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Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach. Its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County, part of Northern Virginia, where slightly over a third of Virginia's population of 8.7 million live.

Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont, the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. (Full article...)

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"Battle of the Virginia Capes" by V. Zveg

The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781, between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and a French fleet led by Rear Admiral François Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse.

Sailing south from New York with 19 ships of the line, Graves arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake early on 5 September to see de Grasse's fleet of 24 ships of the line at anchor in the bay. De Grasse sailed out to meet Graves. In a two-hour engagement after hours of manoeuvring, the lines of the two fleets did not completely meet nor fully engage. The battle was consequently fairly evenly matched.

The battle was tactically inconclusive but strategically a major defeat for the British, since it prevented the Royal Navy from reinforcing or evacuating the blockaded forces of Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. As a result, Cornwallis surrendered his army after the Siege of Yorktown, resulting in negotiations that eventually resulted in peace and British recognition of the independent United States of America.

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George Washington (1732 –1799) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, serving as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. After victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as Commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. He also presided over the convention that drafted the Constitution, which replaced the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution established the position of President of the United States, which Washington was the first to hold, serving two terms in office.

At his death, Washington was hailed as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen". As the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire in world history, Washington became an international icon for liberation and nationalism. He is consistently ranked among the top three presidents of the United States, according to polls of both scholars and the general public.

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This month in Virginia history

December 9, 1775: The Battle of Great Bridge
December 11–15, 1862: In the Battle of Fredericksburg (pictured), Union troops cross the Rappahannock River under fire into Fredericksburg and face the first major urban combat of the American Civil War.
December 16, 1907: The Great White Fleet departs Hampton Roads to begin its circumnavigation of the globe, heralding the rise of the United States as a world naval power.
December 20, 1606: A fleet of three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, sets sail from England bound for the New World to establish the Colony of Virginia, led by Captain Christopher Newport.
December 26, 1811: 72 people, including the governor, are killed in the Richmond Theatre fire, the worst urban disaster in the United States to that point.

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Credit: Louis Rémy Mignot and Thomas Prichard Rossiter, 1859

Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon, 1784

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Did you know - load new batch

... that slave owner John Custis petitioned the Governor of Virginia to manumit a slave child whom he had fathered?
... that a Virginia TV station had to take out title loans to pay its staff?
... that the general manager of a West Virginia TV station called changing its network affiliation "the hardest decision I've ever had to make"?
... that professor Ruth Ann Davis made the largest-ever single contribution to Potomac State College of West Virginia University to support nursing scholarships in memory of her mother?
... that William H. Davis was the first teacher of Booker T. Washington and the first African American to be nominated as a candidate for West Virginia governor in 1888?
... that PBS Appalachia Virginia is the first all-non-terrestrial public TV station in the United States?