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Fort Monroe, SE Va., commanding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads; named for President James Monroe. The fortress (80 acres/32 hectares) was built (1819–34) by the U.S. government on the site of English fortifications erected in 1609 and 1727. Completely surrounded by a moat, the six-sided fort is the only one of its kind left in the United States. Fort Monroe was held by Union forces throughout the Civil War; Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was imprisoned there from 1865 until 1867. Long a U.S. army coast-artillery post and school, the fort became headquarters of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) in 1973.
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