Chesapeake, Virginia- Part 2

Chesapeake is the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia by both population and land area (351 square miles). It was formed in 1963 by the consolidation of the city of South Norfolk and the remainder of Norfolk County. Located on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway it extends from the border of North Carolina to the harbor area of Hampton Roads. The city is home to seven Civil War Trails signs, a sign erected by United States Colored Troops Descendants (#2), and the earthwork fort on Jolliff Road in Western Branch (The Mystery Fort), which is still under development and not open to the public. This post covers sites 5-8 in the map below.

6- Seven Patriot Heroes (36.5695, -76.2459833)- Nearby were located the homes of three men who served in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War (Sergeant March Corprew, Co. I, 2nd USCT Cavalry, his brother Private Daniel Corprew, Co. D, 1st USCT Cavalry, and Private Samuel Hopper, Co. C, 38th USCT Infantry). Hopper was killed in action on September 29, 1864, at the Battle of New Market Heights. Three other USCT veterans are buried in the Northwest Bethel Baptist Church Annex cemetery (Cook Wilson Nixon, Co. G, 155th Regiment NY Infantry, Under-Cook Pati Creekman, Co. D, 81st Regiment NY Infantry, and Private Lewis Deford, Co. E, 10th USCT). The cemetery is located on Naval Support Activity Northwest Annex. It is located down a winding unpaved road (? Wilderness Road) near Consolidated Brig Chesapeake (link). Private Adda Smith, Co. I, 10th USCT, is buried about 5 miles south of here in a cemetery at the intersection of St. Bride’s Rd. and Battlefield Blvd.

7- Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery (36.6297,-76.2429833)- The monument to the Jackson Greys is located on the grounds of the former Pleasant Grove Baptist Church where the company was formed by Captain William H. Stewart. The Jackson Greys were named after James W. Jackson the proprietor of the Marshall House in Alexandria, Virginia. He killed Colonel Elmer Ellsworth of the New York Fire Zouaves when Ellsworth removed the Confederate flag from his hotel. Shortly after Jackson fired the fatal shot he was killed by a Union soldier.

8- Gabriel Chapel and Cuffytown Cemetery (36.6299667,-76.1643333)- Thirteen African American veterans of the Civil War are interred at the Cuffeytown Historic Cemetery. They served in the 5th, 10th, and 36th United States Colored Troops infantry regiments organized in 1863 and 1864, after the Emancipation Proclamation authorized the recruitment of blacks for the U.S. Army and Navy. The 5th USCT, organized in Ohio in August 1863, fought in North Carolina as well as in the Virginia battles of the Crater at Petersburg, New Market Heights, and Fair Oaks. The 10th USCT was organized in Virginia in November 1863 and fought in 1864 at the Battle of Wilson’s Wharf (Fort Pocahontas). The 36th USCT, organized from the 2nd North Carolina Colored Infantry in February 1864, fought in the Battle of New Market Heights, the Appomattox Campaign, and in North Carolina. The 5th USCT was demobilized in North Carolina in September 1865, while the 10th and 36th USCT were ordered to Texas after the war and mustered out there in 1866. The Cuffeytown Thirteen were: 5th USCT- Private Walter Smith, Co. I; 10th USCT- Sergeant William Coffey, Co. G; Private Bluet Cuffey, Co. H; Corporal Emerson Cuffey, Co. G; Private Lemuel Cuffey, Co. F; Sergeant Wilson Cuffey, Co. H; Sgt. William Cuffey, Co. F; Corp. Levi Sevils, Co. H; Private Cornelius Smith, Co. F; Pvt. James W. Smith, Co. F; Private Samuel Smith, Co. H; Private John Whitehurst, Co. H; from the 36th USCT- Sergeant. Thomas Van, Co. C.