Indigenous Americans settled in present-day Hampton before 10,000 BCE. In the early 1600s, the
Tidewater region was populated by the
Powhatan peoples who called the lands
Tsenacommacah. The Powhatan Chiefdom was made up of over 30 tribes numbering an estimated 25,000 people before the arrival of English colonists.
Colonial history In December 1606, three ships carrying men and boys left England on a mission sponsored by a proprietary company. Led by Captain
Christopher Newport, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. After a long voyage, they first landed at the entrance to the
Chesapeake Bay on the south shore at a place they named
Cape Henry (for
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the elder son of their king). During the first few days of exploration, they identified the site of
Old Point Comfort (which they originally named "Point Comfort") as a strategic defensive location at the entrance to the body of water that became known as
Hampton Roads. This is formed by the
confluence of the
Elizabeth,
Nansemond, and
James rivers. The latter is the longest river in Virginia. Weeks later, on May 14, 1607, they established the first permanent English settlement in the present-day United States at
Jamestown, Virginia, about further inland from the Bay, which became the site of fortifications during the following 200 years. Slightly south, near the entrance to
Hampton River, the colonists seized the
Native American community of
Kecoughtan under Virginia's Governor, Sir
Thomas Gates. The colonists established their own small town, with a small Anglican church
(known now as St. John's Episcopal Church), on July 9, 1610. This came to be known as part of Hampton. (With Jamestown having been abandoned in 1699, Hampton claims to be the oldest continuously occupied English settlement in the United States.) Hampton was named for
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, an important leader of the
Virginia Company of London, for whom the
Hampton River,
Hampton Roads and
Southampton County were also named. The area became part of
Elizabeth Cittie in 1619,
Elizabeth River Shire in 1634, and was included in
Elizabeth City County when it was formed in 1643. By 1680, the settlement was known as Hampton, and it was incorporated as a town in 1705 and became the seat of Elizabeth City County. In the latter part of August 1619, the
White Lion, a
privateer captained by John Colyn Jope and sailing under a Dutch
letter of marque, delivered
approximately 20 enslaved Africans, from the present-day region of
Angola to
Point Comfort. They had been removed by its crew from a Portuguese
slave ship, the "São João Bautista". These were the first recorded slaves from Africa in the
Thirteen Colonies.
John Rolfe, the widower of
Pocahontas, wrote in a letter that he was at Point Comfort and witnessed the arrival of the first Africans. The
Bantu from Angola were considered
indentured servants, but in effect, were to be slaves. Two of the first Africans to arrive were Anthony and Isabella. Their child, the first of African descent born in North America, was born baptized January 1624.
Post-colonial history In 1813, the fort was captured again by the British as part of the
War of 1812. Shortly after the war ended, the US Army built a more substantial stone facility at Old Point Comfort. It was called
Fort Monroe in honor of President
James Monroe. The new installation and adjacent Fort Calhoun (on a man-made island across the channel) were completed in 1834. Fort Monroe is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States. Fort Monroe, Hampton and the surrounding area played several important roles during the
American Civil War (1861–1865). Although most of Virginia became part of the
Confederate States of America, Fort Monroe remained in
Union hands. It became notable as a historic and symbolic site of early freedom for former
slaves under the provisions of
contraband policies and later the
Emancipation Proclamation. After the War, former Confederate President,
Jefferson Davis was imprisoned in the area now known as the Casemate Museum on the base. To the northwest of Fort Monroe, the Town of Hampton had the misfortune to be attacked during the
American Revolutionary War and burned down during the
British invasion of 1813 and the
American Civil War. From the ruins of Hampton left by evacuating Confederates in 1861,
"Contraband" slaves (formerly owned by Confederates and under a degree of Union protection) built the
Grand Contraband Camp, the first self-contained African American community in the United States. A number of modern-day Hampton streets retain their names from that community. The large number of contraband slaves who sought the refuge of Fort Monroe and the Grand Contraband Camp led to educational efforts which eventually included establishment of
Hampton University, site of the famous
Emancipation Oak. The original site of the Native American's Kecoughtan Settlement was near the present site of a
Hampton Roads Transit facility. To the south of present-day Hampton, a small unrelated
incorporated town also named Kecoughtan many years later and also located in Elizabeth City County was annexed by the
city of Newport News in 1927. It is now part of that city's
East End. Hampton was incorporated as a city in 1849. However, it remained the
county seat and continued to share many services with the county. On July 1, 1952, following approval of voters of each locality by referendum, the city of Hampton, the
incorporated town of
Phoebus and Elizabeth City County merged into the independent city of Hampton. Shortly after, the fort was named a National Monument by President Barack Obama, on November 1.
Langley AFB during the Vietnam War In particular, during the Vietnam War, Langley Air Force Base was a designated 'waiting base' and thousands of Air Force families were transferred to Hampton from all over the world to wait while their husbands and fathers served in Vietnam. Thousands of Navy families associated with Naval bases in Norfolk next door also waited in Hampton during this era. Vietnam was a very high casualty war for Air Force and Navy pilots (some types of planes experienced a 50% casualty rate), and Naval "river rats" who fought on the rivers of the Mekong Delta experienced high casualties as well. There accumulated over time, in the Hampton area, a high concentration of families of unaccounted for wartime casualties. In many cases Hampton-stationed military families of "Missing in Action" or "Prisoner of War" pilots and sailors spent many years in the area waiting to find out what had happened to their missing or captured airmen and sailors. ==Geography==