Lord Dunmore took refuge on a British warship at Yorktown, the H.M.S. Fowey
Source: Library of Congress, Flight of Lord Dunmore
Lord Dunmore took refuge on a British warship at Yorktown, the H.M.S. Fowey
Source: Library of Congress, Flight of Lord Dunmore
The Virginia House of Burgesses adopted its reply to Parliament's conciliatory proposal on June 10, 1775. The Virginia leaders repeated that only colonial legislatures had the right of taxation, but did not reject Lord North's proposal outright. The House of Burgesses said an official response must come from all the colonies together through the Continental Congress. The reply had to be delivered to Lord Dunmore on the British warship, since he was no longer in residence at the Governor's Palace.
Lord Dunmore claimed he could continue to perform his role as governor from the British warship.1
Dunmore sought to spark civil war among the colonists, with the hope that the Loyalists would fight the rebels and allow him to reoccupy the Governor's Palace.
He also sought to weaken the patriots by recruiting their enslaved men to flee to the British lines. Their absence from Virginia plantations would reduce the ability of the rebellious Americans to labor needed to construct fortifications, or to produce food and supplies needed by the Virginia militia. Governor Dunmore issued a proclamation in 1775 offering freedom to black men who would fight for the British, and formed the Ethiopian Regiment with 800-2,000 formerly enslaved Virginians.
Dunmore's strategy failed in part because the Loyalists were threatened seriously by rebels who lived nearby. Dunmore created a base of operations at Norfolk after he fled Williamsburg, but the British lost control of the city after being defeated in battle at the Great Bridge crossing over the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. Dunmore had his warships shell Norfolk on January 1, 1776. His attempt to destroy the city succeeded only because the Virginians chose to complete the burning of Norfolk, preventing the British from returning and re-establishing a military base there.
The American rebels destroyed Norfolk rather than fortify it for the same reason as the British - they could not defend the city; they lacked the troops to repel an assault. Norfolk was exposed to easy cannonading and ground attack by troops unloaded from a British fleet, and the small boats in the Virginia Navy were no match for the British Navy.
a civilian wounded in the January 1, 1776 bombardment of Norfolk petitioned the General Assembly for aid in October, 1776
Source: Library of Virginia, The UnCommonwealth blog, Two Revolutionary War Petitions (March 9, 2022)
After abandoning Norfolk, Governor Dunmore established a base at Gwynn's Island. The Virginians brought artillery to the Mathews County shoreline and bombarded the island on July 9, 1776. The British, with most of the men in the Ethiopian Regiment debilitated by disease, sailed away.
Dunmore moved to St. George's Island in Maryland, at the mouth of the Potomac River. Maryland militia slipped onto the island and destroyed the well, along with some of his water casks. The HMS Fowey and the rest of the British fleet sailed out of the Chesapeake Bay in August, 1776.
As George Washington noted much later in the war, the ships of the Royal Navy moved British troops faster than the Virginia militia could respond by marching on the poor roads and via slow ferry crossings. Throughout the Revolutionary War and again in the War of 1812, British ships enabled the army and marines to conduct swift raids along the Virginia shoreline without significant local resistance almost anywhere in Tidewater Virginia:2
For the first four years of the American Revolution until 1779, there were no British forces in Virginia. During that time, the rebellious patriots consolidated their political control and on June, 29, 1776 became the first colony to declare independence.
A significant percentage of Virginia colonists were loyalists, people who opposed independence and sought to perpetuate political control by King George III and Parliament. However, there were not enough loyalists concentrated in one place to create their own army, seize control of a part of Virginia, or create a parallel government to Virginia's revolutionary conventions and ultimately an independent state government.
The battle at Great Bridge in December, 1775 was the one pitched battle between patriots and loyalists in Virginia, the closest battle equivalent to the February 27, 1776 fight in North Carolina at Moore's Creek bridge. The defeat of the loyalists there caused the British to abandon efforts to seize Wilmington and restore Joseph Martin as the royal governor in North Carolina.
At Great Bridge, there were both white loyalists in the Queen's Own Loyal Regiment and formerly enslaved black men in the Ethiopian Regiment who were supporting British regulars.
