Named Entity Results, Elizabeth (Virginia, United States)

rn end of Long Island, pursued the French vessels, and off the Capes of Virginia a sharp naval engagement occurred, in which the latter were beaten and returned to Newport. This failure on the part of the French fleet caused Lafayette to halt in his march at Annapolis, Md. Two of the French vessels, taking advantage of a storm that disabled the blockading squadron, entered Chesapeake Bay (February, 1781). Thus threatened by land and water, Arnold withdrew to Portsmouth, so far up the Elizabeth River as to be out of the reach of the French ships. There he was reinforced by troops under General Phillips, of the Convention troops, who had been exchanged for General Lincoln. The French ships soon returned to Newport, after making some prizes. When, on June 2, 1779, the legislature of Virginia unanimously ratified the treaties of alliance and commerce between France and the United States, and the governor had informed the French minister at Philadelphia of the fact, that functionar

Great Bridge, battle at the. On the invasion of the Elizabeth River by Lord Dunmore (November, 1775), Colonel Woodford called the militia to arms. Dunmore fortified a passage of the Elizabeth River, on the borders of the Dismal Swamp, where he suspected the militia would attempt to cross. It was known as the Great Bridge. There he cast up intrenchments, at the Norfolk end of the bridge, and amply supplied them with cannon. These were garrisoned by British regulars, Virginia Tories, neElizabeth River, on the borders of the Dismal Swamp, where he suspected the militia would attempt to cross. It was known as the Great Bridge. There he cast up intrenchments, at the Norfolk end of the bridge, and amply supplied them with cannon. These were garrisoned by British regulars, Virginia Tories, negroes, and vagrants, in number about 600. Woodford constructed a small fortification at the opposite end of the bridge. On Saturday morning, Dec. 9, Captains Leslie and Fordyce, sent by Dunmore, attacked the Virginians. After considerable manoelig;uvring and skirmishing, a sharp battle ensued, lasting about twenty-five minutes, when the assailants were repulsed and fled, leaving two spiked field-pieces behind them. The loss of the assailants was fifty-five killed and wounded. Not a Virginia

e commanded a brigade of the Guards, with the rank of brigadier-general, in the attack on Fort Washington. In May, 1779, General Clinton sent 2,000 men from New York, under General Matthews, to plunder the coast of Virginia. He entered the Elizabeth River on transports, escorted by a squadron of armed vessels under Sir George Collier, on May 9. They plundered and spread desolation on both sides of the river to Norfolk. They seized that city, then rising from its ashes and enjoying a considerable trade, and also Portsmouth, opposite. These were the chief places of deposit of Virginia agricultural productions, especially tobacco. They captured and burned not less than 130 merchant vessels in the James and Elizabeth rivers, an unfinished Continental frigate on the stocks at Portsmouth, and eight ships-ofwar on the stocks at Gosport, a short distance above Portsmouth, where the Virginians had established a navy-yard. So sudden and powerful was the attack, that very little resista

ed to take no steps that would give needless alarm. Meanwhile, the Virginia Confederates had proposed to seize or destroy all this property. As early as the night of April 16, two light boats of 80 tons each were sunk in the channel of the Elizabeth River, below Norfolk, to prevent the government vessels leaving the stream. The government, alarmed, sent Capt. Hiram Paulding from Washington with instructions for McCauley to lose no time in arming the Merrimac, and in getting the Plymouth anPresident Lincoln and Secretary Stanton visited Fort Monroe and granted Wool's request. Having made personal reconnoissance, he crossed Hampton Roads with a few regiments, landed in the rear of a Confederate force on the Norfolk side of the Elizabeth River, and moved towards the city. General Huger, of South Carolina, was in command there. He had already perceived his peril, with Burnside in his rear and McClellan on his flank, and immediately retreated, turning over Norfolk to the care of M

Sewell's Point, A locality at the mouth of the Elizabeth River, Virginia, where the Confederates erected a redoubt, with three heavy rifled cannon, in the middle of May, 1861, for the purpose of sweeping Hampton Roads. The battery was masked by a sand-hill, but it was discovered by Capt. Henry Eagle, of the National armed schooner Star, who sent several shots among the workmen on the Point on May 19. The fire was returned; five shots struck the Star, and she was compelled to withdraw. That night about 2,000 Confederate troops were sent down to the Point from Norfolk, and these were there on the morning of the 20th, when the Freeborn, Captain Ward, opened her guns upon them. The battery was soon silenced, and the Confederates driven away. This was the first offensive operation against the Confederates in the Civil War.

by the people, and the new State is reabsorbed......September, 1787 William Blount, Richard Dobbs, Spaight, and Hugh Williamson sign the Constitution of the United States as representatives from North Carolina......Sept. 17, 1787 State convention fixes the seat of government at Wake Court-house, now Raleigh......1788 North Carolina ratifies the Constitution of the United States by a vote of 193 to 75......Nov. 21, 1789 Dismal Swamp Canal, uniting the waters of Pasquotank and Elizabeth rivers, incorporated......1790 As authorized by act of the General Assembly of 1789, Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, Senators from North Carolina, execute a deed to the United States in the words of the cession act of 1784, Feb. 25, 1790; Congress accepts it......April 2, 1790 General Assembly meets at the new city of Raleigh......Dec. 20, 1794 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, chartered in 1789, opened......Feb. 13, 1795 Col. James Glasgow, Secretary of State, tri