Early Years of the Revolution in the American South
Revolutionary Events as presented by Politician and Historian David Ramsey
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1
Gunpowder Incident (April 20, 1775)
The gunpowder incident took place in Williamsburg, VA, one day after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor, ordered the removal of gunpowder from the local powder magazine by British sailors, and a local militia, led by Patrick Henry, demanded it be returned. Peacefully resolved, the incident resulted in Dunmore retreating to a British ship, and the government being taken over by the local Committee of Safety. This was the first major event of the Southern theater in the war.
2
Battle of Great Bridge (December 9, 1775)
Following his retreat to a royal navy vessel in Norfolk, Lord Dunmore ordered one side of Great Bridge reinforced, and patriot militias soon occupied the other side. Dunmore ordered an attack but his forces were defeated, and took heavy losses. Norfolk's majority Loyalist population had fled, and British ships began shelling the town. Later, Patriot forces burned and looted the remaining properties.
3
Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge (February 27, 1776 )
The British Governor in North Carolina had been expelled in 1775, and began to raise an army to retake the colony.The British had been recruiting Highland Scots and regulators to their forces leading up to the battle. Patriot forces far outnumbered them, and the ensuing battle only lasted 3 minutes. The loyalists were decisively defeated, and the majority of their forces were later captured, being the most significant patriot victory of the war thus far.
Ramsey
Ramsey's Narrative
In the events he chooses to highlight, Ramsey presents a sober description of the details as they occurred. However, these events were all very significant and decisive victories for the Patriots in the south, presenting a narrative of largely unimpeded victories for Americans in the early years of the revolutionary war, giving credence to the dominant narrative of Providence in the revolution in the immediate decades following the end of the war, when Ramsey wrote this work.
Ramsey was a physician from Charleston, SC, and he briefly served in the war, and was a representative to the Congress of the Confederation after the war. Though he was certainly a reputable historian who used primary sources in his work, the narrative he told was certainly influenced by his position.
North America 1786
