University of Virginia Library

VIRGINIA IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

It was the year 1775, and the soldiers engaged in Dunmore's war returned
to Virginia only to find the affairs between Great Britain and her
American colonies rapidly verging to a crisis. Patrick Henry was holding
public meetings spellbound by his matchless oratory in denouncing the
tyrannical policy of the mother country toward her subjects on this side
of the Atlantic.

On the 19th of April there had been discharged a volley which was
being echoed and re-echoed along the coast from the St. Lawrence to
Florida—a volley, the first of a struggle which was to give the American
continent to liberty and make it ever after the home of the oppressed of
all foreign lands. Virginia at once prepared to play her part on the
theater of the Revolution, and her first task was to rid herself of Dunmore,
her Tory governor.

Early in the year the British government, uneasy because of the hostile
attitude of the colonies, issued orders to the various governors to remove
all military stores to a place of safety, and thus prevent them from falling
into the hands of the colonists. In compliance with these orders, Dunmore,
on the 20th of April, secretly removed the gunpowder from Williamsburg
to the Magdalen, a British man-of-war lying at anchor off
Yorktown. No sooner had the act become known than the people of
Williamsburg flew to arms, and it was with difficulty that they could be
restrained from seizing the person of the governor. A deputation was
sent to him, who remonstrated with him for the act. His reply "was
everywhere considered as a mean and scandalous evasion." He became
alarmed and placed a guard of negroes around his residence, and then
swore "by the living God" that if any violence was offered him he would
proclaim freedom to every slave in Virginia and lay Williamsburg in
ashes. These threats wrought the indignation of the people up to the
highest pitch. Six hundred men armed themselves and repaired to Fredericksburg,
ready to march to Williamsburg and defend it from the threatened
attack of Dumore, while thousands of others in all parts of Virginia
stood ready to render aid.

Virginia has ever had patriots and statesmen within her borders to whom
she has turned a listening ear, and it was so now. Peyton Randolph and
Edmund Pendleton transmitted their advice to Fredericksburg, requesting
the people there assembled to abstain from hostilities until the Continental
Congress should decide upon a general plan of resistance. This had the
desired effect at Fredericksburg, and the people there collected dispersed

after passing a resolution that they would defend by force of arms this or
any other sister colony from unjust or wicked invasion.

But with the volunteers collected at Hanover Court House it was
different. They resolved to recover the gunpowder or die in the attempt.
Patrick Henry was chosen leader, and the company marched toward
Williamsburg and halted at Doncastle's inn, within sixteen miles of that
place. Dunmore knew Patrick Henry, and for that reason sent Corbin, the
king's receiver-general, out to meet the patriots. The result was that that
officer made full compensation for the powder. Henry disbanded the
company on the 4th of May, and all returned to their homes. Two days
later Dunmore issued a proclamation against "a certain Patrick Henry,
of the county of Hanover, and a number of deluded followers," and forbade
all persons to recognize or harbor him or "any other concerned in
like combinations." On the 11th, Henry left Virginia to attend the meeting
of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, to which he had been
chosen a member.

The Virginians read the governor's proclamation and received news of
the battle of Lexington at the same time, the combined effect of which was
to thoroughly arouse the people of every county in Virginia to a sense of
the dangers which beset them. A company was organized which secretly
entered the government arsenal and carried away a great number of arms
and military equipments, after which act, when the governor heard of it,
he sent a messenger to Captain Montague, commanding the Fowey, a
British man-of-war lying off Yorktown, asking assistance. In compliance
with this request, forty marines were sent to Williamsburg. A letter from
Montague also came to Colonel Nelson, commanding the Virginia troops,
informing him that if the marines were molested he would at once bombard
the town. This only had the effect of still further increasing the
indignation of the people, and on the 8th of June Dunmore and his family
took refuge on board the man-of-war off Yorktown, fearful of his safety
at Williamsburg. Here he remained, and "refused upon invitation of
the assembly to return to his place or to sign bills of the utmost importance
to the colony," unless that body would hold its meetings under the guns of
his ship at Yorktown. This that body refused to do, communications
ceased, and, on the last of June, Dunmore sailed down the river, and thus
forever ended the royal government in Virginia.

