Fort Boykin is a historic site in

Isle of Wight County, Virginia Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, th ...

, located along the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

. The history of the site is believed to date back to 1623 when colonists were ordered to build a fort to protect them from attacking Native Americans or Spanish marauders. Today the remains of the fort, mostly from the American Civil War, are preserved in a public park.

Colonial period

The fort was built in 1623 by Captain Roger Smith, in the wake of the devastating Indian Attack of 1622. The attack claimed 347 people in the Virginia colony, a quarter of the population, including 52 in

Warrosquyoake Shire Warrosquoake Shire (with numerous variant spellings, including Warrascoyack, Warrascocke and "Warwick Squeak") was officially formed in 1634 in the Virginia colony, but had already been known as "Warascoyack County" before this. It was named for ...

(an early name for Isle of Wight County). Potential attacks by the Spanish were also a consideration. On May 21, 1623, the

Governor's Council The governments of the Thirteen Colonies of British America developed in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of the Constitution of the United Kingdom, British constitution. After the Thirteen Colonies had become the United States, the e ...

ordered Smith to build a fort on "the Worrosquoyacke shore, opposite to Tindall Shoals". The fort, originally christened "The Castle" due to its deep natural ditches, high elevation and steep embankment fronting the James River, was also known as Roger Smith's Fort and the Fort at

Warraskoyack Warrosquoake Shire (with numerous variant spellings, including Warrascoyack, Warrascocke and "Warwick Squeak") was officially formed in 1634 in the Virginia colony, but had already been known as "Warascoyack County" before this. It was named for ...

. It took six months to build and was a triangular shaped earthenwork, surrounded by a ditch, topped by palisade walls.Fort Boykin at FortWiki.com
/ref> The

became the main trade route to and from the interior of Virginia and The Castle overlooked it. During

Bacon's Rebellion Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Colony of Virginia, Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia colonist), Nathaniel Bacon against List of colonial governors of Virginia, Colon ...

in 1677, Fort Boykin was active according to the journal of the ship ''Young Prince''.

American Revolution

During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the Castle was enlarged, refortified, and renamed Fort Boykin in honor of Major Francis M. Boykin, a local officer in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

who was then the owner of the site. He had served on George Washington's staff. It was also known as the Fort at the Rocks, the Rocks being the name of the adjacent plantation. What little was left of The Castle was enlarged upon with new ramparts and gun emplacements added. Military records list no engagements with the enemy either at the fort or in its vicinity, and after the British surrender in 1781 the fort was again abandoned.

War of 1812

The fort is believed to have been reworked again during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

when it was enlarged to the shape of a five-pointed star. Although the records do not reveal any direct engagements with the fort, it is known that the British warship HMS ''Plantagenet'' lay offshore in the river for several months.Fork Boykin Park - Isle of Wight County Museum
/ref> During that time, the British attempted to land at the wharf of The Rocks plantation, only to be beaten back by the men stationed at the fort. After the war was over, the fort was left to the elements.

American Civil War

The

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

brought a renewed interest in the fort by the Confederate Army, and the size was doubled from that of its previous incarnation. Between June 1861 and May 1862, the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

cleared, refurbished and refortified Fort Boykin as one in a series of earthworks designed to prevent invasion by the Union, whose buildup at the mouth of the James River posed a severe threat to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. Commander of the Virginia forces

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

ordered Col.

Andrew Talcott Andrew Talcott (1797–1883) was an American civil engineer and close friend of Civil War General Robert E. Lee. He did not serve during the Civil War, as he could not fight against the Union, nor fight against his brothers in the South. He trav ...

, State Engineer of Virginia, to redesign Fort Boykin in August 1861. Similar defensive works were built at

Fort Huger Fort Huger is a historic archaeological site located near Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The site is the location of an abandoned American Civil War fort on the south side of the James River across from Fort Eustis/Mulberry Point. It ...

Mulberry Island Mulberry Island is located along the James River in the city of Newport News, Virginia, in southeastern Virginia at the confluence of the Warwick River on the Virginia Peninsula. History Mulberry Island, settled shortly after Jamestown, was ...

Jamestown Island Jamestown Island is a island in the James River in Virginia, part of James City County. It is located off Glasshouse Point, to which it is connected via a causeway to the Colonial Parkway. Much of the island is wetland, including both swamp and ...

and

Drewry's Bluff Drewry's Bluff is located in northeastern Chesterfield County, Virginia, in the United States. It was the site of Confederate Fort Darling during the American Civil War. It was named for a local landowner, Confederate Captain Augustus H. Drewry, w ...

. Construction on Fort Boykin soon began under Talcott's son Capt. T.M.R. Talcott and Lt. W.G. Turpin. Some Confederate records call the fort the Day's Point Battery. Although incomplete by May 1862, the fort had positions for 14 guns of which 10 were mounted. A report of March 12, 1862 shows a mix of 32-pounder and 42-pounder

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

cannon, all facing the James River. A hot-shot furnace was also at the fort. On May 8, 1862, the fort was fired upon by a Union Navy fleet consisting of the USS ''Galena'', ''Aroostook'', and ''Port Royal'' as part of the Peninsula campaign, an unsuccessful Union offensive from

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

to Richmond. With the Union guns outranging the fort's guns, the soldiers manning the fort spiked their guns and retreated. Union marines came ashore on 17 May, destroyed what they could, and blew up the powder magazine. For the remainder of the war, the site was used by the Confederate Signal Corps, among whose ranks were poet

Sidney Lanier Sidney Clopton Lanier (February 3, 1842 – September 7, 1881) was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned (resulting in his catch ...

and his brother Clifford.

Post Civil War

After the Civil War, the fort was no longer used as a military installation and was again left to become an overgrown shadow of itself. The property was bought in 1908 by Herbert and Mary Greer and a house was built inside its earthworks. The Jorden family acquired the property in 1950. After the last owner died in 1976, the fort was given to the state for public use.

Present

Today the fort remains largely intact, but most of the front wall facing the river has eroded away. It is now the property of Isle of Wight County, and is a public park. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1985 for its archaeological potential.

Citations

References

*Painter, Floyd. Ed. The Legend History and Archaeology of Fort Boykin in Virginia. The Chesopeian Archeological Association, Norfolk, Va. 1982. *Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Louisiana State University Press. 2008. *King, Helen Haverty. Historical Notes on Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Donning and Company, Virginia Beach, Virginia. 1993. *Wills, Brian Steel. The War Hits Home: The Civil War in Southeastern Virginia. The University Press of Virginia. 2001.

External links

Isle of Wight County Parks and Recreation website
{{Authority control Boykin National Register of Historic Places in Isle of Wight County, Virginia Boykin Parks in Isle of Wight County, Virginia 1623 establishments in Virginia American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places