Resource Management Associates

About forestry service, 23350, Exmore, VA, US, Virginia

Onancock ( oh-NAN-kok) is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,263 at the 2010 census. == History == According to a nearby Virginia state highway marker, Onancock was founded in 1680. A courthouse was established some years after, and militia barracks established during the Revolution. Some thirteen months after Cornwallis' October 1781 surrender at Yorktown, Commodore Zedechiah Whaley sought aid from Onancock during a naval campaign against British barges of war that had been harassing the shores and farms of Chesapeake Bay. On November 28, 1782, he sailed up Onancock Creek and appealed to Lt. Colonel John Cropper, who rounded up 25 local men in support. They boarded Whaley's flagship, Protector, and continued his siege upon the British flotilla. In what became the Battle of Kedges Strait three out of four of Whaley's barges turned back under heavy British fire, leaving the Protector alone to press on with the fight. Vastly outnumbered, ultimately 25 of its 65 men were killed or wounded, 29 captured, and only 11 escaped during a climactic action on November 30.