The assembly then declared the governor to have abdicated, and, after
issuing a call for a convention to meet in the city of Richmond, on the
17th of July following, adjourned.

On the day appointed the convention met, its object being "to organize
a provincial form of government and a plan of defense for the colony."
A committee of safety was appointed, consisting of the following illustrious
gentlemen: Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard
Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, James
Mercer, Carter Braxton, William Cabell and John Tabb. The convention

then made arrangements to raise troops for defense, and ordered that
the force already enrolled be augmented to 9,000, there being at that time
two regiments already in the field. The other regiments were speedily
mustered and officered as follows:

                   

REGIMENT.	COLONELS.	LIEUTENANT-COLONELS.
First	Patrick Henry	Robert Howe
Second	William Woodford	Adam Stephen
Third	Hugh Mercer	George Wheedon
Fourth	Adam Stephens	Isaac Reed
Fifth	William Peachy	William Crawford
Sixth	Mordecai Buckner	Thomas Elliott
Seventh	William Dangerfield	Alexander McClanahan
Eighth	Peter Muhlenberg	A. Bowman
Ninth	Thomas Flemming	George Mathews

Of this force, six regiments were placed upon the continental establishment,
and the remaining three were retained as provincial guards.

The committee of safety ordered the army contractors to provide a
stand of colors, to be borne at the head of the various regiments, bearing
on one side the name of the district in which the regiment had been
raised, and on the other, "Virginia for Constitutional Liberty." This was
the first banner of liberty unfurled in the New World.

In October, Dunmore sent a party on shore at Norfolk, under cover
of the men-of-war lying in the harbor, who demolished Holt's printing
office, from which there had issued a newspaper imbued with the patriotic
principles of the day. The corporation of the town remonstrated
against the outrage, but Dunmore answered by saying, he "could not
have done the people of Norfolk a greater service than by depriving
them of the means of having their minds poisoned, and of exciting in
them the spirit of rebellion and sedition." Holt, however, was not to be
thus beaten. He published an eloquent philippic against the governor
in the Williamsburg papers, and declared his intention to establish
another paper to promulgate the same principles as the one which had
been destroyed.

Dunmore having heard that a force was collecting in Princess Anne
county, left Norfolk on the 16th of November, marched into that county,
attacked the provincials and completely routed them. He then returned
to Norfolk, where he established his head-quarters, and from here he
issued his celebrated proclamation, in which he proclaimed martial law

throughout Virginia, declared all able to bear arms traitors, who did not
resort to the king's standard, and offered freedom to all slaves "appertaining
to rebels," who would join his master's cause. On this, Dunmore
staked his last hopes of subjugating Virginia. Had he possessed at his
command a sufficient force to have enabled him to carry his threats into
execution some apprehensions might have been aroused. But, as it
was, his course only aided to harmonize public opinion, and proportionately
to increase public irritation.

About the 20th of November, Colonel Woodford, with a portion of
the second regiment, marched within twelve miles of Norfolk, where he
halted and began the erection of breastworks, and here, on the 9th of
December, he was attacked by a body of grenadiers, commanded by
Captain Fordyce, who attempted to storm the works, but were repulsed
by a most destructive fire from the Virginians. Fordyce retreated to
Norfolk, and Dunmore and his entire force fled for safety to the vessels
lying in the harbor. The Virginians entered the city and began a
desultory fire on the vessels, which was continued for several days. In
retaliation, Dunmore, on the 1st day of January, bombarded the town
and set fire to the buildings along the shore. Orders were then received
by Colonel Woodford from the committee of safety to burn the remainder
of the town, and thus prevent the British from making it a permanent
post. The orders were executed, and Norfolk, containing 6,000
inhabitants, and then the most populous town in Virginia, was laid in
ashes.

The General Convention of Virginia met at the capital on the 6th of
May. Edmund Pendleton was chosen president and John Tazewell
secretary. Its work was plain. The tottering fabric of royal government
in Virginia had fallen, and to rear upon its ruins a structure
more elegant, more solid and more lasting, was now the task to be
performed.

