The decisive colonial victory at Great Bridge ended British royal authority over Virginia in the early American Revolutionary War.
Key Facts
- Date
- December 9, 1775
- Location
- Great Bridge, Virginia
- Virginia militia commander
- Colonel William Woodford
- British commander
- Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia
- Woodford's comparison
- Called it 'a second Bunker's Hill affair'
- Aftermath
- Norfolk abandoned by Dunmore; destroyed January 1, 1776
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Rising political and military tensions in 1775 prompted both Royal Governor Lord Dunmore and colonial rebel leaders to recruit troops and compete for military supplies. Dunmore eventually took refuge aboard a Royal Navy vessel in Norfolk harbor, while his forces fortified one side of a key river crossing at Great Bridge and colonial militia occupied the opposite side.
On December 9, 1775, Dunmore ordered his forces to attack across the bridge at Great Bridge in an attempt to disperse the rebel gathering. The assault was decisively repulsed by Virginia militia under Colonel William Woodford, effectively eliminating British military presence in Virginia.
Following the defeat, Dunmore and remaining Loyalists abandoned Norfolk and retreated to Royal Navy ships in the harbor, ending British royal authority over Virginia. Norfolk, then a Loyalist stronghold, was subsequently destroyed on January 1, 1776 in an action initiated by Dunmore's naval bombardment and completed by insurgent forces.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Colonel William Woodford.
Side B
1 belligerent
Lord Dunmore (Royal Governor).