British raids along the Chesapeake Bay used hit-and-run tactics. Plantations were robbed and buildings destroyed, but raiding parties quickly returned to the British warships - sometimes with enslaved people seeking freedom for their families.
the House of Burgesses kept meeting for over a year after Lord Dunmore fled Williamsburg
Source: Encyclopedia Virginia, Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, May 6, 1776
Two seizures of Portsmouth by naval forces included military expeditions along the James River to destroy supplies and punish plantation owners who supported the revolution, but after Lord Dunmore fled in 1776 the British never tried to seize and hold Virginia in order to restore a royal government. Virginia was a military backwater while the British sought to defeat the Continental Army in various places between Rhode Island and Pennsylvania in 1776-1781, and to regain control of the southern colonies starting in 1780.
There was no organized British counter-insurgency effort in Virginia. It was not until March 1781 that a British army arrived in Virginia, commanded by Major General William Phillips, with enough resources to stimulate a potential counter-revolution. By then, the suppression of the loyalists in Virginia had been too effective. The only group of people willing to risk their lives to join the British were enslaved families who saw an opportunity to escape their captivity.
Lord Cornwallis brought his army from Wilmington, North Carolina and reached Petersburg in May 1781, right after General Phillips died. He then moved across Virginia from the Fall Line to the Blue Ridge and collected enslaved families seeking to escape, but after his forces marched away from each place they camped the patriots remained in control. The loyalists who fought in Virginia with Lord Cornwallis had been recruited from other states.
The British Navy treated the Chesapeake Bay as a marginal military target. Virginia and Maryland had minimal naval forces to defeat. Starting in 1778 the French fleets supporting the American forces were based in Newport, Rhode Island or sailing along the Atlantic coastline. French ships did not sail into the Chesapeake Bay until August 1781.
Between 1775-1779 the British navy chose to patrol the Chesapeake Bay, raid shoreline plantations, and intercept ships taking tobacco and wheat to Caribbean islands and importing supplies from there. The British did not seek occupy Portsmouth, in part because the shipping channel at Portsmouth was shallow. In 1781, after Lord Cornwallis led a British army through Virginia, he chose to make his base at Yorktown. Norfolk had been destroyed, and the channel of the mouth of the Rappahannock River at Yorktown was better for the Royal Navy ships than the Elizabeth River channel at Portsmouth.
Virginia managed to keep exporting and importing by ship when the British navy was on patrol at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay between 1776-1781. Small ships were loaded with cargo at Franklin's South Quay on the Blackwater River. They could travel down to the Albemarle Sound and through inlets in the Outer Banks to reach the Atlantic Ocean, avoiding capture in most cases.
The British and American military commanders thought the war would be won by decisive battles on land, leading one side or the other to recognize that peace was a better alternative to continued warfare. The British lost an army at Saratoga in 1777 and the Americans lost an army at Charles Town in 1780, but those defeats were followed by continued fighting rather than diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful settlement.
Though it is common to think that the surrender of the British under Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown was the key to the American Revolution, George Washington won the war by not having his army captured in battles fought elsewhere prior to Yorktown. From a military perspective, Washington's greatest success was his ability to keep the Continental Army in the field. He lacked the resources to defeat the British until October 1781, but his ultimate success was based primarily on his ability to keep his army intact despite the lack of supplies and pay for the soldiers (especially during the winter encampment at Valley Forge) and to keep the British from capturing his army.
Washington was not by nature a defense-oriented general. He was forced to leave New York City in 1776, and he sought to recapture the city for the next five years. He wisely preserved his military capacity by resisting his desire to attack the strong fortifications. That cautious approach, against Washington's preference, was assisted in part by the unwillingness of the French army commanders to assault the city.
As described by historian Woody Holton:3
Richard Henry Le and other Virginians were leaders in the Continental Congress calling for independence, but the state experienced little damage from British troops until 1779
Source: National Archives, Lee Resolution (1776)
Except for naval raids, there were no British troops in Virginia for nearly three years after Lord Dunmore sailed away from Gwynn's Island in July 1776. The army returned during a raid in May, 1779 led by Commodore George Collier and Major General Edward Mathew. They destroyed the Gosport Shipyard at Portsmouth, but that attack was followed by another British abandonment after just two weeks.
the British captured the Gosport Shipyard at Portsmouth and burned it in 1779
Source: Library of Congress, Part of the Province of Virginia (1791)
On September 23, 1780, volunteers and members of the militia mustered together in Abingdon. They marched south the next day, joining others in the Overmountain Men to cross the Blue Ridge and fight the British Army moving north from Charleston. On October 7, the Americans defeated British Major Patrick Ferguson and his Loyalist militia at Kings Mountain. That battle was the first to disrupt the southern strategy of the British.
