The Portland daily press., 1896-09-19
FORTRESS MONROE OF TODAY
And Its Memories lof tho Civil Wharf.-The
Cssemate Where Davis Was Confined.
(Nortolk. Va. Letter to New York
Evening Post.

(Norfolk. Va. Letter to New York
Evening Post.)
The easement in old Fort Monroe, In
which Jefferson Davis, President of the
late C0nfederacy, was for a short time
confined, is now used as a storage room
for misfit lumber, iron scraps, etc. A
sentinel stands on guard at this entrance
of the fort, and In answer to the visitors
query points to this dungeon, with q
solitary bulls-eye window looking out
over the morass of brackish ill-smelling
water which surrounds the high walled
fort. The guard comes to a sspresent
arms" while talking with a visitor.
His duties seem to be merely to put in
time to earn his rations for no one is
denied admission, and anyone may walk
throughout the grounds and upon the
ramparts examining the unloaded cam
non at will with no one to say "halt. :"
A few -annon are mounted at intervals,
merely as show, and old rusty cannon
balls are piled in pyramids throughout
the grounds, which curious tourists de-
light in kicking around. At the various
entrances stands only one sentinel, while
throughout the grounds the soldiers sit
In the shade discussing the probab bilities
of a war. Being recruits and never hav-
ing seen war, they are anxious for one.
They glibly discuss the merits of the va
rious new guns with inquiring visitors,
and tell them how the fort is defended.
lon vofh hov to o%
ept.
After being removed from the "hole in
the wall' casemate, Davis was placed
in q smallsfa m building known as "ofi-
oers' quarters 1t Is now occupied by
some artillery officers, and Is beautiful
~ shaded by willows, q much pretti or
and more habitable place than it WAS In
those days. Here the prisoner of state''
remained nearly two years. Beyond
this the present garrison. all '.new men,,
them have no idea of tho extent of the
war excepting the fight between the
Monitor and the Merrimac. They had
not heard of the burning of Hampton
the old borough few miles distant.
] asked an old citizen If the
town had in truth been totally destroyed.
eyes" he replied; s'al excepting two
AOAoOos d4A Uu01 O6CdP0u Willy UdCduE0
tn Confederates were hard pushed and
they burned the bridges behind them
| so that the Federals could not follow,
knowing that cannon shots from the
gunboRts could not reach them. The
population of the town was about 1000.
That morning the Confederate general
Magruder, formed his forces. about 10, :
from town, and under the flag of truce
| sent in challenge to the Federal com
mander to come out and fight, which
/ was declined. And that night they came
in and burned the town. But had the
commander sfought and whipped the
Confederates, he could have gone into
| Richmond, u. for we afterwards learned
| that this was. the entire army of the
Peninsula, no men having been left at
Yorktown or Williamsburg.
'And that might have ended the wal? p"
! suggested.
''No doubt, replied the old gentleman.
regretfully, thinking of his burned
home.
One of the buildings saved was ST.
Johns church-the Oldest church in
America in which services are now hald.
and third in age of any built in this
country. The grounds are covered with
broken tombstones-a few Enollsh
quaint characters show them to have
been made before this republic was born.
weeping WILLOWS shade these ancestral
| tombs, which invite trespassers to half
in the cool ohurchyard and learn from
these crumbled stones that this ends
all. 1t Is picturesque spot to visit.
Coming over from Fort Monroe to Nor
folk, the steamer CROSSES the historic
battle-ground" of the Monitor and Merri.
mao and the point at which the Merri-
mao was grounded and blown up, also
the places where the Cumberland was
sunk and the Congress blown up by the
Confederate rum Merrimac.
To nTRr <,,