Fortifications at the Great Bridge. Attack on the American Redoubt. Death of Capt. Fordyce. Stratagem of Maj. Marshall. Apprised of the movement of Woodford, and the point from whence he might expect the approach of the Virginians, Dunmore resolved to fortify the passage of the Elizabeth River at Great Bridge. His force consisting of only about two hundred regulars, and a corps of Norfolk volunteer Loyalists, he beat up for recruits among the negroes and the vilest portion of society. He cast up breast-works upon the island, on the Norfolk side of the Great Bridge, and furnished them amply with cannons. This presented a serious obstacle to the Virginians, who could approach the batteries only upon a narrow causeway. With a motley force of regulars and volunteers, negroes and vagrants, in number about six hundred, Dunmore garrisoned his fortress. The Virginians constructed a small fortification, of semicircular form, near the western end of the causeway, the remains of which were yet quite visible when I visited the spot. a From the breast-work a street ascended about four ■ December, hundred yards to a church, where the main body of the patriots were encamped. 1848. b 1775. On Saturday morning, the ninth of December,b before daylight, Dunmore, who remained at Norfolk, ordered Captains Leslie and Fordyce to attack the redoubt of the patriots. He had been informed that they were few in number, and weak in skill and experience; he, therefore, felt certain of success.' When the Virginians had beaten the reveille, Captain Fordyce, with about sixty grenadiers and a corps of regulars, was ordered to the attack. After firing one or two cannons and some musketry, he pressed forward, crossed the Great Bridge, burned the houses and some shingles upon the island, on which the tide-mill now stands, and made an attack upon the guards in the breast-work. The fire of the enemy was returned, and the assailants were thrown into confusion. Fordyce rallied them, and having brought two pieces of cannon over the bridge, and placed them on the island in such a position as to command the breast-work, led his men (about one hundred and twenty in number) steadily across the causeway, keeping up a constant and heavy fire as they approached Woodford's redoubt. Lieutenant Travis, who commanded in the redoubt, ordered his men to reserve their fire until the enemy came within fifty yards, and then, with sure aim, pour volley after volley upon the assailants as rapidly as possible. lieving the redoubt to be deserted, Fordyce waved his hat over his head, shouted "The day is our own!" and rushed forward toward the breast-work. The order of Lieutenant Travis was obeyed with terrible effect. His men, about ninety in number, rose to their feet and discharged a full volley upon the enemy. The gallant Captain Fordyce, who was marked by the riflemen, fell, pierced by fourteen bullets, within fifteen steps of the breast-works. His followers, greatly terrified, retreated in confusion across the causeway, and were dreadfully galled in their rear. Be Captain Leslie, who, with about two hundred and thirty negroes and Tories, had remained upon the island at the west end of the bridge, now rallied the regulars, and kept up the firing of the two field-pieces. Colonel Woodford, with the main body of the Virginians, left the church at the same time, and advanced to the relief of the garrison in the intrenchments. Upon his approaching line the field pieces played incessantly, but the Virginians pressed steadily forward. Colonel Stevens,' of the Culpepper battalion, went round to the 'Thomas Marshall, father of the late chief justice, and also the latter, then a lieutenant in the minute battalion, were among the Virginians at the Great Bridge. Thomas Marshall was major at that time. He had a shrewd servant with him, whom he caused to desert to Dunmore, after being instructed in his duty. He reported to his lordship that there were not more than three hundred shirtmen (as the British called the Virginian riflemen, who wore their hunting shirts) at the bridge. This emboldened Dunmore, and he sent Captains Leslie and Fordyce at once to attack the redoubt. This officer, the son of the Earl of Levin, was mortally wounded at Princeton, on the second of January, 1777. See page 332, volume i. 3 Edward Stevens, who afterward became a brigadier, was a very efficient officer. His epitaph upon a monument in his family burial-ground, half a mile Edward Abwene north of the Culpepper Court House, tells briefly the events of his public life: "This gallant officer and upright man served his country with reputation in the field and Senate of his native state. He took an active part and had a principal share in the war of the Revolution, and acquired great distinction at the battles of Great Bridge, Brandywine. Germantown, Camden, Guilford, and the siege Close of the Battle. Terror of the Captives. Norfolk entered by the Americans. Dunmore's Threat left, and flanked the enemy with so much vigor that a route ensued and the battle ended. The enemy left their two field-pieces behind, but took care to spike them with nails, and fled in confusion to their fort on the Norfolk side. The battle lasted only about twenty-five minutes, but was very severe. The number of the enemy slain is not precisely known. Thirty-one killed and wounded fell into the hands of the patriots, and many were carried away by their friends. Gordon says their whole loss was sixty-two. They fought desperately, for they preferred death to captivity, Dunmore having assured them that, if they were caught alive, the savage Virginians would scalp them.' It is a remarkable fact that not