Editor, Gazette-Journal: I was impressed with the size and professionalism of the musical presentation of “Crickets on a Hill” at the Mathews High School auditorium. “Crickets on a Hill” is an account of the events around the battle of Gwynn’s Island in the summer of 1776 between Virginia’s Royal Governor Lord Dunmore’s naval fleet and General Andrew Lewis’s Virginia Militia. In the aftermath of the battle, a Virginia militiaman wrote the following account after he arrived on Gwynn’s Island: “On our arrival we … were struck with horror at the number of dead bodies, in a state of putrefaction, strewed … almost 2 miles in length, without a shovelful of earth upon them; others gasping for life; and some had crawled to the water’s edge, who could only make known their distress by beckoning to us. By the small-pox, and other malignant disorders that have raged on board the fleet for many months past, it is clear they have lost, since their arrival at Gwynn’s Island, near 500 souls … In shor...