Obverse:
After damaging British coastal attacks during the War of 1812, Pres. James Madison recognized the need to improve the nation's coastal defense and naval power. In 1816, Congress created the Board of Engineers for Fortifications and in 1818, former Napoleon aide Gen. Simon Bernard became its chief. Bernard planned a series of masonry fortifications, later known as the Third System, to defend every major U.S. harbor. Fort Monroe was the first of these forts to be constructed, beginning in 1819. Named for Pres. James Monroe, it protected the entrance to Hampton Roads and the forerunner of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the Gosport Navy Yard.
Reverse:
Impressment of Americans into British service and the violation of American ships were among the causes of America's War of 1812 with the British, which lasted until 1815. Beginning in 1813, Virginians suffered from a British naval blockade of the Chesapeake Bay and from British troops plundering the countryside by the Bay, and along the James, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers. The Virginia militia deflected a British attempt to take Norfolk in 1813 and engaged British forces throughout the war. By the end of the war, more than 2000 enslaved African Americans in Virginia had gained their freedom aboard British ships.