The marker below was once present at the Gloucester Point Beach Park across the York River from Yorktown but has been removed. It interpreted the first shots fired in the Civil War in Virginia.

The action occurred here off Gloucester Point in the York River. The first set of pictures were taken to the east of the bridge looking toward Yorktown.

Pictures taken from the west of the bridge.

On May 6th Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge on the USS Cumberland reported to his commanding officer Flag-Oficer G. J. Pendergast that he had completed a reconnaissance of the York River from its mouth to Gloucester Point. He found no evidence of enemy works until he got to Gloucester Point where there was a breastworks or water battery in the process of being built that when completed would command the river. He reported that so far it consisted of only a heavy rampart and a large amount of turf and that it wasn’t currently useful because the walls weren’t high enough to protect anyone inside and there were no guns mounted. Concerned about the strategic location of the battery Selfridge asked for the use of a small steamer to prevent further progress in the fort’s construction. In response Pendergrast sent him a small steam tug the Yankee. On May 7th Selfridge started upriver at 10:00 AM. When he was about 2000 yards from the battery the Yankee came under fire. Two shots from the battery fell short. Selfridge stopped steaming forward and fired four round shots and two shells at the highest elevation his guns could achieve but they all fell short. Twelve shots were fired from the battery. Ten fell short and two passed overhead and landed 20 yards behind the ship. Selfridge decided his 32-pounders would be unable to inflict much damage to the battery and decided to withdraw. He estimated that the battery was manned by about 40 men and mounted one 8-inch gun and two long 32-pounders. A report was also written by Confederate Colonel Taliaferro who assumed command of the battery at 7:00 PM on the evening of the 7th. Taliaferro was on his way to the site from Richmond at the time of the action and arrived after it was over. He stated that during the conflict Lieutenant Brown was in charge under the orders of Captain Whittle. The Colonel ordered the volunteer forces of the county to the battery, some 250 men, to reinforce the small force there. Major Page was to muster in three companies on the 8th. Taliaferro asked for supplies for 400 men for 30 days, and some effective seacoast guns to supplement the small battery of 6-pounders already there. Work began on huts to house the soldiers that same day. In response, Captain Whittle wrote to General Lee that he did not authorize the firing from the battery (it does not appear that he was there). Captain S. Barron of the Confederate Navy states in subsequent communications that Whittle disapproved of the firing at such long distance and that he had sent six 9-inch guns and three 32-pounders to the battery. Lieutenant John Thompson Brown, who is credited with firing the first shots of the Civil War in Virginia, ultimately became a colonel. Brown was in charge of a division of three battalions of artillery at the Battle of the Wilderness where he was killed in action on May 6, 1864.

Unfortunately, the water battery was destroyed when an oil terminal was constructed on the point in the early 1900s. A sketch of the battery was drawn during the time of its Confederate occupation (dated January 6, 1862) by William H. Powers of the Piedmont Artillery according to archaeologist David Brown, co-owner of DATA Investigations, which conducted the 2016-2017 excavation for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science before construction there. The map, signed by William H. Powers and Henry Andrew Black members of the Piedmont Artillery formed in Bedford County, is located in the Special Collections Research Center (Earl Gregg Swem Library 400 Landrum Drive, Williamsburg, VA) at William and Mary (identifier SC 01846).

War time images and sketches of the battery are shown below. The images were taken in May 1862 after Union forces occupied the battery

References

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion Series I, Volume IV Operations on the Atlantic Coast From January 1 to May 13, 1861. Pages 376, 380-382.

Civil War fort in Gloucester Point Revealed by Mark St. John Erikson The Washington Times May 27, 2017 (link)