Location: Monticello Ave (US-460) just north of Virginia Beach Blvd (US-58), Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: June 23, 2009, 4:15pm

Transcription of marker: This is the site of Fort Tar, built to guard the approach to the city from the west, situated on the outskirts of Norfolk, near Armistead’s Bridge, which spanned Glebe Creek nearby. It served with Forts Barbour, Norfolk, and Nelson to protect Norfolk and Portsmouth from invasion by the British in the War of 1812.

Owen Mfg. Corp.     Norfolk, Va.

My impressions: This, like yesterday’s Four Farthing or Town Point marker is of unknown type. It’s listed in the Markeroni database (as it was in previous editions of the Virginia marker guidebooks) as an un-numbered state marker, but it is not in the current book and when one looks at the marker, one finds the seal of Norfolk where the seal of Virginia is normally found and the name of the manufacturer where the name of the state body erecting the marker is usually found.

This is one of those that almost devolves into laundry-list mode. We find out that the fort was built to guard the western approach to the city. After that it goes into the local geography briefly before listing various other forts in the area. It does seem incongruous to think of a fort at what’s now a busy intersection, though.

Markeroni status: Logged.

Update (7/16): After some discussion, I’ve decided to consider these markers as city markers, so have changed the heading and category tag to match that. As there are not enough of these City of Norfolk markers outside the Cannonball Trail series to form a list, I have included them in the parent category “Municipal Historical Markers.”

Path of History
Fort Nelson Park

Location: Fort Nelson Park, corner of Crawford Pkwy & Effingham St, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:55pm

On my last trip to Portsmouth, I came across Fort Nelson Park which contained roughly a dozen Path of History markers about Portsmouth Naval Hospital. I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that I managed to get all of them. (I’ll have to double-check next time I’m in Portsmouth.)

Given the large number of images and markers included in this post, I will spare the front page of this site and ask you to click the link to see the markers and their texts, but I’ll break with my traditional order and open this post with:

My impressions: I was impressed with the pleasant setting for these markers. That said, I was disappointed (on a hot June day) not to find more shade. Thinking back, I’m wondering what may have stood on that site before the park, which only opened three years ago.

Related to this: See Monday’s post for a state historical marker about Fort Nelson.

Transcriptions of markers:

[I entered the park from the south-east corner. When I reached the circle of markers, I moved from that point counter-clockwise until I got back to the start. Then, I looked at the markers moving towards the south-west corner. Markers are transcribed here in the order that I found them. (If there are any markers outside the circle in the north-west corner, I will have to return to find them. It was not clear from my photos if there were markers in that direction.)]

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Early Naval Medicine”

Naval regulations of 1798 state: “A convenient place be set apart for sick or hurt men, to which they are to be removed with their hammocks and bedding when the surgeon shall advise the same, and some of the crew appointed to attend them.” Aboard ship, the sick were usually cared for in an area on the main deck between two gun ports. This space became known as “Sick Bay.” The ship’s medical officer carried the title of Surgeon or Surgeon’s Mate. In those days, medicine was primitive. It consisted of “remedies,” dressing of burns and wounds, blood letting and amputations.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Fund”

The British had a custom of taxing its sailors for their health care. In 1798 Congress established the “Hospital Fund” based on the British system. 20 cents per month was deducted from the pay of each officer, sailor and marine to provide for his health care. At that time, shore-based medical treatment took place at the Gosport Shipyard. Patients were treated, not in hospitals, but in sail lofts, storerooms, or other work spaces. They had to contend with noise and the odors of the shipyard and the surgeon couldn’t provide proper care. Enough money had been collected by 1821 to build naval hospitals in key ports. In 1830, the Navy’s first hospital opened in Portsmouth.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Point”

The Naval Hospital faces a peninsula surrounded by the Elizabeth River. In 1636, Captain Thomas Willoughby received a land grant from the King of England that included this peninsula. The land was used as a plantation and changed owners several times. It has been known by various names: Mosquito Point, after the pesky critters that inhabited the adjoining swamp; Tucker’s Mill Point, after the family who operated a windmill on the site; Musket Point and Fort Point, after the revolutionary port of 1776 to 1824; and now Hospital Point, the site of the first U.S. Naval Hospital.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“The U.S. Navy’s First Hospital”

In 1826, Philadelphia architect John Haviland submitted construction plans for this hospital. This building, which houses offices is now known as Building 1, was made of granite and freestone. Its style is classical Greek Revival architecture, which was popular for public buildings at that time. Construction began on April 2, 1827. Workers removed more than 500,000 bricks from old Fort Nelson and re-used them in the foundation and inner walls. In July 1830, Surgeon Thomas Williamson, who was stationed at the shipyard, was ordered to make the hospital ready to receive patients. Dr. Williamson became Medical Director of the nation’s first naval hospital. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Naval Burying Ground 1838″

