USA > Virginia > History of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia > Part 52
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' When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, and in rain ? When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won."
On the twenty-fourth the arms were removed from the palace, and lodged in the magazine of which Dr. Bland had the charge. Among those engaged in removing them were Theodorick Bland, Jr., Richard Kidder Meade, Benjamin Harrison, of Berkley, George Nicholas, Harrison Randolph, and James Monroe.
On the twenty-sixth of June Mr. Jefferson was added to a committee of congress appointed to draw up a declaration of the grounds of taking up arms. He prepared one, but it proving too strong for Mr. Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, he was indulged in preparing a far tamer statement, which was accepted by congress. Yet disgust at its humility was general, and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only circumstance which reconciled them to it. The vote being passed, although farther observation on it was out of order, Dickinson could not refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction, and concluded by saying: "There is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper which I disapprove,
* Williamsburg invited the assistance of an additional volunteer force to guard the town.
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and that is the word congress." On which Benjamin Harrison rose and said: "There is but one word, Mr. President, of which I approve, and that is the word congress."
The commander-in-chief received his commission from the president of congress on the twentieth of June, and on the fol- lowing day set out for Boston on horseback, accompanied by General Lee, General Schuyler, and an escort of Philadelphia cavalry. They had proceeded about twenty miles, when they were met by an express bringing intelligence of the battle of Bunker's Hill. Amid cheers and the thunder of cannon he reached the headquarters of the army at Cambridge, on the second of July, and on the third assumed the command. The future was full of difficulty and of danger; but he confided in that Divine Providence which wisely orders human affairs.
Late in June the Magdalen sailed from York with Lady Dun- more, and the rest of the governor's family, bound for England. The Magdalen was convoyed down the York and across the bay, by the Fowey. This oft-mentioned old twenty-gun man-of-war was shortly afterwards relieved by the Mercury, and sailed with Captain Foy on board for Boston.
Dunmore issued a proclamation commanding all subjects on their allegiance, to repair to his standard.
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CHAPTER LXXXIV.
1775.
Dunmore at Portsmouth-Convention-Committee of Safety-Carrington, Read, Cabell-Henry, Colonel and Commander-in-chief-George Mason-Miscella- neous Affairs-Death of Peyton Randolph-The Randolphs of Virginia.
DUNMORE's domestics now abandoned the palace and removed to Porto Bello, his country-seat, about six miles below Williams- burg. The fugitive governor took up his station at Portsmouth.
On Monday, July the 17th, 1775, the convention met at Rich- mond. Measures were taken for raising two regiments of regular troops for one year, and two companies for the protection of the western frontier, and to divide the colony into sixteen districts, and to exercise the militia as minute-men, so as to be ready for service at a moment's warning. At the instance of Richard Bland an inquiry was made into certain charges reflecting on his patriotism; and his innocence was triumphantly vindicated. Although he had resisted extreme measures, yet when the crisis came, and the rupture took place, he was behind none in patriotic ardor and devotion to the common cause. A minister was impli- cated in propagating the charges against him.
A committee of safety was organized to take charge of the executive duties of the colony; it consisted of eleven gentlemen : Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, William Cabell, Carter Braxton, James Mercer, and John Tabb.
