Cape Henry in the American Revolution

The strategic economic importance of Cape Henry, at the juncture between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, was recognized early on in the American colonies with a recommendation that building a lighthouse at that location would be “of great Advantage to the Trade of this Bay.”[1] It took almost half of a century to finally bring the colonies of Virginia and Maryland into agreement on construction, funding, tariff rates, and overall operation of the lighthouse. When efforts toward construction started in 1773, with £9,600 appropriated for construction between Maryland and Virgnia, the local lighthouse board of directors assigned to oversee construction wasted no time in acquiring materials and preparing the land.[2] Soon, advertisements began appearing announcing that “Notice is hereby given that a number of vessels will be wanted this summer to bring about 6,000 tons of stone from Mr. Brooke’s quarry, on Rappahannock, and land the same on Cape Henry, for the lighthouse.”[3] Other designed improvements included buoys to mark shoal areas along the Chesapeake Bay.

By the end of 1774, in addition to 6,000 tons of Aquia sandstone, the lighthouse directors also accumulated some 2,500 feet of juniper plank, 100 sheets of copper, and 1,200 feet of copper hoops for navigation buoys near shoal areas. They also constructed a house, “Sixty feet long, Twenty feet Wide, and ten feet Pitch” with a separate fifteen by fifteen foot square kitchen (destined to be the future keeper’s house and kitchen), a barn for up to twenty-five horses, and an additional structure to house the workers.[4] As with any construction venture, unanticipated delays impacted progress. Between the slow process of moving stone across the beach to the lighthouse site and the deteriorating political situation in the colony in 1775, the directors conceded that “there is no probability of getting the Lighthouse built this Summer.”[5] The directors found it challenging to obtain additional funding, because Virginia Gov. John Murray, Lord Dunmore, had abandoned the capital in Williamsburg seeking refuge on board the warship William. One of the final minutes from the directors explained, “But as the Governor refuses to meet the Council and House of Burgesses at any other place, than on board a Man of War, the [lighthouse funding] Act was not passed by him.”[6] Further work on the lighthouse at Cape Henry ceased altogether and as the Revolution continued, the directors became caught up in various aspects of the war: Thomas Nelson would find himself occupied on the Continental Congress; Joseph Hutchings was captured by the British at the skirmish at Kemp’s Landing (later dying in captivity); Paul Loyall, while Mayor of Norfolk, saw his city burned; Thomas Newton was leading a militia unit; and Matthew Phripp was suspected of treason. All were focused on anything but the lighthouse.

Far from an abandoned venture, the site and the materials would soon play a vital role in the Revolution. Cape Henry’s potential as a fortified position was recognized, with merchants recommending a warning station and defenses at the location. Merchant James Hunter stated:

I should think it a great Favour done the Public if you could contrive to have a few men stationed at Cape Henry, (close in with which all Vessels come), and have Two masts erected, with two large Flags, one Red, the other White-at night Two Lanthornes-should the enemy be in, hoist the Red by day, one Lanthorne at night-the Coast being clear, Vice Versa-as this cannot be attended with great Expence, and the Service it would yield our Trade, I do not see but we might be indulged, even with a Guard of Two Hundred and a little Fort to keep off Boats-The apprehension of Danger first taught us to provide against it.[7]

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In 1777, the Council of the State of Virginia resolved to erect at Cape Henry a

staff fifty feet high at least, a white flag striped with Red to be constantly kept hoisted in the day when no enemy is within the Capes and taken down when an enemy appears; that there be also hoisted on the sd staff a proper light to be kept constantly burning in the night Time when no Enemy is within the Capes and taken down on the approach of the enemy. [8]

Col. Thomas Reynolds Walker of Princess Anne, a former lighthouse director, was placed in charge of the post with additional forces supplied by the garrison in Portsmouth. While the lighthouse was for economic purposes and protecting commerce, the new signal mast would also protect merchant ships from being seized by the Royal Navy. Walker was the ideal person to oversee construction and operation of the signal mast as he was aware of the materials at the site and was already leading a company of militia at Cape Henry. A warrant issued on August 16, 1776, for payment of the troops referred to his company as the “Princess Anne Minute Men.”[9]

A staff fifty feet high would be visible approximately eight miles out at sea on the horizon. Depending on the height of observation, how high off the water the observer was viewing the mast (such as from the deck of a ship), that distance might be even further. Since most vessels had to approach the coast near Cape Henry to join the natural deep channel in the southern part of the bay entrance, there was ample warning from the signal mast of any threat in the bay.

