The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-06-24
OLD FORTRESS MONROE
II Is An Ancient Stronghold and Al
most lmpreenabIe.

SudIuS the w eSIeIn approaches 10
Chesapeake bay and the broad
waters leading to the James river.
1t is the outermost of the defenses
of the nations capital. The fort
is an ancient stronghold, but time
has not Slapped its strength. The
old smooth bores of other days
have given place to rifed ordi-
nance, and the pine signal torch
has dwindled its beams under the
piercing rays CT the electric search
light. The fortress today is one
of the most formidable guardians
of the country's coast line.
The guns that look over the
parapet have heavy modern in
terest and the mine fields in the
water beyond have their attraction
in the very mystery of their hidden
strength, but the strongest appeal
at Fortress Monroe is to be found
in the reminders Of a past which
everywhere subordinates the pres
ent.
An old school day friend, second
in command at the Virginia fort,
gave the visitor a pass which ad-
admitted him to the modern gun
batteries, places that are guarded
from the inquisitive view of per-
sons unknown personally to the
authorities, for the newspaper
stories of spies in the land are not
foundationless. The big guns and
their complicated mechanism, with
their destructive possibilities, were
new and strange, but one gives
them up for the first day for the
more potent allurements-the tro-
phies of war that Washington
wrested from CORVALLIS; the case
mates whose ports, now disused,
look over the seated moat, and the
great live oaks that guard the
parade ground, which lies within
the ramparts.
Fortress Monroe has been re-
christened Fort Monroe by the
military authorities. 1t is too
beautiful place to make mascu-
line designation fitting, and no ex-
cess of gallantry is needed to make
the assertion. The stronghold
was constructed century ago, but
it looks as if it had been lifted
bodily from some medieval Eur
oDean principally and planted on
the shore of the new world.
You walk for full mile on the
ramparts before a circuit Of the
post is ended, and below you all
the way lies the moat running in
from the sea. Masonry, pierced
with portfolios and rooted in deep
with sand and sod, is the material
Of this bulwark OF defense.
The live oaks that grow within
the fortress are green through the
year. They are older---much old
er---than the masonry walls which
hedge them in protectingly from
the winter sea blasts. Under a
group OF the oaks at the ocean side
of the parade ground are placed
the priceless war relics of the rev.
olution. They are the old brazen
smoothbore cannon which Corn
wallis yielded up to Washington
at Yorktown. The British visitor
to Fortress Monroe is lett in no
doubt as to the identity of these
bits of Anticipated ordinance. In
bold relief just above the trunnions
is inscribed the statement that the
cannon were a part of the fruits Of
the American victory over the
troops Of King George.
The French allies of the CONT
nentals must have made merry
over the taking of one of these field
pieces. The name of the maker
let into the knob of the cascab,
shows that the gun was cast in
France. Another inscription shows
that the English took it from the
French on a Canadian battlefield.
The Frenchmen took the cannon.
and with it revenge, on the field
at Yorktown. 1t was probably out
of sheer generosity of spirit that
the allies made no claim to the