 During the American Revolutionary War, independence was won at nearby Yorktown, a major tourist attraction of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia.One of the first land battles of the American Civil War, the Battle of Big Bethel was fought nearby on June 10, 1861.In the spring of 1862, Union General George B. McClellan put together an ambitious plan known as the Peninsula Campaign to end the war by marching up the peninsula from Union held Fort Monroe and taking the Confederate capitol at Richmond.