Location: Crawford Pkwy, west of Court Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:50pm

Transcription of marker: On the site of Portsmouth’s Naval Hospital stood Fort Nelson. There, Virginia’s Revolutionary government late in 1776 constructed the fort of timber and rammed earth. Three years later, the British fleet commanded by Admiral Sir George Collier confiscated its artillery and supplies and destroyed most of the parapet. In 1779–1781, Lord Cornwallis and General Benedict Arnold occupied the fort. It was reconstructed in 1799 of earth lined with brick, following a design by architect B. Henry Latrobe, and abandoned after the War of 1812. The Confederate government strengthened Fort Nelson, but on 10 May 1862 the Union army occupied Norfolk and Fort Nelson.

Department of Historic Resources, 1997

My impressions: It is sometimes interesting to think about forts that do this, passing from one set of hands to another multiple times. It seems that if it wasn’t good enough to protect the other side, why would you want it to save yours? Or is it just the invincible assumption of the victors that they are superior to the vanquished? Or is a fort only as strong as the people who defend it?

Markeroni status: Logged.

Location: Crawford Pkwy, west of Court Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:45pm

Transcription of marker: A brick windmill near here was close to the southern limit of a line of British redoubts erected in March 1781 by order of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, who under Major General William Phillips, commanded British troops occupying Portsmouth. This line of fortifications extended north in an arc along Washington Street to the waterfront near Court Street.

Virginia State Library, 1962

My impressions: I’m a little confused when I take this marker together with marker number Q-8-P, also titled Arnold’s British Defenses, 1781, which I blogged about on Thursday. I am fairly certain that at least one of these markers is no longer in the location the marker text assumed, because there is very little north-south difference between their locations, only the width of Crawford Parkway.

They may both be moved from their original locations, because Q-8-P seems further east than the arc described in this marker, and the current marker [Q-8-Q] seems to be too far north, given Q-8-P’s reference to Dinwiddie Street.

The other thing that strikes me about this marker is that the lowercase q in the marker number seems “off” to me. It doesn’t look like a q should look in that type. It looks like somebody was improvised with a backwards p. But that could just be my eyes.

Markeroni status: Logged.

State Historical Marker
Virginia Q-8P
Arnold’s British Defenses, 1781

Location: Crawford Pkwy, Portsmouth, VA, 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:30pm

Transcription of marker: This marks the northern limit of a line of British redoubts erected in March 1781 by order of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold who, under Major General William Phillips, commanded British troops occupying Portsmouth. This line of fortifications extended in an arc south along Dinwiddie and Washington Streets to Gosport Creek and defended Portsmouth from American attack from the west.

Virginia State Library, 1962

My impressions: I had to look up what a redoubt actually was. And when I did, one of the Flickr results that came up for me was of one in Kingston, Ontario, just a few blocks from where I lived my second year of university there. I guess I’ll have to make sure to get back there, next time I’m in town. (Whenever that is!) I never managed to make it to that museum while I lived there. Always meant to…

Markeroni status: Logged.

Unknown historical marker
Revolutionary War at Portsmouth

Note: This marker is of a similar form to the Virginia state historical markers, but is not numbered and does not appear to list a department and year, as do all state markers I have seen to date. I hope to investigate this side of things further. Hopefully, if it’s a state marker, it will be listed in my copy of A Guidebook to Virginia’s Historical Markers, currently on its way from Amazon. Otherwise, I may try some of my own research into the placement of this marker.

Location: In front of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, High St & Water St, Portsmouth VA 23704

Visited: June 1, 2009, 1:20pm

Transcription of Marker: In October 1775, Virginia’s last royal governor, the Earl of Dunmore, made his headquarters at Gosport, one mile south of here. After his defeat at Great Bridge and the destruction of Norfolk, he entrenched at Hospital Point, one mile north, but was again driven out in May 1776. Portsmouth was again invaded by the British: Sir George Collier in 1779, General Leslie in 1780, the traitor Benedict Arnold and General Phillips in 1781. Here, on this Portsmouth waterfront in August 1781. Lord Cornwallis embarked his 7000 troops and sailed to Yorktown where he surrendered to the victorious American and French forces, 19 October 1781.

My impressions: I think that this is one of those that I’m not qualified to say a whole lot about right now. I know far too little about the American Revolution and thus lack the framework to hang these names and dates on. It doesn’t do much to inspire me to want to learn about it, but I wonder if my reaction would be different if I’d learned about some of this stuff in history class when I was in school.

Markeroni status: This has not yet been submitted to Markeroni, awaiting more information on the source of the marker (if I can find it) as well as a lowering of the “whelm” level.