Paul Carrington, the ancestor of those bearing that name in Vir- ginia, and his wife, of the Heningham family, emigrated from Ire- land to Barbadoes. He died early in the eighteenth century, and left a widow and numerous children. The youngest, George, about the year 1727, came to Virginia with the family of Joseph Mayo, a Barbadoes merchant, who settled at Powhatan, the former seat of the chief of that name, and young Carrington lived with him (624)
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in the capacity of storekeeper. About 1732 he married Anne, daughter of William Mayo, of Goochland, brother of Joseph, and went to reside on Willis's Creek, in what is now Cumberland County. Paul Carrington, eldest child of this marriage, married, in 1755, Margaret, daughter of Colonel Clement Read, of Bushy Forest, clerk of the court of Lunenburg, now Charlotte. Young Carrington, having attained a practical knowledge of the law in the clerk's office, soon acquired an extensive practice. He was a burgess from Charlotte in 1765, and appears to have voted against Henry's resolutions. He continued to be a member of the house down to the time of the Revolution; was a member of the association of 1670, and in 1774 of the first convention; and also of those of 1775 and 1776. In the latter he voted for the resolution instructing the delegates in congress to propose independence, and was a member of the committee which reported the bill of rights and the constitution. He was subsequently a judge of the general court and of the court of appeals, and a member of the convention of 1788. Three of his sons served in the army of Revolution: George, lieutenant in Lee's legion; Paul, who was at the battles of Guilford and Greenspring; and Cle- ment, who was wounded in the battle of Eutaw Springs. Paul Carrington, member of the committee of safety, was upwards of six feet in stature, his features prominent, with bright blue eyes, and sandy hair. His seat was Mulberry Hill, on the banks of the Staunton .* He died at the age of eighty-five, having sur- vived all the early Virginia patriots of the revolutionary era.
Edward Carrington, his younger brother, was a valued officer during the revolutionary war, and quartermaster-general for the Southern army under Greene.
Colonel Clement Read, father of Mrs. Paul Carrington, was born in Virginia, (1707,) his ancestors having, as is supposed, come over shortly after the Restoration, being probably of the Cromwellian party. Early bereft of his father, he was educated at William and Mary under the guardianship of John Robinson, of Spotsylvania, president of the council. In 1730 Mr. Read was married to Mary, only daughter of William Hill, an officer
* Foote's Sketches of Va., second series, 575; Grigsby's Convention of '76.
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HISTORY OF THE COLONY AND
in the British navy, second son of the Marquis of Lansdowne. This William Hill had married the only daughter of Governor Jennings, and resided in what was then Isle of Wight County, now Brunswick.
Colonel Isaac Read, eldest son of Clement Read, was a member of the conventions of 1774 and 1775, co-operating with Henry and Jefferson. He received in June, 1776, a commission as lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Virginia Regiment, but died not long after at Philadelphia, owing to exposure in the public ser- vice. Thomas Read, younger brother of Isaac, was a supporter of the views of Henry and Jefferson, and a member of the con- vention of 1776 .* An accomplished gentleman, he retained the costume and manners of a former day.
Dr. William Cabell, head of the family of that name in Vir- ginia, emigrated from Wiltshire, England, about 1720, and settled in what is now Nelson County. He had been a surgeon in the English navy; was a man of letters and science; in his profes- sion well-skilled and successful; sagacious in business; of a hu- morous fancy; and fond of wild sports. He died in 1774 at an advanced age, leaving one daughter and four sons; of these, Joseph Cabell was a burgess in 1769 and 1770, and member of the convention in 1775. John Cabell was a member of the same, and of the convention of 1776. Nicholas Cabell served under La Fayette, and was also in political life. William Cabell, the eldest brother, was wise in council, energetic and fearless in action, and widely influential in his own region. He was fond of rural sports, and an expert horseman. His face was of the Roman cast. Tall, of a fine person, and commanding presence, he exhibited the dignified simplicity of the Virginia gentleman of the old school. He was a tobacco-planter, and his extensive and well-ordered plantations, besides the labors of agriculture, pre- sented a scene of industry, where the various handicrafts were carried on by his own blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, and shoe- makers. Colonel Cabell was systematic in business, and of generous hospitality. He was a member of the assembly in 1769, and a signer of the association. He voted, in 1775,
* Foote's Sketches, second series, 573; Grigsby's Convention of '76.
