Attacking with “Decisive Vigor”

On October 3, 1781, one of the largest cavalry battles of the Revolution was fought a few miles north of Gloucester Point, and the Battle of the Hook helped set the stage for the American victory at Yorktown. Needing food, the bottled-up British were ordered by General Cornwallis to send Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Dundas out from the Gloucester defenses with a foraging party. As the party returned with sheep, cattle, and corn in their wagons, a large American-French force attacked them near Seawell’s Ordinary. Virginia militia had joined veteran French cavalry and marines led by the Duc de Choisy and the Duc de Lauzun. In the fighting, Colonel Banastre Tarleton, leading his legion, was unhorsed but saved by his men as the heavily laden wagons slipped back into the British lines. Although casualties on both sides were few, the battle's results were critical: British forces at Gloucester Point were trapped and could no longer forage or escape north without a fight.

Gloucester Point, Virginia · United States