Following the defeat, American militia expanded their control of the Carolinas. Loyalist militia were unable to resist outside of areas where British troops were stationed. To protect the Ninety Six region and the backcountry of South Carolina, Cornwallis moved from Charlotte to Winnsboro, South Carolina for the winter of 1780-81.4
the Overmountain Men started marching towards Kings Mountain after mustering in Abingdon, so the modern Overmountain Trail starts there
Source: National Park Service, Southern Campaign of the American Revolution Parks in South Carolina
Southwest Virginians mustered at Abingdon in September, 1780 and marched across the Blue Ridge as part of the Overmountain Men
Source: National Park Service, Abingdon Muster Grounds
Major General Alexander Leslie arrived in Hampon Roads with over 2,000 troops in October, 1780. He was to support Lord Cornwallis's campaign in the Carolinas by disrupting the delivery of supplies that were leaving Virginia to support the Southern Army. Leslie left for Charles Town after only a month in Hampton Roads. After the defeat of loyalists led by Patrick Ferguson at King's Mountain, Cornwallis decided not to go into winter camp rather than march into North Carolina. Thomas Jefferson anticipated Leslie's withdrawal when he wrote to George Washington on November 3, 1780:5
General Benedict Arnold returned to Hampton Roads at the end of December, 1780. Arnold established his base at Portsmouth, and it remained the only place under continued British control until August 1781. As British troops led by Arnold, General William Phllips, and Lord Cornwallis marched across Virginia in 1781, they stayed in one place only briefly. As in the Carolinas, loyalists in Virginia who showed support for the invading army were exposed to retaliation as soon as King George III's troops moved away.
Between January 1-3, British troops sailed up the James River and raided plantations. General Arnold reached Richmond and occupied the city on January 4, 1781. The 200 militia defending the city withdrew after filing one ineffective volley. The British sacked the Virginia capital, then marched overland on the northern side of the James River back to Portsmouth. More plantations were raided on that march despite efforts of Virginia militia to harass the British in multiple skirmishes. Arnold returned to Portsmouth again on January 19.6
British forces under Benedict Arnold reached Richmond in January, 1781
Source: Leventhal Map Collection, Boston Public Library, Skirmish at Richmond Jan. 5th. 1781
American cannon and other supplies at Westham Iron Works were destroyed by Benedict Arnold in 1781
Source: National Archives, Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay: Sheet No. 13 Richmond (Civil War era map)
after raiding Richmond in January 1781, Benedict Arnold transported his troops down the James River to a spot 12 miles from Smithfield and marched to Portsmouth
Source: Library of Congress, A Plan of the entrance of Chesapeak Bay (by William Faden, 1781)
On February 22, 1781, General Arnold held a public assembly in Princess Anne County to get 400 local residents to swear a new oath of allegiance to the British government. They were willing to drink and eat what Arnold supplied for the event, and willing to mouth the words in the required oath, but they were just going through the motions.
Captain Johann Ewald, commanding Hessian forces, challenged one uncommitted Loyalist to raise troops locally in order to maintain control over the county. Ewald promised that the British would provide uniforms and weapons as needed. The Princess Anne resident replied to Ewald:7
Ewald replied initially, frustrated that his Hessians were risking their lives to assist the Loyalists unwilling to risk anything:8
Cornwallis entered Virginia after crossing South Carolina and North Carolina, before choosing Yorktown as the deepwater port where he would be resupplied by ships of the Royal Navy sailing from New York
Source: Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, Campaigns of 1781 (Plate 160h, digitized by University of Richmond)
Later, Ewald recognized that Loyalists were wise to keep a low profile. He was surprised to discover that the responses he heard from loyalists were convincing and provided a clear rationale for not overtly supporting the British cause. The Marquis de Lafayette articulated the same perspective in a letter to the Continental Congress, which was alarmed that Cornwallis was marching through North Carolina into Virginia without meeting formal resistance:9
Lord Cornwallis chased General Nathaniel Green to the Dan River, before marching back into North Carolina and then fighting at Guilford Courthouse
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)
On February 20, 1781 the Continental Congress directed the Pennsylvania Line to join the "Southern Army." Detachments needed to defend against Native America attacks were left in the western part of the state; George Washington sent orders for the rest to march to Virginia. The Pennsylvania Line had been disorderly, so he told General "Mad Athony" Wayne to arrive with the first units so a top commander could maintain discipline as different units reached Virginia.10
General William Phillips brought 2,000 more soldiers to Portsmouth from New York in March 1781, with directions by Sir Henry Clinton to take command from Benedict Arnold. Expanding the war effort in Virginia would reduce the number of troops who could be sent south from that state into the Carolinas, and interdict supplies which could support George Washington's army around New York.
