University of Virginia Library

GENERAL WILLIAM WOODFORD

PATRIOT—SOLDIER—GENTLEMAN

About the close of the seventeenth century Major William
Woodford came from England to Virginia and settled in Caroline
county on the Rappahannock River. Major Woodford was of
the best English blood and bore an ancient coat of arms, described
as follows: Sa. three leopard's heads reversed gu. jessant-de-lis ar.
Crest: A woodman holding a club in the dexter hand and a palm
branch in the sinister, in bend, all ppr. Motto: Libertate quietem.

On September 2, 1722, Major Woodford married Anne Cocke,
daughter of Dr. William Cocke, Secretary of the Colony in 1709
and member of the King's Council in 1713, and Elizabeth Catesby,
daughter of Mark Catesby, the distinguished naturalist.

Upon his marriage to Anne Cocke, Major Woodford established
his home on the estate called "Windsor"—now the property of
Mrs. Minnie W. Dew—on the Rappahannock, about ten miles
below Fredericksburg. Here the delightful country life of an
English gentleman of the period was reproduced. In John Fon
taine's Journal of the expedition of the Knights of the Golden
Horseshoe are entries indicating that Governor Spotswood and
his merry party rested and refreshed themselves here, both as
they journeyed to, and returned from the mountains. The
entries are as follows:

"22nd. (Aug. 22, 1716) At nine in the morning, we set out
from Mr. Beverley's. The Governor left his chaise here, and
mounted his horse. The weather fair, we continued on our

journey until we came to Mr. Woodford's where we lay, and were
well entertained. This house lies on Rappahannock river, ten
miles below the falls."

"23d. Here we remained all this day, and diverted ourselves,
and rested our horses."

"13th. (Sept. 13) About eight of the clock we mounted our
horses, and went to the mine, where we took several pieces of
ore; and at nine we set out from the mine, our servants having

gone before; and about three we overtook them in the woods,
and there the Governor and I dined. We mounted afterwards,
and continued on our road. I killed a black snake about five
feet long. We arrived at Mr. Woodford's on Rappahannock
river, about six, and remained there all night."

Into this delightful and hospitable home, surrounded by an
atmosphere of culture and refinement such as only the best
Virginia society could give, William Woodford was born on
October 6, 1734. He was trained from early youth in the manly
arts of riding, shooting and carving, for without these accomplishments
a man was not prepared to move in the best circles
of society of that period. Young Woodford also was blest with
those educational advantages which only young men of wealth
and social standing enjoyed.

On June 26, 1762, William Woodford was married to Mary
Thornton, daughter of Col. John Thornton and Mildred Gregory
Thornton, of the celebrated Thornton family of Caroline. She
(Woodford's wife) was the granddaughter of Mildred Washington,
the sister of Augustine Washington and the aunt and godmother
of the Father of His Country. It was her grandmother, Mildred
Washington, who married Roger Gregory who deeded Mount
Vernon estate to Augustine Washington. There were only two
years difference in the ages of Woodford and George Washington,
whose cousin he (Woodford) married, and it is said that they were
the most intimate of friends.

William Woodford's ancestors, for generations before him,
had been distinguished soldiers in the British Army, and he seemed
to inherit their love of military life, an heritage which he passed
on to his son, John Thornton Woodford, who was a Lieutenant-Colonel
in the War of 1812.

Woodford had distinguished himself as a soldier in the French
and Indian War, therefore it was quite natural that, upon the
assembling of Virginia troops at Williamsburg in 1775, his ability
and bravery were recognized and rewarded. The names of the
three men who commanded the three regiments which were
formed consequent to Lord Dunmore's hostile attitude, are high
names in American history. William Woodford, who was Colonel
of the Second Regiment; Patrick Henry, Colonel of the First,
and Hugh Mercer, Colonel of the Third.

Upon the assembling of Virginia troops at Williamsburg, Lord
Dunmore, the colonial Governor, fled from the city to an English

warship and establishing himself at Norfolk began to terrorize
the inhabitants along the coast. The Virginia Committe of
Safety in October, 1775, sent Woodford and his Second Regiment,
in which John Marshall was a lieutenant, and a battalion of
Culpeper Minute Men, to relieve the colonists who were suffering
from Dunmore's persecution. Woodford made his way to the
vicinity of Norfolk, which Dunmore was further endeavoring to
defend by an out-post stationed at Great Bridge. Here the
colonial troops were attacked on December 9, 1775, but repelled
the assault with the loss of one hundred and twenty men killed
and wounded. This engagement caused Dunmore to evacuate
Norfolk and seek safety on board a British warship in the Chesapeake
Bay.

The correspondence of William Woodford as it is preserved in
"The Woodford-Howe-Lee Letters," and in "Miscellaneous
Papers 1775-1776" reveals the soul of a great man as well as a
great soldier. Many of these letters, especially those written
during the latter part of 1775, are addressed to Edmund Pendleton,
who was at that time head of the Government at Williamsburg
and are in the nature of reports to the Government. Immediately
after the Battle of Great Bridge he wrote to Pendleton, then
President of the Convention, as follows:

"* * *  None marched up but his Majesty's soldiers who
behaved like Englishmen. We have found of their dead Capt.
Fordyce and twelve privates, and have Lieut. Batut, wounded
in the leg, and seventeen privates prisoners, all wounded. They
carried their cannon back under cover of the guns of the fort,
and also a number of their dead. * * *  Lieut. Batut having
an inclination to inform the King's Troops of the humane treatment
he has met with here, I dispatched Ensign Hoomes (a
Caroline man) with a flag of truce, and ye Lieut. Lre, who
returned with the enclosed answer from the commander of the
fort. The unfortunate Capt. Fordyce was a Capt. of ye
Grenadiers of ye 14th Regiment—most of the soldiers were
Grenadiers of that regiment—and as the Capt. was a gallant and
brave officer, I promised to inter him with all the military honor
due his great merit, which I hope will meet with the approbation
of the Honourable Convention."

