On this day 250 years ago, “a Convention of Delegates, chosen by the several counties of the province of Maryland at the city of Annapolis” convened. Their first order of business was to elect Matthew Tilghman as the President of the Convention. Tilghman would serve as one of Maryland’s delegates to the Continental Congress and in the Maryland Convention and Maryland Legislature for the duration of the War. The Maryland Convention, also called the Annapolis Convention, was effectively the government of Maryland even though Royal Governor Eden remained in office.

Source: Proceedings of the Conventions of the province of Maryland, held at the city of Annapolis, in 1774, 1775, & 1776 , Baltimore: James Lewis & E.K. Deaver, 1836 at p.39, accessed at https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcon00mary/page/38/mode/2up

That same day, 1100 Americans and a few hundred Canadians commanded by General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold were besieging the City of Quebec from encampments to the west and north of the City’s walls. The 1800 British soldiers, sailors and untrained Canadians drafted into a militia defending Quebec outnumbered the besiegers.

Sources: https://www.americanheritage.com/siege-quebec-1775-1776; https://www.americanrevolution.org/arnolds-expedition-the-investment/

On that same day in Virginia 400 men commanded by Colonel William Woodford including 100 riflemen from Culpeper County, 200 militia from Fauquier and Orange Counties, local militia from Norfolk County and a company from North Carolina were encamped in the village of Great Bridge south of Norfolk (within the City of Chesapeake today). Woodford’s men were defending a barricade they had erected across the south side of the Great Bridge over the Elizabeth River and outposts along the south side of the river. A small detachment of 27 British Regulars with two four-pounder cannon and several small swivel guns occupied a hastily constructed fort guarding the north end of the Great Bridge. The British regulars were supported by a company of former slaves who had enlisted in Dunmore’s “Ethiopian Regiment” in return for his promise of freedom and who were guarding the north bank of the river. The British side numbered about 100 in total. The Great Bridge provided the only road access to the City of Norfolk. The British and Americans had been sniping and raiding each other across the Elizabeth River in a stalemate that had lasted for more than a week but on this day Woodford received reinforcements bringing his total force to 900. The stalemate was about to be broken.

Today, December 7, 2025, the City of Chesapeake is hosting a 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Great Bridge Reenactment, and there are several other related events on December 9.

Sources: https://va250.org/event-detail/?id=2305; https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/other/great-bridge-battlefield-commemorates-250th-anniversary-of-patriot-victory/ar-AA1RpyYQ;; https://www.cityofchesapeake.net/810/Battle-of-Great-Bridge; https://www.jyfmuseums.org/learn/research-and-collections/essays/what-was-the-battle-of-great-bridge; Selby at 70-72