There are 840 graves of seamen and soldiers in the naval cemetery on the hospital grounds. They include the remains of seamen from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Denmark and Japan. The oldest known burial was a sailor who fell from the rigging of the USS CONSTITUTION (Old Ironsides). There are Union and Confederate graves, including those of soldiers, as well as victims of the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic. The cemetery contains 113 graves marked unknown and three recipients of the Medal of Honor. Some headstones were erected by shipmates and include the names of famous ships.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Yellow Fever Epidemic”

In June 1855, the steamer Franklin put into Norfolk for repairs while sailing from the West Indies to New York. Mosquitoes carrying yellow fever escaped when the vessel docked. The Naval Hospital’s first yellow fever patients came from Gosport’s Marine barracks. As the mosquitoes spread, the local population quickly succumbed to the disease. By August, 20 to 70 citizens per day were stricken. In desperation, representatives of Portsmouth appealed to the Navy to treat townspeople. The hospital was then opened to the local population and 587 citizens were treated. In appreciation, the Common Council of Portsmouth presented gold medals to six naval surgeons.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“The Navy’s First Corps School 1902″

On June 17, 1898, President William McKinley signed a bill establishing the Navy Hospital Corps. Navy Corpsmen are trained in the science of health and nursing skills necessary to provide proper patient care at hospitals, ships at sea and to the U.S. Marine Corps. The first Navy Corps school graduation took place at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in December 1902 when 28 students completed the course. The outstanding lifesaving record of the Corps, while caring for the sick and wounded during battle and peacetime, has made it one of the most decorated among the military services.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Building 215, Tidewater’s First Skyscraper 1960″

Building 215 was constructed to provide a much needed modern hospital and to centralize the medical departments scattered around the base. The 500-bed hospital became the command’s second primary hospital facility when commissioned in April 1960. Towering 17 stories, it was the tallest all-welded steel-framed building from New York to Miami. Along with the latest medical equipment, it had a cobbler shop, tailor shop, entertainment auditorium, Navy Exchange and modern galley. In 1973, twelve American prisoners of war from Vietnam were received on the 12th floor, where they were reunited with family and given time to recuperate.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Renovation 1907–1910″

By 1900, time and use had taken its toll on the hospital building. In October 1907, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery ordered hospital personnel to remove patients to tent-covered wooden platforms constructed several hundred yards away from the building. Patient care took place in these tents for nearly a year and a half while the hospital was renovated. During this period, two new wings and the Jeffersonian dome were added. The hospital reopened in February 1909. From 1910 to 1940, surgeries were performed under the dome by skylight. The dome is now a Hampton Roads landmark for locals and mariners who travel the Inland Waterway.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“World War II and Korea 1937–1953″

World War II created the need to rapidly expand the hospital in 1941. The $1.5 million program increased the number of hospital beds to 3,441. A dental clinic, ships service, library and a bank were added. The staff — medical officers, nurses, corpsmen, marines and civilians — swelled to 3,055. On a single day in August 1944, there were 2,997 patients. Between 1937 and 1948, residency and intern programs were established through the Graduate Medical Education system. The sprawling facility escaped post-war downsizing from the expansion of two world wars and went on to serve during the Korean War.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“World War I 1917–1918″

When the United States entered World War I, immediate steps were taken to expand the hospital. Several temporary wood-framed buildings were constructed to accommodate the ever-growing number of patients. These buildings included 34 patient pavilions and four Hospital Corps barracks. In the course of one month during 1917, the patients increased from 200 to 1,405. The largest monthly admissions were in October 1918 when the number of patients reached 2,257. Treatment of measles and mumps accounted for half of the patients. The hospital also treated large numbers of patients during the Great Influenza Outbreak of 1918.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Navy Nurse Corps 1908″

The Navy Nurse Corps was created by Congress in 1908, allowing women to perform duties that previously had been done by men. They held no rank and were titled “Nurse.” The first 20 to graduate were known as the “Sacred Twenty,” and of them, three reported for duty at Portsmouth in April 1909. Among them was Lenah Higbee, who became Chief Nurse at Portsmouth, and later became the second Superintendent of Nurses for the U.S. Navy. In 1964, the Secretary of the Navy signed his approval to allow male nurses in the Corps.

* * * * *

[The sunlight reflecting off my photo of the next marker made some words difficult to decipher. Square brackets below indicate uncertainty in transcription.]