British fleets seized Portsmouth in May 1779, October 1780, and January 1781
Source: Henry Beebee Carrington, Battles of the American Revolution, 1775-1781 (opposite p.595)
Phillips sailed out of Portsmouth on April 18, 1781. He seized Williamsburg, then destroyed the Virginia State Navy base on the Chickahominy River. He crossed the James River and landed at City Point, then captured Petersburg a day later in the Battle of Blandford on April 25. In that battle, 1,000 Virginia militia under General Baron von Steuben delayed the 2,500 British troops by a day. The militia retreated north across the Appomattox River to a ridge that became known as Colonial Heights. The delay gave Lafayette time to develop defenses around Richmond.
General Phillips moved from Portsmouth to the north side of the James River, then back across the river to capture Petersburg
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major Général M'is de LaFayette
The British then destroyed the barracks at Chesterfield Court House and captured ships and supplies at Osborne's Landing. General Phillips raided Richmond again. He chose to avoid Lafayette's defenses, but destroyed the cannon foundry at Westham upstream of the city.10
Benedict Arnold destroyed the Virginia State Navy at Osborne's Landing on April 27, 1781
Source: Norman G. Leventhal Map and Education Center, Boston Public Library, Sketch of the action at Osburns, April 27th. 1781d (by John G. Simccoe, 1787)
In April, Lieutenant General Charles Earl Cornwallis was in Wilmington, North Carolina, south of General Phillips. Cornwallis had marched north from Charleston, which the British had captured in May 1780. He had arrived at Wilmington after a series of battles across the Carolinas in which the English won most engagements other than Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780 and Cowpens on January 17, 1781. However, the British army always lost soldiers and no reinforcements arrived from Charleston or New York.
The battles drained Cornwallis' army without destroying the capacity of the Americans to maneuver in the Carolinas. General Nathanael Greene skillfully escaped being trapped as he retreated north from Cowpens. He raced for the Dan River.
In early February 1781, Cornwallis thought he was in position to block Greene from crossing the Dan River. The British and their Hessian allies were at what is now Winston-Salem; Greene was at what is now Greensboro about 20 miles to the east. To reach fords of the upper Dan River that were shallow enough for an army to cross, Greene needed to march north - where Cornwallis could intercept him and force a major battle.
However, his dragoons led by Col. Otho Williams, including cavalry commanded by "Lighthorse Henry" Lee, screened his movements and left the British unclear about the best opportunity to intercept him. The American army actually marched northeast, away from Cornwallis. Greene had his men collect all the boats along the Dan River and successfully ferried his army across the river at Irvin's Ferry and Boyd's Ferry. The Americans won the three week, 250-mile "Race to the Dan," but by just 12 hours after heavy marching by both sides:11
Nathaniel Greene's army moved northeast, away from Cornwallis, and won the "Race to the Dan"
Source: National Park Service, An accurate map of North and South Carolina
He camped at what is now South Boston, keeping all the boats on the north bank of the river so Cornwallis could not reach him. After resupply, he then headed south to challenge Cornwallis. The battle fought at Guilford Courthouse on March 14, 1781, was technically a British victory because the American army had retreat from the battlefield, but it was a Pyrrhic victory; British losses were significant.
Cornwallis chose to march to Wilmington to resupply. Wilmington was under British control in 1781, along with three other ports at Savannah, Charleston, Portsmouth and New York.
