| |||||||||
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads, and Chesapeake Bay. It is generally accepted to encompass James City County, York County, and the independent cities of Williamsburg, Poquoson, Hampton, and Newport News.
This peninsula is rich in colonial American history. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established in 1607 at Jamestown. Virginia's first capital was in Williamsburg; much of the historic district of that city has been restored. Also, the decisive battle of the American Revolution, the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, took place on the Virginia Peninsula.
In 1862 during the American Civil War, the Union Army invaded the peninsula as part of the Peninsular Campaign to capture Richmond. The 1862 Battle of Yorktown took place along the York River.