Battle of Great Bridge
| Battle of Great Bridge | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Patriot Regulars and militia | British Regulars and loyalist militia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| William Woodford | Lord Dunmore | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 900 | 1,800 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Americans: 1 officer wounded in thumb | 102 killed/wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Great Bridge was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, which resulted in the end of British Colonial government of the colony.
This battle was responsible for removing Lord Dunmore and any other vestige of English Government for the Colony of Virginia during the early days of the American Revolution. Shortly thereafter, Norfolk, Virginia (at the time a Tory centre) was captured and destroyed. A cannon ball fired from the English ship Lord Dunmore was fleeing Virginia on is incased in the wall of St. Pauls Church in Norfolk. That cannon ball remains on display in its final resting place in the southeast wall of the church.
From E. B. Hanbury's pamphlet on The Battle of Great Bridge:
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 "rebels" (Americans) 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, in growing disfavor, 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 30 November 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."
According to contemporary accounts in the Virginia Gazette, Lord Dunmore, after defeating the opposition at Kemp's Landing (now Kempsville) moved ten miles south to Great Bridge on the South Branch of the Carolinas. Great Bridge was the shipping point to nearby Norfolk of 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.
Col. William Woodford, in charge of the 2nd Virginia Regiment, was gathering forces at Great Bridge of minute men from Fauquier, Augusta and Culpepper 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 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 Lt. Samuel Leslie, who was later captured. Col. Woodard's main group, moving through Great Bridge, received a heavy cannon barrage. It was all over, however, in half an hour's time.
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 Col. Robert Howe were in complete command in Norfolk with 1275 men, and that the Tories and their families had removed themselves to Dunmore's ship, Otter, in the harbor.
Used by permission from E. B. Hanbury's pamphlet on the Battle of Great Bridge