Union Supply Depot
Port Royal possessed the finest harbor on the middle reaches of the Rappahannock River. Although the town's permanent wharf had been destroyed by Union gunboats before the Battle of Fredericksburg, the excellent harbor made Port Royal an obvious choice for a supply depot when the Army of the Potomac moved south after ther Battle of the Wilderness. On May 20, 1864, Brigadier General John J. Abercrombie, then commanding the Union supply base at Belle Plain on the Potomac River north of Fredericksburg, was ordered to abandon Belle Plain and relocate to Port Royal. General Abercrombie established his headquarters at Riverview, a waterfront home in the town, and the Army Corps of Engineers constructed a floating wharf on pontoons. The Port Royal harbor was soon choked with ships bringing in supplies and evacuating wounded troops. This frantic activity lasted only two weeks, until the establishment of a new base on the North Anna River closer to Richmond. Residents of the area were actually sorry to see General Abercrombie and his staff depart, because the general had earned the gratitude of property owners by providing guards to help protect their property from marauders, both Union soldiers and Confederate deserters.| HM Number | HM130I |
|---|---|
| Series | This marker is part of the Virginia Civil War Trails series |
| Tags | |
| Placed By | Historic Port Royal with funding made possible through the sponsorship of the Washington-Lewis Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Monday, September 22nd, 2014 at 12:22am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 308168 N 4227093 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 38.17135000, -77.18991667 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 38° 10.281', W 77° 11.395' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 38° 10' 16.86" N, 77° 11' 23.70" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 804 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 101-199 King St, Port Royal VA 22535, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.
Comments 0 comments