![]() ![]() Its entrance at the northeast corner of the parcel, at West County Street, is marked by an iron gate with sandstone posts. The L-shaped Phoebus Section contains nine sections enclosed by a five-foot tall brick wall. The roadway leading from the entrance terminates in a circle looping around the flagpole, approximately one-third of the way into the cemetery grounds.Ĭourtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, History Program A five-foot tall stone wall encloses the north and south borders of the old section, with a granite wall surmounted by an iron picket fence enclosing the others. The main entrance at the center of the northern boundary is marked by a 12-foot wide, wrought-iron gate with granite piers and pedestrian gates on both sides. The Hampton Section is roughly rectangular, containing six burial sections, and is bounded by Hampton University on all sides. The older Hampton Section is at the intersection of Cemetery Road and Marshall Avenue, while the Phoebus Section, added in 1891 due to the need for additional burial space at this national cemetery, is one-half mile east, near the intersection of West County Street and Frissell Street. The cemetery originally covered 4.75 acres, but has since increased to 27 acres on two discontinuous parcels. After the war, the remains of Union soldiers were reinterred here from sites in Big Bethel, Newport News, Jamestown, Craney Island, Deep Creek, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Blackwater, Smithfield, Suffolk, and Cherry Stone. In 1866, this cemetery officially became Hampton National Cemetery. Beginning in 1862, those who died in the hospital were buried at a cemetery two miles northwest of Fort Monroe. The 1,800 bed facility was well staffed, yet mortality rates remained high. ![]() In addition to providing a key Union defensive position, Fort Monroe was also the location of Hampton Military Hospital during the Civil War. Navy to patrol the Virginia ports of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Petersburg, and Richmond from the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Control of the fort also allowed the U.S. After the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861, the United States sent major reinforcements to Fort Monroe, and the Union was able to hold the fort for the duration of the Civil War. The site of Fort Monroe, on the tip of Old Point Comfort, has been a key defensive position for nearly 400 years, dating to the British Jamestowne Colony. The cemetery consists of two separate burial grounds, the Hampton Section, on the west side of Interstate 64, and the Phoebus Section, east of the highway. It is also the home of the Union Soldiers’ Monument, which towers over the hallowed grounds. The cemetery contains more than 26,000 burials, including Union soldiers, Confederate soldiers, and World War II prisoners of war. Hampton National Cemetery is located halfway between downtown Hampton and historic Fort Monroe at the entrance to Hampton Roads at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. ![]()
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