Existing comment:
Port Royal
Union Supply Depot
Port Royal possessed the finest harbor on the middle reaches of the Rappahannock River. Although the town's permanent wharf had been destroyed by Union gunboats before the Battle of Fredericksburg, the excellent harbor made Port Royal an obvious choice for a supply depot when the Army of the Potomac moved south after ther Battle of the Wilderness. On May 20, 1864, Brigadier General John J. Abercrombie, then commanding the Union supply base at Belle Plain on the Potomac River north of Fredericksburg, was ordered to abandon Belle Plain and relocate to Port Royal. General Abercrombie established his headquarters at Riverview, a waterfront home in the town, and the Army Corps of Engineers constructed a floating wharf on pontoons. The Port Royal harbor was soon choked with ships bringing in supplies and evacuating wounded troops. This frantic activity lasted only two weeks, until the establishment of a new base on the North Anna River closer to Richmond. Residents of the area were actually sorry to see General Abercrombie and his staff depart, because the general had earned the gratitude of property owners by providing guards to help protect their property from marauders, both Union soldiers and Confederate deserters. |