Camp Hamilton

Fort Monroe: Camp Hamilton and Hampton National Cemetery

Hampton, VA at the time of the Civil War

Camp Hamilton - The Invasion of Virginia

Camp Hamilton was established on present day site of Phoebus, Virginia at the start of the Civil War to relieve the overcrowding of Fort Monroe caused by the sudden influx of troops. It was a sprawling tent city protected from attack by the big guns of the fort. From its strategic location Union troops could: move up the Peninsula to threaten Richmond, the capitol of the Confederacy; control access to the James River; threaten and conquer both Newport News and Norfolk; support the Union Blockade and threaten Confederate Cities anywhere along the coast.

The bridge over to Fort Monroe.

When the camp was first established a delegation of local citizens from nearby Hampton approached then Commander Gen. Butler demanding to know by what right did he invaded the “sacred soil” of Virginia. Butler reportedly replied “might makes right.” And because of the very big guns behind him in the fort that made him mighty, Butler the camp stayed.

The establishment of Camp Hamilton on the mainland under the big guns of Fort Monroe was first land invasion of Virginia by the Union Army. The camp was established in what is now the town Phoebus. The camp was established because the fort was becoming overcrowded with the influx of solders from the North. All that remains of the camp is a couple of signs by the bridge between the Fort and Phoebus.

Old Pilings

For the Union soldiers stationed at Camp Hamilton life would have been boring. The population over in Hampton was hostile so the soldiers were stuck at the camp with no place to go. Because of it's location Hamilton was a perfect place to buildup concentrations of troops for operations like the Peninsula Campaign. As a result the camp became quite crowded with couped up soldiers, sanitation and disease became serious issues.

Fort Monroe. It was really to sunny too take the picture.

Germs were the biggest killer by far during the Civil War and that was especially true were ever large groups of men were concentrated and could not maintain adequate sanitation, like Camp Hamilton. Young men who had never been more than twenty-five miles from home were concentrated together where they could infect each other with illnesses to which they had no prior exposure. So it is not surprizing that so many of them died.

The entrance to Phoebus coming from Fort Monroe.

A large hospital was established at Camp Hamilton to deal with the mounting casualties from up on the Peninsula. It was perfect location, casualties could be evacuated by boat down both the James and York Rivers and off loaded at Fort Monroe. For the later half of the 19th century this was as close to a battlefield medevac as someone could hope to get.