The Revolutionary War is coming to Mathews this weekend.
Reenactors plan to travel to the county on Friday and set up camp on the grounds of the Gwynn’s Island Civic Center to commemorate the 242nd anniversary of the Battle of Cricket Hill.
They will spend the weekend living the way the soldiers of the period lived—sleeping on straw, cooking their meals out in the open, and staging drills for the historic battle.
The battle, which took place in present-day Mathews just five days after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, was one of the defining engagements of the American Revolution. It was the final stand of Virginia’s last royal governor, Lord Dunmore, who had fled to Gwynn’s Island after the burning of the City of Norfolk.
When revolutionary forces began to gather across Milford Haven, along the shores of the mainland, Dunmore dismissed them as mere crickets. But General Andrew Lewis, who had a personal grudge against Dunmore, attacked the Earl’s ship with 18-pound cannons, killing his boatswain, destroying his fine china, and wounding Dunmore himself.
The royal forces cut their lines and retreated, never to land on the shores of America again, and the area where Lewis and his men staged their attack was named “Cricket Hill.”
Camps open
Camps will be open to the public beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visitors will be able to go inside the tents to see how the soldiers who fought to create a new nation survived while in battle.
Public church services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. each day, followed by cooking demonstrations and lunch at 11:30.
A reenactment of the battle will be held at 1 p.m. both days, and at 3 o’clock Saturday, there will be a drill by the 7th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line. Other participants in the weekend’s activities will be the Maryland 14th Regiment of Foot, Royal Marines from the HMS Otter, and the Queen’s Own Loyal Regiment.
Lambert-Nightingales Sutlers will be selling a variety of Revolutionary War-era equipment and handblown glass items on-site throughout the weekend.
Following the battle on Sunday, the Sons of the American Revolution will hold commemoration activities. The encampment closes at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The event is sponsored by the Mathews County Historical Society and the 7th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line.
For more information, call Forrest Morgan at 804-725-3121 or visit mathewscountyhistoricalsociety.org.