07 Dec 2024 Chesapeake, VA
…..on Dec 9th, 249 years ago, the thin line of sentries at the south end of the Long Bridge began to make out the Grenadier Company of the 14th Regiment of Foot, followed by another company of Regulars, a large number of Tory Militiamen, and about 500 recently enslaved black members of the Ethiopian Regiment, advancing down the bridge threatening to seize the barricade behind the sentries before the Americans camped to the south could respond. One sentry, Billy Flora, stood his ground, reloading and firing eight rounds, thus slowing the Grenadiers so that the 2nd Virginia Regiment reached the barricade before the Grenadiers. They were supported by the Culpeper Minutemen who took cover behind a flanking barricade on their left. Then devastating fire by the Americans killed and wounded at least 100 of those who charged down the bridge. Captain Charles Fordyce who bravely led the charge fell dead.
The American victory prevented the establishment of a British stronghold at Norfolk which could have made a successful revolution impossible.
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