In Wilmington, Cornwallis considered returning to Charles Town to defend South Carolina and Georgia, particularly to protect the outpost at Camden that was threatened by General Greene. Cornwallis concluded that his army was too small to conquer and hold North Carolina, especially since so few loyalists were willing to fight. A British Army in the interior of the colony was at risk of being trapped between major rivers without hope of supply by the Royal Navy, since the rivers were not navigable except near the Atlantic Ocean.
He preferred to wage offensive rather than defensive warfare, and was did not desire to return to the brutality of the Loyalists and American Rebels fighting a civil war in the Carolinas. There was no potential for glory or satisfaction in a war of attrition.
The potential for Cornwallis' small army to conquer Virginia and establish a Loyalist government there was thin, but at least he could stay on the offensive there and be supplied near the rivers. By marching into Virginia, Cornwallis might fight Continental Army units and Virginia militia in standard battles. He could capture territory and transfer it to loyalist control, if enough loyalists could be found. The British forces remaining at Camden, Ninety-Six and Augusta would be in a stronger position to hold their territory if Cornwallis cut off the rebel troops and supplies flowing south.
Cornwallis marched north from Wilmington, leaving on April 25, 1781. His superior, Sir Henry Clinton in New York, had directed Cornwallis to suppress the rebellion in South Carolina while General William Phillips would assist in Virginia by interrupting supplies from there. Clinton planned to withdraw troops from their disruption efforts in Virginia to reinforce his army in New York, where he expected the French to strike.
Cornwallis did not seek permission from Clinton to ignore his orders; he simply notified the Commander-in-Chief that he was moving into Virginia. Cornwallis did notify General William Phillips of his planned move, and shared his pessimism regarding the likelihood of either military or political success in Virginia:12
Source: American Battlefield Trust, The Revolutionary War in the North: Animated Battle Map
Source: American Battlefield Trust, The Revolutionary War in the South: Animated Battle Map
Phillips went to Petersburg in expectation of meeting Cornwallis there, but Phillips died from malaria or typhus before Cornwallis arrived. The general's body was buried secretly in the cemetery at Blandford Church; the exact location is still unknown.
Lord Cornwallis marched from Wilmington, North Carolina to Petersburg to combine forces with General William Phillips
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)
Col. Banastre Tarleton seized the ships and supplies at Osborne's Landing on April 27, 1781
Source: Huntington Library, Journal of the operations of the Queen's Rangers (Colonel John Simcoe, 1782)
May 24, 1781, Cornwallis marched from Petersburg to Maycox plantation, then crossed the James River to Westover
Source: Library ofd Congress, A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia
After arriving in Petersburg, Cornwallis sidelined Benedict Arnold by sending him back to New York. Col. Banastre Tarleton, in his 1787 memoirs, diplomatically described Cornwallis' removal of a person he did not want in his army:13
The British forces moved from Petersburg towards Richmond, seeking to defeat the Marquis de Lafayette before he could unite with reinforcements coming from Pennsylvania. The British had complete military dominance thanks to their superior numbers (over 7,000 men) and especially their cavalry. Lafayette had only a few men on horses, and struggled to even monitor the movements of Cornwallis' forces.
on May 24, 1781 Cornwallis marched from Petersburg to Maycox plantation in King George County and then crossed James River to Westover plantation
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major Général M'is de LaFayette
The rebellious Virginia leaders in the General Assembly fled Richmond on May 10, headed west to reconvene on May 24 in Charlottesville. A quorum of members was finally available on May 28, when the legislature reconvened in (probably) Scottsville at the former Albemarle County Courthouse. Jefferson's second one-year term expired at the start of June and he had declined to serve any longer, but the legislature did not elect his replacement on May 28.14
Cornwallis decided that he could not cross the North Anna River and catch Lafayette before General "Mad" Anthony Wayne would arrive with the Pennsylvania reinforcements. Cornwallis also decided that the supplies stored by the Virginians at two locations to his west were more significant that the material at Fredericksburg and Hunter's Iron Works at Falmouth.
Taking advantage of Lafayette being on the other side of the North Anna River, Cornwallis split his army. He sent Colonel John Simcoe and his Queens Rangers to seize an important supply base at the mouth of the Rivanna River, ordered Col. Banastre Tarleton to race west from Hanover Court House to Charlottesville, and marched with the rest to a planned reunion at Thomas Jefferson's Elk Hill plantation in Goochland County.
