The Virginia Navy in the Revolution: Hampton's Commodore James Barron and His Fleet by James Tormey

Author:James Tormey [Tormey, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, Pictorial, United States, Naval, Revolutionary Period (1775-1800), State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV)
ISBN: 9781467135245
Google: c-0QDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2016-01-15T03:00:33+00:00

The fort referred to in the report of Admiral Collier was Fort Nelson, which projected from the west bank of the Elizabeth River and whose guns could oppose land or sea forces moving upstream toward Portsmouth. The fort was well sited and appeared to be well constructed. It had walls fourteen feet high and fifteen feet thick that were faced with timber and filled with compacted earth. However, its builders had constructed a wall only three feet wide on its landward side, where there were no gun positions. Thus the fort was barely defensible from the landward side.

After construction, Fort Nelson had been garrisoned by two hundred artillerymen and companies of militia from the counties of Norfolk and Princess Ann. Demands on the limited numbers of troops available to Virginia had reduced the garrison at Fort Nelson until there were only one hundred men present at the time British army troops landed upstream from the fort on May 9.

The American commander at Fort Nelson decided that he could not defend the fort against the forces deploying against him on the morning of May 10 when Admiral Collier’s ships were preparing a bombardment from the river, while General Mathew was in a position to assault from the landward side. The American force withdrew without removing its colors.

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