The Path of History Walking Tour can be found at the link.

Craney Island tablet- 36.8404833, -76.3012167. In May of 1862, as the Con­fed­er­ates aban­doned the Nor­folk area, they attempted to lighten the CSS Virginia in order to move the ironclad up the James River. When this failed she was destroyed by her crew off Craney Island on May 11.

Fort Nelson- pullover 36.8403397, -76.3016236. Fort Nelson once stood on the site of the Portsmouth’s Naval Hospital. The Confederate government strengthened Fort Nelson, until the Union army occupied Norfolk and the fort on May 10, 1862.

Civil War Trails sign

315 Court Street Butler’s HQ- William H Peters House- 36.8396867, -76.3007895. The William H. Peters House served as headquar­ters for Major Gen­eral Ben­jamin Franklin But­ler while he com­manded Union forces in Portsmouth. Local leg­end claims that But­ler earned his nick­name “Spoons” while here because of the disap­pear­ance of fam­ily sil­ver­ware when homes were occu­pied by his troops.

350 Middle Street Macon House- 36.8382456, -76.2995194. The Macon House Hotel knew both gai­ety and despair during the war. From its Mid­dle Street porch the Virginia Defend­ers, a local vol­un­teer infantry company, accepted a flag from the ladies of Portsmouth. After the Con­fed­er­ates evac­u­ated Portsmouth in 1862, the Fed­er­als used the house as a troop quar­ters and hos­pi­tal. The names of Fed­eral sol­diers carved into the hotel’s floor are still visible.

305-309 North Street- also part of the original Macon House Hotel

412, 420 and 423 London Street. 412- During the Civil War this home was used by the Union Army’s Provost Marshall. 423- During the Civil War this home was used as a hospital and apothecary.

422 Crawford Street- Pass House Adjutant General House red brick. The James Mur­dough House, known as the Pass House during the war, was the head­quar­ters of the Union Adju­tant Gen­eral. In order to leave the city, cit­i­zens first had to report here to secure a pass.

Court Street Baptist Church 447 Court Street

The 1846 Cour­t­house was once the site of gov­ern­ment for old Nor­folk County. Prior to the Civil War, slaves were sold at auction in front of the build­ing, and it was here that a vote was taken approv­ing secession. On April 19, 1861, the day before the Fed­eral evacuation of Gosport Navy Yard, mem­bers of Portsmouth’s mili­tia com­pa­nies slept with their weapons in the cour­t­house. The build­ing was used as a hos­pi­tal by Union troops from 1862 until 1865. Is is now the Portsmouth Art and Cultural Center.

Trinity Episcopal Church- 500 Court Street- The crew of the CSS Virginia was blessed at the altar prior to the 1862 Battle of the Ironclads, and the church later served as a Union hospital for African American soldiers.

Monumental Baptist Church- 36.83585, -76.3025

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum- 2 High Street. The pictures below were taken outside the museum. See separate posts for links to images from the interior (part 1, part 2).

John Luke Porter- 36.8354000, -76.2972167. An accomplished naval constructor, commissioned first by the United States and later by the Confederacy, Porter supervised, at the Norfolk Navy Yard, the conversion of the frigate Merrimac to the ironclad CSS Virginia. Porter later became chief naval constructor for the Confederacy, designing 21 ironclads.

The Gosport Navy Yard Civil War Trails sign- 36.8332000, -76.2960333

Views across the Elizabeth River

Emanuel AME Church and Civil War Trails Sign- 36.8382341, -76.3046988- the church was the central hub of the Underground Railroad in Portsmouth.

The Smuggler’s House 412 Washington Street- Tradition holds that during the Civil War, Confederate women smuggled scarce, stolen medication from the Federal hospital at the Macon House Hotel on North Street by hiding it in the hems of their petticoats and stashing it under a stone beside the door of this house. It would then be picked up from here and smuggled through Union lines.

The Gosport Park- Norfolk Naval Shipyard. A small park with multiple signs that tells the history of the Gosport Naval Shipyard.

Cedar Grove Cemetery entrance on Fort Street-  36.8396935, -76.3083194- see separate post (link).

Fort Nelson Park tells the history of the Naval Hospital. There is one sign about the hospital during the Civil War (36.8412167, -76.3056167). On April 2, 1861, the Governor ordered the 3rd VA to occupy and fortify the Navy Hospital grounds. A battery of earthen works was hastily erected on the point and renamed Fort Nelson, after the Revolutionary War fort of 1776 to 1824. During the Confederate occupation, the hospital served as a medical facility and a fort. The Union retook the area on May 10, 1862, until the end of the war, the hospital cared for Union soldiers and sailors. In 1865, it treated nearly 1,300 patients.

Oak Grove Cemetery- west entrance (36.8379142, -76.3076422). See separate post (link).