Part Two
Caroline regulars march to Great Bridge
By Ed Simmons, Jr.
cpreporter@lcs.net
William Woodford, whose grave at Trinity Church in New York City is unmarked, was the captain of the Caroline volunteer regulars who drilled during the summer of 1775 at Bowling Green.
Just as there is no memorial to Woodford who became a brigadier general in the Continental Army, nor is there a memorial to the Caroline heroes who rallied to the Patriot cause after Massachusetts militia fought the British at Concord and Lexington on April 19, and Lord Dunmore attempted to seize the Virginia militia's gunpowder April 20. Not everyone from the numerous Caroline Militia and Minute Men was allowed to join Woodford's company of regulars. John Harrower, Scottish tutor at the Caroline plantation "Belvidere," described in his diary how Woodford chose only the marksmen. "He took a board of a foot square and with chalk drew the shape of a moderate nose and nailed it to a tree 150 yds. distant. Those nighest mark were to go." Seventy were chosen.
Describing their appearance, Catesby Willis Stewart, a descendent of Gen. Woodford writes in The Life of Brigadier General William Woodford of the American Revolution, "Though they might perform their maneuvers to the beat of drum, they lacked standard uniforms. They were dressed in various garbs; each with his own rifle or musket. ...Attending them were their negro body servants, clad in homespun." Woodford's own servant, Sandy, accompanied him throughout the war. The troops would later wear a regimental uniform of sky-blue and buff, faced with a lighter blue.
Helping to equip the Caroline regulars, Edmund Pendleton, a leading Caroline patriot now chairman of the Virginia Committee of Safety and Woodford's close friend, presented them with a drum, fifes and a flag. In late August, Woodford "on a splendid warhorse," led the Caroline regulars to a rendezvous with other Virginia regulars at Hanover Town (which no longer stands) while Col. James Taylor stayed behind to drill the remaining Caroline militia as a home guard. Organized into regiments, the Virginia regulars marched on to Williamsburg where they camped and drilled in a field behind William and Mary College. Woodford was now colonel of the 2nd Virginia Regiment, with the Caroline men forming the 4th Company, commanded by Captain William Taliaferro.
September 19, still in Williamsburg drilling the 2nd Virginia, Woodford wrote to his friend General George Washington in command of the Patriot army surrounding the British at Boston, seeking advice and asking him to recommend military books that would better enable him to command the regiment. It took weeks for the letter to reach Gen. Washington, who wrote back giving five titles and giving Woodford advice on military preparedness, including the suggestion to "impress upon the mind of every man, from the first to the lowest, the importance of the cause, and what it is they are contending for."
The date of Washington's response was November 10. Well before that, on October 24, Woodford was ordered to march the 2nd Virginia Regiment and two companies of Culpeper Minute Men to Norfolk where the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, who had fled Williamsburg, was now in the command of a fleet, the 14th Regiment of British regulars and was raising an army of Tories and emancipated African Americans to destroy the Patriot army and seize Virginia. Arriving on the outskirts of Norfolk, Colonel Woodford's Virginia troops blocked him at Great Bridge. December 9, just before dawn, Lord Dunmore's army attacked.
Next week, Part Three.