John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a Scottish peer, military officer, and colonial administrator in the Thirteen Colonies and The Bahamas. He was the last royal governor of Virginia. Dunmore was named governor of New York in 1770. He succeeded to the same position in the colony of Virginia the following year after the death of Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt. As Virginia's governor, Dunmore directed a series of campaigns against the trans-Appalachian Indians, known as Lord Dunmore's War. He is noted for issuing a 1775 document, Dunmore's Proclamation, offering freedom to slaves who fought for the British Crown against Patriot rebels in Virginia. Dunmore fled to New York after the burning of Norfolk in 1776 and later returned to Britain. He was Governor of the Bahamas from 1787 to 1796.
Mathews County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,533. Its county seat is Mathews.
Deale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,945 at the 2010 census. It has a scenic view of Chesapeake Bay and is popular with boaters. Sudley was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Owings is a town center and census-designated place (CDP) in northern Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,149 at the 2010 census, up from 1,325 in 2000.
Irvington is a town on the Rappahannock River in Lancaster County, Virginia, United States. The population was 474 at the 2020 census. Located on a peninsula known as the Northern Neck, it has been designated a historic district.
The Elizabeth River is a 6-mile-long (10 km) tidal estuary forming an arm of Hampton Roads harbor at the southern end of Chesapeake Bay in southeast Virginia in the United States. It is located along the southern side of the mouth of the James River, between the cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Chesapeake. Forming the core of the Hampton Roads harbor, it is heavily supported by its tributaries which depend upon it.
Southern Maryland, also referred to as SoMD, is a geographical, cultural and historic region, as well as a National Heritage Area, in Maryland composed of the state's southernmost counties on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. According to the state of Maryland, the region includes all of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties and the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties. It is largely coterminous with the region of Maryland that is part of the Washington metropolitan area. Portions of the region are also part of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area and the California-Lexington Park Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 Census, the region had a population of 373,177. The largest community in Southern Maryland is Waldorf, with a population of 81,410 as of the 2020 Census.
Andrew Lewis was an Irish-born American surveyor, military officer and politician. Born in County Donegal, he moved with his family to the British colony of Virginia at a young age. A colonel in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, and brigadier general in the American Revolutionary War, his most famous victory was the Battle of Point Pleasant in Dunmore's War in 1774, although he also drove Lord Dunmore's forces from Norfolk and Gwynn's Island in 1776. He also helped found Liberty Hall in 1776.
The Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, early in the American Revolutionary War. The refusal by colonial Virginia militia forces led to the departure of Royal Governor Lord Dunmore and any remaining vestiges of British power over the Colony of Virginia during the early days of the conflict.
The Gunpowder Incident was a conflict early in the American Revolutionary War between Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, and militia led by Patrick Henry. On April 21, 1775, two days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Lord Dunmore ordered the removal of the gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg, Virginia to a Royal Navy ship.
Fincastle County, Virginia, was created by act of the Virginia General Assembly April 8, 1772 from Botetourt County. As the colonial government considered Virginia's western extent to be the Mississippi River, that became Fincastle's western limit. Its eastern boundary was essentially the New River, thus dividing Botetourt County from north to south. The new county encompassed all of present-day Kentucky, plus southwestern West Virginia and a slice of Virginia's western "tail". Although no county seat was designated by the act creating the county, the colonial governor ordered it to be placed at the "Lead Mines" of present-day Wythe County; the community of Austinville later developed there.
The Royal Ethiopian Regiment, also known as Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, was a British military unit of formerly enslaved Black enlisted men. It was organized a few months after the April 1775 outbreak of the American Revolution by the Earl of Dunmore, last Royal Governor of Virginia. Dunmore had issued a proclamation in November promising freedom to enslaved Blacks held by Patriots in Virginia, who joined the British cause to suppress the insurrection. Hundreds of enslaved men left their enslavers to join the new regiment led by British officers and sergeants. The regiment's uniforms were inscribed with the "incendiary words 'Liberty to Slaves'". Enlisted men were not only emancipated but also paid one pound, one guinea for joining. The regiment was disbanded in 1776, though many of its soldiers probably went on to serve in other Black Loyalist units.
The Burning of Norfolk was an incident that occurred on January 1, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. British Royal Navy ships in the harbor of Norfolk, Virginia, began shelling the town, and landing parties came ashore to burn specific properties. The town, whose significantly Loyalist population had fled, was occupied by Patriot forces from Virginia and North Carolina. Although the Patriots worked to drive off the British landing parties, they did nothing to impede the progress of the flames, and began burning and looting Loyalist-owned property instead.
Designated in 1991, the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve - Virginia (CBNERR-VA) is one of 29 protected areas that make up the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). Established to promote informed management of the nation's estuaries and coastal habitats.
Fairport is an unincorporated community in Northumberland County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Freeport is an unincorporated community in Gloucester County, in the U. S. state of Virginia.
The 1st Continental Artillery Regiment, also known as Harrison's Continental Artillery Regiment, was authorized on 26 November 1776 as Colonel Charles Harrison's Continental Artillery Regiment. Raised for service during the American Revolutionary War, as originally organized, the regiment comprised 10 artillery companies from Virginia. Two of the artillery companies existed since early 1776. The regiment was first assigned to the Southern Department, but in March 1778 it was reassigned to General George Washington's main army. In August 1779, the unit was renamed the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment. It continued to serve with the main army until April 1780 when it was transferred to the Southern Department. In May 1780, Maryland artillery companies formally joined the regiment, making a total of 12 companies. In January 1781, the regiment was reorganized with 10 companies. Furloughed in the summer of 1783, the regiment was disbanded in November the same year. Elements of the regiment fought at Monmouth, Charleston, Camden, Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs, Yorktown, and Combahee River.
Andrew Sprowle was a Scottish-born merchant, naval agent, landowner, shipyard owner, slaveholder and slave trader in Portsmouth, Virginia. Today Andrew Sprowle is best remembered for establishing the Gosport Ship Yard, now known as Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Sprowle emigrated from Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland to what is currently the Commonwealth of Virginia in the mid-18th century, where he lived until his death on 29 May 1776.
Fort Cricket Hill is an historic American Revolutionary War site in Mathews County, Virginia. The site is located near the Gwynn's Island bridge, which carries Cricket Hill Road to the island from the mainland near the village of Cricket Hill. From fortifications on this site, rebel Patriot forces fired on British forces controlled by the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, that had occupied Gwynn's Island.
The Battle of Gwynn's Island saw Andrew Lewis lead patriot soldiers from Virginia against John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore's small naval squadron and British loyalist troops. In this American Revolutionary War action, accurate cannon fire from the nearby Virginia mainland persuaded Dunmore to abandon his base at Gwynn's Island. While camping on the island, the loyalists suffered heavy mortality from smallpox and an unknown fever, particularly among the escaped slaves that Dunmore recruited to fight against the American rebels. Gwynn's Island is located on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Mathews County, Virginia.
