Construction on Fortress Monroe, sited on a strategic position overlooking the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, began in 1819 and was completed in 1834. The Confederates made no attempt to capture it, and it remained in Union hands. The action of the Monitor and Merrimack, on 9 March 1862, took place just off the fort. Gen. George B. McClellan began the Peninsular campaign from it in 1862. Jefferson Davis was confined in Fortress Monroe from 1865 to 1867. During World Wars I and II the nation's harbor defense system was headquartered at the fort. Since 1973 it has been the home of the Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Bibliography
Chapman, Anne W. The Army's Training Revolution, 1973–1990: An Overview. Fort Monroe, Va.: Office of the Command Historian, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, 1991.
Weinert, Richard P., and Robert Arthur. Defender of the Chesapeake: The Story of Fort Monroe. Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane Publishing Company, 1989.
