University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XVII

THE REVOLUTION—FROM ITS BEGINNING TO BURGOYNE'S
SURRENDER

Operations at the North. — While Virginia was defending
herself from Lord Dunmore, stirring events had
been taking place at the North. The skirmishes at Lexington
and Concord were followed a few weeks later by
the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by the
Americans. Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne came
from England with reinforcements for General Gage,
while an American army of some fifteen thousand collected
around Boston and laid siege to the city. The hotly
contested battle of Bunker Hill, which was fought on June
17, 1775, settled the question that there would be a war.
It proved, too, a source of much encouragement to the
Americans; for though they were driven from the field,
they had, by their gallant defense of their position, shown
that they could measure arms with the disciplined troops
of England.

Washington Appointed Commander in Chief. — In view
of the public need, Congress met in Philadelphia and,
after declaring that hostilities had commenced with Great
Britain, appointed George Washington, who was a delegate
from Virginia, commander in chief of the army at Boston.
He accepted the position, but refused to receive any pay
for his services. On his way to his post of duty, he heard
of the battle of Bunker Hill, and at once asked, "Did the

militia stand fire?" Receiving an affirmative answer, he
replied, "Then the liberties of the country are safe."

Washington's Appointment a Political Necessity. — Washington
well deserved the honor of being put at the head of
the army; for he was the only soldier in any of the colonies
of more than a local reputation, the one able leader of men
who had been tried and found to be competent. At the
same time, his appointment was a political necessity. The
Northern colonies recognized the importance of enlisting

Washington

Virginia actively in the war,
for it was known that all the
Southern colonies would follow
her. As she was the most
ancient, the most populous,
and the most influential of the
colonies, and the devotion of
her people to the cause of popular
liberty commanded respect
everywhere, her influence was
absolutely necessary to bring
about a union of all the colonies
into one political body,
without which nothing of importance could be accomplished.

Virginia takes an Active Part in the War. — Now that
hostilities had actually commenced, Virginia did not hesitate
as to her duty. She threw herself into the struggle
with all her strength, and responded promptly to the call
of Congress for troops, her quota being fixed at fifteen
battalions. Volunteers formed themselves into companies,
and set out for the seat of war, even while their own homes
were threatened with destruction by Lord Dunmore. Upon
every battlefield of the war, Virginia was well represented.

She was in her structure and temper more thoroughly English
than any of the colonies; and the soldiers she put in
the field were the equals of any Great Britain could bring
against them.

First Period of the War. — At first the war was waged
for a redress of grievances, not for separation from Great
Britain. The colonies were not ready for the contest;
and Washington, who well knew what an army ought to
be, occupied himself for some time in drilling and equipping
the main army, which he had to do in the face of
great difficulties, and while thus engaged he kept up the
siege of Boston.

Virginia takes Action for Independence. — Virginia had
ever shown herself most jealous of her constitutional rights.
In their defense she had, under Bacon, risen in open rebellion
in 1676; and now, one hundred years later, she
took a step in the cause of freedom which proved to be far-reaching
in its effects upon the destinies of America. On
May 15, 1776, she, through her convention which met in
Williamsburg, instructed her delegates in Congress to propose
that the United Colonies should be declared independent.
This action was on the next day read to the
troops at Williamsburg, and was received by them and by
the people generally with loud acclamation.

Bill of Rights. — After instructing the delegates in
Congress, the convention on the same day adopted a Bill
of Rights which contained a clear exposition of the American
theory of government; for it declared the equality of
men politically, that they possessed certain inherent rights,
such as "the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means
of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and
obtaining happiness and safety," of which they could not
by any compact deprive their posterity; that government

Thomas Jefferson

was derived from the people and was to be used for the
benefit of all, and that when not so used the majority had
the right to alter or abolish it; that the press should be
free, and that men should have the right to follow their
consciences in religion.

Adoption of a Constitution. — The Bill of Rights was
followed on June 29 by the adoption of a constitution,
which made the government consist of a House of Delegates
and a Senate, and provided that these should elect
annually a governor and a privy council to assist him.
This constitution, which was the first written one in the
world, contained also a declaration of independence. Thus
Virginia proclaimed herself an independent commonwealth
amid the universal rejoicing of her people. Her new government
went into operation at once, Patrick Henry being
elected governor and Edmund Randolph attorney general.

Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence. — When
the Virginia delegates in Congress received the instructions
from the convention,

Jefferson's Desk

Richard Henry Lee
brought in a motion,
"That these United Colonies
are and ought to
be free and independent
states, and that all political connections between them and
the State of Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved."
After a three days' debate the motion was adopted, and a
committee was appointed to draw up a Declaration of
Independence. The Declaration was written by Thomas
Jefferson;[21] and Congress, after making a few changes,
adopted it as written by him, on July 4, 1776.

