposals came in with higher bids than the one Mix offered. Many knowledgeable men agreed that the government had made a good deal, and the contractor had made a bad one for himself.

In 1819, the controversy increased when Mix assigned half his contract to Major Christopher Vandeventer, who was chief clerk in the War Department. Major Vandeventer and Mix were married to the daughters of Major Samuel Cooper, a noted Revolutionary War officer. Vandeventer later sold half of his interest to his father-in-law, Major Cooper. Secretary of War Calhoun had advised him that while what was done was not illegal, it “might expose Vandeventer to improper insinuations.” Major Vandeventer deposed that he had no interest in the contract when it was first negotiated nor did he have any influence when the contract was awarded. General Swift deposed that he felt Major Vanderventer had no interest in the contract when it was originally negotiated. Major Cooper and Major Vandeventer sold their shares to Howes Goldsborough & Co. on July 1, 1820.

Construction of the fort began in 1826, and after considerable delays caused by subsidence of the island, the first level of casemates was finally completed in 1830. Only ten guns were mounted. Construction continued through 1834, and only half of the second tier was completed. It was then found that Fort Calhoun's foundations had continued settling. A young second lieutenant and engineer in the U.S. Army, Robert E. Lee was transferred there to assist Captain Andrew Talcott, the US Army engineer in charge of the construction Fort Wool and its larger companion Fort Monroe, across the channel on the mainland. Lee was given the task of stabilizing the island as his first independent command. He found that the island wouldn't hold the weight of the two tiers of casemates and brought more stone in to stabilize it, but the fort never reached its intended size. Lee found the stone foundation under the fort was the problem, and that it would never support the weight of three tiers and parapet of the completed fort.

Fort Calhoun was used before the Civil War as a summer retreat for President Andrew Jackson. In 1862, with the Civil War looming, a name change was in order. The fort was originally named after John C. Calhoun, President Monroe's Secretary of War and a Confederate sympathizer, it was decided that it would be named after Maj. Gen. John Ellis Wool, a Mexican War hero and commander at Fort Monroe.

World War II

During World War I submarine nets were stretched across the harbor from this point. In the 1950s, the southern man-made island of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was constructed next to Fort Wool, and used as the southernmost anchor for the tunnels. A small earthen causeway connected the man-made island with that of Fort Wool. The bridge-tunnel opened to traffic in 1957.

Decommissioned

The outmoded fort was finally abandoned by the military in 1953. After being decommissioned, it was given to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1967 and in 1970, the City of Hampton developed it into a park. The Fort Wool passenger ferry, Miss Hampton II, allows tourists boarding in Hampton to visit the island during most of the year, but it can also be briefly glimpsed by passengers in westbound vehicles prior to entering the southern end of the tunnel portion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, which carries Interstate 64 across the mouth of the harbor.

The island, now called Rip Raps, continues to settle in modern times, and occasionally the casemates of the original fortress are put off-limits for safety reasons. It remains a major draw for tourists, who usually include it in a visit to Fort Monroe. During the summer months, it is served by various harbor tour boats.

Notes

• As of 2005, the availability of public tours of both Fort Wool and Fort Monroe are subject to Homeland Security Alert conditions.
• On 28 April 2007, a garrison flag was raised over Fort Wool for the first time. This took place during a parade of tall ships sailing past the fort, part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of the settlement of Jamestown.

See also

• Fort Monroe
• Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
• Rip Raps

References

Bibliography

• Freeman, Douglas S. (1934). "R. E. Lee, A Biography" (Document). Charles Scribner's Sons. {{cite document}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)