There were fierce debates within the Virginia House of Burgesses prior to 1775, as relations between Virginia and the Royalist British government continued to deteriorate. Virginia held a series of three conventions to discuss relations with Great Britain. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry were among the key participants of the three Virginia Conventions. The first convention was held in Williamsburg, but the next two were held in Richmond to protect the gathering from interference from Lord Dunsmore, the last colonial governor of Virginia.
In March 1775, in the St. John’s Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry made his famous speech uttering "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" By this point, King George had declared all 13 North American colonies to be in a state of open rebellion. Lord Dunsmore ordered all the gunpowder in Williamsburg seized, to keep it out of the hands local patriot forces. Soon after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, George Washington was selected to become commander of the new Continental Army.
Lord Dunsmore evacuated Williamsburg for Norfolk in the fall of 1775. Norfolk, as was the rest of south side Virginia, was considered to be a more loyalist area. Great Bridge became the focus of British defensive strategy against local militia. Lord Dunsmore organized the Queen’s Own Loyal Virginians, which consisted of local Tories and a regiment of former slaves, called Lord Dunsmore’s Ethiopians. A hastily built British fort secured the land approaches and main bridge to Norfolk, and patriot positions were set up opposite. On December 9, 1775 the British attacked with 600 British regulars and the Queen’s Own across the "great bridge" but were immediately repulsed in a bloody counter-fire from the redoubt held by local Virginia militia under Colonel William Woodford. In all the British lost between 62-102 in the engagement, depending upon various historical military accounts.
The battle forced Lord Dunsmore to withdraw from Norfolk on January 1, 1776 and the British began a naval artillery barrage of the town. Norfolk was now occupied by Virginia patriot forces. The former colonial governor was compelled to leave North America for Britain all together by the summer of 1776. Many loyalists from Norfolk and the surrounding areas left Virginia with Dunsmore.
In May 1779, a British fleet entered the Chesapeake Bay commanded by Vice Admiral Sir George Collier. Also with the British was an expeditionary force of 1,800 troops led by Major General Edward Matthews. This British force attacked and destroyed Portsmouth’s very lightly defended Fort Nelson. It then plundered and burned the shipyard and town, destroying naval stores and taking 130 vessels. This same British force then turned on Suffolk and the surrounding towns.
Patrick Henry served as first governor of Virginia from 1776-1779 while the capital was still located in Williamsburg. The Collier-Matthew’s Raid put pressure on Governor Henry and the Assembly to move the capital inland to Richmond, which would be a more secure location from British attack. The ease at which the British captured Portsmouth highlighted Virginia’s military weakness in 1779. Thomas Jefferson was governor of Virginia from 1779-1781. The relocation to Richmond was complete by April of 1780.
In October 1780, Major General Alexander Leslie arrived at Portsmouth from New York with orders, "to proceed up the James River... to seize or destroy any magazine the enemy may have at Petersburg or Richmond". His force of 2,500 troops never made it further than Smithfield. In contrast with the Collier-Matthews Raid, there were Virginia militia in the area. Instead of risking direct confrontation with the Virginia militia, Leslie evacuated Portsmouth on November 15, 1780 in order to assist Cornwallis in the Carolinas. On November 16, 1780, General Von Steuben arrived in Richmond to take command of all military forces in Virginia.
On December 20, 1780, 27 British ships arrived in the Chesapeake Bay carrying an expeditionary force commanded by traitor and newly appointed Brigadier General in the British Army Benedict Arnold. He was initially instructed to complete a strong garrison and fortifications at Portsmouth. He was to concentrate on destroying any supplies or equipment that would be useful to the Continental Southern Army, which had been very active in the Carolinas by this time. After occupying Portsmouth and building a defensive fortified line with several redoubts around the town, Arnold’s force went up the James River and burned parts of Richmond after weak defense from the Virginia militia in the area. The same fate was in store for Petersburg, as warehouses and public buildings were burned to the ground.
In mid-April of 1781, a group of New England infantry commanded by the French twenty-nine year old Major General Marquis de Lafayette entered Virginia. He had already proven himself to be an extremely talented officer while serving under George Washington at the Battle of Brandywine. This force was combined with Pennsylvania troops under General Anthony Wayne. The combined force reached Richmond just in time to prevent the British from burning the entire capital.
Following the series of costly battles in North Carolina, the British Army of the South under Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis entered Virginia in April 1781. The British followed a path to Petersburg, where they joined by troops under the traitor Benedict Arnold who had been in the area since the previous December. At Petersburg, cavalry under Colonel Banastre Tarleton began a raid to the west. From Petersburg, the British Army traveled down the south bank of the James River passing through Smithfield and Suffolk ending at Portsmouth. Tarleton’s Dragoons also rejoined the main British force along the way. The British had to constantly maneuver against the Continental Army already in Virginia under Lafayette.
