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Battle of Great Bridge

1775 in Virginia1775 in the Thirteen ColoniesAmerican Revolution on the National Register of Historic PlacesArchaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in VirginiaBattles in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War 1775–1779
Battles involving Great BritainBattles involving the United StatesBattles of the American Revolutionary War in VirginiaConflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in VirginiaConflicts in 1775History of Chesapeake, VirginiaNational Register of Historic Places in Chesapeake, Virginia
BattleOfGreatBridge
BattleOfGreatBridge

The Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, early in the American Revolutionary War. The victory 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. 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".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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Battle of Great Bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Battle of Great Bridge
Royal Oak Drive, Chesapeake Great Bridge

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Latitude Longitude
N 36.719722222222 ° E -76.238611111111 °
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Atlantic Yacht Basin

Royal Oak Drive
23322 Chesapeake, Great Bridge
Virginia, United States
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BattleOfGreatBridge
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Great Bridge, Virginia

Great Bridge is a community located in the independent city of Chesapeake in the U.S. state of Virginia. Its name is derived from the American Revolutionary War Battle of Great Bridge, which took place on December 9, 1775, and resulted in the final removal of British government from the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. The main branch of the Chesapeake Public Library named the Central Library, which itself is located in Great Bridge, displays a 12-pound cannonball, labeled as having been fired at the Battle of Great Bridge. The written histories of the battle are specific in stating that there were only two cannon at the battle, both British "four pounders." Though the battles of Lexington and Concord took place months earlier, and are historically more memorable, the Battle of Great Bridge can be seen as the first strategically important colonial victory over the British, forcing Lord Dunmore's 200 redcoats to evacuate Fort Murray and withdraw to Norfolk. The city hall as well as other major municipal buildings for Chesapeake lie within Great Bridge. Great Bridge was essentially a small town or crossroads until the late 1980s and 1990s, when it experienced significant growth. It contains large residential areas as well as many large shopping centers. Also, Great Bridge was the home of professional baseball players, Michael Cuddyer, David Wright, B.J. Upton, and Justin Upton. Former Virginia Tech, Denver Broncos, and Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Carlton Powell also hails from Great Bridge. Lawrence Johnson, the 2000 Summer Olympics pole vault silver medalist, is also from Great Bridge. Other local notable celebrities include Larry Bergman who in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia won a gold medal in fencing and Thompson Mann, who won a gold medal for swimming in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Chesapeake, Virginia
Chesapeake, Virginia

Chesapeake is an independent city in Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, making it the second-most populous city in Virginia, the tenth largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 90th-most populous city in the United States.Chesapeake is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. One of the cities in the South Hampton Roads, Chesapeake was organized in 1963 by voter referendums approving the political consolidation of the city of South Norfolk with the remnants of the former Norfolk County, which dated to 1691. (Much of the territory of the county had been annexed by other cities.) Chesapeake is the second-largest city by land area in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the 17th-largest in the United States. Chesapeake is a diverse city in which a few urban areas are located; it also has many square miles of protected farmland, forests, and wetlands, including a substantial portion of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Extending from the rural border with North Carolina to the harbor area of Hampton Roads adjacent to the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, Chesapeake is located on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It has miles of waterfront industrial, commercial and residential property. In 2011, Chesapeake was named the 21st best city in the United States by Bloomberg Businessweek. Chesapeake is home to the international headquarters of Dollar Tree.