The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cardinal News has embarked on a project to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence. As part of this, I’m writing monthly columns about the politics of the era, written the same way I’d write them today. The events described here took place in November1775. You can sign up for our monthly newsletter here:
The news of late has been so extraordinary that we have been reluctant to publish it until we received confirmation of its veracity, which now comes to us by legions.
Shots have been fired in anger in Virginia.
The war that has erupted in the New England Colonies has now come South. It’s now gone further, with our exiled royal governor offering freedom to Virginia’s slaves if they choose to side with the British — an offer that threatens to undermine the entire way of life in much of the Colony.
No matter what happens, these are truly revolutionary times.
Let’s review what’s happened since my last dispatch. You’ll recall that Lord Dunmore has fled to a British vessel anchored in Gosport (modern editor’s note: part of modern-day Portsmouth) where he’s been plotting ways to restore himself to power in Williamsburg. In October he sent a ship to scout the York River, apparently in search of a landing site for an invasion force that could take the capital city from behind, so to speak. Instead, providence intervened with a hurricane that wrecked the ship off the coast of Hampton. What came to light then is that some of the crew were men who had fled slavery and offered to serve the British — and that there were many others who have slipped the bonds of captivity and fled to British lines.
When the people of Hampton saw the ironically named HMS Liberty run aground, they did what they felt necessity required: They looted it and burned it. Lord Dunmore demanded compensation; the townspeople of Hampton demanded the return of the escaped slaves. When neither side budged, Dunmore sent a small fleet to bombard the town — but townspeople crouching inside waterfront buildings drove off the vessels, a rare battle of a land force against a naval one and an even rarer victory for the untrained land force against the might of the Royal Navy. (Modern editor’s note: See our previous story on the Battle of Hampton).
What Lexington and Concord did for the people of Massachusetts, the Battle of Hampton has done for the people of Virginia — it has stirred both outrage and a sense that we Colonists are not as outmatched in this fight as some would have us believe.
After that battle, the Committee of Safety ordered Col. William Woodford of Caroline County to lead the militia to find Dunmore and deal with him for good. Those forces (many of them from Culpeper County) marched out of Williamsburg on Nov. 7 in pursuit of the royal governor but, at last report, had not yet made their way to the coast because the British fleet patrolling the James River has blocked them from crossing to the south side of the river.
Meanwhile, Dunmore had relocated from Gosport to Princess Anne County, apparently in the mistaken belief that Patriot forces had arrived there from North Carolina. There were no North Carolinians in Princess Anne, but Dunmore’s arrival in the county did prompt the muster of the local militia under Joseph Hutchings, a member of the House of Burgesses. The militia, said to be anywhere from 170 to 300 strong, took up station at the town of Kemp’s Landing; Dunmore heard about this and sent a detachment of 100 regulars and 20 Loyalists. (Modern editor’s note: Princess Anne County is now Virginia Beach and Kemp’s Landing is now the Kempsville neighborhood.) Among those in Dunmore’s force were his new Ethiopian Regiment, comprised for those who have fled slavery to serve the crown in exchange for their freedom. They are said to wear uniforms whose shirt proclaim “Liberty To Slaves,” a phrase meant to strike terror into the hearts of Virginia’s great plantation masters who own not just vast tracts of land but also vast amounts of people who labor on them.
Hutchings’ militia intended to ambush Dunmore’s men as they marched to Great Bridge. The Princess Anne militia had the advantage of numbers but the disadvantage of inexperience. Hutchings’ men were too eager to shoot, which gave away their plan, and completely unprepared for what followed. When Dunmore’s more disciplined regulars returned fire, the militia scattered. At least five militia men lay dead on the ground and 18 more were captured, while only one British soldier suffered a wound and that was described as superficial at worst. Two more militia men drowned while trying to cross a creek in their treat. Among those captured were Hutchings, the militia leader, who was taken prisoner by one of his former enslaved laborers who had taken up with the Ethiopian Regiment. Oh, how the tables have turned! Some reports say that Hutchings was intoxicated, which, if true, might have contributed to the rout. (Modern editor’s note: Hutchings was put aboard a British ship with other prisoners; disease was rampant and he died in early 1776).
Victorious in the field, Dunmore raised the king’s standard at Kemp’s Landing and read out a proclamation in which he declared martial law in Virginia and offered freedom to any slaves who joined his Ethiopian Regiment. Dunmore then continued on to Norfolk and now has possession of that city.
The impact of this fighting at Kemp’s Landing now echoes through the Colonies. In the immediate aftermath, more than 100 members of the Princess Anne militia quit the Patriot cause and swore allegiance to the crown, claiming they had been pressured into taking up arms. This raises questions as to just how widespread the support may be for a full-scale clash of arms. More broadly, Dunmore’s offer of freedom to slaves has set off an exodus of laborers, intent on joining the British cause. It has also completely alienated Virginia’s planter class from any hope of reconciliation. Their livelihoods, and social status, simply would not exist without the forced labor of slavery.
In truth, this battle at Kemp’s Landing might be small in military terms but now looms large in political ones. As we set the type for this publication, it seems likely that more fighting will come soon. Dunmore enlarges his forces with new men arriving every day to join his Ethiopian Regiment, while we hear that Woodford has at last gotten his force across the James and plans to link up with the long-rumored North Carolinians.
War is now afoot, it seem, on all fronts. We’ve just received word that Patriot forces under Gen. Richard Montgomery have marched into Montreal in a bid to rally French-speaking Quebec to our side. We now anxiously await every new scrap of news.
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In happier news, we hear classes will soon start at a new institution of learning recently established in Prince Edward County. We wish this new Hampden-Sydney College well.
Sources consulted: Encyclopedia Virginia, Battlefields.org, Revolutionary-War.net.