The Venerable Survivor
When Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder learned that the Federals intended to house troops and escaped slaves in Hampton, he burned down the town. Local soldiers, led by Capt. Jefferson C. Phillips, completed this "loathsome yet patriotic act," on the evening of August 7, 1862. Phillips reported that his men "went immediately to work. ? Flames were seen bursting from the buildings on all sides till it appeared that the town was one mass of flames from one end to another." Federal Lt. Charles Brewster, shocked by this scorched-earth policy, wrote, Such a picture of war and desolation I never saw nor thought of and hope I shall not again. I pass through the courtyard round the celebrated Hampton [St. John's] Church, the oldest one in use in the United States, it is completely destroyed all but the walls and they are useless.HM Number | HMMLQ |
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Series | This marker is part of the Virginia Civil War Trails series |
Tags | |
Placed By | Virginia Civil War Trails |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Sunday, September 14th, 2014 at 4:09pm PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 380223 N 4098554 |
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Decimal Degrees | 37.02555000, -76.34658333 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 37° 1.533', W 76° 20.795' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 37° 1' 31.98" N, 76° 20' 47.70" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 757 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 101-199 W Queens Way, Hampton VA 23669, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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