Benjamin F. Butler, a major general of Massachusetts volunteers, assumed command of the Military Department of Virginia on Wednesday, May 22, 1861. His department encompassed everything within a sixty-mile radius of Fort Monroe. The massive stone-and-brick bastion fort, constructed between 1819 and 1844, stood at Old Point Comfort overlooking the entrance to Hampton Roads. Following…

Continue reading ➞ 165 Years Ago: First Vermont Regiment Occupies the Town of Hampton