Category Archives: Hampton Roads

Allied Encampment Auto Tour (Colonial National Historical Park, VA)

– Revolutionary War Series – As the Battle of Yorktown raged to the east, George Washington and his French ally Comte de Rochambeau set up their encampments in the woody perimeter around Yorktown in 1781. After hitting the key sites … Continue reading

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Yorktown Battlefield Auto Tour (Colonial National Historical Park, VA)

– Revolutionary War Series – The Battle of Yorktown, the last major engagement of the American Revolution, was a decisive victory for Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army and the death knell for continued British occupation. Today, the site of the … Continue reading

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Peninsula Campaign Driving Tour – Part 1

– Civil War Series – Nearly a year after the onset of the conflict at Fort Sumter in April 1861, the Civil War had seen very few significant military engagements in the Eastern Theater. Following the Battle of Bull Run … Continue reading

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Tuttle Trail (Redoubt Park, VA)

– Civil War Series – On May 5, 1862, as Confederates clashed with the Union Army nearby, Redoubts 1 and 2 remained silent during the Battle of Williamsburg, the first pitched battle of the Civil War’s Peninsula Campaign (March-July 1862). … Continue reading

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Redoubt 1 Trail (Redoubt Park, VA)

– Civil War Series – On the eve of battle in May 1862, Confederate Col. John Magruder’s “third line” of defenses on the Virginia Peninsula comprised 14 redoubts—small, enclosed defensive fortifications built from earth, sod, and timber. Together they served … Continue reading

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Twin Forts Loop Trail (Newport News Park, VA)

– Civil War Series – The Twin Forts Loop Trail in Virginia’s Newport News explores the site of the Battle of Dam No. 1, a failed Union attack on a Confederate fortification on April 16, 1862. Part of the three-month … Continue reading

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Lee’s Mill Trail (Lee’s Mill Historic Park, VA)

– Civil War Series – The Battle of Lee’s Mill on April 5, 1862 was, by all accounts, a minor engagement in the Civil War: it produced only 10 Confederate and 12 Union casualties. In the narrative of Union Maj. … Continue reading

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Fort Monroe National Monument, VA

– Civil War Series – Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton, Virginia boasts the largest stone fort ever built in the United States, and its storied history spans the colonial period to the Civil War to the World Wars to … Continue reading

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Battle of Big Bethel marker (Hampton, VA)

– Civil War Series – Following the capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the Civil War’s first land battle took place on June 10, 1861 at Big Bethel on the Virginia Peninsula. Despite Virginia’s secession in May, crusty Union … Continue reading

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