1776 1777 1778 1779 The Battle of Gwynn's Island (July 8–10, 1776) saw Andrew Lewis lead patriot soldiers from Virginia against John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore's small naval squadron and British loyalist troops.

In this American Revolutionary War action, accurate cannon fire from the nearby Virginia mainland persuaded Dunmore to abandon his base at Gwynn's Island.

While camping on the island, the loyalists suffered heavy mortality from smallpox and an unknown fever, particularly among the escaped slaves that Dunmore recruited to fight against the American rebels.

Blocked by American troops from securing food near Norfolk, Dunmore sailed north to base his force at Gwynn's Island for six weeks.

After being driven away from Gwynn's Island, Dunmore's ships lingered in Chesapeake Bay before his vessels departed for New York and other locations.

Even before the news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord reached Virginia, Governor Dunmore clashed with the local patriots in the Gunpowder Incident at Williamsburg on 20–21 April 1775.

On December 9, William Woodford's patriot militia defeated Dunmore's forces in the Battle of Great Bridge and occupied Norfolk five days later.

[2] In late May 1776, Dunmore left Norfolk with his fleet of nearly 100 vessels and sailed 30 miles (48 km) north to Gwynn's Island.

Dunmore's loyalists were crowded in unhealthy conditions aboard ships and the governor hoped the 4 square mile island would be a secure place for them to recover.

On May 26, Dunmore's fleet anchored in Hills Bay at the mouth of the Piankatank River on the west side of Gwynn's Island.

[4] A military outpost on Burton Point quickly reported the landing and Captain Thomas Posey arrived with his company of the 7th Virginia Regiment.

Soon the balance of the 7th Virginia under Colonel William Daingerfield and local militia assembled on the mainland opposite Gwynn's Island.

Hamond reported that the Royal Marines were forced to guard the camp because the British regulars were still weak from sickness and many of the Queen's Own Loyal Virginians were ill with smallpox.

In a letter to Lord George Germain, Dunmore admitted that, because of the fever, each of his ships were throwing one to three dead bodies overboard every night.

[1] The patriots feared that the loyalists intended to kidnap Martha Washington at Mount Vernon, but the raiders were turned back by storms and resistance by the local militia.

[6] With Dunmore's fleet no longer a threat to Virginia, the authorities were able to send troops north to join Washington's Continental army in the New York area.