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VIRGINIA BEACH (AP) — If history built, Roy Alphin had not discovered it, the 200th anniversary of the Battle off the Virginia Capes easily could have passed without notice this weekend. Alphin learned about the battle, fought Sept. 5, 1781, where the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel now stands, while looking for a local angle to the nation’s Bicenten nial celebration. “The regular history books had very little about it,” he said. “But I found some off-beat reports written by promi nent historians describing the battle as ran extremely important event. ’ “The Battle off the Capes may have ‘been the most decisive event of the American Revolution. Had the battle “been lost, there’s no telling how long the ‘British would have been here.” In the battle, French Adm. Francois ‘Joseph Paul Compte de Grasse stopped the British Navy from rescuing Lord Cor nwallis from George Washington’s army at Yorktown. The naval encounter has received little attention from American historians because no Americans were involved in it, Alphin said. The British tried to forget it, since they lost. And the French downplayed the battle, Alphin believes, because seven months later, de Grasse was defeated and captured by the British in the West Indies. A group Alphin chairs has planned several activities through this weekend to rescue the Battle off the Capes from obscurity. De Grasse’s victory was the crucial phase of the colonies’ war for in dependence, said Lillian Youell, a member of the Commemoration Com mittee for the Battle off the Virginia Capes. “Sea power made Yorktown possible the misuse of it by our enemies the British, the effective use of it by our allies the French, and the perceptive use of it by General Washington, who plann ed and coordinated the joint land and sea operation,” said Mrs. Youell, national vice chairman for the Yorktown Bicentennial. At Washington’s urging, de Grasse, who was guarding the French West In dies, used his personal fortune and dona tions from government and citizens of Spanish Havana to bring 24 ships to Chesapeake Bay. While Cornwallis was counting on the Royal Navy to give him a hand at Yorktown, de Grasse, in a hastily prepared encounter, beat back the 19 ships commanded by British Adm. Thomas Graves. The local commission has received $25,000 from the state and $25,000 from the city to commemorate the battle's 200th anniversary. The group this week presented a bust of de Grasse, sculptured by Kendetagi Orsolya of Norfolk, to the Virginia Beach Maritime Historical Museum. The bust is part of a new museum ex hibit.
Newspaper Details
Daily News-Record
Harrisonburg, Virginia, US
Fri, Sep 04, 1981
Page 35
Full Page
Clipped by
Carol S.
USA 13 Jul 2026
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