Battle of Kemp's Landing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Battle of Kemp's Landing
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Date November, 1775 Location Kemp's Landing, Virginia Result British victory
Belligerents
Princess Anne County Militia	Great Britain
Commanders
	John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore
Casualties and losses
2 captured and 1 killed

The Battle of Kemp's Landing, later called the Skirmish of Kempsville was a battle in the American Revolutionary War that occurred on November 14, 15, or 16, 1775. The rebel Princess Anne County Militia assembled at Kemp's Landing to fight the British that had gathered there under the command of Virginia's last colonial governor, Lord John Murray Dunmore. Lord Dunmore had called in British troops to the Landing to defend a large store of gunpowder recently moved there from the nearby burrough of Norfolk.

The rebel militia was forced to retreat soon after fighting began. Three militia members were left behind in the retreat: Joseph Hutchings, a prominent land owner in Norfolk captured by the British after the fight; Anthony Lawson, another prominent landowner also captured by the British; and John Ackiss, a farmer in southern Princess Anne County. Ackiss was killed in the battle, becoming the first Virginian casualty of the American Revolutionary War.

After the fight, Lord Dunmore required all in the Landing to become loyalists. In 1778, The Landing subsequently became an incorporated town, Kempsville, Virginia.