Why They Fought Where They Fought in Virginia

At the end of this section, you will be able to describe:

• why Cape Henry is special
• why Powhatan avoided full-scale warfare with the English, but his successor gambled on fighting such a war (twice)
• how the Chesapeake Bay was defended by different forts, but still served as an avenue of attack from the arrival of the English in 1607 to the end of the Civil War in 1865
• where pirates threatened Virginia, and where Gov. Spottswood sent forces to kill Blackbeard
• why the French and Indian War was triggered by land speculation of Virginians and competition over the fur trade
• why both sides competed for the loyalty of slaves in the Revolutionary War
• why the last major battle of the Revolutional War was at Yorktown
• why a naval battle east of Cape Charles made it possible for Washington to capture Cornwallis in 1781
• why the first major battle of the Civil War was fought at Manassas rather than Lorton, and why the Peninsula was a battleground in 1862
• how the military presence of the US Navy has grown in Hampton Roads
• how the boundary of Virginia-West Virginia was determined

two members of Virginia gentry contest for power and authority over the frontier in 1676, as Governor Berkeley opened his jacket and challenged Nathaniel Bacon: "Here shoot me before God, fair mark shoot."
Source: National Park Service Sidney King painting, Nathaniel Bacon confronts Governor Sir William Berkeley