THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412160194
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
When tourism director Keith Toler asked City Council to spend $6,000 to match a $24,000 state expenditure to put Portsmouth on a Civil War sites tour, Vice Mayor Johnny Clemons appeared skeptical.
``Is there something I should be concerned about?'' he asked. Clemons implied that he did not want to support any activities that would offend any citizens.
Toler said there were no plans to fly Confederate flags.
Instead, he said, the project would tell tourists about Olde Towne, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, all authentic Civil War sites.
We never should fear a spotlight on local history, especially Portsmouth's Civil War history, which is a lot more interesting than that of a lot of other places. Certainly, it is a variation on battlefields and cemeteries.
Sometimes that history is obscured by those who do not recall the facts.
Loyalty to the Union in 1861 was strong in Portsmouth, where a large proportion of the residents were employed by the federal government.
A lot of Portsmouth voters opposed secession. They elected, by large majorities, two Unionist delegates to a Richmond convention, where our delegates stood with the majority opposed to secession. Virginians were reluctant to destroy the Union they had helped build.
The sentiment was reversed, however, when President Abraham Lincoln called for Virginians to go to South Carolina to punish those who had seceded.
Then Portsmouth residents sadly awaited what they believed was sure destruction because of the naval importance of the city. Shortly before, Harper's Weekly had called the shipyard ``one of the best in the United States.''
At the time about a third of Portsmouth's population was black. Some were slaves and some were free. Even some slaveholders were black.
The town was devastated April 20, 1861, when the federal government burned the shipyard and 11 warships docked there.
The Confederates rebuilt the yard with 20,000 soldiers stationed here to protect it. It was during that year that the workers adapted the USS Merrimac to create the ironclad CSS Virginia.
When the Virginia steamed out into Hampton Roads, the crew of 320 men included some blacks. The day the Virginia met the Monitor off our shores revolutionized naval history around the world.
By February 1862, the Yankees were moving into Portsmouth. This time the Confederates burned the shipyard and abandoned it.
The granite drydock, the first drydock in the country, survived both fires. So did 11 buildings that, with the drydock, are in use to this day.
The naval hospital continued to function as a medical facility even when it was taken over in 1861 by Confederate forces, who wanted to control that point in the Elizabeth River. When Portsmouth fell, the hospital kept on taking care of the ill and injured.
Portsmouth was under harsh occupation for three years, suffering more than most hotbeds of secession. Many houses still standing in Olde Towne were involved in the war and the occupation.
Despite the hard times, Portsmouth survived. So did enough buildings at the navy yard, naval hospital and Olde Towne to make it an interesting Civil War site like no other in the country.
The state program will connect several areas of important Civil War activities, ranging from Northern Virginia battlefields and Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to Hampton Roads.
Norfolk and Virginia Beach are not participating because they do not have the sites that would attract Civil War buffs.
Portsmouth does have the history and the sites to go with it. It has an unusual place in the saga that fascinates so many people in this country.
Our City Council should not hesitate to spend $6,000 to get $24,000 and a lot of publicity from the state. MEMO: Agree? Disagree? The Currents would like to hear from you. Send your
thoughts to The Currents, 307 County St., Suite 100, Portsmouth, Va.
23704-3702, or fax us at 446-2607.
by CNB