On Dec. 9, 1775, 250 years ago today, a battle occurred.
A battle so frightening that it led to the exodus of the governor of Virginia.
A battle so consequential that it was described by Colonel William Woodford, leader of the patriot forces at the battle, as a “second Bunker Hill’s affair, in miniature.”
A battle so preeminent that even George Washington recognized it so.
That battle is now known as the Battle of Great Bridge, which took place just 19 miles west of Ocean Lakes.
A brief history
The Battle of Great Bridge began after John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia at the time, seized gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg, sending Virginia into chaos. Militia groups descended on Williamsburg as Dunmore and his men fled northeast to his hunting lodge.
Following this debacle, Dunmore soon left for Norfolk where he raised an army including the Ethiopian Regiment, an all-black regiment composed of escaped slaves and freed slaves as well as indentured servants. The establishment followed Dunmore’s Declaration in November which emancipated slaves if their owners were patriots.
In November of 1775, the Americans in southeastern Virginia grew demoralized after the Battle of Kemp’s Landing in the modern-day Kempsville area on the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, which was a British victory. This put the revolutionaries in dire need of assistance.
Luckily, earlier in November, the Committee of Safety, an acting body of the Third Virginia Convention, had voted to send the 2nd Virginia Regiment to Norfolk.
By December, the 2nd Virginia Regiment had reached Great Bridge and stalked British troops from the other side of the bridge. By this point, the British had created a temporary stockade called Fort Murray (after the governor).
On the morning of Dec. 9, 1775, British forces under Captain Charles Fordice advanced over the bridge. The combination of a tight bridge and open river allowed for the Americans to shoot volley after volley into the British, resulting in defeat of the British and the death of Fordice all in just one hour.
Following the chaotic battle, Dunmore left for a boat in Norfolk harbor and later burned Norfolk to the ground. Then, he escaped north to Gwynn’s Island and, by August, to New York.
Significance
The Battle of Great Bridge is, without a doubt, one of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War and, by extension, one of the most important in the modern state of Virginia.
George Washington even made note of the importance of the Battle of Great Bridge, but the battle still continues to go unnoticed in the eyes of many.
One local historian, the late Elizabeth Wingo, told the Virginian Pilot in 1995 that the battle saved southern Virginia from British rule. Another, Alf J. Mapp Jr., also made note of its importance relative to how many people actually know of it.
The battle directly led to both Lord Dunmore fleeing the Colony of Virginia and the Fourth Virginia Convention first declaring it would act against despotism.
This “despotism” referred to in the grievance was in direct conviction of that of King George III, showing that, on the more intercolonial level, people were starting to want a more indefinite change to the powers of a foreign government after the earlier conflicts in Massachusetts and the northeast in 1775.
On a different note, the battle was also the first patriot victory of the southern theatre in the American Revolution, showing that the patriots were, in fact, just as competent as those in the northeast and as the British. The victory is often called major because of the large number of British casualties (over 100) compared to just a single man wounded on the patriot side.
Not acknowledged yet are also the gross implications that the fleeing of Lord Dunmore had on the war. Dunmore was the first colonial governor to flee, showing the little control that Virginia had over their residents at this time in particular. The flight set a precedent that other colonial governors would soon follow.
Many people in Hampton Roads believe that our area is of little historical significance, thinking instead that most of our American history can be found in Northern Virginia and Williamsburg. But sometimes, a place in Hampton Roads stands out, such as Great Bridge in Chesapeake, and should be recognized for its importance on both the local level and national level.
