In this excerpt from a manuscript of accounts of battles from early American history dated February 22, 1846, Portsmouth militiaman James Jarvis relays a story from Captain Thomas Nash, who fought at the Battle of Great Bridge. Nash’s account identifies William “Billy” Flora, a free Black soldier, as the sentinel who helped fight off the British attack. Jarvis then describes Flora’s life in Portsmouth after the war and recalls that Flora volunteered with the militia in 1807 after the attacks on the USS Chesapeake.
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