At Point of Fork (the site of the old Monacan town of Rassawek, near modern-day Columbia), Baron von Steuben moved all the supplies and boats away from Colonel John Simcoe to the south side of the James River. Von Steuben was fooled into thinking all of Cornwallis' army had arrived, and the American rebels fled. The British were able to cross the river unopposed and destroy the stockpile.15
under Colonel John Simcoe, the Queen's Rangers (American Tories) captured Baron von Steuben's supply base at Point of Fork (modern-day Columbia) on June 5, 1781
Source: Huntington Library, Journal of the operations of the Queen's Rangers (Colonel John Simcoe, 1782)
Col. Banastre Tarleton led a raid to Charlottesville with his British Legion to destroy supplies there and also to capture the General Assembly. As British cavalry were riding up the hill at Monticello on June 4, Thomas Jefferson fled in the other direction. He retired to property he owned in Bedford County where he later constructed Poplar Forest.
Opponents, primarily supporters of Patrick Henry, quickly accused Jefferson of mismanaging the Virginia response to the invasions by Arnold, Phillips, and Cornwallis, and of personal cowardice for his flight. Jefferson responded that the state always lacked the resources to counter the British, particularly a navy to stop them from crossing rivers:16
The legislators who escaped Tarleton went further west to Staunton and reassembled in Trinity Church. While meeting in Staunton, the General Assembly elected Thomas Nelson Jr. as the next governor.17
General Cornwallis dispatched troops under Col. Tarleton to Charlottesville and under Col. Simcoe to the Point of Fork on the James River
Source: British Library, MARCH of the ARMY under Lieut:t General EARL CORNWALLIS in VIRGINIA, from the JUNCTION at Petersburg on the 20.th of May, til their arrival at Portsmouth on the 12.th of July 1781
After being rejoined by Simcoe and Tarleton, Cornwallis marched his army east from Elk Hill back to Williamsburg. There he receive a message from Gen. Henry Clinton in New York, who feared attack by the combined forces under General George Washington and the French under the Count de Rochambeau. Clinton demanded Cornwallis detach a force from his unchallenged marches through Virginia and send them to New York. To supply the troops and to ensure adequate fortifications to protect his remaining force, Cornwallis started to move to the British base at Portsmouth.
That required crossing the James River again. The British Navy brought up ships, and the army moved to Jamestown Island in order to be ferried across to Cobham.
That is where Lafayette finally sent Wayne's troops to attack Cornwallis. Lafayette thought he was dealing with only the rear guard because Tarleton had arranged for him to capture a false deserter with that "intelligence," but Cornwallis had disguised his movements and outnumbered the Americans. Wayne managed to retreat back to Green Spring Plantation, the former home of Governor Culpeper. The British victory at Green Spring was the largest infantry engagement to occur in Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.18
After crossing to the south bank, Tarleton was sent west to Bedford County to interdict and destroy supplies intended for the General Greene's army in the Carolinas. The British Legion left Cobham on July 9, 1781, passing through Petersburg and Prince Edward Courthouse (now Worsham, near Hamden-Sydney college south of Farmville). During the raid, the cavalry rested in the middle of the day to avoid exhausting the horses.
British intelligence was faulty; the American supplies had been shipped to the Carolinas a month earlier. Tarleton chose a different route back to reach Portsmouth, since General Wayne had moved his units to Petersburg. Fortunately for the British, no Americans contested their crossing over the Blackwater River, where a defended position could have blocked the ford.
Over the course of 15 days, the cavalry rode over 400 miles. There were no significant engagements, and few supplies were destroyed. Fine Virginia horses were captured, but Tarleton later judged that the British had been more damaged by the long, hot ride than the Virginians:19
One of the tall tales of the Revolutionary Way is of the superhuman strength of Peter Francisco. He was an impressively-large man, perhaps 6'6" tall. Supposedly he single-handedly pulled an 1,100 pound cannon off its carriage and brought it safely to a wagon during the battle of Camden.
During Tarleton's Bedford raid, nine of Tarleton's cavalry made Francisco their prisoner. When one demanded that he hand over the silver buckles on his shoes, Francisco reportedly grabbed the soldier's sword, wounded him, and forced the other eight to flee while leaving their horses behind.