a single Virginian was killed during the engagement, and only one man was slightly wounded in the hand, notwithstanding the two field-pieces upon the island hurled double-headed shot as far as the church, and cannonaded them with grape-shot as they approached their redoubt. The wounded who fell into the hands of the Virginians were treated with the greatest tenderness, except the Tories, who were made to feel some of the rigors of war. The repulse of the British at Great Bridge greatly exasperated Dunmore, who had remained in safety at Norfolk; and in his rage he swore he would hang the boy that brought the tidings. The motley forces of his lordship were dispirited by the event, and the Loyalists refused further service in arms unless they could act with regulars. The Virginians, on the other hand, were in high spirits, and Colonel Woodford determined to push forward and take possession of the city. He issued a pacific proclamation to the people of Princess Anne and Norfolk counties, and many of the inhabitants repaired to his camp. Those who had joined Dunmore on compulsion, were treated kindly; those who volunteered their services were each hand-cuffed to a negro fellow-soldier and placed in confinement. a Dec., 1775. On the fourteenth, a five days after the battle at the bridge, Woodford entered the city in triumph, and the next morning, Colonel (afterward General) Robert Howe, with a North Carolina regiment, joined them, and assumed the command of all the patriot forces. Dunmore, in the mean while, had caused the intrenchments at Norfolk to be abandoned, the twenty pieces of cannon to be spiked, and invited the Loyalists and their families to take refuge with him in the ships of the fleet. The poor negroes who had joined his standard were left without care or protection, and many starved. Distress soon prevailed in the ships; famine menaced them with its keen fangs. Parties sent on shore to procure provisions from the neighboring country were cut off, or greatly annoyed by the Virginians, and supplies for the multitude of mouths became daily more precarious. The ships were galled by a desultory fire from the houses, and their position became intolerable. At this juncture the Liverpool frigate, from Great Britain, came into the harbor, and gave boldness to Governor Dunmore. By the captain of the Liverpool, he immediately sent a flag to Colonel Howe, commanding him to cease firing upon the ships and supply the fleet with provisions, otherwise he should bombard the town. The patriots answered by a flat refusal, and the governor prepared to execute his barbarous threat. On ⚫ 1775. : 1776. the morning of the thirty-first of December,b Dunmore gave notice of his design, in order that women and children, and the Loyalists still remaining, might retire to a place of safety. At four o'clock on the morning of the first of January, the Liverpool, Dunmore, and two sloops of war, opened a heavy cannonade upon the town, of York; and although zealous in the cause of American freedom, his conduct was not marked with the least degree of malevolence or party spirit. Those who honestly differed with him in opinion he always treated with singular tenderness. In strict integrity, honest patriotism, and immovable courage, he was surpassed by none, and had few equals." He died on the seventeenth of August, 1820, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. "The prisoners expected to be scalped," wrote a correspondent of the Virginia Gazette, and cried out, "For God's sake, do not murder us!" One of them, unable to walk, cried out in this manner to one of our men, and was answered by him, "Put your arm around my neck, and I will show what I intend to do." Then taking him, with his arm over his neck, he walked slowly along, bearing him with great tenderness, to the breast-work.”—Virginia Gazette, December 14, 1775; Gordon, Ramsay, Botta, Girardin, Howison. 2 It was a shot from this vessel which struck the corner of St. Paul's Church, referred to on a preceding page. Destruction of Norfolk. Distress. Disposition of the American Troops. Dunmore at Gwyn's Island. General Lewis. The wind and parties of marines and sailors went on shore and set fire to the warehouses. a 1776. Colonel Stevens and his little band remained upon the site of Norfolk, until February, a when, having removed the families and appraised the dwellings which remained, he caused them to be destroyed, that the enemy might have no shelter. Thus the most flourishing town in Virginia was made an utter desolation; but its eligible location insured its phoenix-like resurrection, and again, when peace returned, " beauty for ashes" soon characterized the spot. Howe divided his troops; some were stationed at Kemp's Landing, some at the Great Bridge, and others in Suffolk, whither most of the fugitives from the city fled, and found open-handed hospitality in the interior. b May, 1776. Dunmore's movements on the coast compelled the Virginians to exercise the most active vigilance. After Howe abandoned the site of Norfolk, the fugitive governor erected barracks there, but being prevented from obtaining supplies from the neighboring country, he destroyed them, sailed down the Elizabeth River, and after maneuvering for a while in Hampton Roads,b he finally landed upon Gwyn's Island, in Chesapeake Bay, on the east side of Matthew's county, near the mouth of the Piankatank River. island contains about two thousand acres, and was remarkable for its fertility and beauty. Dunmore's force consisted of about five hundred men, white and black. He cast up some intrenchments, and built a stockade fort, with the evident intention of making that his place of rendezvous while plundering and desolating the plantations on the neighboring coast. General Andrew Lewis, then in command of a brigade of Virginia troops, was sent by the Committee of Safety to dislodge Dunmore. On the eighth of July, he erected two batteries (one mounting two eighteen pounders, and the other bearing lighter guns), nearly opposite the point on the island where the enemy was encamped. The next morning,c c July 9, at eight o'clock, Lewis gave the signal for attack, by applying a match, himself, to 3 Virginia Gazette, January, 1776. Burk, iii., 451. Howison, ii., 109. 