Editing Hampton, Virginia (section)

==History==
{{For timeline}}
Indigenous Americans settled in present-day Hampton before 10,000 BCE. In the early 1600s, the [[Tidewater region]] was populated by the [[Powhatan|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.<ref name="nps-powhatan">{{cite web |last1=Stebbins |first1=Sarah J. |title=Chronology of Powhatan Indian Activity - Historic Jamestowne |url=https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/chronology-of-powhatan-indian-activity.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=September 12, 2021 |language=en |date=April 2012 |archive-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604045715/https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/chronology-of-powhatan-indian-activity.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Powhatan {{!}} North American Indian confederacy |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Powhatan-North-American-Indian-confederacy |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=September 12, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907113407/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Powhatan-North-American-Indian-confederacy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hedgpeth |first1=Dana |title=Powhatan and his people: The 15,000 American Indians shoved aside by Jamestown's settlers |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/03/powhatan-his-people-american-indians-that-jamestowns-settlers-shoved-aside/ |access-date=September 12, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 3, 2019 |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303092052/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/03/powhatan-his-people-american-indians-that-jamestowns-settlers-shoved-aside/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===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 River (Virginia)|Elizabeth]], [[Nansemond River|Nansemond]], and [[James River|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 about {{convert|25|mi|km}} 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 Americans of the United States|Native American]] community of [[Kecoughtan, Virginia|Kecoughtan]] under Virginia's Governor, Sir [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Thomas Gates]]. The colonists established their own small town, with a small Anglican church [[St. John's Episcopal Church (Hampton, Virginia)|(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.)<ref name="tormey">{{cite book |last=Tormey |first=James |title=How Firm a Foundation |publisher=Diets Press |location=Richmond, Virginia |page=184 |date=April 2009 |isbn=978-0-87517-135-7 }}</ref> 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, Virginia|Southampton County]] were also named. The area became part of [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]] {{sic}} in 1619, [[Elizabeth River Shire]] in 1634, and was included in [[Elizabeth City County, Virginia|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 (ship)|White Lion]]'', a [[privateer]] captained by [[John Colyn Jope]] and sailing under a Dutch [[letter of marque]], delivered [[First Africans in Virginia|approximately 20 enslaved Africans]], from the present-day region of [[Angola]] to [[Old Point Comfort|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]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2019/07-08/virginia-first-africans-transatlantic-slave-trade/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221100018/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2019/07-08/virginia-first-africans-transatlantic-slave-trade/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 21, 2019 |title=400 years ago, enslaved Africans first arrived in Virginia |date=August 13, 2019 |website=History Magazine }}</ref><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 |magazine=Time |access-date=August 25, 2019 |archive-date=August 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825070734/https://time.com/5653369/august-1619-jamestown-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[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 people|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.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

===Post-colonial history===
In 1813, the fort was captured again by the British as part of the [[War of 1812]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Virginia: a Guide to the Old Dominion |publisher=Oxford University Press |author=Federal Writers' Project |author-link=Federal Writers' Project |date=1941 |series=[[American Guide Series]] |chapter=Hampton |pages=227+ }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://fortmonroe.org/about/fort-monroe/history/ |website=Fort Monroe Authority |date=February 4, 2013 |access-date=July 13, 2020 |archive-date=July 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714013529/https://fortmonroe.org/about/fort-monroe/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 (American Civil War)|Union]] hands. It became notable as a historic and symbolic site of early freedom for former [[slavery|slaves]] under the provisions of [[Contraband (American Civil War)|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.

[[File:Ruins of Hampton, 1862.jpg|thumb|right|The ruins of Hampton in 1862]]
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 War of 1812 and the [[American Civil War]]. From the ruins of Hampton left by evacuating Confederates in 1861, [[contraband (American Civil War)|"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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wm.edu/wmcar/pentran.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827231003/http://www.wm.edu/wmcar/pentran.html |url-status=dead |title=WMCAR - Historic Kecoughtan<!-- Bot generated title --> |archive-date=August 27, 2006 }}</ref> 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 [[Newport News, Virginia|city of Newport News]] in 1927. It is now part of that city's [[East End (Newport News)|East End]].

Hampton was incorporated as a city in 1849.<ref name="hhistory"/> On March 30, 1908, Hampton was separated from Elizabeth City County and became an independent city.<ref name="historical-county.newberry.org">{{cite web |url=http://historical-county.newberry.org/website/Virginia/documents/VA_Consolidated_Chronology.htm#Consolidated_Chronology |title=Consolidated Chronology of State and County Boundaries |website=historical-county.newberry.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727104100/http://historical-county.newberry.org/website/Virginia/documents/VA_Consolidated_Chronology.htm |archive-date=July 27, 2009 }}</ref> 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, Virginia|Phoebus]] and Elizabeth City County merged into the independent city of Hampton.<ref name="historical-county.newberry.org"/> It was the first of a series of political consolidations in the [[Hampton Roads]] region during the third quarter of the 20th century.

===Modern military history===
Hampton has a rich and extensive 20th-century military history – home of Langley Air Force Base, the nation's first military installation dedicated solely to air power and the home of the U.S. Air Force's 633rd Air Base Wing and 1st and 192nd Fighter Wings. Hampton has been a center of military aviation training, research and development for nearly a hundred years, from early prop planes and Zeppelins to rocket parts and advanced fighters. Its proximity to Norfolk means that Hampton has long been home to many Navy families. Together, many Air Force and Navy families in the Hampton area experienced significant losses in war and peacetime due to family members in combat and peacetime military accidents.

Fort Monroe was an active army base until its decommissioning on September 15, 2011.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Macaulay |first1=David |title=Fort Monroe stands down after 188 years of Army service |url=https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20110915-2011-09-15-dp-nws-monroe-deactivation-20110915-story.html |access-date=July 13, 2020 |work=dailypress.com |publisher=The Daily Press |date=September 15, 2011 |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022233416/https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20110915-2011-09-15-dp-nws-monroe-deactivation-20110915-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Shortly after, the fort was named a National Monument by President Barack Obama, on November 1.<ref>{{cite web |title=Presidential Proclamation &ndash; Establishment of the Fort Monroe National Monument |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/01/presidential-proclamation-establishment-fort-monroe-national-monument |website=whitehouse.gov |access-date=July 13, 2020 |language=en |date=November 1, 2011 |archive-date=October 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018022703/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/01/presidential-proclamation-establishment-fort-monroe-national-monument |url-status=live }}</ref>

====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.<ref name="Jose, Carol; 2008">Jose, Carol, ''You Are Not Forgotten: A Family's Quest for Truth and the Founding of the National League of Families'', New York Vandamere Press; first edition (September 1, 2008). (US), 2008. {{ISBN|0-918339-71-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-918339-71-3}}.</ref> 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.<ref name="Jose, Carol; 2008" /><ref name="CSPAN video">Video of [[C-SPAN]] special segment, author Carol Jose speaks about book ''You Are Not Forgotten'' on the National League of Families, http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/282539-1 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512000018/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/282539-1 |date=May 12, 2011 }}</ref>