|
|
Historical Highway MarkersSkirmish at James's PlantationKV-33
British forces under Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold raided Richmond early in Jan. 1781 and established a base in Portsmouth later that month, seeking to control the Tidewater region. Groups of local militia, including 520 men led by Capt. Amos Weeks, disrupted British operations in the area. Arnold ordered Capt. Johann Ewald, commander of Hessian cavalry and riflemen, to pursue Weeks. On 15 Feb. at James’s Plantation near here, Ewald surprised Weeks and inflicted about 120 casualties. Joined by Lt. Col. John G. Simcoe of the Queen’s Rangers, Ewald followed the remaining militia south to Pungo Chapel before returning to Portsmouth. Weeks’s force regrouped and continued to harass the British.
Department of Historic Resources, 2019 See a problem? Report it to HighwayMarkers@dhr.virginia.gov. |
DHR could use your help! We don't have a recent image of this marker. If you have one that you'd like to submit for inclusion on this site, please send it to HighwayMarkers@dhr.virginia.gov. |
|
References/Bibliographic Citation: Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal, trans. Joseph P. Tustin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979). John Graves Simcoe, Simcoe’s Military Journal: A History of the Operations of a Partisan Corps called the Queen’s Rangers (New York: Bartlett & Welford, 1844). Johann Ewald, Treatise on Partisan Warfare, Robert Selig and David Skaggs, eds. (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991). Christopher Pieczynski, “The Skirmish at James’s Plantation: A Research Study Submitted to the Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Commission” (Feb. 1, 2009). |