December 9, 1775
In April of 1775, an increasingly wary Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia, raided the Williamsburg magazine and seized all of the gunpowder. The anger of the local populace caused Dunmore to repair with his family to a British ship. By mid-May, tempers had subsided sufficiently that Dunmore returned his family to the palace. Within two weeks, he again feared for their safety and sent his family to England in the face of the rising revolution in Virginia. Dunmore considered that a state of near anarchy was extant in Williamsburg and after brief forays into Yorktown and Hampton, finally raised his standard in Norfolk in early autumn of 1775. Norfolk was considered a "nest of Tories" but Dunmore found it necessary to declare martial law in the new seat of ministerial power for the Old Dominion. His troops began a series of outrages against the people of lower Tidewater. Raids were conducted against local arsenals and weapons were confiscated. The local press was shut down when it became critical of the Governor. The plunder of Norfolk and Princess Anne Counties by British troops aroused such anger with the citizenry that the intimidated Lord Dunmore established his residence and headquarters on British ships anchored in the harbor. A Virginia Gazette article in September pleased the patriot readers in reporting that when a hurricane swept through Norfolk, Lord Dunmore tumbled into the water but was rescued. The editor opined that "those who are born to be h___d, will never be drowned."
Great Bridge, nine miles south of Norfolk where the Carolina Road bridges the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, was the only land access to Norfolk and, as such, became the focus of Dunmore's defense strategy. In November, Dunmore directed that a fort with breastworks be constructed and manned at the northern end of the long bridge, or great bridge, to secure Norfolk from approach by land. The patriots, under the direction of Colonel William Woodford, had erected a breastwork or redoubt across the road some 500 yards south of the bridge beyond another smaller bridge. Barricades were also thrown up on the southern shore of the river on the western flank of the patriot breastwork.
The shabby British fort, christened Fort Murray for Lord Dunmore who was John Murray, was hastily built on the edge of a marsh and immediately dubbed the "hogpen" by patriot observers. Tories in Norfolk were armed, indentured persons released for service and runaway slaves granted freedom in exchange for enlistment in Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. The number of patriot forces grew as units from all over Virginia moved toward Great Bridge. An alarmed Dunmore strengthened his presence at the fort and in adjacent areas along the Elizabeth River. Woodford, considered overly cautious by his officers, declined their advice to move across the bridge against the British. He was mindful of the field pieces that were trained on the open area leading to the bridge that the "shirtmen" (patriots) would have to cross to attack the fort. The British were unsure of the patriot strength and confined their probing and skirmishes to adjacent sites. The stalemate was broken when Lord Dunmore acted on false information about patriot strength and ordered an attack across the bridge. One of the units recently arrived at Great Bridge was the Culpeper Regiment under Major Thomas Marshall. His son, John, the future Chief Justice of the United States was also there with the Regiment. Col. Woodford later reported that Major Marshall's black manservant had, by design, deserted to volunteer for loyal service in order to inform the British that only 300 shirtmen were then present at the bridge but great numbers were expected soon from North Carolina. The number of patriots at Great Bridge is difficult to ascertain., but it was recorded that at the patriot breastwork during the battle, forces under the command of Lt. Travis numbered "70 or 80." A force of up to 900 men may have been present, but the short engagement precluded the participation of all as they were encamped over 400 yards away.
The Battle
Early in the morning of December 911, as the Virginians had beaten reveille, British Captain Fordyce led a force of sixty grenadiers and a corps of regulars across the bridge. With two cannons that had been brought onto the island, Fordyce pushed toward the patriot redoubt. Patriot Lieutenant Travis ordered his men to hold fire until the British force of some 120 men was within fifty yards. Without response, the British believed that the redoubt was abandoned and Lt. Fordyce, with a wave of his hat, shouted "the day is our own." and rushed toward the redoubt. As Fordyce and his troops drew close to the patriot position, some eighty patriots rose up, took sure aim, and delivered a devastating volley at the approaching troops. Fordyce fell with fourteen bullets only fifteen steps from the breastwork. Numerous British fell and the remainder retreated in confusion. British field pieces at the bridge continued to fire but reinforcements of the patriot breastwork and crossfire from the flanking patriot positions discouraged any further advances by the British. In some twenty-five minutes, Dunmore's attempt to quash patriot buildup near Norfolk was emphatically turned back.
Following a "truce'' to permit the British to remove wounded and killed from the island, the loyal forces sneaked out in the night to return to the ships at Norfolk. Several wounded British were treated by the patriots and Lt. Charles Fordyce was buried with full military honors by the patriots near the site of the battle. Casualty estimates ranged from Dunmore's "official" sixty-two killed or wounded to an escaped patriot's report that the British losses totaled 102. A single patriot casualty was a slight wound to the thumb.
The Battle of Great Bridge was short but decisive. One of his own troops recorded that "His Lordship has much to answer for - besides sacrificing a handful of brave men. he has ruined every Friend of Government in this Colony & done the Cause much Disservice." A young British officer described the battle as *"an absurd, ridiculous and unnecessary attack., and extravagant folly." After a series of skirmishes between loyalist and patriot forces, Dunmore realized that he could not hold Norfolk. On January 1, 1776, he elected to withdraw from his refuge at Norfolk, but not before shelling the town that had been, at one time, a bastion of loyalty. Many of the loyalists left with Dunmore, but many remained amidst the ruins of the city. After five months aboard the ships of the British fleet in coastal waters attempting to maintain a presence in the colony he governed, Lord Dunmore and his entourage, finally, in the summer of 1776, fled northward to New York and thence to England.
The Battle of Great Bridge was the beginning of the end for the British in the Old Dominion. Some have mistakenly labeled it as the *"Bunker Hill of the South." It would be more appropriately named the "Concord of the South."