The Battle of Gwynn’s Island doesn’t seem to get much attention these days, which is a shame because it was rather important at the time.

First, Lord Dunmore, the former Royal Governor of Virginia, had been there since May, having retreated there after the bombardment of Norfolk in January. The Patriots made their lives very difficult, so after a few weeks the British bailed out of Norfolk and headed to Gwynn’s Island to regroup. They were about 2000 men in all, including British army regulars and Loyalists.

They were spotted by a lookout (the distance across the narrows at this time was only about 200 yards, after all) and the Patriots began harassing the British on the island, but the British began firing back and many militiamen decided it wasn’t worth the effort, so they deserted. The Continental Army soldiers, on the other hand, mostly just got used to it.

Dunmore had a fort built and they settled in behind the fortifications, but 2000 people on a relatively undeveloped island of four square miles, with inadequate water supplies, meant that disease ran rampant, killing about a third of the men, most of whom were Black. When Andrew Lewis arrived with the bigger guns and began blowing the fort to bits, Dunmore realized it was time to evacuate. It was a few more weeks until he left America altogether. In the meantime, with the British entirely out of Virginia, the Continental Army was able to move north to New York to assist with George Washington’s troops there.

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