HISTORY

17th & 18th CENTURIES

Hampton, founded in 1610 and the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in America, is home to many “firsts.” In late August 1619, the first recorded Africans to be brought to English North America arrived at Point Comfort, today’s Fort Monroe.

The first “20 and odd” Africans were brought from West Central Africa, present-day Angola. They had been captured from the Kingdom of Ndongo during the 1618- 20 Portuguese war against the African kingdoms. They were loaded aboard a ship in Luanda on the African West coast in May 1619 and departed for Vera Cruz, Mexico. The ship, slave merchant vessel Sao Joao Bautista, was attacked by two ships, Treasurer and White Lion, in the Gulf of Mexico. The captains of the attacking ships each captured Africans as human cargo from the Sao Joao Bautista.

“In the latter end of August, a Dutch man of War...arrived at Point Comfort,” wrote Virginia Colony secretary John Rolfe in 1619. Rolfe further noted that the White Lion commander delivered “20 and odd negroes” who were traded for provisions and other supplies. They would become either servants or chattel slaves. 4

Located at the present-day site of Fort Monroe and separated from Hampton’s mainland by Mill Creek, Old Point Comfort is a fitting place to begin your heritage tour.

Two of the original Africans to arrive, Antoney and Isabell, became servants of Captain William Tucker. Tucker was commander of the fort at Point Comfort. Captain Tucker noted in his 1624 muster roll that their child, William, was the first recorded baby of African descent to be baptized in English North America.

The other Africans were transferred to plantations along the James River. Africans were brought to Virginia to provide labor to plant and harvest crops, thus beginning the transatlantic slave trade and two centuries of slavery in America.

The first Africans came from a civilized society and brought to America their skills as farmers - growing crops and raising large herds of cattle, goats and chickens. They were skilled artisans as blacksmiths, textile weavers, and metal workers. Africans were responsible for various innovations, some inaccurately credited to English immigrants. A possible early example of this was reported in Virginia where Governor William Berkeley ordered rice to be planted in 1648. The Africans were also credited with bringing from Africa a musical instrument that led to the creation of the American Banjo.

19th CENTURY

In addition to reflecting on the 1619 landing, you will want to explore all of Fort Monroe, a Union-held fortification where thousands of slaves sought shelter during the Civil War.

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, slavery had become well established in Virginia and in the thriving port community at the mouth of the Hampton River. Among the documented imported “goods” to Hampton during the second decade of the eighteenth century (1710- 1718) were 743 Africans, or 17% of the total brought into Virginia. From 1718-1727, the slave trade exploded with 11,000 Africans brought to Virginia, with only 251 reported to have landed in Hampton.

By 1782, Virginia’s population consisted of 296,852 free persons and 270,762 enslaved individuals; nearly 48% of the population.

On May 23, 1861, Major General Benjamin F. Butler ing they were “contraband of war.” The men, purported to have been Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker, and James Townsend, were from the Hampton plantation of Col. Charles King Mallory. These men complained to Butler that they were being forced to work on the construction of nearby Confederate fortifications at Sewell’s Point. used to enhance the enemy’s military strength, they fit the definition of contraband and could be confiscated. Butler refused to uphold the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. After all, Virginia had seceded from the Union and, as a foreign country, was no longer subject to American law. Butler determined the three men would not be returned to Mallory, and granted them sanctuary at Fort Monroe.

News of this extraordinary development spread. The policy was adopted by other post commanders who were eventually supported by the federal government. Hampton’s Fort Monroe quickly earned the nickname “Freedom’s Fortress.” Within two months, over 900 enslaved people had escaped to Fort Monroe. Thousands more accepted three runaways seeking their freedom, declar

would follow.

Confederate General John B. Magruder believed Butler intended to use Hampton homes and buildings to house troops and “contrabands.” Magruder, determined that the town not be used to harbor runaway enslaved people and traitors, ordered Hampton burned. The local soldiers agreed to this “loathsome, yet patriotic” action and, led by Hampton resident Captain Jefferson Curle Phillips, met in the dark of night at St. John’s church, 5

then, starting from the intersection of King and Queen Streets, set fire to the town.

Soon after Major General Butler’s declaration, two “contraband camps” were established in Hampton to accommodate the influx of refugees. One was constructed outside the entrance to Fort Monroe in Camp Hamilton and became known as Slabtown. The name Slabtown refers to the construction materials used to build cabins adjacent to standing chimneys. The other camp, the Grand Contraband, was established just outside Hampton’s ruins. Hampton’s new residents gave the city streets new names, such as Union, Lincoln, Grant, Washington and Liberty (later “Contraband of War” changed to Armistead). Civil War Trails markers interpret the sites of Camp Hamilton, Individuals labeled as “contraSlabtown, and the Grand Contraband. band” could enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1861. Some served on the U.S.S. Minnesota. Several contrabands also served on the U.S.S. Monitor. An 1863 Army census showed that the War Department’s Bureau of Negro Affairs, established earlier that same year, was managing 10,500 individuals considered contraband located in Hampton and the nearby counties. African Americans assisted the Union Army by serving as cooks, laborers and carpenters in exchange for rations and small wages. Many developed opportunities of their own. During this period, the First and Second Regiments of the U.S. Colored Cavalry and Battery B of the Second U.S. Colored Light Artillery were established at Fort Monroe and nearby Camp Hamilton, where Phoebus is today. In 1865, Harriet Tubman, known as “Black Moses” and memorialized as one of the daring conductors of the Underground Railroad, was appointed to the position of Matron at Fort Monroe’s Colored Hospital located near Camp Hamilton.

Chesapeake Military Hospital, the former site of the Chesapeake Female Seminary, served Union officers. Enlisted men were sent to nearby Hampton Military Hospital according to Harper’s Weekly Monthly Magazine’s 1864 article, “The Military Hospitals at Fortress Monroe.” Following the war, through the efforts of General Butler, black soldiers had access to the National Soldiers’ Home, established at the Chesapeake Military Hospital site. The first member of the Soldiers’ Home to be buried in the Hampton National Cemetery occurred on May 14, 1871. The soldier was Levi Jones, a white man and veteran of Company E, 5th U.S. Colored Infantry.

Postwar time did not honor the rights of the freedmen. Contraband families had constructed homes and farmed land vacated by Confederate sympathizers; nevertheless, following the war’s end, their settlements were returned to previous owners. Transitional support was to be provided by the American Missionary Association (AMA) who came to Hampton, establishing schools and teaching Christian philosophy and spirituality. Education would be the answer for freedmen seeking true independence and self-sufficiency.