Today in History: The Battle of Great Bridge

On this day (December 9) in 1775, British and American forces clashed for control of Virginia at the Battle of Great Bridge outside of Norfolk. Note that this was before the Declaration of Independence. Tensions had been increasing between the British and the Virginians since April but hostilities had not become violent until General Gage sent small detachments of the 14th Regiment to raid Virginia for military stores. Added to these detachments were a unit of freed slaves (the Ethiopian Regiment) and another of Virginian loyalists (the Queen’s Own Loyal Virginia Regiment).

The British established a fort on the Norfolk side of Great Bridge and the Virginians met them there on December 2, fortifying the other side. On December 9, the British decided to drive off the Virginians. Their plan called for a detachment of the Ethiopian regiment to make a diversionary strike several miles downstream but they abandoned this plan when local commanders pointed out that the ex-slaves had already been sent to fortify a different ford. They attacked anyway not knowing that the American force was twice as large as their intelligence reports indicated. The attack was repulsed with between 62 and 102 British casualties. The only Virginian casualty was a man with a sore thumb.

The loss at Great Bridge pretty much trapped the British on their ships, so they leveled Norfolk by bombardment on January 1 and pulled out for the early stages of the war.