Elsies Vacation and After Events | Page 6

stop to see the old fort, papa?" she asked eagerly.
"I think we are," was his smiling rejoinder. "But you don't expect to
find in it a relic of the Revolution, do you?" he asked laughingly,
pinching her cheek, then bending down to kiss again the rosy face
upturned to his.
"Why yes, papa; I have been thinking there must have been a fight
there. Wasn't that the case?"
"No, daughter; the fortress was not there at that time."

"Was it in the war of 1812-14, then, papa?"
"No," he returned, smiling down on her. "The building of Fortress
Monroe was not begun until 1817. However, there was a small fort
built on Point Comfort in 1630; also, shortly before the siege of
Yorktown, Count De Grasse had some fortifications thrown up to
protect his troops in landing to take part in that affair."
But just then the talk was interrupted by the coming on deck of one
after another of their party and the exchange of morning greetings; then
followed the interest and excitement of the approach to the fortress and
anchoring in its vicinity.
Next came the call to breakfast. But naturally, and quite to Lulu's
satisfaction, the talk at the table turned upon the building of the fort, its
history and that of the adjacent country, particularly Hampton, two and
a half miles distant.
The captain pointed it out to them all as they stood upon the deck
shortly afterward.
"Which is Old Point Comfort, papa?" asked Grace.
"That sandy promontory on the extremity of which stands Fortress
Monroe," he answered. "Yonder, on the opposite side, is Point
Willoughhy, the two forming the mouth of the James River; and these
are the Rip Raps between the two. You see that there the ocean tides
and the currents of the river meet and cause a constant ripple. There is a
narrow channel of deep water through the bar, but elsewhere between
the capes it is shallow.
"Beyond the Rip Raps we see the spacious harbor which is called
Hampton Roads. It is so large that great navies might ride there
together."
"And I think some have ridden there in our wars with England?"
remarked Rosie, half inquiringly.

"You are quite right," replied the captain; "that happened in both the
Revolution and the last war with England.
"In October, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the British governor of
Virginia,--who had, however, abdicated some months earlier by fleeing
on board a man-of-war, the Fowey,--driven by his fears, and his desire
for revenge, to destroy the property of the patriots, sent Captain Squires,
of the British navy, with six tenders, into Hampton Creek.
"He reached there before the arrival of Colonel Woodford--who, with a
hundred Culpepper men, had been sent to protect the people of
Hampton--and sent armed men in boats to burn the town; protecting
them by a furious cannonade from the guns of the tenders.
"But they were baffled in the carrying out of their design; being driven
off by Virginia riflemen, concealed in the houses. Excellent marksmen
those Virginians were, and picked off so many of the advancing foe
that they compelled them to take ignominious flight to their boats and
return to the vessels, which then had to withdraw beyond the reach of
the rifles to await reinforcements."
"What is a tender, papa?" asked Grace, as her father paused in his
narrative.
"A small vessel that attends on a larger one to convey intelligence and
supply stores," he replied; then went on with his account of Dunmore's
repulse.
"Woodford and his men reached Hampton about daybreak of the
succeeding morning. At sunrise they saw the hostile fleet approaching;
it came so near as to be within rifle shot, and Woodford bade his men
fire with caution, taking sure aim. They obeyed and picked off so many
from every part of the vessels that the seamen were soon seized with a
great terror. The cannons were silenced,--the men who worked them
being shot down,--and their commander presently ordered a retreat; but
that was difficult to accomplish, for any one seen at the helm, or aloft,
adjusting the sails, was sure to become a target for the sharpshooters; in
consequence many of the sailors retreated to the holds of the vessels,

and when their commander ordered them out on the dangerous duty,
refused to obey.
"The victory for the Americans was complete; before the fleet could
escape, the Hampton people, with Woodford and his soldiers, had sunk
five vessels."
"And such a victory!" exclaimed Rosie, in an exultant tone.
"Yes," the captain said, smiling at her enthusiasm.
"Were the houses they fired on the very ones that are there now, papa?"
asked Lulu.
"Some few of them," he replied. "Nearly all were burned by Magruder
in the Civil War; among them St. John's Episcopal