On the 15th of this month, after appealing to the "Searcher
of Hearts," the convention unanimously adopted the following resolution:

"That the delegates appointed to represent this colony in general
congress, be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the
United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance
to, or dependence on the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and that
they give the assent of this colony to such declaration, and whatever
measures may be thought necessary by Congress for forming foreign
alliances, and a confederation of colonies, at such time and in the manner
that to them shall seem best; provided, that the power of forming
governments for, and the regulation of the internal concerns of each
colony, be left to the colonial legislatures."

Thus Virginia furnished the draft of the future declaration of independence.

On the 29th a constitution was adopted, the first which was framed
with view to a permanent separation from Great Britain, since those of
South Carolina and New Hampshire, which alone preceded it, were to
continue only until a reconciliation could be effected between the mother
country and the colonies. The plan of government was proposed by the
distinguished George Mason, and with the addition of a preamble written
by Thomas Jefferson, unanimously adopted by the convention, and
the following officers appointed in compliance with its provisions: Patrick
Henry, governor; John Page, Dudley Digges, John Taylor, John
Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Charles
Carter, and Benjamin Harrison of Brandon, counselors of State; Thomas
Whiting, John Hutchings, Champion Travis, Thomas Newton, Jr., and
George Webb, commissioners of admiralty; Thomas Everard and James
Cocke, commissioners for settling accounts; Edmund Randolph, attorney-general.

In the meantime Virginia had sent her representatives to the general
congress then in session at Philadelphia; and they, in compliance with
instructions from their constituency, were standing shoulder to shoulder
battling for the Declaration of Independence, and when, on the 4th
day of July, 1776, the immortal band signed that document, no less
than seven of her honored sons were among the number. The names
of those who thus signed the charter of American Liberty, were as
follows: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Carter
Braxton.

In the early days of June, Dunmore, with his fleet, had left Hampton
Roads, landed and erected fortifications on Gwynn's Island, within
the limits of what is now Matthews county. Here he was attacked on
the 9th of July by a body of Virginians under Brigadier-General
Andrew Lewis (who was in command at the battle of Point Pleasant
in 1774), and forced to abandon the island. Dunmore, now having
despaired of ever swaying the scepter over the province again, dispatched
the remnant of his followers to Florida and the West Indies,
and sailing himself away to the north, left the shores of Virginia, never
to return.

On the 25th of the month the adoption of the Declaration of Independence
was officially announced at Williamsburg amid the acclamations
of the people, the roar of artillery and rattle of musketry. The Assembly
met on the 7th of October for the first time under the new
government; Edmund Pendleton was elected Speaker of the House of
Delegates, and Archibald Casey, President of the Senate. The first
act passed by that body was one repealing all acts of Parliament
against dissenters, and thus was the first blow struck at the Established
Church in Virginia. Another act was passed providing for the appointment

MEREWETHER LEWIS,

Of the Lewis and Clarke Expedition,
(In Indian costume)

of a committee to revise the State laws, and prepare a code "more
suitable to the new state of affairs." The committee was appointed
as follows: Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, George Mason, and
Thomas Ludwell Lee. All the work, however, was performed by the
first three.

The seat of war had now been transferred to the North, where Washington,
Virginia's distinguished son, on whom the Continental Congress
had bestowed the commission of Commander-in-Chief of all the forces
raised in defense of American liberty, was drawing Burgoyne in a trap
into which he was destined to fall.

During this brief respite from war, Virginia renewed her labors in
behalf of literature and society, as well as in the improvement of civil
relations. Dr. Small, the learned professor of William and Mary College,
continued his efforts in the diffusion of knowledge, which he had
commenced before the beginning of hostilities, under the patronage of
James Fauquier, "the ablest character who had then ever filled the
chair of government in Virginia." A literary and scientific society was
formed at this time, of which John Page was president, and Professor
James Madison one of the secretaries. This body held its meetings in
the capitol at Williamsburg, and many philosophical papers were read,
and many interesting lectures delivered, but unfortunately the continuation
of war prevented the ripe development of the association.

ALLIES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

While Virginia was battling with her oppressors on her eastern shores,
she was also compelled to defend her frontier against the savage hordes
employed by the emissaries of Great Britain to whom she paid a premium
for the scalps snatched from the heads of helpless women and children.
Thus Christian England, then boasting of the splendors of her
civilization, turned loose the ruthless savage to murder and burn at the
stake the people of her own blood.

