Fort Magruder

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Fort Magruder was an 30 foot high earthen fortification straddling the road between Yorktown and Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, just outside the latter city (and former Virginia state capital) during the American Civil War. Also referred to as Redoubt #6, it was strategic in defending Williamsburg due to its location near the junction of the two roads which led to the east (to Yorktown and Lee's Mill).

On May 5, 1862, Fort Magruder was a major point of the first heavy conflict of the Peninsula Campaign. Nearly 32,000 Confederates and 41,000 Union fought during the Battle of Williamsburg, which is considered by military historians to have been inconclusive. The point at which the fort was built had the strategic topographical advantage of being a very narrow piece of land, bounded on the west by Tutters Neck Pond and on the east by Cubb's creek, restricting access to the town of Williamsburg beyond.

Fort Magruder was named for Confederate General John B. "Prince John" Magruder, a popular leader who had held back Union forces further southeast on the Virginia Peninsula in the preceding weeks using elaborate ruse tactics to appear to have a much larger force than he actually had.

The former site of Fort Magruder is located about 1 mile east of the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg off Penniman Road near the James City County-York County boundary line. A marker, monument, and small grassy area are located on the southeast side of Penniman Road near the intersection of Queen's Creek Road. Although the site does not appear to be open to the public, one visitor posted on his web site a report that approximately one third of earthworks remain, and also posted recent photographs. [1] [2]

In early 2006 Riverside Health System donated 22 acres of the 350 acres that it had bought from Colonial Williamsburg in 2004, to create a public park. The land includes two redoubts which were part of the line of defenses of which Fort Magruder was the largest.

[edit] Trivia

Penniman Road largely follows the northern portion of the Old Williamsburg Road which led from Yorktown. Much of the former southern portion is on the property of the U.S. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, where the lost towns of Lackey and Penniman were located during before and during World War I, respectively.

Fort Magruder is sometimes confused with the lost town of Magruder, Virginia which prior to 1942 was located in a now-restricted area of Camp Peary in York County.