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ANCIENT DOMINION OF VIRGINIA.
against Henry's resolutions, preferring the scheme of a regular army presented by Colonel Nicholas .* Colonel Samuel J. Cabell, who was at the commencement of the Revolution a stu- dent of college, left it, and joined the first armed corps raised in Virginia, and soon attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the continental army. He was made a prisoner at the surrender of Charleston in 1780, and so remained till the close of the war. He was afterwards a member of congress, and died at his seat in Nelson County, in 1818, aged 61.
Patrick Henry was elected, in August, colonel of the first regiment and commander of all the forces raised and to be raised for the defence of the colony. William Woodford, of Caroline County, who had served meritoriously in the French and Indian war, was appointed to the command of the second regiment. A strong effort was made to elect Colonel Hugh Mercer, of Fredericksburg, to the command of the first regiment, and on the first ballot he received a plurality of one vote; but the question being narrowed down between him and Mr. Henry, the latter was elected.
The expense of the late Indian war was estimated at £150,000; Virginia's quota of the charge of the continental army £150,000; the charge of the two new regiments, and the minute-men, and other items of public expenditure, made a sum of upwards of £500,000. George Wythe was elected member of congress in the place of Washington, appointed commander-in-chief. When the delegates were chosen for the ensuing congress, Mr. Mason would have been elected but that he declared that he could not possibly attend. Upon the resignation of the aged Colonel Richard Bland, a day or two thereafter, a party headed by Colonel Henry, Mr. Jefferson, and Colonel Paul Carrington, appeared determined to elect Colonel Mason at all events. In consequence of this, just before the ballot was taken, he found himself con- strained to make known the grounds of his refusal; "in doing which," he says, "I felt myself more distressed than ever I was in my life, especially when I saw tears run down the president's (Randolph's) cheeks." The cause of Mr. Mason's declining to
* Va. Hist. Reg., iii. 44 and 107; Grigsby's Convention of '76.
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HISTORY OF THE COLONY AND
serve was the recent death of his wife, leaving a large family of children. Mr. Mason nominated Colonel Francis Lightfoot Lee, who was elected. Mr. Mason was, nevertheless, as has been seen, made a member of the committee of safety, which service was even more inconvenient to him than that of delegate to con- gress. But upon his begging permission to resign, he was answered by a unanimous "no." The staff officers of the First Regiment, under Colonel Henry, were Lieutenant-Colonel Chris- tian and Major Eppes; and in the Second Regiment, under Colonel Woodford, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Scott and Major Alexander Spotswood. The convention passed ordinances for raising money and imposing taxes, for furnishing arms and the procuring of saltpetre, lead, and sulphur, and for encouraging the manufacture of gunpowder; for regulating the elections of delegates; and for establishing a general test of fidelity to the country. The Maryland Convention not concurring in the reso- lution prohibiting the export of provisions, it was rescinded, and the ports were consequently kept open till the tenth of Septem- ber. The merchants, natives of Great Britain, mostly Scotch, resident in Virginia, petitioned the convention to prescribe some rule of conduct in their business during the present crisis of affairs, and were allowed to remain neutral. The committee of safety met for the first time toward the end of August. At the begin- ning of the session of the convention, resolutions were passed by way of recommendations for the people; but afterwards ordi- nances were enacted on all matters of importance with the formalities of a bill, passing through three readings.
In September Colonel Henry selected an encampment in the rear of the College of William and Mary. The recruits, regular and minute-men, poured rapidly into Williamsburg. In October Matthew Phripp, a Virginian, in whom important trusts had been confided, proving a traitor, went on board of one of Dunmore's vessels. Phripp's son likewise deserted. Virginia contrived to import some powder at this juncture. The people became dissat- isfied at the scarcity of salt, the importation of which was pro- hibited by the articles of association; but it would hardly have been possible to import it then, even if allowed by law, Virginia not having one armed vessel to protect her trade. Some persons
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began to manufacture it by evaporating sea-water in pans. The non-importation afforded a new incentive to industry and inven- tion, threw the people upon their own resources, and taught them self-denial, and how to live within themselves. They made less tobacco, and applied themselves more to domestic manufactures.
