'Betsy's Ride' during Revolution remembered in Hertford

The town of Hertford is staking a unique historical claim for its role at a critical turning point of the Revolutionary War.

Everyone knows about Paul Revere’s Ride to Lexington and Concord. He warned the militia of a British attack that triggered the “shot heard ‘round the world.”

But now, the courage of a lone young woman who risked her life by riding her horse to warn Colonial troops of another attack can be told.

Betsy’s Ride, as a pair of Historic Markers — one in Perquimans County, the other in Currituck County — call the event, kept North and South Carolina out of British hands and altered the course of the Revolution.

By Dec. 8, 1775, the Colonies dealt British forces two bloody noses. That April, a simple raid to confiscate militia stores in Lexington and Concord ended in a debacle for the Redcoats. In June, the British attempted to avenge their defeat by marching up Bunker Hill, expecting to knock sense into Colonials who refused to submit. Instead, they suffered another bloody defeat.

To the South, Lord Dunmore was determined that a bunch of rebellious colonists would not get the upper hand. He intended to cut off the Carolinas by marching South from Norfolk, taking Great Bridge, Virginia, the only crossing into eastern North Carolina. With one quick operation, he could keep both of the Carolinas under the British crown’s control and protect the harbor at Norfolk from rebel attack.

One easy victory at Great Bridge could have altered the course of Britain’s fight to put down the rebellion. If Dunmore took the crossing by surprise, the fight could be over quickly.

The Declaration of Independence was seven months in the future and by no means a certainty. The colonists were split on the issue of starting a rebellion against the British crown.

Forty miles away in the little village of Hertford, Colonial Gen. William Skinner commanded the nearest significant rebel militia. Across several bodies of water and swampland, Betsy Dowdy lived with her family in Currituck when word of Dunmore’s plans to attack Great Bridge reached them.

That night, without telling her parents, Betsy saddled her horse, a Spanish Mustang named Black Bess. She knew that unless the Colonial militia arrived at Great Bridge before the British, North and South Carolina were lost. The night was cold and rainy when Betsy set out on her ride, crossing rivers and swampland to reach Hertford in time to warn General Skinner.

After that, it would be a race. Skinner assembled his militia and then marched his men across swamps, rivers, and woods to Great Bridge, where they then waited for the British.

Skinner arrived at Great Bridge with 861 men to fight the planet’s most disciplined and formidable fighting force. He had no idea what to expect.

Lord Dunmore arrived, ready to make short work of the rebels in a surprise attack. He came with 409 crack troops, counting on the professional soldiers’ advantage against a tiny militia. But the Americans’ superior numbers prevailed, and the day was theirs.

Lord Dunmore was forced to withdraw. The Americans lost only one soldier. Great Bridge remained in Colonial hands, and the Carolinas were under American control. Stacey Layden, tourism director for Perquimans County, said Betsy’s Ride has strong parallels to Paul Revere’s more famous one to warn the American militias at Lexington and Concord.

“They estimate that Paul Revere’s ride was about 16 miles. He had a companion, and it was mostly by road,” Layden said. “When you look at Betsy Dowdy’s story, she was 16 years old. She was all alone, and she rode by the cover of night. The weather was horrible, and she rode over 50 miles from her home, from Currituck to Hertford. That was swimming and wading through the Currituck Sound and swampland, crossing creeks and rivers. She faced all that and accomplished it.”

The North Carolina Folklife Institute and the William C. Pomery Foundation, two organizations specializing in folklore, oral traditions, and legends, put up historic markers a year ago in both Currituck and Hertford to celebrate Betsy Dowdy’s Ride.

Layden said the history books would probably never tell Dowdy’s story alongside Revere’s. There are no written records of her ride, but Skinner was warned and oral legends attest to the event. There are no alternate accounts and circumstantial evidence for the legend is strong, Layden said.

This week, work began on a mural in downtown Hertford celebrating Betsy’s Ride and a young girl’s bravery that changed the course of the Revolutionary War.