1776. 2 When Dunmore destroyed Norfolk, its population was six thousand, and so rapidly was it increasing in business and wealth, that in the two years from 1773 to 1775, the rents in the city increased from forty thousand to fifty thousand dollars a year. The actual loss by the cannonade and conflagration was estimated at fifteen hundred thousand dollars; the personal suffering was inconceivable. And wis 3 Andrew Lewis was a native of Augusta county, in Virginia. With five brothers, he was in the battle when Braddock was defeated, and continued active during the war. He was a major in Washington's Virginia regiment, and was highly esteemed by him for his courage and skill. He was the commander, as already noticed on page 487, at the battle of Point Pleasant, in 1774. When Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental army, he recommended Lewis as one of the major generals, but he was overlooked. He accepted the office of a brigadier general, and commanded a detachment of the army stationed near Williamsburg. He drove Dunmore from Gwyn's Island in 1776, and resigned his command on account of illness in 1780. died in Bedford county, forty miles from his home, on the Roanoke, while on his way thither. General Lewis was more than six feet in height, and possessed great personal dignity. He II. Mм Attack upon Dunmore. His Flight. Distress upon Gwyn's Island. Destruction of Property by Collier and Matthews. an eighteen pounder. The ball passed through the hull of the Dunmore, which was lying five hundred yards distant; a second shot cut her boatswain in twain, and a third shivered one of her timbers, a splinter from which struck Lord Dunmore, wounded his leg, and smashed his china. Both batteries then opened upon the governor's fleet, camp, and works. Terror now prevailed in the fleet, and confusion in the camp. Almost every ship slipped its cables, and endeavored to escape. Dunmore's batteries were silenced; the tents of his camp were knocked down, and terrible breaches were made in his stockade. The assailants ceased firing at nine o'clock, but no signal of surrender being given, it was renewed at meridian. Early on the following morning, having collected some small craft in the neighborhood, Lewis ordered Colonel M Clanahan, with two hundred men, to cross to the island. The enemy evacuated before the Virginian's landed, and fled to the ships, leaving their dead and many wounded behind them. A horrible scene was there presented. Half-putrefied bodies lay in almost uncovered shallow graves, and the dying, scattered in various directions, were filling the air with their groans. The island was dotted with graves, for the small-pox and fevers had raged with great violence in the fleet and in the camp for some time. Some were burned in the brush huts, which took fire; and others, abandoned to their fate, had crawled to the sandy beach and were perishing. Only one man of the assailants was killed ; Captain Arundel, who was slain by the bursting of a mortar of his own invention. loss of the enemy could not be ascertained, but it must have been considerable. The On leaving the island, Dunmore caused several of his vessels, which were aground, to be burned, and with the remnants of his fleet he sailed out of the Chesapeake, entered the Potomac, and, after plundering and desolating several plantations on that river, above Aquia Creek,' he returned to Lynn Haven Bay, where he dismissed some of the ships for the Bermudas, some to the West Indies, and some to St. Augustine, with booty, among which was almost a thousand slaves. He soon joined the naval force in New York, and toward the close of the year sailed for England.' May 9. After the departure of Dunmore, the Virginia coast enjoyed comparative quiet until 1779,a when a British fleet, under Admiral Sir George Collier, entered Hampton Roads. He sailed up the Elizabeth River and attacked Fort Nelson, which had been erected by the Virginians a little below Portsmouth to secure that place, Norfolk, and the navy-yard at Gosport from attack. The fort was garrisoned by about one hundred and fifty men under Major Thomas Matthews, who, on the approach of Collier, and General Matthews, who commanded the British land forces, abandoned it, and retreated to the Dismal Swamp, leaving the American flag flying from the ramparts. The British took possession of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Gosport, and Suffolk, on the eleventh, all being abandoned by the Virginians. Great quantities of stores, ammunition and cannons, fell into the hands of the invaders. A large quantity of naval stores were carried away; the residue, and a great quantity of tobacco, were burned or otherwise destroyed. After pillaging Portsmouth and destroying Suffolk, the fleet, with General Matthews and his land forces, went to sea, returned to New York, and assisted Sir Henry Clinton in taking possession of the fortresses on Stony and Verplanck's Points, on the Hudson. See page 419. Dunmore never returned to the United States. He went to Europe, and two years afterward