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The specifications delineated by the Council were different than originally proposed by Hunter—perhaps a simpler, singular signaling system would be easier to see and interpret from at sea. However, instructions provided to merchant shipping in “Signal to be observed at Cape Henry” show a totally different set of signals:

If it’s very dangerouse to get in that is to say if the Men of War command the Capes Four Distinct Fire’s will be seen.
If they are within the Cape’s and ly in Hampton Road or pretty high up Chesepeak, three distinct will be seen.
If no Danger their Two distinct Fires will appear.
A Guard of 50 Men stationed their for the Protection of Vessells that may go on shore to get clear of the Enemy.[10]

The ability to show multiple signals simultaneously may have been unrealistic for the remote outpost considering the supply of materials at the sight, but the need to display varying signals was evident. A British warship further up the bay posed little hazard for a vessel heading to the Elizabeth or James Rivers, for example. The one common factor in all the different signal configurations was the presence of a militia unit to tend the signal and protect the coast. The post at Cape Henry was generally manned by about fifty militiamen at any given time along with a couple of small artillery pieces. Generally, any type of artillery position at Cape Henry would have been ineffective against ships as the range of most cannon at the time would not reach ships even in the most southerly portion of the channel. Such pieces were more effective at preventing landings or protecting any merchant vessels that might run aground on the cape.

In one case, an unnamed schooner entering the bay had ran aground on Cape Henry trying to evade the pinnace and the armed cutter of HMS Solebay. The crews of the pinnace and cutter went ashore to destroy the schooner. The pinnace was “Stove to pieces in attempting to get her out of the Surf after having destroy’d the Schooner.”[11] The pinnace crew of a lieutenant, three petty officers, and fifteen men were stranded at Cape Henry and surrendered to the Princess Anne Militia. In an interesting twist, reported in the Virginia Gazette:

Last week the Emerald man of war took two Gentlemen as they were crossing the bay from the Eastern Shore to Princess Anne. They have been since indulged with a parole for fourteen days, to try to get exchanged for two officers of the Solebay frigate, that were lately taken by a party of the Princess Anne militia. These Gentlemen inform, that the Captain of the Emerald declared he would detain every person he took, unless they are exchanged upon the above terms.[12]

The British were apparently desperate to recover their crew.

How effective the signal station was at warning ships of the British presence is debatable. There are few documented instances of American ships evading capture because of the early warning of British activity in or at the mouth of the bay. Large scale British presence was limited to the raiding forces under Sir George Collier in 1779 and the short-lived expedition under Maj. Gen. Alexander Leslie to establish a post at Portsmouth in 1780.[13] It was British warships operating independently or in small groups that posed the biggest threat, and they captured numerous ships. For example, during the period between December 1777 through March 1778, HMS Emerald captured the Polly, Miquelon Packet, Dragon, L’Elegant, Friendship, and a sloop; HMS Richmond captured the Alexandrine, Good Hope, and a sloop; and HMS St. Albans captured the Arc en Ciel, Duke of Grafton, Petit Camarade, Defiance, Shore, Jean Andre and a schooner all in the lower Chesapeake Bay.[14] Many of these captures were of vessels leaving the Chesapeake Bay that would not have been able to see the signal at Cape Henry.

