Editing Fort Monroe (section)

===Colonial period===
{{main | Fort Algernon}}
Arriving with three ships under Captain [[Christopher Newport]], Captain [[John Smith of Jamestown|John Smith]] and the colonists of the [[Virginia Company]] established the settlement of [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] as part of the English [[colony of Virginia]] on the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]] in 1607. On their initial exploration, they recognized the strategic importance of the site at [[Old Point Comfort]] for purposes of coastal defense. They initially built [[Fort Algernon|Fort Algernourne]] (1609–1622) at the location of the present Fort Monroe. It was renamed the Point Comfort Fort in 1612.<ref name=NAFortsHamp1/> It is assumed to have been a triangular stockade, based on the fort at Jamestown. Other small forts known as Fort Henry and Fort Charles were built nearby in 1610 to protect the [[Kecoughtan, Virginia|Kecoughtan]] settlement.<ref name=AFNHamp2>{{cite web |title=Hampton Roads Area - Early Hampton Forts |url=https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/varoads.html#hampton2 |publisher=American Forts Network |access-date=8 August 2020}}</ref> Fort Algernourne fell into disuse after 1622.<ref name=NAFortsHamp1/>

In August 1619, the English-owned and Dutch-flagged [[privateer]] ''[[White Lion (ship)|White Lion]]'' appeared off Old Point Comfort. Her cargo included [[First Africans in Virginia|between 20-30 Africans]] captured from the Portuguese [[slave ship]] ''São João Bautista''. Traded to local English colonists in exchange for work and supplies, they were the first Africans to come ashore in what would become the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and later the U.S. The arrival of these [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] people from [[Angola]] is considered to mark the beginning of [[Slavery in the colonial history of the United States|slavery in colonial America]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5653369/august-1619-jamestown-history/ |title=Where the Landing of the First Africans in English North America Really Fits in the History of Slavery |last=Waxman |first=Olivia B. |date=August 20, 2019 |magazine=Time |access-date=2019-08-25 |language=en}}</ref>

Another fort, known only as "the fort at Old Point Comfort" was constructed in 1632. In 1728, '''Fort George''' was built on the site. Its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wooden buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force from circa 1755 until at least 1775. During the [[American Revolutionary War]], as Franco-American forces approached Yorktown in 1781, British forces established batteries on the ruins of Fort George. Shortly afterward, during the [[siege of Yorktown]], the French West Indian fleet occupied these batteries. Throughout the Colonial period, fortifications were manned at the location from time to time.<ref name=NAFortsHamp1/>