Fort Wool (1)
Fort Wool (1) (1826-1946) - First named Fort Calhoun and renamed Fort Wool in 1862 during the U.S. Civil War for Union General John E. Wool. Conceived in 1817 and built on an artificial island southeast of Fort Monroe. It served to guard Virginia's Hampton Roads harbor through World War II. It became a Hampton Roads City Park in 1970.
Construction
Construction began on the artificial island in 1818 and by 1823 had raised the island to a height of six feet above high tide and construction of the fort itself was begun. Fort Wool was to have three tiers of casemates and a barbette tier ( 4 tiers designed to mount 232 guns). About half of the second casemate and one tier was completed when work stopped in 1830 because the island was sinking at a rate of eight inches a year. Additional stone was added to the island and work resumed on the casemates in 1858. The U.S. Civil War halted construction.
2nd Lt. Robert E. Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe between 1831 and 1834 and paticipated in the construction of both Fort Monroe and Fort Calhoun(Wool). Lee's participation in the construction of Fort Calhoun(Wool) was limited to tasks involving the addition of more stone to island itself. His immediate supervisor was Captain Andrew Talcott who was in charge of construction at both forts.¹
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Location: Located in Virginia's Hampton Roads harbor on a man-made island adjacent to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel entrance. Access by boat. Maps & Images Lat: 36.98592 Long: -76.30122 |
Links:
Publications:
Visited: No
Sources:
- R. E. Lee, the biography by Douglas Southall Freeman (4 vols., complete online version), page 103
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