Battle of Great Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War. The victory by the Continental Army was responsible for removing Lord Dunmore and any other vestige of English Government for the Colony of Virginia during the early days of the Revolution. Shortly thereafter, Norfolk, (at the time a Tory center) was captured and destroyed, cementing Continental hold on Virginia.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Background
The complete defeat of the British in the Virginia Colony at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775, seven months before the Declaration of Independence, was at the time called the Second Battle of Bunker Hill. It resulted in the capture of Norfolk by the Patriots and the bombardment and complete destruction of Norfolk three weeks later on January 1, 1776. It ended the rule of the British Crown in Virginia.
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, colonial governor of Virginia, had retreated from Williamsburg, but Norfolk was considered a "nest of Tories", and Dunmore thought he was making headway against the rebellion by pillaging the plantations of patriots, winning slaves over to his side and seizing printing presses. With just one more regiment and a few more battalions, he wrote on the November 30, 1775, "I really believe we should reduce this colony to a proper sense of their duty."
On the other side General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, urged that Dunmore "should be instantly crushed" lest his forces grow. He wrote the president of the Continental Congress from New England: "I do not mean to dictate, I am sure they will pardon me from freely giving them my opinion, which is, that the fate of America a good deal depends on his being obligated to evacuate Norfolk this winter or not."
[edit] Battle
According to contemporary accounts in the Virginia Gazette, Lord Dunmore, after defeating the opposition at Kemp's Landing (now Kempsville) moved ten miles (16 km) south to Great Bridge on the South Branch of the Elizabeth River. Great Bridge was the shipping point to nearby Norfolk for shingles, tar potash and turpentine from the Carolinas. Finding resistance increasing, he built a stockade on the north (Norfolk) side, removed the bridge planking, destroyed five or six houses on the opposite shore and fortified the narrow causeway bridge approaches with two twelve pound cannons.
Colonel William Woodford, in charge of the 2nd Virginia Regiment, was gathering forces at Great Bridge of minutemen from Fauquier, Augusta and Culpeper Counties, in the western part of the Colony as well as volunteers from Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties. Woodford reported two hundred fifty Carolina men arriving under Colonel Vail "composed of regulars, minute men, militia and volunteers..." The Virginia Gazette reported "150 gentlemen volunteers had marched to Virginia from North Carolina on hearing of Lord Dunmore's insolences and outrages."
Dunmore, misinformed of the strength of the opposition, sent sailors from the Otter at Norfolk, "plus some sixty townsmen" on a surprise attack on Great Bridge. In the early morning hours the column came within fifteen steps of the American forces before falling mortally wounded. Lieutenant Travis, in command of the American advanced breastworks, had ordered his handful of twenty five men to reserve their fire until the enemy came within fifty yards. The staggered British were rallied under Lieutenant Samuel Leslie, who was later captured. Woodard's main group, moving through Great Bridge, received a heavy cannon barrage. It was all over, however, in half an hour's time.
[edit] Aftermath
Royal authority in the Virginia Colony was at an end. It was a complete rout. The loss of men to the British was reported as one hundred two killed or wounded, and only eleven of Fordyce's grenadiers survived. Only one American was injured.
The British retreated to Norfolk. By the time George Washington had written the Continental Congress from New England, Colonel Woodford was able to report to Edmund Pendleton, president of the Convention at Williamsburg, that he and Colonel Robert Howe were in complete command in Norfolk with 1,275 men, and that the Tories and their families had removed themselves to Dunmore's ship, Otter, in the harbor.
[edit] Notes
Text used by permission from E. B. Hanbury's pamphlet on the Battle of Great Bridge
- ^ A cannonball fired from the English ship being used by Lord Dunmore to flee Virginia remains encased in the southeast wall of St. Paul's Church in Norfolk.