Virginia among the First. — Virginia was first among
the foremost in the resolutions condemning the Stamp
Act, in the formation of the Committee of Correspondence,
in the movement for a Continental Congress, and in the
decisive steps that led to the independence of America.
More considerate treatment by the British government
would have kept her loyal; but, under a sense of oppression,
the revolutionary impulse
caused her to renounce utterly
an allegiance of which she had
in former days been proud to
boast.

A Seal Adopted. — After declaring
herself independent, Virginia
adopted a new seal, devised
by George Wythe,[22] which expressed
the spirit that animated
the people. It represents Virtue, the tutelary goddess of
the commonwealth, draped as an Amazon, bearing in one

hand a spear and in the other a sword, trampling under
foot tyranny, symbolized as a prostrate man, having near
him a broken chain and a scourge, while his crown has
fallen from his head. Above the figure of Virtue is the
word "Virginia," and underneath the motto — "Sic semper
tyrannis."

Religious Liberty. — The Episcopal Church had been
the established church in Virginia, as it is in England
to-day; and at times, harsh laws had been enacted against
those who dissented from its doctrines. But one form of
belief does not satisfy all people; and at the time of the
Revolution, Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists
had gained a strong foothold. In her Bill of Rights,
Virginia was the first state in the world to separate absolutely
Church and State, declaring as she did that her
government should be built upon the foundation stone of
religious liberty; and when the General Assembly met
in October, 1776, all persons who did not accept the doctrines
of the Established Church were determined to see
that laws should be enacted to carry out the principles
of religious freedom that had been announced. A great
struggle ensued, which lasted for nearly two months.
Edmund Pendleton[23] and John Page[24] defended the Episcopal
Church, while Thomas Jefferson was the champion

of the dissenters. Religious freedom finally won a complete
triumph. Penalties for nonconformity to the Protestant
Episcopal Church were abolished, and all men were
left free to worship God according to the dictates of their
own consciences.

The Law of Primogeniture. — In England, when a man
dies, his property is not distributed equally among his
children, but it goes to his eldest son, and in this way the
aristocracy is kept up. This Law of Primogeniture, as it
is called, had been in full force in Virginia; but now an
attack was made upon it by Thomas Jefferson, who wished,
as he himself stated, to "eradicate every fiber of ancient
and future aristocracy." Edmund Pendleton, who was
the most conservative of the Revolutionary leaders, defended
it with great skill; but the bill for its repeal passed
the General Assembly without amendment, and it ceased
to be a law.

A Dictator Proposed. — The first military operations after
the Declaration of Independence were disastrous to the
Americans. In the summer of 1776, General Howe, who
had succeeded General Gage as commander in chief of the
British troops, defeated the American army at Long
Island, in consequence of which Washington was forced
to abandon New York and New Jersey, and retire across
the Delaware into Pennsylvania. To the General Assembly,
the outlook seemed so gloomy that it was
proposed to appoint a dictator for Virginia, who should
have absolute power, both civil and military, over persons
and property, the precedent for such action being sought
in the history of Rome. The discussion of this measure
created feelings so bitter that its advocates and its opponents
would not walk on the same side of the street
together. To Patrick Henry, who was to receive the

appointment, Archibald Cary,[25] the leader of the opposition,
sent the message that on the day he became dictator, he
should fall from a thrust of his dagger. There is no
evidence that Patrick Henry either knew of or approved
the scheme. The plan was suddenly dropped, and it
appears to have been but a desperate measure that was
considered to meet a desperate need.

Washington crossing the Delaware

Washington restores Confidence — A few weeks later,
Washington restored confidence by recrossing the Delaware,
and winning the brilliant victories at Trenton and
Princeton. The people now began to realize his greatness
and to esteem him the equal of any commander of
antiquity, for he showed that along with a cause full of
grandeur, he possessed the genius needed to defend it.

Burgoyne's Invasion. — The next summer General Burgoyne
left Canada with a part of the British army and
marched by way of Lake Champlain into New York, his
plan being to seize the line of the Hudson and cut New
England off from the Middle and Southern states. All
went well with him till he reached the upper Hudson,
where the American army under General Gates had taken
a stand to oppose his further progress. Burgoyne had in
his army a number of Indians; and these ferocious allies

Daniel Morgan

so harassed the Americans
that Gates wrote Washington
that they almost produced a
panic.

