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The right man, in the right place, doing the wrong thing…
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When Monsieur Louis O’hickey d’Arundel appeared in Virginia, he seemed to be the right man, in the right place, at the right time. It was 1776 and Virginia was at war..jpg)
The British Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore had just burned Norfolk and established a base of operations on Gwynn’s Island at the mouth of the Rappahannock River, in present-day Matthews County. From there, using a small fleet, along with a force of British regulars and loyalists, including a regiment of ex-slaves, he had been raiding in Tidewater Virginia and generally causing trouble.
Virginia troops under General Andrew Lewis were about to attack the island and hopefully drive Dunmore and his forces away, but they had a problem… they needed artillery, and especially trained gunners, to make a successful attack.
In those early days of our fight for independence, there was a real scarcity of men who actually knew anything about cannons, so it was fortuitous when d’Arundel appeared before Congress in early 1776. It seems he was an Irish Catholic who had served as an artillery officer in the French Army and he had a certificate from the Military School at Strasburg to prove it.
Congress, however, was inundated with European adventurers who had come to America in hopes of obtaining commissions in the Continental Army. Moreover, there were some in Congress who disapproved of employing “foreign mercenaries,” especially if they were Catholic. Fortunately, Benjamin Franklin was among those who examined and vouched for d’Arundel, so on March 10, Congress formally commissioned him as a captain of artillery in the Continental service. Of course, in the American manner of mangling foreign names, Monsieur Louis O’hickey d’Arundel became Captain Dohicky Arundel.
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Captain Arundel was dispatched to Virginia, where he immediately took command of an artillery company then forming in Williamsburg. Without delay, he began training his men in the arts and mysteries of gunnery, and in the words of an American officer, made them “fit for service.” His company was soon on the march with General Lewis to attack Gwynn’s Island.
The Virginians arrived at Cricket Hill, just off Gwynn's Island on July 8, 1776. On the island at that time were encamped several hundred British and loyalist soldiers, supported by one of Dunmore’s warships and several tenders. They had recently been weakened by an outbreak of smallpox and were not suspecting an attack..
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Captain Arundel had gathered almost every cannon that the Virginians possessed in the Tidewater area, a total of fourteen guns of various sizes. They were quickly and quietly put into place. The next morning the cannon opened fire, causing both casualties and confusion amonst the British.
Because of Captain Arundel’s training, the Virginians soon succeeded in silencing the British artillery and destroying several smaller ships off shore. Governor Dunmore himself was wounded in the bombardment. It was now only a simple matter of the Virginians making an amphibious assault across the 500 yards of water separating the island from the mainland, but alas… they lacked a sufficient number of small boats to make the crossing.
Nevertheless, with his troops demoralized, and his fleet damaged, Lord Dunmore ordered a withdrawal of the island that night and the Virginians took possession. Virginia's last Royal Governor sailed away and subsequently left the Chesapeake Bay about a month later, never to return.
Unfortunately, Captain Dohickey Arundel never realized his contribution to the victory. Upon his arrival at Cricket Hill, he had tried to supplement his number of cannon by constructing a wooden mortar of his own design. Against the advice of General Lewis and several others, he insisted in having it dragged into position. He then loaded it with black powder along with an explosive shell, and personally tried to fire it. As everyone else seemed to already know, a mortar made out of wood was not a brilliant idea... and as expected, it burst spectacularly when touched off…
Thus Captain Dohickey Arundel became the first and only American casualty in the battle at Gwynn’s Island.
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