was ap pointed governor of Bermuda. He was very unpopular, and did not long remain there. He died in En gland in 1809. His wife was Lady Charlotte Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Galloway. Previous 3 The amount of property destroyed in this expedition up the Elizabeth River was very great. to the abandonment of Portsmouth and Gosport, the Americans burned a ship-of-war of twenty-eight guns, then on the stocks, and two heavily-laden French merchantmen. One of these contained a thousand hogs. heads of tobacco. Several vessels of war were taken on the stocks, and also several merchantmen. The whole number of vessels taken, burned, and destroyed amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven. They were laden with tobacco, tar, and turpentine. Many privateers were captured or destroyed. At Suffolk, Aine thousand barrels of salted pork, eight thousand barrels of tar, pitch, and turpentine, and a vast quantity of stores and merchandise, were burned. Leslie's Expedition. Deep Creek and Dismal Swamp. Drummond's Lake. Moore's Poem. Again, in 1780, hostile vessels were in the Elizabeth River. Brigadier-general Leslie, with about three thousand troops from New York, landed at Portsmouth,a and took a Oct. possession of every kind of public property there and in the vicinity. Leslie was to co-operate with Cornwallis, who proposed to enter Virginia from the south. He did not remain long, for Cornwallis, hearing of the defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain, hastily retreated; and Leslie, on being advised of this, left for Charleston,b for the purpose b Nov. 22, of joining the earl in the Carolinas. Again, in 1781, hostile troops, under Ar- 1780. nold, were on the shores of the Elizabeth. That expedition we will consider presently. I left the Great Bridge at noon, and rode to Deep Creek, a small village on the northern verge of the Dismal Swamp, nine miles distant.' There the Dismal Swamp Canal terminates, and far into the gloomy recesses this work opens an avenue for the vision. I ardently desired to go to Drummond's Lake, lying in the center of the swamp, around which clusters so much that is romantic and mysterious; but want of time obliged me to be content to stand on the rough selvedge of the morass and contemplate with wonder the magnificent cypresses, junipers, oaks, gums, and pines which form the stately columns of the grand and solemn aisles in this mysterious temple of nature. Below waved the tall reeds, and the tangled shrubbery of the gall-bush and laurel; and up the massive trunks and spreading branches of the forest-monarchs crept the woodbine, the ivy, and the muscadine, covering with fretwork and gorgeous tracery the broad arches from which hung the sombre moss, like trophy banners in ancient halls. A deep silence prevailed, for it was winter-time, and buzzing insects and warbling birds were absent or mute. No life appeared in the vast solitude, except occasionally a gray squirrel, a partridge, or a scarlet taniger, the red plumage of the latter flashing like a fire-brand as it flitted by. "Tis a wild spot, and hath a gloomy look; The bird sings never merrily in the trees, And the young leaves seem blighted. A rank growth With blustering dews the thoughtless hand that dares I returned to Norfolk toward evening. It was Saturday night, and as Monday would be the opening of the Christmas holidays, I met great numbers of negroes on the road, going to the country to spend their week of leisure with their friends on the plantations of their masters. They all appeared to be happy and musical as larks, and made the forest ring with their joyous laugh and melodious songs. All carried a bundle, or a basket filled with presents for their friends. Some had new hats, and others garments; others were carrying various knickknacks and fire-crackers, and a few of the men were "toting" a little too much "fire-water." From the youngest, to the oldest who rode in mule-carts, all faces beamed with the joy of the hour. 1 The Dismal Swamp lies partly in Virginia and partly in North Carolina. Its extent from north to south is about thirty miles, and from east to west about ten miles. No less than five navigable streams and several creeks have their rise in it. It is made subservient to the wants of commerce, by furnishing the raw material for an immense quantity of shingles and other juniper lumber. The Dismal Swamp Canal runs through it from north to south, and the Portsmouth and Roanoke railway passes across five miles of its northern border. The canal has a stage-road running parallel with it, extending from Deep Creek to Elizabeth. * Drummond's Lake, so called after a hunter of that name who discovered it, is near the center of the swamp. A hotel has been erected upon its shore, and is a place of considerable resort. Being on the line between Virginia and North Carolina, it is a sort of Gretna Green where "runaway matches" are con summated. Tradition tells of a young man who, on the death of the girl he loved, lost his reason. He sud denly disappeared, and his friends never heard of him afterward. In his ravings he often said she was not dead, but gone to the Dismal Swamp, and it is supposed he wandered into its gloomy morasses and perish. ed. Moore, who visited Norfolk in 1804, on hearing this tradition, wrote his touching ballad, commencing, "They made her a grave too cold and damp For a soul so warm and true; And she's gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, Where all night long, by her fire-fly lamp, She paddles her white canoe. And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see, And her paddle I soon shall hear; |