Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort and Hygeia Hotel, Va
date: label: Date made
content: 1861
name: label: maker
content: E. Sachse and Company
notes: label: Description
content: The first fort on Point Comfort was constructed by the settlers of Jamestown in 1609, but the fortification displayed in this 1861 print was completed in 1834 and named in honor of President James Monroe. After the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln ordered the fort to be reinforced to prevent it from meeting a similar fate. Although located in Hampton, Virginia, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands for the entirety of the war. The strategically placed stronghold served as a base for Union attacks into Virginia and also as a refuge for runaway slaves, who were freed by the Union forces if they reached the fortress.
label: Description
content: The Hygeia Hotel was constructed in 1822 and was visited by many famous American notables, including Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, and Edgar Allen Poe. It was demolished the year after this print was produced, in order to create more space for defenses. In the print, sailing ships and a steamboat cruise past Point Comfort, which is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway.
label: Description
content: The print’s creator, Edward Sachse, moved to America from Germany sometime in the 1840s. He settled in Baltimore, working under E. Weber & Co., one of the city’s most prominent lithography firms. He established E. Sachse & Co. in 1850, specializing in bird’s eye views of Baltimore and Washington D.C. His brother Theodore joined the firm in the mid-1850s and after Edward’s death in 1873, Theodore’s son Adolph headed the company, as A. Sachse & Co., from 1877 to 1887.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
label: depicted
content: United States: Virginia, Old Point Comfort
topic: label: Subject
content: Architecture, Commercial Buildings
label: Subject
content: Architecture
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1860-1869
label: Subject
content: Architecture, Domestic Buildings
label: Subject
content: Ships
label: Subject
content: Steamships
label: Subject
content: Sailing Ships
label: referenced
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: American Civil War Prints
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content: Transportation
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3788
label: catalog number
content: 60.3788
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: image: 18 1/4 in x 28 in; 46.355 cm x 71.12 cm