Mention the “Battle of Cricket Hill” to people outside the immediate vicinity of Mathews County, and you are likely to be met with a puzzled look. Mention the name “Captain Louis d’Ohicky Arundel,” even within Mathews County, and you may receive an equally blank stare. Yet, despite their relative obscurity today, both played a remarkably significant role in Virginia’s contribution to securing American independence during the Revolutionary War. Let’s begin with the name “Cricket Hill.” By the spring of 1776, Virginia Patriots had been skirmishing with the Virginia’s last Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, British forces, and Loyalists for a year. Lord Dunmore’s base of operation was off-shore aboard ship, under protection of the British Navy. In fact, he had amassed a floating city of close to 100 ships of Loyalists seeking refuge from the ongoing conflict. Conditions were crowded on board the ships, and there was constant suffering from lack of fresh water and provisions. Small pox and othe...