Perhaps the most accurate element of the story is the behavior of the tavern keeper. Francisco reported that he helped the British by giving one a gun to shoot Francisco. The tavern keeper was a loyalist, for at least that moment. Not all Virginians were strong supporters of the patriot cause, especially when surrounded by British troops.20
Peter Francisco, an unusually strong and courageous man, became an American hero for his fighting against the British
Source: Library of Congress, Peter Francisco's gallant action with nine of Tarleton's cavalry in sight of a troop of four hundred men
After Tarleton left on the Bedford raid, Cornwallis took the rest of his army along the path of modern Route 10 to Suffolk and on to Portsmouth. He received new orders directing him to stay north of the James River and to secure Old Point Comfort as a base for the British Navy. After determining it was not the best place to establish a base and wait for resupply from New York, he moved the British Army by ship to Yorktown in August, 1781. The British destroyed the fortifications at Portsmouth to prevent them from being used by Lafayette.21
the British sailed from Portsmouth to Yorktown in August, 1781 in anticipation of getting resupplied there
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)
The ultimate fate of the British army at Yorktown was determined by a naval battle in the Atlantic Ocean. At the Battle of the Capes, a French fleet blocked the British ships coming from New York from entering the Chesapeake Bay. When Washington and Rochambeau arrived with American and French troops, Cornwallis was trapped in Yorktown without the expected reinforcements or supplies.
His surrender to a united force of French and American troops in October, 1781, was a catastrophe for the enslaved men and women who had chosen to abandon their Virginia homes and follow the British. During the four months of marching across the state, Cornwallis encouraged enslaved people to leave their masters and follow him. Cornwallis learned from his Carolina experience, and did not expect Virginia's Tories to re-establish control and govern after his army had moved on. He did not try to win the hearts and minds of white Virginians by returning slaves. Instead, he sought to impose economic pain on the rebels and force the colony into submission, and to the enslaved population "freedom wore a red coat" in 1781.
After Cornwallis surrendered, George Washington ordered that the free blacks within the British lines be separated from the enslaved blacks. Those who were judged to be escaped slaves were returned to their masters.22
Yorktown brought most, but not all, fighting to an end. On the western frontier, British officers worked with Native Americans to launch two major assaults in 1782.
On August 19, 50 British soldiers and 300 Native Americans clashed with 182 Kentucky militiamen at the Battle of Blue Licks in Kentucky. The Americans had been pursuing the British/Native American force which had attacked Bryan's Station and, after failing to capture it, headed north to cross the Ohio River.
Daniel Boone warned the Kentucky militia that they were following a too-obvious trail, and an ambush lay ahead. Other leaders chased on anyway, to avoid accusations of cowardice. Boone followed, commenting:23
Boone was correct. About 1/3 of the Kentuckians - including Boone's son Israel - died that day.24
In the other assault by British rangers and Native American warriors, Fort Henry was surrounded in September, 1782. The defenders inside the fort at Wheeling were just the local residents, who raced inside just before the raiders appeared. A few other Virginians, including the family of Ebenezer Zane, fled to the nearby blockhouse where the gunpowder was stored.
The fort's defenders repelled two attacks on the first night, but ran low on gunpowder by morning. Elizabeth Zane ran from the fort to the blockhouse, filled her apron with gunpowder, and raced back to the fort under fire from the attackers. That enabled the defenders to continue their resistance. The attackers had brought only enough supplies for a few days, and soon abandoned the siege.25
The American retaliation came in November, 1782. George Rogers Clark led an army into Ohio and burned five Shawnee villages, in the Northwest Territory to which Virginia had only recently ceded its claims to the Continental Congress. The Shawnee retreated rather than fight, but the expedition is often described as the "last battle" of the American Revolution.26
It took four months for the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown to finally convince Parliament that the war in North American could not end in a British victory, with restoration of the colonies as subservient to London officials. Three times Parliament voted on ending the war.
On December 12, 1781, a motion to end the war was defeated by a 220-179 vote. Another vote on February 22, 1782 ended with a majority still in support of continuing hostilities, but the vote was 194-193. Five days later, with 65 more members of Parliament in attendance, the decision to end the war was adopted by a 234-215 vote.