Again on the next day, December 10, 1775, he writes:

"* * *  Lieut. Batut commanded the advanced party,

and Capt. Fordyce of the Grenadiers led the van with his company,
who, for coolness and bravery, deserved a better fate, as
well as the brave fellows who fell with him. All of them behaved
like heroes. They marched up to our breast-works with fixed
bayonets, and perhaps a hotter fire never happened, or a greater
carnage for the number of troops. I have the pleasure to inform
you that the victory was complete."

After the battle of Great Bridge, and the flight of Dunmore
from Norfolk, Woodford issued the following proclamation:

While occupying Norfolk and adjacent territory the colonial
troops made no attempt to disturb the British warships which
were at anchor a short distance from shore. On the contrary
Woodford gave the wives and children of the Tories, who had
fled to the ships at the news of the battle of Great Bridge, permission
to come ashore in order that they might escape the almost
unbearable living conditions existing on the vessels.

Shortly after the battle of Great Bridge, Colonel Robert Howe,
of North Carolina, whom Congress had made a brigadier-general,
joined the Virginia forces at Norfolk and commanded jointly with
Woodford. In a letter to the Virginia Convention, under date of
December 15, 1775, Howe wrote:

"The course of service necessarily inducing an inquiry between
Col. Woodford and myself respecting our commissions, we found
that mine, from the nature of it, had the precedent of his. He
conducted himself upon this occasion in that manner which
his knowledge of discipline could not but dictate, and with that
gentility which never forsakes him. It is with diffidence, sir,

that I undertaken this charge; and I must add, however honourable,
with reluctance, as I supersede a gentleman I so much
esteem, whose abilities I know to be equal to the duties of the
station, and who hath so amply filled the measure of his
duty. * * *  I am promised the assistance of my friend, Col.
Woodford, whose advice I shall upon every occasion ask, and
whose aid I am certain never will be denied me."

Colonel Woodford was active in all military achievements
of 1776 and early in that year was promoted to the command of
the First Virginia Brigade, which was composed of the "Third,
Seventh, Eleventh and Fifteenth Regiments." Among the
military orders of the Revolutionary War is one reading as follows:

"Camp at Middle Brook, May 26, 1777—1 sergeant, 1 corporal,
and 12 privates to mount immediately as a Guard at
General Woodford's Quarters. The Brigade Major will not
receive any soldiers for this guard, or any other, except those who
are clean and dressed in a soldier-like manner."

The Seventh Virginia Regiment was subjected to a galling
fire at the battle of Brandywine (September, 1777) and was literally
cut to pieces. In this engagement General Woodford was severely
wounded and the command devolved upon Colonel Cropper, who
himself was also severely wounded and who, when the American
Army was ordered to retreat, could not muster over two hundred
men of his Regiment, the others having been killed or wounded.

It was during this engagement that Col. Cropper immortalized
his name in American history, by drawing a ram-rod from a
musket and tying his red bandanna handkerchief to the end, hoisted
it for a flag, the regimental colors having been captured. On the
following day Cropper and his sadly decimated regiment, hungry
and exhausted, marched to Chester, and on Chester Bridge met
Generals Washington and Woodford. Recognizing Cropper,
Woodford dismounted and pressing Cropper to his bosom exclaimed,
"The boy we thought lost is found." Washington
publicly commended Cropper for his gallantry.

During the year 1778, Woodford served as Brigadier-General
in LaFayette's Division and the roll-call of officers at White
Plains also discloses that John Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of the United States, had been promoted to
a captaincy.

At the siege of Charleston, General Woodford was made a

prisoner of war, and was taken on Board a British war ship to
New York harbor, where he died in captivity, on November 13,
1780. He was buried in Trinity Church yard, New York City.

From an address delivered in Bowling Green, Va., by Mr.
B. P. Willis, of Fredericksburg, on the occasion of the unveiling
of the portrait of General Woodford, which was presented to the
county by Mrs. Lucy Woodford Herndon, Marion Gordon Willis
and Benjamin P. Willis, his descendants, we learn that many
original letters and the miniature from which the above mentioned
portrait was made, are in the possession of Dr. T. Madison
Taylor, of New York City, and that Mrs. Herndon has in her
possession a portrait of Woodford as a youth of fourteen years of
age. We also learn from this address, which was published in
The Free Lance, of Fredericksburg, that General Woodford's
family Bible and his carnelian studs with gold rivets are in
possession of M. G. Willis, ex-mayor of Fredericksburg; that his
knee-buckles were made into tiny tea-spoons for his great granddaughter,
Mary Catesby Thornton Woodford, who married
the Rev. John Churchill Willis, and whose grand-daughters now
own these spoons; that the General's rosewood box which he
inherited from his great grand-father, Mark Catesby the famous
naturalist, is now in the possession of Miss Irene Woodford Gordon,
of Spotsylvania county; and that Mildred Gregory's silver
puff-box, with her name engraved thereon, which descended the
General's wife, Mary Thornton Woodford, is now the property of
Benjamin P. Willis, of Fredericksburg.