On the 22d of this month, 1775, died suddenly of an apoplexy, at Philadelphia, the able and virtuous Peyton Randolph, presi- dent of congress, aged fifty-two years, descended from a family long noted in Virginia for its wealth, talents, and influence; he was the second son of Sir John Randolph, and Susan Beverley, his wife. Peyton Randolph, being bred to the law, was, in 1748, appointed king's attorney for the colony, being then but twenty-four years of age. He succeeded Speaker Robinson in the chair of the house of burgesses in 1766, and continued to preside over that body until it was superseded by the conventions. He was made, in 1773, a member of the com- mittee of correspondence, and was at its head. In March, 1774, he was unanimously chosen president of the first convention of Virginia. In August he was appointed by the convention one of the delegates to the congress which assembled at Philadelphia in September, and was unanimously elected president of it. In person he was tall and stately .; in manner grave and of senato- rial dignity; at home generous and hospitable. As a lawyer sound and accurate; in public life of excellent judgment, large experience, and incorruptible integrity .* He lies buried in the chapel of William and Mary.
The progenitor of the Randolphs was William of Warwick- shire, or as some say, of Yorkshire, England, who came over to Virginia probably between 1665 and 1675, poor, it is said. He accumulated a large estate, and became a member of the house of burgesses and of the council. He appears to have been inti- mate with the first Colonel William Byrd, and well acquainted with Lady Berkley. He settled at Turkey Island on the James River. He married Mary Isham, of Bermuda Hundred, who was descended from an ancient family in Northamptonshire. Several of their sons were men of distinction: William was
* Grigsby's Convention of Va. of '76.
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HISTORY OF THE COLONY AND
member of the council, and treasurer; Isham a member of the house of burgesses from Goochland, (1740,) and adjutant-general; Richard was burgess for Henrico, and succeeded his brother as treasurer. Sir John, sixth son of the first William, was clerk, speaker, treasurer, and attorney-general. He died in March, 1737, aged forty-four, and lies buried in the chapel of William and Mary .* Peter, son of the second William Randolph, was clerk, and attorney-general. Peyton, son of Sir John, was attorney-general, speaker of the house of burgesses, and presi- dent of the first congress. John, brother of Peyton, was attor- ney-general, a votary of pleasure; of brilliant talents; he sided with Dunmore, withdrew from Virginia with him, and died in London, in January, 1784, aged fifty-six. He lies buried in the chapel of William and Mary. Thomas Mann Randolph, great grandson of the first William, was member of the Virginia conven- tion of 1775, from Goochland. Beverley Randolph was member of assembly from Cumberland during the Revolution, and Gover- nor of the State of Virginia. Edmund Randolph, (son of John, the attorney-general,) said to have been disinherited by his father for refusing to adhere to the royal cause, was aid-de-camp to General Washington, member of the convention of 1776, judge of the admiralty court, member of the congress of the con- federation, and of the general convention that framed the consti- tution of the United States, and of the Virginia convention that ratified it, Governor of Virginia, Attorney-General of the United States, and Secretary of State. Robert Randolph, son of Peter, Richard Randolph, grandson of Peter, and David Meade Ran- dolph, sons of the second Richard, were cavalry officers in the war of the Revolution. David Meade Randolph was United States Marshal for Virginia. John Randolph, of Roanoke, the orator, was grandson of the first Richard. Thomas Mann Ran- dolph, Jr., was member of the legislature of Virginia, and of congress, and Governor of Virginia. Richard Bland, of the old congress, Thomas Jefferson, Theodorick Bland, Jr., Richard Henry Lee, Arthur Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee, William
* A small work on gardening, printed at Petersburg, in 1807, is attributed to him.
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ANCIENT DOMINION OF VIRGINIA.
Stith, the historian, and Thomas Marshall, father of the chief justice, were all descended from William Randolph, of Turkey Island.
