Endview

Endview, a white two-and-a-half story frame building built circa 1760 by Col. William Harwood, Jr., was associated with several major periods of Virginia and American history. Harwood was a member of the House of Burgesses, a signer of the Virginia Resolves, and a Warwick County militia officer. On September 28, 1781, as the French-American army began its march to start the Revolutionary War’s Siege of Yorktown, Maj. Gen. Thomas Nelson, Jr.’s 3,000-strong Virginia militia used Endview as a campground. Because of its midpoint location between the James and York rivers, it again served as an important militia muster point and campground during the War of 1812. When the Civil War began, Endview belonged to Dr. Humphrey Harwood Curtis, who organized local volunteers there into the Warwick Beauregards, Co. H, 32rd Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and was elected the unit’s captain. During the early stages of the Peninsula Campaign, Endview became a major Confederate campground and hospital. After the Southern army withdrew from its Warwick River-Yorktown defenses, the Union army occupied Endview and used the building as a hospital during the May 5, 1862, Battle of Williamsburg.

Newport News, Virginia · United States