On This Day: A Hopewell heroine, who warned the rebels of a British plot at age 16, was born

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - On this day in history Dec. 5th, 1764, a heroine from Hopewell was born.

Susanna Bolling would later give Paul Revere a “gallop” for his money when she was just 16 years old! In late May 1781, General Charles Cornwallis and his British troops invaded City Point, Virginia - modern day Hopewell - and quartered his army there.

As Bolling served the British generals dinner she overheard their plans to capture the Marquis de Lafayette - a move that would have crippled the American rebellion. So the teen snuck out of her house, canoed across a river, grabbed a neighbor’s horse and rode 10 miles to warn the rebels.

Learn more about her incredible journey from the woman who uncovered it, local author Libby McNamee – in Episode 3 of Season 2 of the How We Got Here Podcast:

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