Editing Jamestown, Virginia (section)

===American Civil War===
During the [[American Civil War]], in 1861 [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[William (Orgain) Allen|William Allen]], who owned the Jamestown Island, occupied Jamestown with troops he raised at his own expense with the intention of blockading the James River and [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] from the Union Navy.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" /> He was joined by Lieutenant [[Catesby ap Roger Jones]], who directed the building of batteries and conducted ordnance and armor tests for the first Confederate [[ironclad warship]], [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']], which was under construction at the [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Gosport Naval Shipyard]] in [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]] in late 1861 and early 1862.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" /> Jamestown had a peak force of 1,200 men.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" />

During the [[Peninsula campaign]], which began later that spring, Union forces under General [[George B. McClellan]] moved up the peninsula from [[Fort Monroe]] in an attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" /> The Union forces captured [[Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown]] in April 1862, and the [[Battle of Williamsburg]] was fought the following month.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" /> With these developments, Jamestown and the lower James River were abandoned by the Confederates.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" /> Some of the forces from Jamestown and the crew of ''Virginia'' relocated to [[Drewry's Bluff]], a fortified and strategic position high above the river about {{convert|8|mi|km}} below Richmond. There they successfully blocked the Union Navy from reaching the Confederate capital.

Once in Federal hands, Jamestown became a meeting place for runaway slaves, who burned the Ambler house, an 18th-century plantation house, which along with the old church was one of the few remaining signs of old Jamestown.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" /> When Allen sent men to assess the damage in late 1862, they were killed by the former slaves.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War">{{cite web|last=Riggs|first=David F.|title=Jamestown During the Civil War|url=http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/jamestown-during-the-civil-war.htm|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 4, 2014|date=April 12, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131003303/http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/jamestown-during-the-civil-war.htm|archive-date=January 31, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the Confederate surrender at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Courthouse]], the oath of allegiance was administered to former Confederate soldiers at Jamestown.<ref name="COLO NPS Civil War" />