Finding the bay very lucrative for capturing American vessels, the British instituted a more intensive blockade in 1778 with the St. Albans, Phoenix, Emerald, Richmond, and Otter “placed at equal distances, to effectually stop the passage into the Chesapeak Bay.”[15] This was designed, based on the latest intelligence reports, to prevent an expected French fleet from entering the bay, and the departure from the bay of an anticipated war patrol of the Continental Navy frigate Virginia and Maryland Navy ship Saratoga. The blockading ships accomplished the latter objective more by happenstance than by design.

The Virginia and Saratoga sailed in company from Annapolis on March 30. With only one pilot available on the Saratoga, the Virginia followed in her wake hoping to escape the bay during nightfall. Adverse winds caused Virginia to lag, and the ship ran aground on the Middle Ground in the dark. Virginia’s captain, James Nicholson, faced with “the loss of her rudder, and making as much water as we could well clear her from with four pumps” decided to make toward the shore at Cape Henry in a small boat with part of the crew, in essence leaving the rest of the crew to fend for themselves on a drifting hulk.[16] Left onboard was Lt. Joshua Barney who, “believing that it would be at least practicable to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy, by running her on shore at Cape Henry, as the wind was fair and blowing somewhat fresh, he immediately ordered the cable to be cut.”[17] From the shore at Cape Henry, Nicholson watched as HMS Emerald closed and captured Virginia. Emerald reported “at 9 AM fired a Six pounder at her, upon which She struck her Colours.”[18] Perhaps the navigation buoys on the middle ground might have been useful to Virginia.

Later that year, the American privateer Rattlesnake was being pursued by HMS Swift. While Rattlesnake sought safety in Chesapeake Bay, she too ran aground near the same spot on the Middle Ground as Virginia. Swift also managed to run aground in the same vicinity. After attempts to lighten ship by tossing over supplies, fresh water, and cannon, the twenty-gun British ship remained stuck. Rather than risk capture by the Americans, Capt. Thomas Frederick of Swift abandoned ship and burned his vessel. The nearest land – at Cape Henry – was occupied by the Princess Anne County Militia still under Col. Thomas Reynolds Walker. Walker undoubtedly took pleasure in accepting the surrender of his ninety-one prisoners.[19]

Word of the French fleet’s anticipated arrival continued to circulate for many months. It was unknown when or where they would make their initial appearance, but George Washington hedged the possibility that it would be in Chesapeake Bay. Washington, soliciting the assistance of Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson, sent a special messenger, Maj. William Galvan, to Cape Henry to await the arrival of the fleet and coordinate operations in this area. As Washington explained:

I have the pleasure to inform Your Excellency confidentially that a French Fleet may in the course of a few Weeks be expected upon this Coast, and as it is uncertain what part of the land they may first make, Gentlemen are to be stationed at different points to give them Signals and to make them some necessary communications immediately upon their arrival. Major Galvan who will have the honor of delivering this to your Excellency is appointed to go down to Cape Henry for the purposes above mentioned, and as He will have occasion to keep one or two Boats in constant readiness to go off upon the appearance of the Fleet, I shall be much obliged by your giving an order to the person who has the superintendence of the public Vessels and Craft in Virginia to supply him with the necessary number—Should the public have none of the proper kind in their possession, you will be pleased to recommend to Major Galvan the most certain and speedy method of procuring them—One or two skilful and trusty pilots will also be necessary, that if any of the ships should have occasion to enter the Bay, they may not be at a loss.
Your Excellency will no doubt see the propriety of keeping the object of Major Galvans mission as much a secret as possible, lest the importance of the dispatches with which he is charged—might be an inducement to some of the disaffected to take him off. It would add much to his security, if your Excellency would be good enough to introduce him to some Gentleman in the neighbourhood of Cape Henry, in whom he may confide and with whom he may remain while in that quarter.[20]

The “Gentleman” in the Cape Henry area was likely Col. John Thorowgood Jr. who was active in the Virginia Convention and known to Jefferson. Thorowgood may have suggested that Galvan stay with the Keeling family due to the proximity of their plantation near Lynnhaven Bay to Cape Henry where the preponderance of his lookout and liaison duties would take place. In support of Galvan’s mission, an express service was established between Cape Henry and Richmond with “Instructions to Express Riders between Richmond and Cape Henry”:

