On Saturday, July 8^th the Richard Henry Lee Chapter of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) hosted a celebration of the 247^th Anniversary of the Battle of Cricket Hill (aka, the Battle of Gwynn’s Island) at water’s edge in front of the original battle earthworks at Morningstar Marinas in Hudgins, Virginia.

Participating in the celebration were Virginia Society SAR Past-President and keynote speaker Mr. Jeff Thomas; a Virginia Society SAR Color Guard contingent; representatives from the following Virginia Society chapters – Colonel William Grayson, Culpeper Minute Men, George Mason, James Monroe, Norfolk, Richard Henry Lee, and Thomas Nelson Jr.; Dr. Kenneth Hawkins, Governor of the Virginia Society Order of Founder and Patriots of America; representatives of three National Society Daughters of the American Revolution chapters – Augustine Warner, Cobbs Hall, and Cricket Hill; and Virginia Society of Children of the American Revolution (C.A.R.) Senior State President Anne-Cabrie Forsythe accompanied by C.A.R. State Historian Jocelynn Wilson.  Friends, family, and members of the general public were in attendance as well.

A brief history.  Lord Dunmore (John Murray, 4^th Earl of Dunmore) was the last Royal Governor of the colony of Virginia.  In May 1774, after British Parliament closed Boston Harbor as punishment for the Boston Tea Party and the Virginia House of Burgesses adopted resolutions in support of the Boston colonists, Lord Dunmore dissolved the Virginia assembly.

The colonists of Virginia revolted and Lord Dunmore was driven out of the Governor’s Palace.  He and an entourage of British troops, Loyalists and slaves who were promised freedom for allegiance to Britain engaged in many skirmishes with the patriot Virginia colonists in late 1775 through the spring of 1776 up and down the Virginia coastline.

By June of 1776, Lord Dunmore and his troops had sailed on British ships up the Chesapeake Bay and set up a base of operation on Gwynn’s Island. 

By July 8^th, patriot Virginia troops had set up defensive earthworks on the mainland just across the water from Gwynn’s Island. On July 9^th, patriots under the command of Brigadier General Andrew Lewis opened  fire on Lord Dunmore’s fleet with a battery of 18- and 9-pound cannon, quickly placing a dozen rounds into the hull of Dunmore’s flagship, and wounding Dunmore.

Overnight, Lord Dunmore quietly weighed anchor and fled from Gwynn’s Island.  He left behind hundreds of dead and sick slaves who been ravaged by disease including small pox.  Lord Dunmore fled to New York, never to return.  This event ended British rule in Virginia just days after the Declaration of Independence.

 “L-R: Anne-Cabrie Forsythe, Jocelynn Wilson, and Michael Rhodes”