During the British raid into Hampton Roads in May 1779, Nansemond County militia assembled under Colonel Willis Riddick and moved toward Portsmouth. Captains King and Davis stopped at Hargrove's Tavern while the main force camped nearby. A British advance party surprised them, killed Davis, and prompted King to warn the militia before Suffolk was burned.

The action occurred within a campaign in which commanders relied on speed, imperfect intelligence, and local knowledge. Eighteenth-century fighting was often decided by terrain, roads, fields of fire, unit cohesion, and the ability to communicate under pressure. Militia and Continental soldiers fought beside men whose experience and training varied widely, while Loyalist and British forces faced similar problems of coordination. Casualties carried the war back into surrounding households and communities. The site is consequently important not only for the immediate clash but also for what it reveals about the Revolution as a violent civil and military struggle.

The surviving marker text adds further detail: On 10 May 1779, during the Revolutionary War, a British expeditionary force commanded by Gen. Edward Matthews disembarked in Portsmouth to capture the major Tidewater Virginia towns. About 200 Nansemond County militia under Col. Willis Riddick immediately assembled in Suffolk and marched toward Portsmouth. While the main body camped about a mile west on the night of 11 May, Capt. King and Capt. Davis came here to Hargrove's Tavern. After a British advance party surprised them and killed Davis, King hastened to warn the Virginia camp. The militia retreated to Suffolk and later dispersed as the enemy approached. The British burned Suffolk on 13 May.

The site's significance is clearest when interpreted at several scales. Locally, it shows how residents and landscapes were drawn into wartime demands. Regionally, it belonged to routes of communication, supply, government, or military movement. Nationally, it demonstrates that independence emerged from thousands of connected decisions and actions rather than from famous battles alone. The physical location anchors those relationships and helps explain why timing, distance, terrain, and community participation mattered to the outcome.

The marker at Hargrove's Tavern Marker makes this history legible in a modern landscape that has changed substantially since the eighteenth century. Its value lies in identifying the approximate place and connecting it to documented people, movements, and institutions. Visitors should distinguish the historic event from the later act of commemoration: the marker is evidence of how the episode has been remembered, while its text and setting guide interpretation of the original event. Considered with contemporary records and the broader campaign, the location adds geographic meaning to a story that might otherwise survive only as names and dates.