On this day 250 years ago the Patriots of Virginia defeated the British at the Battle of Great Bridge. As the Virginia commander Colonel William Woodford accurately described it in a letter a few days afterwards, the battle was a “second Bunker’s Hill affair, in miniature, with this difference: that we kept our post and had only one man wounded in the hand.” The British forces totalled about 670 men and were opposed by approximately 900 Patriots, but less than 300 men were involved in the actual fighting (about 150 British and somewhat fewer Patriots), which lasted lasted less than thirty minutes. As at Bunker Hill the British charged Americans behind a barricade and suffered appalling losses. In contrast to the one Patriot wounded (Lieutenant Thomas Nash of the Norfolk County Militia), the British 14th Regiment lost a captain, two lieutenants, and 14 privates killed, a lieutenant and 15 privates wounded and captured, and 33 privates wounded. There were conflicting reports of how many casualties there were in the sailors and Black and White Loyalists who were part of the British forces, but the British casualties may have totalled 102 men in all. Following the battle Lord Dunmore abandoned Norfolk and his forces withdrew to ships in the Chesapeake Bay leaving Virginia in full control by the Patriots, except for British raids, until 1781. The British lost half of their professional fighting force and were forced out of the largest colony in North America as a result of the Battle of Great Bridge, making this small battle one of the most strategic American victories of the War. The most renowned Patriot hero of the battle was a free Black man named William Flora who would go on to serve in the Continental Army for the remainder of the War fighting at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and Yorktown.
Today, December 9, 2025 starting at 7:00 am, the Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Foundation will commemorate the Battle of Great Bridge with a full day of activities.
Sources: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/other/great-bridge-battlefield-commemorates-250th-anniversary-of-patriot-victory/ar-AA1RpyYQ; https://www.jyfmuseums.org/learn/research-and-collections/essays/what-was-the-battle-of-great-bridge; https://www.discoverconcordma.com/articles/699-the-battle-of-great-bridge; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Flora
On This Day In The Revolution 
One response to “On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — December 9, 1775”
William Flora sounds like quite a hero, not only during the American Revolution but during the War of 1812 (or just prior) as well. He also died a wealthy man. His will shows he owned a couple homes prior to his death as well as a female slave whom his will ordered “to be sold immediately after my death with the money used to pay my just debts.”
I hope we can know not to judge these early American heroes by today’s standards. William Flora was a loyal patriot and a wise businessman. He was not unlike other capitalists of the era I’ve read about who (including free blacks, whites, and Indians) were slave owners.
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