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Decommissioned as an active military base in 2011, Fort Monroe National Monument is now operated by the National Park Service. Visitors can easily spend a couple hours in the Casemate Museum, which covers the areaвЂ™s storied history, from the colonial period to the Civil War to the World Wars to the present. The largest stone fort in the U.S., Fort Monroe boasts high ramparts and an impressive surrounding moat. As Virginia seceded in May 1861, Federal forces reinforced the base to ensure the Union kept a foothold on the peninsula it later served as the staging point for McClellanвЂ™s Army of the Potomac as it began its march on Richmond in April 1862. Stop 3: Fort Monroe National Monument (20 Bernard Rd., Hampton, VA)ДЇort Monroe, situated on the southeast tip of Virginia Peninsula, served as base of operations for Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign. Monitor-Merrimac Overlook Park, Newport News, Virginia Note: Allot 10-20 minutes to explore this site. The attack instilled panic across the north: the Confederates had built a weapon capable of threatening Washington and outmatching nearly every ship in the Federal fleetвЂ¦ Here the Virginia, the first Confederate ironclad, quickly dispatched of two Union gunboats anchored in the James River-the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress-while nearly sinking a third, the USS Minnesota. TodayвЂ™s Christopher Newport Park, near the southwest tip of Virginia Peninsula, looks out over the site on Mawhere the CSS Virginia made its famous debut. It was here, at the mouth of the James River, that the most famous naval engagement of the war took place: the Battle of Hampton Roads, also known as the Battle of Ironclads. The tour begins in downtown Newport News with the first of several stops dedicated to the Civil WarвЂ™s naval history. Stop 1: Christopher Newport Park (50 26 th St., Newport News, VA) See my post on Jfor Part 2 of the journey.ДAY 1: HAMPTON AND NEWPORT NEWS (MARCH-APRIL 1862)

In this age of GPS, I have included addresses for each site (rough approximations-for example, the nearest house) in lieu of specific directions. Note: The below driving tour roughly follows the itineraries laid out by Virginia Civil War Trails and Michael WeeksвЂ™ Civil War Road Trip: Volume I (2011). Live and Let Hike breaks the trip in two along these lines: this post covers the Battle of Hampton Roads and the arrival of McClellanвЂ™s forces at Fort Monroe in March 1862 through the Battles of Williamsburg and ElthamвЂ™s Landing in early May a subsequent post will cover the battles closer to Richmond, from DrewryвЂ™s Bluff (May 15, 1862) through Malvern Hill (July 1, 1862). 1 and the Williamsburg Line, for example-while museums in Richmond, Hampton, and Newport News offer interpretation of the events of spring and summer 1862, a pivotal period in the Civil War.ДЄlthough possible to squeeze into a weekend trip, visitors will get a far richer experience if they allot 4-5 days-two on the Peninsula covering the battles of March-May 1862, with at least another two covering the Richmond area and the Seven DaysвЂ™ Battles (June 25-July 1, 1862). Today, visitors can retrace the Army of the PotomacвЂ™s march up Virginia Peninsula on a multi-day driving tour from Hampton Roads to the outskirts of Richmond. Despite greatly outnumbering Confederate defenders, the months-long Union offensive-known as the Peninsula Campaign (March-July 1862)-would end in failure, owing in large part to McClellanвЂ™s consistent reticence to take battlefield risks. In November, he tapped a young major general, George McClellan, to head the Union Army it took another five months to ready the Army of the Potomac, the largest force ever built on the continent. Yet with the two sidesвЂ™ capitals-Washington and Richmond-just over 100 miles apart, Virginia was fated to see more bloodshed.ДЄs winter gave way to spring, President Lincoln faced tremendous public pressure to mount an assault on Richmond. Following the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, both sides played defense: strengthening their fortifications, bolstering their ranks, and eyeing the enemy with caution. Nearly a year after the onset of the conflict at Fort Sumter in April 1861, the Civil War had seen very few significant military engagements in the Eastern Theater.

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Civil War Cemetery at Yorktown, Colonial National Historical Park, January 2017 вЂ“ Civil War Series вЂ“