MURDER OF CORNSTALK AT POINT PLEASANT.

One of the most atrocious acts recorded in border warfare was committed
at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, in the
summer of 1777. This was the shocking murder of Cornstalk, the celebrated
Shawnee chief, whose nobleness of character every student of
pioneer history has learned to admire. In the spring of the above year,
Cornstalk and Redhawk came to Fort Randolph at the mouth of the
Great Kanawha and declared that he and all his tribe were opposed to

engaging in the war on the side of the British; but, that all the other tribes
north of the Ohio were determined to do so, and that his people would
be compelled to do likewise. Captain Arbuckle, commandant at Point
Pleasant, detained his visitors as hostages, hoping thus to prevent their
tribe from becoming allies of Great Britain. We subjoin an account of
the murder from the memoir of Colonel John Stewart, who was an eyewitness
of the scene:

"During the time of our stay [at Point Pleasant] two young men
named Hamilton and Gilmore went over the Kanawha one day to
hunt for deer. On their return to camp some Indians had concealed
themselves on the bank among the weeds, to view our encampment, and
as Gilmore came along past them, they fired on him and killed him on
the bank. Captain Arbuckle and myself were standing on the opposite
bank, when the gun was fired, and while we were wondering who it
could be shooting contrary to orders, or what they were doing over the
river, we saw Hamilton run down to the bank, who called out that Gilmore
was killed. Gilmore was one of the company of Captain John
Hall, of that part of the country now Rockbridge county. The captain
was a relative of Gilmore's, whose family and friends were chiefly cut
off by the Indians, in 1763, when Greenbrier was cut off. Hall's men
instantly jumped into a canoe and went to the relief of Hamilton, who
was standing in momentary expectation of being put to death. They
brought the corpse of Gilmore down the bank, covered with blood, and
scalped, and put it into the canoe. As they were passing the river, I
observed to Captain Arbuckle that the people would be for killing the
hostages, as soon as the canoe would land. He supposed that they
would not offer to commit so great a violence upon the innocent, who
were in no wise accessory to the murder of Gilmore. But the canoe
had scarcely touched the shore until the cry was raised, `Let us kill
the Indians in the fort!' and every man with his gun in his hand, came
up the bank pale with rage. Captain Hall was at their head and leader.
Captain Arbuckle and I met them, and endeavored to dissuade them
from so unjustifiable an action; but they cocked their guns, threatened
us with instant death if we did not desist, rushed by us into the fort and
put the Indians to death.

"On the preceding day Cornstalk's son, Elinipsico, had come from
the nation to see his father, and to know if he were well, or alive. When
he came to the river, opposite the fort, he hallooed. His father was at
that instant in the act of delineating a map of the country and the waters
between the Shawnee towns and the Mississippi, at our request, with
chalk upon the floor. He immediately recognized the voice of his son,
went out and answered him. The young fellow crossed over, and they
embraced each other in the most tender and affectionate manner. The
interpreter's wife, who had been a prisoner among the Indians and had
recently left them, on hearing the uproar the next day, and hearing the

men threatening that they would kill the Indians, for whom she retained
much affection, ran to their cabin and informed them that the people
were just coming to kill them, and that because the Indians who
killed Gilmore had come with Elinipsico the day before. He utterly
denied it; declared that he knew nothing of them, and trembled exceedingly.
His father encouraged him not to be afraid, for that the Great
Man above had sent him there to be killed and die with him. As the
men advanced to the door, Cornstalk rose up and met them; they fired
upon him, and seven or eight bullets went through him. So fell the
great warrior, Cornstalk, whose name was bestowed upon him by
the consent of the nation as their great strength and support. His son
was shot dead as he sat upon the stool. The Redhawk made an
attempt to go up the chimney, but was shot down. The other Indian
was shamefully mangled, and I grieved to see him so long in the agonies
of death."

Point Pleasant did not flourish for many years. There was no
church—its social condition was at the lowest ebb. Judging from the
accounts of travelers who visited the place in its earlier days, one
would suppose that Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" was a paradise in
comparison. The popular superstition was that a curse had been
laid upon the place to continue for one hundred years—a punishment
for the fiendish murder. Patrick Henry, then governor, offered a reward
for the apprehension of the murderers, but without effect.

