Great Britain The Battle of Spencer's Ordinary was an inconclusive skirmish that took place on 26 June 1781, late in the American Revolutionary War.

[6][7] Lafayette successfully eluded engaging Cornwallis for about one month, who used his numerical advantage to detach forces for raids against economic, military, and political targets in central Virginia.

Lafayette, whose force grew to number about 4,000 with the arrival of Continental Army reinforcements under General Anthony Wayne and additional experienced militiamen under William Campbell, followed Cornwallis.

[8] Buoyed by the increase in his troop strength, Lafayette also became more aggressive in his tactics, sending out detachments of his force to counteract those that Cornwallis sent on forage and raiding expeditions.

Among those that were commonly in the army's advance guard were a combined cavalry and infantry unit from Pennsylvania under Captain William McPherson, and companies of Virginia riflemen under Majors Richard Call and John Willis.

[9] As Cornwallis approached Williamsburg, Lafayette and Wayne received word that Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe and his Loyalist regiment of Queen's Rangers were returning from a raid to destroy boats and forage for supplies on the Chickahominy River.

[11] On the night of 25 June, Wayne sent most of the advance guard under Colonel Richard Butler, including McPherson, Call, and Willis, to intercept Simcoe's force.

A forward party of about 50 dragoons and 50 light infantry under McPherson caught up with advance companies of Simcoe's force near Spencer's Ordinary, a tavern at a road intersection about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Williamsburg.

He sent word to Cornwallis, dispatched the cattle convoy toward Williamsburg, and ordered trees to be felled to make a barricade across the road as a point of defense.