Gloucester Point

Gloucester Point occupied a strategic narrowing of the York River opposite Yorktown, where control of the upper river and inland countryside could be defended. First fortified in 1667 and officially named Fort James when rebuilt with brick in 1671, the point later became the eastern terminus of Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder’s, CSA, 2nd Peninsula Defensive Line. In June 1861, the Confederate Army fortified Gloucester Point with a star-shaped fort on the bluff and a fully enclosed water battery at the extremity of the point overlooking the York River. The battery, built under fire from Union gunboats whose attack was repulsed, was completed under the instruction of Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA. Its terreplain stood only two feet above high tide, and the earthwork measured 100 yards long and 75 yards wide, with a parapet 7½ feet high on the inside and 20 feet thick, with embrasures for 12 guns; its armament consisted of eight 9-inch Dahlgrens and four 32-pounders. These works helped defend the York River against Union attack from 1861 to 1862 and blocked Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s plan to use the York River as an avenue of approach toward Richmond after the CSS Virginia (Merrimack) had already denied him use of the James River. When McClellan’s advance was stopped by Magruder’s 2nd Defensive Line, the U.S. Navy would not attempt to run past the batteries at Yorktown and Gloucester Point. Only after the Confederates abandoned the entire 2nd Defensive Line on the evening of May 3-4, 1862, could the U.S. Navy carry McClellan’s troops and equipment up the York River to White House Landing on the Pamunkey River for continued operations against Richmond.

Gloucester Point, Virginia · United States