WAR CLOUDS AGAIN HANGING OVER VIRGINIA.

In the year 1779 the British determined upon the conquest of the
Southern States, and Sir Henry Clinton, aware that their resistance
would very much depend upon Virginia, resolved to humble her pride
and destroy her resources. Accordingly, early in May a portion of the
British fleet anchored in Hampton Roads, where they compelled the surrender
of Fort Nelson, and on the 11th, the British General Mathews
took possession of Portsmouth. They then destroyed great quantities of
military stores at Gosport and Norfolk; burned the town of Suffolk;
marched far into the interior, burning private residences, barns, and
scattering destruction far and wide. Their men-of-war destroyed in the
meantime more than one hundred vessels, thus entirely ruining the
coasting trade of the colony. The army then re-embarked and sailed
away to New York, having finished, in a masterly manner, the work
assigned them to do.

The triumph of the British arms in the South portended great evil to
Virginia. Clinton determined to make her feel the effects of her continued
resistance to a greater extent than ever before, and for that purpose
sent General Leslie with a force of three thousand men to complete her

destruction. He appeared in the Chesapeake Bay in October, 1780,
landed at Portsmouth and destroyed the vessels and all other property
which he found along the coast.

Meantime, Thomas Jefferson, who had succeeded Patrick Henry as
governor of the State, was, with the assistance of the best men in the
State in the assembly, concentrating every force to oppose the invaders.
At this time General Gates, who had been beaten by Cornwallis in the
South, was relieved of his command, and General Greene appointed in
his stead. The British, fearing that a change of officers might also change
the fortunes of Cornwallis' army, ordered Leslie to withdraw from Virginia
and at once form a junction with the army in South Carolina.
This he did just in time to assist in driving Greene back into Virginia.
The day after the Americans crossed the Dan—the dividing line between
Virginia and North Carolina—Greene wrote to the Governor and also
to Baron Steuben informing them of his situation and asking for reinforcements.

Early in December, 1780, Governor Jefferson also received a letter
from Washington, informing him that the British were preparing to send
an expedition south, the objective point of which was most probably
Virginia. This prediction proved correct, for on the 30th, Benedict
Arnold, who had attempted the betrayal of the American army at
West Point, for which he received ten thousand pounds and a brigadier-general's
commission in the British army, arrived with fifty sail
in the Chesapeake, and after embarking in lighter vessels, ascended
the James river. When Jefferson heard of the approach of Arnold's
squadron, he sent General Nelson into the interior counties to raise
as large a force as possible, while Baron Steuben was dispatched to
Petersburg with a force of about two hundred men. On the 4th of
January, 1781, Arnold landed his force near Westover, and marched
to Richmond without opposition. No sooner was the capital in possession
of the traitor than her stores were plundered, her archives
destroyed, and the governor forced to seek safety in rapid flight. From
Richmond, Arnold sent a detachment under Colonel Simcoe to Westham,
where they destroyed the only cannon foundry in Virginia.

The British, now fearing an attack from the combined forces of
Steuben and Nelson, the latter of whom had succeeded in raising a
considerable force, commenced their voyage down the river, destroying
all property, public and private, on both sides of the river. Virginia
was truly in a defenseless state. All her regular force was
with General Greene, in the southern part of the State, who was
disputing the passage of the Dan with Cornwallis. Her whole
dependence was in her militia, of which only about two thousand
were in the field, and with this force she could not hope to resist
invasion.

