Congratulations to Fort Monroe National Monument, the 396th and newest unit of our National Park System. Today President Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to set aside a historic military fort dating back to the early Dutch settlement of the Americas in the early 1600's. The site is one of the first locations where Africans were forcibly brought to America as slaves. After passing from Dutch to British to American hands, the fort reconstructed into a brick fortification from 1819 to 1834, served as one of America's state of the art system of coastal fortifications. During the Civil War it also played an important role in the freedom of African Americans by classifying slaves as enemy contraband and preventing their return to the southern plantations from which they escaped. The practice grew to be official government policy and thousands of slaves escaped to Union held territory, surrendering to the military as "contraband." Many of them later became soldiers and sailors in the Union Navy and Army in the first colored units of the U.S. military.
In a statement, President Obama said. "Fort Monroe has played a part in some of the darkest and some of the most heroic moments in American history."
Here is the main portion of the President's proclamation:
Known first as "The Gibraltar of the Chesapeake" and later as "Freedom's Fortress," Fort Monroe on Old Point Comfort in Virginia has a storied history in the defense of our Nation and the struggle for freedom.
Fort Monroe, designed by Simon Bernard and built of stone and brick between 1819 and 1834 in part by enslaved labor, is the largest of the Third System of fortifications in the United States. It has been a bastion of defense of the Chesapeake Bay, a stronghold of the Union Army surrounded by the Confederacy, a place of freedom for the enslaved, and the imprisonment site of Chief Blackhawk and the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. It served as the U.S. Army's Coastal Defense Artillery School during the 19th and 20th centuries, and most recently, as headquarters of the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command.
Old Point Comfort in present day Hampton, Virginia, was originally named "Pointe Comfort" by Captain John Smith in 1607 when the first English colonists came to America. It was here that the settlers of Jamestown established Fort Algernon in 1609. After Fort Algernon's destruction by fire in 1612, successive English fortifications were built, testifying to the location's continuing strategic value. The first enslaved Africans in England's colonies in America were brought to this peninsula on a ship flying the Dutch flag in 1619, beginning a long ignoble period of slavery in the colonies and, later, this Nation. Two hundred and forty-two years later, Fort Monroe became a place of refuge for those later generations escaping enslavement.
During the Civil War, Fort Monroe stood as a foremost Union outpost in the midst of the Confederacy and remained under Union Army control during the entire conflict. The Fort was the site of General Benjamin Butler's "Contraband Decision" in 1861, which provided a pathway to freedom for thousands of enslaved people during the Civil War and served as a forerunner of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Thus, Old Point Comfort marks both the beginning and end of slavery in our Nation. The Fort played critical roles as the springboard for General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign in 1862 and as a crucial supply base for the siege of Petersburg by Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant in 1864 and 1865. After the surrender of the Confederacy, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was transferred to Fort Monroe and remained imprisoned there for 2 years.
Fort Monroe is the third oldest United States Army post in continuous active service. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It provides an excellent opportunity for the public to observe and understand Chesapeake Bay and Civil War history. At the northern end of the North Beach area lies the only undeveloped shoreline remaining on Old Point Comfort, providing modern-day visitors a sense of what earlier people saw when they arrived in the New World. The North Beach area also includes coastal defensive batteries, including Batteries DeRussy and Church, which were used from the 19th Century to World War II.
WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431) (the "Antiquities Act"), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected;
WHEREAS the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommended that Fort Monroe cease to be used as an Army installation, and pursuant to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-510), Fort Monroe closed on September 15, 2011;
WHEREAS the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Members of Congress, the Fort Monroe Authority, the City of Hampton, Virginia, and other surrounding counties and cities have expressed support for establishing a unit of the National Park System at Fort Monroe;
WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve Fort Monroe, portions of Old Point Comfort, and certain lands and buildings necessary for the care and management of the Fort and Point as the Fort Monroe National Monument;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Antiquities Act, hereby proclaim that all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, which is attached to and forms a part of this proclamation, are hereby set apart and reserved as the Fort Monroe National Monument (monument) for the purpose of protecting the objects identified above. The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 325.21 acres, together with appurtenant easements for all necessary purposes, which is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
In announcing the proclamation and the establishment of the new park, the White House also stressed that the proclamation would result in approximately 3,000 new jobs. "But today isn’t just about preserving a national landmark- it’s about helping to create jobs and grow the local economy. Steps like these won’t replace the bold action we need from Congress to get our economy moving and strengthen middle-class families, but they will make a difference," said President Obama in his statement on the new monument.