First Monday, May 6, 2024

“First Monday” features an extra sketch or sidebar.
Today’s posts include Granville Hunt, Company UNA; Charlie Williams, Company K; and “One More River to Cross.”

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First Monday, March 4, 2024

“First Monday” features an extra sketch or sidebar.
Today’s posts include Granville Hunt, Company UNA; Charles Reynolds, Company L; “Civil War baseball.”

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First Monday, February 5, 2024

“First Monday” features an extra sketch or sidebar.
Today’s posts include Lewis Marvin, Company L; Theodore Whiting, Company G; and “Straight to the Source: An Introduction to Research Using the Collections at the Library of Virginia,” March 15. 2024.

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Gosport Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia

Fort Monroe and Vicinity Showing Entrance to Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk, Portsmoth, Gosport Navy Yard etc

Click here or on the image above to view the image and catalog record at the Library of Congress. The following are excerpts from three websites. Click on the links to access the complete article: 

“On November 1, 1767 Andrew Sprowle, a merchant and ship owner, established the Gosport Shipyard on the western shore of the Elizabeth River under the British flag. The shipyard developed and prospered as both a naval and merchant shipyard. When the American Revolution began in 1775, Sprowle chose to remain loyal to the Crown and fled the area aboard the Royal Governor’s flagship. All his properties were confiscated by the Colony of Virginia. While being operated by Virginia, in 1779, the shipyard was burned by the British.

“This former colonial shipyard became the Navy’s nucleus in the Hampton Roads area where the largest naval base in the world has developed. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard is the  U.S. Navy’s oldest shipyard and actually predates the United States Navy Department by 31 years. The largest shipyard on the East Coast. Known for most of its first century as “Gosport”, it was renamed “Norfolk” in 1862 after the largest city in the area. It has never borne the name of its home city of Portsmouth.
“250 Years of Excellence,” Naval Sea Systems Command

“Gosport Navy Yard reached its peak in the late 1850s, employing more than 1,400 workers. The completion of the steam screw frigates USS Roanoke and USS Colorado in 1859 proved the yard’s capabilities to construct modern warships for the US Navy.”
John V. Quarstein, “Gosport Navy Yard: Before the Storm,” Mariners Museum, April 16, 2020 

“The Norfolk Naval Shipyard is sometimes confused with Norfolk Naval Base (officially ‘Naval Station Norfolk’), which was constructed during World War I for the Atlantic Fleet.
“The Norfolk Naval Base is a more-recent military facility, located on the east side of the Elizabeth River opposite Craney Island in Norfolk. The much-older Norfolk Naval Shipyard is on the west bank of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, eight miles south of the aircraft carrier base. The shipyard triggered the growth of military facilities in Hampton Roads, including Portsmouth Naval Hospital (built in 1827-30).”
“Norfolk Naval Shipyard,” Virginia Places

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Jesse Nichols, Company K

This veteran lost his job at the Norfolk Navy Yark because he could not “perform a reasonable day’s work.” Like other American shipyards, the facility employed free and enslaved labor in the years prior to Emancipation.

Invalid — 1,145,151 / —–

Declaration for Invalid Pension, Jesse Nichols, 30 January 1893
49 years old; residence, Portsmouth, Norfolk Co, Va; post-office address, 626 Light St., Portsmouth, Norfolk Co., Va.
“Also personally appeared Jno. D. Moore residing at Deep Creek, Norfolk Co., Va., and Thomas Harris, residing at Norfolk Co., Va. …. their acquaintance with him for 20 and 26 years”

General Affidavit, Jesse Nichols, 7 September 1893
50 years old; Bowers Hill, Norfolk Co., Va.
“has been discharged from the Navy Yard at Norfolk, Va. on account of not being able to perform a reasonable day’s work … That he is in destitute condition”

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