You are to proceed immediately to Hood’s and be there in constant readiness, never absenting yourself a moment from your quarters, nor suffering your horse to be out of your instantaneous command.
Whenever you shall receive from the express who will be placed next to you any letter or paper from me to Majr. Galvan you will proceed without a moment’s delay by night and by day and without regard to weather to carry it down to the next express stationed at. And when you receive a letter or paper from Majr. Galvan to me you are to proceed in like manner with it to this place; always returning to your station, after the delivery, moderately but without delay. You are to give a receipt specifying the hour and minute at which you receive any such paper, and to take a like receipt from the express to whom you shall deliver it.[21]

The reporting system apparently worked, as in 1781 Governor Jefferson received word of the arrival of a British force under Benedict Arnold literally within hours of their appearance in the Chesapeake Bay. These reports came from multiple sources, both official military and private merchants concerned about the new threat. Jefferson immediately notified Baron von Steuben, “I have this moment received information that 27 sail of vessels, 18 of which were square rigged, were yesterday morning just below Willoughby’s point. No other circumstance being given to conjecture their force or destination”; he directed von Steuben to respond with the Continental Army forces at his disposal.[22] Von Steuben had been appraised on the fleet’s movement from New York and was likely expecting their arrival.

The French fleet eventually arrived and faced two notable engagements with the British Fleet. The first engagement on March 16, 1781, between eleven French ships under the command of Adm. Charles René Dominique Sochet, Chevalier Destouches and twelve British ships under Vice Adm. Mariot Arbuthnot was largely a draw.[23] The victory, however, was given to the British who managed to take control of the Chesapeake Bay, frustrating French efforts to link up with the Marquis de Lafayette operating in Virginia to counter the military actions in Virginia by Benedict Arnold. The second fleet engagement several months later on September 5, 1781, resulted in a more decisive victory. The French fleet, now occupying the bay, intercepted a British fleet under Adm. Sir Thomas Graves bringing supplies and reinforcements to Lord Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. The French fleet under Rear Adm. Francois Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse, managed to scatter the British and prevented the reinforcement of Cornwallis.[24] This ultimately led to the successful siege of Yorktown by combined American and French forces resulting in the surrender of the British.

With the success at Yorktown, the war was all but over, but security concerns in the region remained. Princess Anne County appeared to be particularly threatened by “Tories & Refugees” operating from the swamps in and around the country. A local major at Portsmouth offered to “erect a Redoubt at the Cape, which will not only awe those ragamuffins, but will serve as a light-House, a protection to vessels from Privateers, and a look out to this post.”[25] It would appear that the signal mast at Cape Henry was no longer being utilized, perhaps no longer necessary once the French fleet gained full control of the Chesapeake Bay.

The need for a lighthouse was once again demonstrated a few weeks later with the loss of the French frigate Diligente in the vicinity of Cape Henry. Diligente was in company with the frigate Hermione heading to sea. Off Cape Henry the pilot from Hermione was transferred to Diligente and recommended anchoring near Hampton due to the approach of nightfall and deteriorating weather. Capt. Chevalier Robert Sutton de Clonard of the Diligente decided instead to head to sea. De Clonard quickly found himself hard aground on the shore without a rudder. Attempts to land the crew were difficult owing to the high winds and seas. In the end, twenty-three of the crew drowned attempting to reach shore including the pilot, on whom Capt. de Clonard placed all blame for the wreck. The pilot upon embarking stated he “trusted more to his head than to his eyes.”[26] A lighthouse as a visual marker would have aided the situational awareness and possibly prevent the Diligente from venturing so close to shore.

After the war, the new nation, finally at peace, continued to develop and grow. New methods of governance were tried and when the first Congress under the new Constitution convened, they once again raised the need for a lighthouse at Cape Henry. As part of the eleventh Act of Congress passed in 1789, construction of a lighthouse was approved. In just a couple of years, a new lighthouse with an Aquia sandstone foundation and a Rappahannock sandstone tower, originally envisioned more than six decades earlier, would finally grace the sand dunes at Cape Henry.

