Campaign of 1781

Campaign of 1781 is a Virginia historical marker in Dinwiddie County, dedicated 2017.

Rte. 1, at Rte. 656, 1.5 miles south of Dinwiddie

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British Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis ordered cavalry commander Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton to raid Southside Virginia in the summer of 1781. Tarleton left Surry County on 9 July and reached Bedford County before turning back. His objective was to destroy stores of ammunition, clothing, and food before these supplies could be sent to American Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene in South Carolina. His men damaged property, took prisoners, and engaged in skirmishes, but the major supply stores had already been sent south. A number of enslaved African Americans escaped with the troops. Tarleton passed near here while traveling eastward to reunite with Cornwallis in Suffolk at the end of the 400-mile raid.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1755 · Virginie, Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1778 · Il Maryland, il Jersey Meridionale, la Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1781 · MARCH of the ARMY under Lieut:t General EARL CORNWALLIS in VIRGINIA, from the JUNCTION at… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1794 · Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1818 · Map of Virginia, 1818 (lower right sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Il Maryland, il Jersey Meridionale, la Delaware, 1778, covering the location of Campaign of 1781, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Il Maryland, il Jersey Meridionale, la Delaware, 1778, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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