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Battle of Great Bridge
Battle of the American Revolutionary War / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, early in the American Revolutionary War. The refusal by colonial Virginia militia forces led to the departure of Royal Governor Lord Dunmore and any remaining vestiges of British power over the Colony of Virginia during the early days of the conflict.
Battle of Great Bridge | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
![]() Sketch by Lord Rawdon of the battlefield | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
William Woodford |
Samuel Leslie Charles Fordyce † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
861 infantry and militia[1] |
409 infantry, militia, sailors, and grenadiers with 2 artillery pieces[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1 wounded[2] |
62 to 102 British regulars killed or wounded, militia casualties apparently unknown.[3] | ||||||
Great Bridge Battle Site | |||||||
Location | Both sides of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal between Oak Grove and Great Bridge, Chesapeake, Virginia | ||||||
Area | 130 acres (53 ha) | ||||||
Built | 1775 (1775) | ||||||
NRHP reference No. | 73002205[4] | ||||||
VLR No. | 131-0023 | ||||||
Significant dates | |||||||
Added to NRHP | March 28, 1973 | ||||||
Designated VLR | January 5, 1971[5] |
Following increasing political and military tensions in early 1775, both Dunmore and colonial rebel leaders recruited troops and engaged in a struggle for available military supplies. The struggle eventually focused on Norfolk, where Dunmore had taken refuge aboard a Royal Navy vessel. Dunmore's forces had fortified one side of a critical river crossing south of Norfolk at Great Bridge, while rebel forces had occupied the other side. In an attempt to break up the rebel gathering, Dunmore ordered an attack across the bridge, which was decisively repulsed. Colonel William Woodford, the Virginia militia commander at the battle, described it as "a second Bunker's Hill affair".[2]
Shortly thereafter, Norfolk, at the time a Loyalist center, was abandoned by Dunmore and the Tories, who fled to navy ships in the harbor. Rebel-occupied Norfolk was destroyed on January 1, 1776 in an action begun by Dunmore and completed by rebel forces.