Fort Wool, now a quiet historical landmark, has been witness to some of the most influential figures and events in American history. Originally named for John C.
Calhoun, the fortress felt
Andrew Jackson walk the ramparts as he retreated from the bustle and politics of Washington, saw Abraham Lincoln direct the shelling and invasion of nearby Norfolk during the Civil War and guarded one of the country’s most important harbors in two world wars. J. Michael Cobb, curator of the Hampton History Museum, presents the fascinating tale of presidents and slaves, soldiers and civilians, all linked by the stone fortress rising from the waters of the
Chesapeake.
Background Information
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was a vigorous Congressional exponent of the inteterest of the South in the decades before the Civil War. Andrerw Jackson represented a break with the aristocratic tradition of American politics and the rise of the common man.. Chesapeake Bay is the huge estuary of the Susquehanna River between Maryland and Virginia, formed by the gradual rise in sea level since the end of the last Ice Age.