From there, British naval ships transported the British Army to Yorktown and Gloucester Point on the York River. On August 2, Cornwallis arrived at Yorktown, which was thought to be a naturally strong defensive position. Immediately the British, along with a number of Hessian mercenaries, began construction of two rings of defensive lines.
Cornwallis directed Tarleton and his cavalry force to destroy Virginia’s few manufacturing centers and disrupt its government. Tarleton’s Dragoons advanced seventy miles in twenty-four hours burning warehouses and seizing several plantations along the way. They captured seven state assemblymen in Charlottesville, their furthest penetration west, and narrowly missed capturing Governor Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Following Tarleton’s Raid, Thomas Nelson Jr. became governor of Virginia.
At the same time the combined French and American Army were moving towards the Virginia Peninsula the French fleet of 27 ships under Admiral Comte de Grasse, came up to the Chesapeake Bay from the West Indies, reached the waters off Cape Henry on August 28, 1781. Three ships immediately started a blockade of the York and James Rivers, and additional French troops were landed to strengthen the forces of Lafayette already surrounding the British entrenched at Yorktown.
The British fleet of 19 ships commanded by Admiral Graves arrived at the Chesapeake from New York on September 5, 1781. The remaining 24 French ships took up opposite lines of battle with the British fleet. Graves commanded from his flagship HMS London, while de Grasse lead his forces from the Ville de Paris. The French had more "ships-of-the-line" and so possessed the advantage over the British with 400 more naval guns and 6000 more men. In addition, the French ships were better trained for naval warfare and better equipped. Admiral de Grasse maneuvered his forces as to take advantage of his superior firepower at key points in the British lines of battle, and soundly defeated the British. Several of the British ships were sunk or damaged beyond use during the battle.
The Battle of the Virginia Capes left the French Navy firmly in control of the Chesapeake Bay, as well as the entrances to the James and York Rivers. This left the British garrisons at Yorktown and Gloucester Point completely isolated from resupply or reinforcement.
The main force of combined French and American forces arrived in Virginia in the autumn of 1781. The French Army left Newport Rhode Island to join Washington’s Army at Hudson, New York, which had taken up positions opposite the British in occupied New York City under General Sir Henry Clinton. Using a strategy of deception, the British were convinced a combined French and American attack was coming on New York. While the British were fortifying their defensive positions the French and American Armies slipped away undetected on a forced march spanning 15 days and 250 miles to reach Virginia. The majority of the troops where then brought by French ships from the top of the Chesapeake Bay to Williamsburg by September 24, with the remaining continuing the journey overland. Along the way, George Washington visited his home at Mount Vernon for the first time in six years from September 9-12. From Williamsburg the combined American and French Army marched down the Old Williamsburg-Yorktown Road. The army encamped at Endview Plantation for a night, which is now a Virginia War Museum property. They joined the forces under Layfayette already harassing Cornwallis. In total there were 17,600 American and French troops opposite the 8,300 British soldiers entrenched at Yorktown.
Upon the arrival of the combined American and French Army at Yorktown, Corwallis abandoned his outer line of defenses on September 30 while expecting reinforcements by sea from New York. The original British outer defensive lines were considered to be very formidable by George Washington. At the same time, 4,000 American troops began work on an American defensive line. These lines provided excellent positions for the heavy French siege guns which the Continental Army desperately lacked during previous campaigns. From these new heavy artillery positions, every portion of the British inner defensive positions were now within range. The siege operations of Yorktown began on October 9, 1781 with sustained heavy artillery fire on the British defensive line.
On October 14, 1781 the British lost two very important redoubts on the left flank of their defensive lines. During the assault, 400 French troops stormed Redoubt 9. Colonel Alexander Hamilton led 400 Continentals during the heroic assault on Redoubt 10. Both were captured in less than 30 minutes in very heavy fighting. Then on October 16 the British tried a direct counter-assault on the middle of the French-American lines. However, the British effort was repulsed. Finally, the British attempted to evacuate their forces across the York Rive to their fortified position at Gloucester. However, the British ships that were to carry the British troops on their escape were scattered or sunk in a violent storm. With their escape through Gloucester cut off and the French fleet still blockading the entrances to the York River and Chesapeake Bay, Cornwallis was forced to consider surrender.
On October 17, 1781 the British asked for terms of surrender. The final articles of surrender were signed at Moore House the next day. One October 19, the Army of Cornwallis officially surrendered and laid down their weapons, in a procession that was more than a mile long. Because of various delays in leaving New York, Clinton arrived with a strong fleet and 7,000 troops on October 28. With the British fleet off Cape Charles, Clinton learned of the surrender and returned to New York in dismay.
The British prisoners taken at Yorktown were placed in prisons in Winchester, Virginia and Maryland. Although the Battle of Yorktown effectively ended all fighting during the Revolutionary War, the French kept garrisons in Williamsburg and Yorktown during the following year. The Continental Army spent the following winter in New York. The Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the war and recognized the independence of the United States, was signed on September 3, 1783.
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