[1] “Lower House Journal Entry, July 19, 1721,” Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland, Lower House Journal, vol. 34, July 19, 1721 (Baltimore, MD: Maryland Historical Society, 1883), 204-05.

[2] “An ACT for raising and applying money towards erecting and maintaining a lighthouse on Cape Henry,” Hanson’s Laws of Maryland, Act of 1773, chap XXIX (Annapolis, MD: Frederick Green, Printer to the State, 1787), 94-95.

[3] “Lighthouse at Cape Henry,” William and Mary Quarterly 13, no. 4 (Apr 1905): 260.

[4] “Report of the Directors and Managers for erecting a Light House on Cape Henry,” February 16, 1774, Colonial Papers Collection, Library of Virginia; Maryland State Archives, Maryland State Papers (Scharf Collection), “Lighthouse at Cape Henry, Director’s Minutes, 1773-1775,” June 24, 1773, March 17, 1774, June 16, 1774, October 5, 1774, and November 25, 1774 (Minutes).

[5] Minutes, March 3, 1775.

[6] Minutes, July 4, 1775.

[7] James Hunter to Col William Aylett, February 6, 1777, in Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine 1, no. 2 (October 1919): 98-99.

[8] Journal entry Wednesday, February 19, 1777, in H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia, 1 (Richmond, VA: Division of Purchase and Printing, 1931), 350-51.

[9] Journal entry Wednesday, August 21, 1776, ibid., 127.

[10] “John King to the American Commissioners, 9 October 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-25-02-0026.

[11] Journal of HMS Solebay, Captain Thomas Symonds, August 27, 1777, in William Bell Clark, ed., Naval Documents of the American Revolution 9 (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1964), 844. (NDAR)

[12] Virginia Gazette (Dixon and Hunter), October 3, 1777.

[13] Robert Fallon and Marion West Stoer, “The Old Dominion Under Fire: The Chesapeake Invasion, 1779-1781,” in Ernest McNeill Eller, ed., Chesapeake Bay in the American Revolution, (Centreville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1981), 443-58.

[14] Admiralty Office, June 2, 1778, “List of Vessels seized or destroyed by His Majesty’s Ships stations in Cheapeak Bay,” The London Gazette, June 2 to June 6, 1778.

[15] Captain Benjamin Caldwell, R.N., to Captain Thomas Symonds, R.N., Captain Matthew Squire, R.N., and Commander Anthony J. P. Mollow, R.N., March 7, 1778, NDAR, 11:541.

[16] Captain James Nicholson to the Continental Marine Committee, April 2, 1778, NDAR, 12:19-20.

[17] Mary Barney, ed., A Biographical Memoir of the Late Commodore Joshua Barney (Boston: Gray & Bowen, 1832), 66.

[18] Journal of HMS Emerald, Captain Benjamin Caldwell, March 31, 1778, NDAR, 11:848.

[19] Session of Virginia Council of State, November 27, 1778, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-01-02-0089.

[20] George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, May 15, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-01749.

[21] Instructions to Express Riders between Richmond and Cape Henry, ca. May 31, 1780, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-03-02-0471.

[22] Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Steuben, December 31, 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-04-02-0321.

[23] The Gentleman’s Magazine. v.51, 1781.

[24] John Dawson Gilmary Shea, ed., Operations of the French Fleet Under the Count de Grasse in 1781-2 (New York, NY: Bradford Club, 1864).

[25] Major Alex Dick to Colonel Davies, December 26, 1781, in H. W. Flournoy, ed., Calendar of Virginia State Papers (Richmond, VA: James E. Goode, Printer, 1881), 2: 670-71.

[26] Chevalier de Clonard, Narrative of the Loss of the “Diligente,” February 5, 1782, in Benson J. Lossing, ed., The American Historical Record (Philadelphia, PA: Chase & Town, Publishers, 1872), 181-83.