volunteer regiments from New York soon followed. On May 14, 1861, while Col. Dimick was still in command of the garrison, he seized a well just outside the fort in what was then Elizabeth City County because the fort did not have enough water even for its original small garrison. His forces also occupied the Mill Creek Bridge, which was needed for access to the Peninsula from the fort and the nearby Clark farm. The fort soon could not hold all of the arriving reinforcements so Union forces established Camp Troy, soon renamed Camp Hamilton in honor of an aide to General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, on the Segar farm on the Hampton side of Mill Creek, within range of the guns of Fort Monroe. Butler takes command, expands Union bridgehead While Col. Dimick remained in command of the 415 regular army soldiers, Volunteer Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts took command of Fort Monroe and the entire garrison on May 23, 1861. With continuing reinforcements, Butler could not only retain the Union hold on Fort Monroe but support the Union blockade of Chesapeake Bay, move up the Peninsula and threaten to retake Norfolk, Virginia, and other locations on the south side of Hampton Roads from the Confederates. On May 27, 1861, Gen. Butler sent a force north to occupy the lightly defended adjacent town of Newport News at Newport News Point, an excellent anchorage for the Union Navy. This force established and significantly fortified Camp Butler and a battery at Newport News Point that could cover the entrance to the James River ship canal and the mouth of the Nansemond River. By May 29 Butler's force, which included the 1st Vermont Infantry, Col. John A. Bendix's 7th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (a regiment of German speakers), the 4th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Scott's Life Guards and a detachment of U.S. Regulars to man artillery, completed the mission. On June 8, 1861, the camp, which was commanded by Col. Phelps of the 1st Vermont Infantry, also was reinforced by the 9th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Hawkin's Zouaves). Butler also further occupied and expanded Camp Hamilton, started by Col. Dimick in the equally lightly defended, adjacent town of Hampton, just beyond the confines of the fort and within the range of its guns. After Col. Abram Duryee of the 5th New York Infantry commanded Camp Hamilton for a week, on