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Spanish — American War 1898″

After the Spanish defeat at the battle of Santiago, Cuba, in July 1858, the sick and injured needed treatment. The newly converted hospital ship USS Solace transported 55 sick U.S. Navy and 48 wounded [sailors] to the hospital. The Spanish prisoners suffered mostly from burns and were placed in the North [Wing. The] hospital staff treated these patients, not as enemies, but as fellow seamen in distress. After the war, [Admiral] Pascual Cevera and Captain Victor M. Concas of the Spanish Navy praised the compassion and [humanitari-]an acts of kindness extended to them and their countrymen by Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Civil War 1861–1865″

Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861. On April 20, the Governor ordered the 3rd Virginia regiment to occupy and fortify the Naval Hospital grounds. A battery of earthen works was hastily erected on the point and renamed Fort Nelson, after the revolutionary fort of 1776 to 1824. During the Confederate occupation, the hospital served as a medical facility and a fort. The Union retook the area on May 10, 1862, and until the end of the war, the hospital cared for Union soldiers and sailors. In 1865, the hospital treated nearly 1,300 patients.

And there, we have more than I expected to find on historical markers about the naval hospital at Portsmouth.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend, and I’ll be back with more historic sites and markers beginning Monday!

This post will be the only one today, and it will be followed tomorrow with a special history-related (but not historical-marker-related) post. On Thursday, I’ll resume looking at markers I found on a recent trip to Portsmouth, VA in a mega-post about Fort Nelson Park, which contains roughly a dozen markers from Portsmouth’s Path of History, which I’ll combine in one post so we don’t have an entire week or two on the history of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

Now on to the marker about Collier’s Raid:

State Historical Marker
Virginia Q-8-G
Collier’s Raid

Location: Crawford Pkwy & Washington St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:55pm

Transcription of marker: A British fleet under Commodore Sir George Collier sailed up the Elizabeth River and shelled Fort Nelson in May 1779, during the Revolutionary War. A landing force of 1,800 infantrymen led by Brig. Gen. Edward Mathew captured the fort on 10 May after a brief resistance. The British occupied Portsmouth, Gosport, and Norfolk, and burned Suffolk and the Gosport shipyard. Collier also captured or burned 137 vessels in Hampton Roads and dismantled Fort Nelson. The British force then embarked and sailed to New York.

Department of Historic Resources, 1998

My impressions: As somebody from outside the US, from a country that peacefully moved from colony to country, it takes me aback to think that this was happening in 1779, three years after that “magic” date of 1776. Reading the marker it seems almost random: the British forces did a lot in this area and then the one cryptic sentence: The British force then embarked and sailed to New York.

It almost sounds like “Nothing left to destroy here, we might as well move along…want to catch a Broadway show?” This is actually a tantalizing taste to me. That one sentence on its own seems so incongruous that it leaves me wanting to research what actually happened. WHY did they leave here and sail to New York?

Markeroni status: Logged.

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.

Four bus trips and a ferry trip later, I was in Portsmouth (though I ended up arriving there about the time I had planned to start heading home!)

The first markers I saw (not counting the three I saw from the bus…and yes, I kept track of their locations so I can go back for them) were three markers between Crawford Pkwy and the Elizabeth River: two state historical markers and this Civil War Trails marker about Portsmouth Naval Hospital

Civil War Trails
Portsmouth Naval Hospital

Location: Crawford Pkwy (between Harbor Ct and Court St), Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:30pm

Transcription of marker:

Portsmouth Naval Hospital
* * *
Administering to Both the  Union and Confederacy

This is the site of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital which served both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Portsmouth Naval Hospital, the U.S. Navy’s first hospital, was founded in 1827 by Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard. Architect John Haviland created Building No. One’s impressive Greek Revival design which features and embellished Doric portico of 10 columns. The facility opened in 1830. The hospital was built on the site of the Fort Nelson of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 era, which was a fortification made obsolete by the construction of Fortress Monroe across Hampton Roads on Old Point Comfort. Materials salvaged from the fort’s demolition were used in the construction of the hospital building.

When Virginia left the Union the hospital was used by the Confederacy until Portsmouth was abandoned by Southern forces on May 10, 1862. The Union maintained the hospital throughout the remainder of the War supporting the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

In the hospital graveyard is a memorial to the 337 dead of USS Cumberland and USS Congress killed when these vessels were sunk on March 8, 1862, by the CSS Virginia. Fifty-eight Confederates are also buried there.

My impressions: This is an interesting placement for this marker, with the hospital visible across the water. I wonder if this is an attempt to “future-proof” the location, so that, if the naval hospital were to expand at some point in the future, it wouldn’t be caught inside the new gates. it was also fun to have such a scenic location for a cluster of three markers. Was a nice way to get the excitement up after the craziness of the morning!  I also have to say that this marker does a remarkable job of condensing a whole lot of history into a small area.

Markeroni status: I direct-logged my visit earlier today.