Battle Of Great Bridge

The Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Chesapeake, Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War.

The victory by the Continental Army was responsible for removing Lord Dunmore and any other vestige of British Government for the Colony of Virginia during the early days of the Revolution. Shortly thereafter, Norfolk, (at the time a Tory center) was captured and destroyed, cementing Continental hold on Virginia.

According to contemporary accounts in the Virginia Gazette, Lord Dunmore, after defeating the opposition at Kemp's Landing (now Kempsville) moved 10 miles (16 km) south to Great Bridge on the South Branch of the Elizabeth River. Great Bridge was the shipping point to nearby Norfolk for 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 covered the narrow causeway bridge approaches with two twelve-pound cannons.