Landing of Wool and Surrender of Norfolk

On 6 May 1862, shortly after Union forces began to pursue the Confederates up the Peninsula toward Richmond, Pres. Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase arrived at nearby Fort Monroe. In an operation planned in part by Lincoln, about 5,000 soldiers under Maj. Gen. John E. Wool landed near here on 10 May and marched to Norfolk, where Mayor William W. Lamb surrendered the city to Wool that afternoon. Confederate troops had evacuated, damaging public property as they departed. The CSS Virginia, now lacking a port and too heavy to move up the James River, was scuttled by its crew on 11 May, opening the river to Union vessels.