Abraham Eustis (March 26, 1786 – June 27, 1843) was a lawyer and notable

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

officer, eventually rising to become a Brevet

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

. He saw service in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and became a notable

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

specialist and the first commander of

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

, located at the entrance to the harbor of Hampton Roads in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. In Florida,

Lake Eustis Lake Eustis is located in Central Florida, west of the city of Eustis. It covers approximately . It is spring fed and is a member of the Harris Chain of Lakes, and is connected to Lake Harris by means of the Dead River. It is also connected ...

and the city of Eustis were each named in his honor. Camp Abraham Eustis, a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

-era U.S. Army base along the James River, was named for him. Later renamed Fort Eustis and now located in the independent city of Newport News, Virginia, it is part of an expanded and active facility, Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

Biography

Eustis was born in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

. He was the son of Abraham Eustis (1757-1786) and Margaret (Parker) Eustis (1762-1841) and the nephew of William Eustis, who served as

secretary of war The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

from 1809 to 1812. Eustis earned the degrees of A.B. from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1804 and A.M. from Bowdoin College two years later. He joined the army in May 1808 and served during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, the Black Hawk War (1832), and the

Seminole Wars The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...

. In 1830, Eustis became the first commander of

, which guards the entrance to Hampton Roads at

Old Point Comfort Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. Previously known as Point Comfort, it lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States. It was renamed ...

in southeastern Virginia. There for many years, he commanded the school for Artillery Practice. In May 1838, Eustis took command of Fort Butler, one of the main military posts built for the forced removal of the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

known as the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

. Nearly 5,000 Cherokee of North Carolina and Georgia were taken to Fort Butler, then to the main internment camp at

Fort Cass Fort Cass was a fort located on the Hiwassee River in present-day Charleston, Tennessee, that served as the military operational headquarters for the entire Cherokee removal, an forced migration of the Cherokee known as the Trail of Tears from the ...

. The troops stationed at Fort Butler were those of Eustis's command from the Second Seminole War in Florida. He was the father of Brigadier General Henry L. Eustis. Eustis died at

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, while in command of the 6th U.S. Military District, which was headquartered there at the time. He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

Fort Eustis

Fort Eustis was originally known as Camp Abraham Eustis when it was established during

on historic Mulberry Island and an adjacent portion of the mainland along the James River in Warwick County, upstream from

Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

. It became Fort Eustis and a permanent Army base in 1923. Fort Eustis is now located within the corporate limits of the

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

(which merged with the former Warwick County in 1958). An Army Aviation School is also located there. The James River Reserve Fleet of decommissioned vessels, known locally as the "Dead Fleet" is located in the river offshore. With the base closure of Fort Monroe in nearby

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

, a portion of the work there has shifted to Fort Eustis.

Notes and references

* Duncan, Barbara R. and Riggs, Brett H. Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill (2003).

External links

Fort Eustis official website

Fort Eustis history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eustis, Abraham 1786 births 1843 deaths United States Army officers United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Harvard College alumni Bowdoin College alumni People from Petersburg, Virginia Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery American people of the Black Hawk War American people of the Seminole Wars Military personnel from Virginia