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| Saturday May 18, 1861 |
The Battle of Sewell's Point Virginia takes place on this date. It is considered
the first offensive action of the North against the South.
Stewart's "History of Norfolk County, Virginia" (1902), contains a detailed
account of the Battle of Sewell’s Point that took place one month later.
"On May 18, 1861, Norfolk-area and Georgia Confederate troops began
erecting land batteries at Sewell’s Point opposite Fort Monroe on Hampton
Roads. By 5 o'clock that evening, three guns and two rifled guns had been
mounted and work was rapidly progressing on the fortifications when the
USS Monticello, commanded by Captain Henry Eagle, steamed over from
Fort Monroe to see what was afoot. Not liking what he saw, Captain Eagle
gave the order to open fire. One of the shots from his vessel hit the battery,
throwing turf high in the air. In the meantime, the Monticello had been joined
by an armed tug, also from Fort Monroe. The bombardment from these two
vessels caused momentary confusion in the breastworks, but once the
Confederates had recovered from the initial shock, immediate preparations
were made to return the fire from their two 32-pounders and the two rifled
guns already in position. In the absence of a Confederate or Virginia flag,
Captain Peyton H. Colquitt of the Light Guard of Columbus, Georgia, who
was in charge of the erection of the battery, called for the raising of the
Georgia flag on the Sewell’s Point ramparts. Under the cover of darkness,
the armed tug returned to Fort Monroe, but the Monticello remained off
Sewell’s Point with her guns pointed in the direction of the Confederate
fortifications".
"During the night, frantic efforts were made to complete the breastworks, and
it was not until the next day at around 5:50 in the afternoon that the
bombardment was resumed. It continued until 6:45 p.m. In the end, the
Monticello, with several gaping holes in her hull from well-aimed
Confederate shots limped back to Fort Monroe. The first engagement on
Virginia soil during the Civil War was over."
There were no fatalities on either side. The only person wounded was a
Confederate private who was struck by a fragment of a bursting shell.
Subsequently the Sewell’s Point batteries were under fire many times, but
they were never silenced or captured in combat. And, later, when
Confederate forces evacuated Norfolk on May 10, 1862, they were
abandoned.