Negotiating a treaty took 18 more months. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war and acknowledged American independence, was signed on September 3, 1783. Article Seven said:27
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay signed the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783
Source: Iowa Historical Society, Treaty of Paris
By the end of the war, the death toll from disease was far greater than from actual fighting. According to historian Woody Holton:28
in 1781, Cornwallis marched from North Carolina to meet General William Phillips in Petersburg
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major General M'is de LaFayette : ou se trouvent les camps et marches, ainsy que ceux du Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis en 1781
in 1781, Lafayette (yellow line) could only shadow the British (red line) as they chose to raid Richmond and destroy supplies throughout Virginia
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major General M'is de LaFayette : ou se trouvent les camps et marches, ainsy que ceux du Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis en 1781
Cornwallis concentrated forces at Petersburg in April 1781, crossed the James River to Westover Plantation and captured Richmond, then embarked at Bermuda Hundred to sail back to the British base at Portsmouth
Source: Library of Congress, Campagne en Virginie du Major General M'is de LaFayette : ou se trouvent les camps et marches, ainsy que ceux du Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis en 1781
after an American victory at Cowpens, General Daniel Morgan and General Nathaniel Greene managed a strategic retreat across the Carolinas and crossed the Dan River before General Cornwallis
Source: Internet Archive, A School History of the United States, from the Discovery of America to the Year 1878 (p.196)
highway historical markers highlight Revolutionary War events in eastern Virginia
route of Comte de Rochambeau's army through Northern Virginia, 1781 and 1782
Source: Library of Congress, Cote de York-town - Boston: Marches de l'armee
Lord Cornwallis fortified Yorktown, with the expectation that reinforcements would arrive from New York before his base could be captured through a siege by French and America armies
Source: Library of Congress, Plan of Yorktown and Glucester [sic], Virginia, October 1781
re-enactors at the Yorktown Victory Monument
Source: Joint Base Langley-Eustis
most military activity in Virginia occurred in 1780-81, after Cornwallis moved north from Charleston
Source: Library of Congress, The comprehensive series, historical-geographical maps of the United States (1919)
the Continental Congress was responsible for uniforms and other supplies needed by soldiers in the Continental Army
Source: Library of Congress, Infantry: Continental Army, 1779-1783 (by Henry Alexander Ogden, 1897)
units not in the Continental Army chose their own form of dress
Source: Library of Congress, Independent company organizations (by Henry Alexander Ogden, c.1891)
Blandford Church in Petersburg - burial site of Major General William Phillips, who captured the city in 1781
in 1781, Col. Banastre Tarleton raided as far west as Bedford and Charlottesville and Lord Cornwallis marched up to the North Anna River
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)
Bedford was not safe from the British in 1781
Source: Library of Congress, The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces (by William Faden, 1787)
French cannon at Yorktown
Source: National Park Service, Sidney King Painting
two French fleets blocked reinforcements from reaching Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781
Source: Library of Congress, A Plan of the entrance of Chesapeak Bay (by William Faden, 1781)
Cornwallis's surrender in 1781 was negotiated in the Moore House outside the town of Yorktown by subordinates - Cornwallis and Washington did not meet there in person to sign terms of capitulation
Source: Historical collections of Virginia, The Moore House, Yorktown (p.530)
the Moore House in Yorktown was damaged during the Civil War
Source: The Photographic History of the Civil War, The Scene of Yorktown's Only Surrender (p.268)
the French army marched through Fairfax County in 1781 towards Yorktown, and camped there again in 1782 when headed back north
Source: Library of Congress, Amérique campagne. - Camp a Colchester (Rochambeau Map Collection, 1782)
 Yorktown Victory Monument |
 Yorktown Grace Church |
 Yorktown fascine (1781 sand bag) |
 Yorktown "Fox" cannon |
 NPS visitor center (Yorktown Battlefield) |
 Thomas Nelson house (Yorktown) |
 Nelson House 1781 cannonball (fake...) |
 Yorktown mural (Read Street) |
Cornwallis (red line) marched up from Charleston and across much of Virginia in 1781 before reaching Yorktown
Source: Library of Congress, Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 (Hart-Bolton American history maps, 1917)
the road south of Wolf's Ford, where French artillery crossed the Occoquan River in 1781, was known as Telephone Road in 1901
Source: Library of Congress, Map of northern Virginia (1894); Map of Prince William County, Virginia