Battle of great bridge 20213/16/2023 ![]() ![]() 2įor almost the next three years, there were no British forces in Virginia. HMS Fowey and the rest of the British fleet sailed out of the Chesapeake Bay in August, 1776. Maryland militia slipped onto the island and destroyed the well, along with some of his water casks. George's Island, in Maryland at the mouth of the Potomac River. The Virginians attacked it on July 9, 1776, and the British sailed away. Governor Dunmore then established a base at Gwynn's Island. Source: Library of Virginia, The Uncommonwealth blog, Two Revolutionary War Petitions (March 9, 2022) His attempt to destroy the city succeeded because the Virginians chose to let the fires spread, preventing the British from returning and re-establishing a military base there.Ī civilian wounded in the Janubombardment of Norfolk petitioned the General Assembly for aid in October, 1776 Dunmore had Norfolk shelled on January 1, 1776. Dunmore created a base of operations at Norfolk after he fled Williamsburg, but the British lost control of the city after being defeated in batttle at the Great Bridge crossing over the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. Governor Dunmore issued a proclamation in 1775 offering freedom to black men who would fight for the British, and formed the Ethiopian Regiment with 800-2,000 formerly enslaved Virginians.ĭunmore's strategy failed in part because the Loyalists were threatened seriously by rebels who lived nearby. Their absence from Virginia plantations would reduce the ability of the rebellious Americans to labor needed to construct fortifications, or to produce food and supplies needed by the Virginia militia. He also sought to weaken the patriots by recruiting their enslaved men to flee to the British lines. He sought to spark civil war among the colonists, with the hope that the Loyalists would fight the rebels and allow him to reoccupy the Governor's Palace. Lord Dunmore fled the Governor's Palace and reached safety on the H.M.S. Patrick Henry led militia on an unauthorized march to the capital city violence was avoided by a face-saving compromise when the royal Receiver General paid for the value of the gunpowder. Local residents quickly discovered what was happening, but the sailors and marines had time to load 15 of the 18 half-barrels into a wagon and return safely to the Magdalen. The governor also claimed he was ensuring a slave insurrection could not use the gunpowder, but the colonists recognized he was disarming them. The Magazine in Williamsburg stored gunpowder, which Lord Dunmore removed in April 1775 against the Government, which they have now entirely overturned, and particularly their having come to a resolution of raising a body of armed Men in all the counties, made me think it prudent to remove some Gunpowder which was in a Magazine in this place, where it lay exposed to any attempt that might be made to seize it, and I have reason to believe the people intended to take that step. He justified his seizure of the colony's gunpowder by referencing the rebellious activities of the Virginians, particularly because: 1 Governor Dunmore knew that illegal, illegitimate militias were being formed by radicals such as Patrick Henry. They walked four miles to Williamsburg, opened the locked gates of the magazine using keys provided by Lord Dunmore, and started to remove the half-barrels of gunpowder weighing 65 pounds each. He had 20 sailors and marines from the schooner Magdalen land at Burwell's Ferry, near the modern Kingsmill Resort. Dunmore took advantage of the opportunity. Local residents had appointed guards to watch the brick "magazine" in Williamsburg where the colony's muskets and gunpowder were stored, but on the very windy night of Apthey abandoned their posts. Governor Dunmore led the official British forces in Virginia at the start of the American Revolution. Source: National Park Service, Sidney King Painting The Revolutionary War in Virginia The Revolutionary War in Virginia
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