Morgan and his Riflemen.
— Washington had among
his troops a corps of picked
Virginia riflemen from the
Shenandoah valley and the
upper James, commanded by
the distinguished Colonel
Daniel Morgan. These he
sent to reinforce Gates. It is
said that the aim of these men
was so accurate "that any one of them could toss up an
apple and shoot all the seeds out of it as it fell." Accustomed
to the Indian method of warfare, they soon struck
terror into the breasts of the savages, who said that the
rifles of these sharpshooters "were more terrible than the
lightnings of the Great Spirit." They certainly contributed
much to turn the tide of battle against Burgoyne. At
Bemis Heights, near Saratoga, where Burgoyne fought a
desperate battle in an unsuccessful attempt to drive the
Americans from their position, the Virginia riflemen dispersed

the Canadians and Indians, who covered the flanks
of the right wing of Burgoyne's army and were brought
to a stand only when they encountered the British line
of battle. A few weeks later, when Burgoyne made a
reconnaissance with fifteen hundred picked men, drawn
up in three columns, Morgan's corps fell upon the right
column, which was commanded by General Frasier, and

Burgoyne's Surrender

forced it to fall back, Frasier himself being mortally
wounded by one of the riflemen.

Burgoyne's Surrender. — After these reverses Burgoyne
retired to Saratoga, where, on October 17, 1777, he surrendered
his entire army to General Gates. The political
effect of this victory in Europe was very great. France
had favored the Americans from the first, and had rendered
them some aid. This she had done secretly; but,

after the surrender of Burgoyne, she acknowledged the
independence of the thirteen United Colonies and on February
6, 1778, entered into a treaty, promising to help
them with money, men, and war supplies. Saratoga is
put down by Sir Edward Creasy as one of the fifteen
decisive battles of the world; and much of the credit
of winning it justly belongs to the Virginians.

QUESTIONS

• 1. What events were occurring in the North?

• 2. What battle had decided the question of war, when and where
  fought?

• 3. Who was chosen commander, and on what condition did he accept?

• 4. What is said of Washington, and why was his appointment a
  political necessity?

• 5. Tell what active part Virginia took in the war, and what of her
  soldiers?

• 6. Was the war waged at first for separation from Great Britain?

• 7. What was Virginia's action for independence?

• 8. What was the Bill of Rights, and what followed its adoption?

• 9. What was the Constitution, and what did it contain?

• 10. Who was elected first governor under this Constitution?

• 11. What motion did Richard Henry Lee bring up in Congress?

• 12. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

• 13. Who was Thomas Jefferson?

• 14. Virginia was foremost in what decisive steps?

• 15. Describe Virginia's new seal. By whom was it devised?

• 16. Give the controversy as to religious liberty in Virginia.

• 17. Who defended the established church, and who the dissenters?

• 18. What was the result?

• 19. What was the Law of Primogeniture?

• 20. Who made an attack upon it, and with what result?

• 21. Why was a dictator proposed for Virginia?

• 22. What feelings did this arouse?

• 23. How did Washington restore confidence?

• 24. Tell of Burgoyne's invasion.

• 25. What is said of his Indian allies?

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• 26. Give an account of Morgan and his riflemen.

• 27. Where was a desperate battle fought, and with what result?

• 28. When and where did Burgoyne surrender?

• 29. What did France do after the surrender of Burgoyne?

• 30. What does Sir Edward Creasy say of the battle of Saratoga?

REVIEW QUESTIONS

• 1. Why did the colonists object to the veto power of the king?

• 2. Relate the Parsons' Case.

• 3. What was the Stamp Act, and why was it repealed?

• 4. What was the Non-Importation Agreement, and why was it adopted?

• 5. Why was the tea destroyed at Boston?

• 6. When and where did the first Congress meet?

• 7. Give an account of Lord Dunmore's war.

• 8. When and where was the first clash of arms that marked the
  beginning of the Revolution?

• 9. How did the royal government come to end?

• 10. Describe Dunmore's ravages.

• 11. What battle settled the question as to war?

• 12. Who was appointed commander in chief of the colonial troops,
  and why was his appointment a political necessity?

• 13. What was the object of the colonists at first, and what active part
  did Virginia take in the war?

• 14. Tell of Virginia's action for independence, of her Bill of Rights, and
  her Constitution.

• 15. What was the Declaration of Independence, by whom written, and
  when adopted?

• 16. In what ways did Virginia take the lead for independence?

• 17. Describe the seal adopted.

• 18. Give an account of the controversy for religious liberty.

• 19. What was the Law of Primogeniture, and through whose influence
  was it abolished?

• 20. Why was a dictator proposed, and with what result?

• 21. Give an account of Burgoyne's invasion.

• 22. What is said of Morgan and his riflemen?

• 23. When and where did Burgoyne surrender, and what is said of it?