Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses

July 14 Smith left Fort Monroe on steam tug Lioness to install a temporary light at Craney Island. The keepers were set up on Craney Island and instructed to raise the light at sunset and lower it at sunrise. He also repaired the light at the Naval Hospital. The Lights Are Bright Again – But Not for Long Smith reported that all lights had been restored and extra supplies stored in the oil house at Old Point Comfort. He returned to Washington, D.C., on July 16, 1862. Ironically, the Union would remove the lights on the James River again a few months later and store the lenses and equipment. In 1862, Major Hartman Bache of the Army Corps of Engineers reported, “The lights on the James River, at White Shoal, Point of Shoals, and Deep Water Shoals, were re-established during the past summer; but, upon the withdrawal of the army from the peninsula, their services were no longer necessary, and the apparatus was taken down and stored at Fortress Monroe.” 44 Rebel Snipers on the Banks of the James River From the Alexandria Gazette , July 16, 1862: “The attacks of the Confederates along the line of the James river on the Federal vessels are very frequent. The nature of the banks, which are often thickly wooded, and jut out in high bluffs, render the operations comparatively safe and effective. A whole regiment could in some places be stationed entirely out of sight, and within a few rods of where vessels are obliged to pass.” 45 Lighthouses at White Shoal, Point of Shoals, Deep Water Shoals, and Jordan Point were constantly under fire by Confederates as Union patrol boats made their way to City Point (Appomattox) and Harrison’s Bar to offload supplies. The Union decided to dismantle the restored lights on the James River. After the famous Battle of the Ironclads at the mouth of the James River, the U.S.S. Monitor patrolled the James River along with a fleet of union gunboats, paddle wheelers, and tugboats. Excerpts from the Monitor ’s logbook detail action on the James River in August 1862. U.S.S. Monitor Logbook 46 From the logbook of the U.S.S. Monitor :

August 29, 1862 James River “At 4:30 got under weigh and proceeded down the river. One light keeper of Deep Water Shoal Light.

At 6 stopped at Point of Shoals Light and took off the lightkeeper and apparatus”

August 31, 1862 “At 8 a tug come along side and took off the light keeper and apparatus”

The log mentions shots being fired from the shore constantly by “rebel sharpshooters.” Action on the James By the summer of 1862, the Union Navy controlled traffic on the James River up to Harrison’s Bar and City Point. Confederate artillery at Drewry’s Bluff blocked commercial traffic into and out of Richmond. Tredegar Iron Works, a vital ammunition manufacturing and armory factory, was located north of Rocketts, a shipbuilding center. The Confederate Naval Academy (C.S.A.) was also located at Rocketts, and cadets trained on the steamer C.S.N. Patrick Henry . Occupation Orders Limit River Traffic in Hampton Roads On August 1, 1863, special orders from the headquarters of the 7th Army Corps in Norfolk shut down boat traffic going to the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River below the Western Branch, Deep Creek, or the Pasquotank River. The orders prohibited boats from approaching the shore between Craney Island and Pig Point, under the threat of immediate destruction of the boat as well as imprisonment and severe punishment of those who took an interest in the venture. All steamboats, vessels, or boats of any description were required to be numbered and registered by the provost marshal. They were also required to anchor at night at specified places. Special lists were kept of all permits granted to fishermen and fishing boats. River travel at night was forbidden. The army was attempting to prevent contraband goods from reaching the southern shore of the James River, including the Nansemond River, Chuckatuck Creek, Pagan River, and all points west on the James River. 47 With supplies being shipped to Confederate forces through the Albemarle and Dismal Swamp Canals via the Pasquotank and North Rivers as well, screwpile lighthouse keepers in the North Carolina sounds also put out their lights and secreted away lenses—some in the statehouse in Raleigh and others in the customhouse in Plymouth.

Commander Thomas H. Stevens Log entry by Louis Stodder

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