THE REVOLUTIONARY SHORE - December 4, 1775

Pictured: Extract, Samuel S. McCroskey, Chairman of the Northampton Committee of Safety to the 2nd Continental Congress, November 25, 1775, warning of the dangers posed by Lord Dunmore’s Fleet and requesting aid to protect the Shore.

By Kellee Blake

On this very day, 250 years ago . . .

The Continental Congress in Philadelphia was abuzz with talk of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation. Many enslaved workers were making their way to Dunmore and his promise of freedom and Dunmore’s fleet near Norfolk could strike at any nearby Tidewater location. Northampton was highly attractive for proximity and products and its Committee wrote Congress a three page letter warning of the exigent dangers. Congress authorized the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion under Irish-born Lt. Colonel James Irvine to Northampton County “for the protection of the Association in those parts and for the defense thereof against the designs of the enemies of America.”

Not only did Congress order reinforcements and encourage Virginians to resist Dunmore, it green-lighted the formation of Virginia’s independent government during the “present dispute between Great Britain and these colonies.” Days later the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg resolved that five hundred “effective men, three Companies whereof to be riflemen be employed for the protection and defense of the Counties of Northampton and Accomack.”

Southy Simpson, Chairman of Accomack’s Committee of Safety and Inspection, hoped the Virginia Convention would not insist Shore delegates attend the December meeting: “our Bay is in the Possession of our enemies & Swarms with their Tenders who we have every Reason to believe will be on the Watch to Seize our Delegates on their Passage.” The Shoremen were vulnerable and exposed, cut off from any support from the Western Shore, unlikely to receive help from nearby Maryland counties, and had little ammunition, wrote Simpson to his colleagues.

Meanwhile, Accomack and Northampton militiamen huddled together in the cold as they rotated their guards to watch for the British. The Accomack soldiers also made their voices heard in Williamsburg. They preferred the regular militia rather than the new “minute” or “minutemen” service authorized by the Virginia Legislature to quickly call up troops. The militiamen successfully argued—for the moment—that their militia was well-established, had regular pay for the whole time of service, and better served the uniquely situated Eastern Shore.

Winter was setting in, but most on the Shore braced for something more dreadful. Lord Dunmore had promised to “reduce this colony to a proper sense of their duty” and in short days he would put men and munitions to the task near Norfolk at the Great Bridge. There would be no peace on earth this December, certainly not in Virginia.