Earthen walls of Fort Pocahontas in Historic Jamestowne, Colonial National Historical Park
Five Confederate forts were constructed on Jamestown Island during the Civil War. At the time the land was owned by William Allen, one of the richest men in Virginia. He had around 800 slaves on his Jamestown Island plantation, and it was largely these slaves who built the forts. These were not permanent masonry forts, but earthen forts made by digging trenches and piling the dirt to make walls around the area manned by men and cannon.
One fort, appropriately named Fort Pocahontas, was unknowingly built on top of the western palisade wall of James Fort. In procuring the dirt for the walls, much of which was taken from the heart of James Fort, workers dug deep enough to destroy and unearth Jamestown-era artifacts. At the site of the 1608 Church, five feet of its foundation were dug up and tossed onto the walls of Fort Pocahontas.
In order to get down to the Jamestown-era layer of earth, archaeologists had to permanently remove the section of Fort Pocahontas that sat on top of James Fort, though before doing so the area was carefully excavated. Oddly enough, it was mainly Jamestown artifacts that were found. Civil War artifacts were mainly limited to building materials such as wooden joists and iron spikes.
Today, the only portions of Fort Pocahontas that are still intact are those that lie outside of James Fort. As with most Civil War earthworks, to the untrained eye they appear as nothing more than natural hills and gullies due to 150-plus years of erosion, so don’t expect Fort Sumter.
Earth wall of Fort Pocahontas lies just outside the wall of James Fort in Historic Jamestowne, Colonial National Historical Park
Fort Pocahontas never did see any action. Its purpose was to keep Union ships from sailing up the James River to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. However, the Union opted for a land-based campaign against Richmond and began marching towards the city in April 1862—no ships ever sailed up the James River. Realizing that the Jamestown forts were of no use, the Confederates abandoned them in May and moved the men to where they were more needed, though they first destroyed the forts so nothing could be used by the Union.
Fort Pocahontas did play a role in the development of the ironclad CSS Virginia, a ship built on the foundation of the scuttled USS Merrimack. Fearing Union spies would see its ironclad experiments if held in Richmond, the Confederate navy opted to do its testing at Jamestown Island, which at the time was in the middle of nowhere. The fort’s cannon were used to fire at wooden models clad with iron in an effort to see how thick the metal had to be in order to repel the cannonballs.
Jamestown Island was eventually taken over by the Union and remained in its hands until the end of the war. With the Confederates gone, the island became a haven for escaped slaves. William Allen’s slaves revolted and burned down his home, the Ambler Mansion. The mansion’s ruins (from another fire) can still be seen today in New Town just outside the palisade wall of James Fort.
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Last updated on July 9, 2024