No sooner had Arnold gone than another invasion occurred, at the
head of which was General Phillips, who, with one thousand men,
again ascended the James, ravaged Yorktown, City Point, Petersburg,
and spread desolation and terror—ever the followers in the wake of
the British army—on every side. He conceived the idea of marching
to Richmond a second time, but the fortunate arrival of Lafayette
with a considerable force of regulars saved the metropolis, and hastened
Phillips in his descent of the river. Lafayette followed, closely watching
his movements, until he reached Brandon, where he suddenly
landed, and marched again in the direction of Petersburg. The French
marquis, however, divined his true intention to be that of forming a
junction with Cornwallis, who in the meantime had forced Greene from
the banks of the Dan, and was now marching northward through Virginia.
The two forces were united at Petersburg on the 20th of May,
and Lafayette, whose force was now augmented to four thousand men,
remained in the vicinity of Richmond, awaiting reinforcements or an
opportunity to join General Greene. Meanwhile, General Wheedon collected
a force of several hundred militia, and lay at Falmouth guarding
the arms manufactory at that place. In addition to these forces, General
Wayne was on his way to Virginia with nine hundred veterans from
the frontier. The strength of the united British armies was too great
for any force which Virginia could raise, and her fate now seemed to be
decided.

From this point Cornwallis sent out detachments to ravage the various
parts of the State which had not before been visited by the ruthless Briton,
and in two months property to the value of fifteen million dollars had
been destroyed.

Colonel Tarleton, at the head of one of these raiding parties, advanced
to Charlottesville, where he hoped to capture a republican legislature,
the assembly being in session there at the time. That body,
however, received information of his approach, and all of the members,
except seven who were made prisoners, saved themselves by flight.
Governor Jefferson made his escape by riding into the mountains on
horseback. Lafayette, although unable to meet the British in the open
field, watched their every movement with sleepless vigilance. Acting
under orders from Sir Henry Clinton, then at New York, Cornwallis
descended the James and halted at Green Springs, within eight miles
of the site of Jamestown. Lafayette followed closely upon his rear.
From the above place Cornwallis moved to Portsmouth, where
he would have fortified himself had not Clinton ordered him to
re-embark and take post at Yorktown, which he did on the 1st
of August. The position thus taken was situated on the York
peninsula on the southern bank of York river, a few miles from its
mouth.

A few days later Lafayette, with the entire available force of Virginia,
took post a few miles north of the British position, and from
here sent messengers with dispatches to Washington, requesting him to
hasten to Virginia and assist in the overthrow of the entire British
force. A powerful French fleet was daily expected in the Chesapeake,
and the American commander saw that Cornwallis, with his retreat cut
off by land and sea, would be compelled to surrender, and thus the
fatal blow to the British arms would be struck. On the 30th of
August the expected fleet, with four thousand men on board, arrived
and anchored at the mouth of York river; and on the 2d of September
Count de Barras, commanding the French fleet at Newport,
sailed into the Chesapeake with eight men-of-war and a number of transports.
Three days later Admiral Graves, with a large fleet of ships-of-the-line,
appeared in the bay. A naval battle ensued, in which the
ships of the English were so roughly handled by the French flotilla that
Graves was compelled to withdraw from the bay and sail away to New
York.

On the 14th General Washington arrived at the head-quarters of Lafayette,
and on the next day visited the flag-ship of Count de Grasse,
where the plan of the siege was arranged. On the 25th the Army of
the North, which had been preceded by the commander-in-chief, arrived,
and on the 6th of October the combined forces of America and France
opened fire on the walls of the now beleaguered army, and on the night
of the 14th carried the outer works by storm. Early in the morning
of the 16th the English made a sortie, but were hurled back into their
intrenchments. The next day Cornwallis proposed a surrender; on the
18th the terms of capitulation were signed; and on the 19th Major-General
O'Hara, who appeared instead of Cornwallis, who feigned illness,
marched the whole force out into the open field, where in the presence
of the united forces of France and America, 7,247 English soldiers laid
down their arms and became prisoners of war. Thus ended the war in
Virginia, and here, on her soil, the power of the Briton in America was
forever broken.

Had Virginia done her part in that mighty struggle? Let history
answer. She had been the first to adopt an independent constitution;
she was the first to recommend the Declaration of Independence; she
had sent her noble son to become the first among the leaders of the
armies of the nation; her officers and soldiers which she kept in the
field for eight long and weary years, whether in the shock of battle,
or marching half-clad, half-starved, and barefooted amid the snows
of the North, or through the pestilential swamps of the South, had
ever evinced unsurpassed bravery and fortitude. She had furnished
the voice of Henry, the pen of Jefferson, the sword of Washington,
and that was enough. What other American State can show such a
record?