Jane Bolling, great granddaughter of Pocahontas, married Richard Randolph, of Curles. John Randolph, Sr., the seventh child of that marriage, married Frances Bland, and John Ran- dolph, of Roanoke, the orator, was one of the children of this union.
The members of the numerous family of the Randolphs in several instances adopted the names of their seats for the pur- pose of distinction, as Thomas of Tuckahoe, Isham of Dunge- ness, Richard of Curles, John of Roanoke. The following were seats of the Randolphs on the James River: Tuckahoe, Chats- worth, Wilton, Varina, Curles, Bremo, and Turkey Island.
CHAPTER LXXXV.
1775.
Dunmore's War-Captain Squires-Woodford sent against Dunmore-Woodford and Henry-Affairs at Great Bridge-Battle of Great Bridge-Howe assumes Command-Indignity offered Henry-Committee of Safety-Pendleton-Howe occupies Norfolk.
DUNMORE in the meanwhile had rallied a band of tories, run- away negroes, and British soldiers, and collected a naval force, and was carrying on a petty warfare. Captain Squires, of his majesty's sloop Otter, during the summer cruised in the James and York, plundering the inhabitants and carrying off slaves. Early in September a tender laden with stores, being driven ashore near Hampton, Squires (who happened to be in her) and most of the crew escaped. The sloop was burnt by the inhabitants. Squires in retaliation threatening Hampton, Major Innes, with a hundred men, was sent down from Williamsburg to defend it. Squires in the latter part of October appeared near Hampton with several vessels, and threatened to land and burn the town. It was defended by a company of regulars under Captain George Nicholas, a company of minute-men, and some militia. Upon Squires attempting to land a skirmish ensued, and the enemy was driven off with some loss. Squires' party returning on the next day, burnt down a house belonging to a Mr. Cooper. Intelli- gence of this affair having reached Williamsburg, a company of riflemen was sent to Hampton, and Colonel Woodford was des- patched to take command there. Upon their arrival on the next morning, Squires began to fire upon the town, but was again compelled to retire. These petty hostilities were the subject of humorous remark in the Virginia Gazette .*
* John Banister proposing to turn his saw-mill at Petersburg into a powder- mill, the convention ordered saltpetre and sulphur to be sent there for him. (632)
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ANCIENT DOMINION OF VIRGINIA.
Dunmore, on the 7th of November, 1775, proclaimed martial- law, summoned all persons capable of bearing arms to his stan- dard, on penalty of being proclaimed traitors, and offered freedom to all servants and slaves who should join him. He had now the ascendency in the country around Norfolk, which abounded in tories. The committee of safety despatched Woodford with his regiment and two hundred minute-men, amounting in all to eight hundred men, with orders to cross the James River at Sandy Point and go in pursuit of Dunmore. Colonel Henry had been desirous to be employed in this service, and, it was said, solicited it, but the committee of safety refused, and amid such exciting events he found himself, eager as he was for action, and ardent and impetuous as was his nature, still compelled to sit down in- active in Williamsburg, where he had been quartered since Sep- tember. At length after the lapse of nearly another month of tedious inaction, during which he received no regular communica- tions from Colonel Woodford, Colonel Henry wrote to him thus: "Not hearing of any despatch from you for a long time, I can no longer forbear sending to know your situation and what has occurred ?" Woodford on the next day replied from the Great Bridge, near Norfolk, and said: "When joined I shall always esteem myself immediately under your command, and will obey accordingly, but when sent to command a separate and distinct corps, under the immediate instructions of the committee of safety, whenever that body, or the honorable convention is sitting, I look upon it as my indispensable duty to address my intelligence to them as the supreme power in this colony." Thus Colonel Henry's chagrin at not being permitted to march himself against Dun- more was aggravated by Colonel Woodford's declining, while de- tached, to acknowledge his superiority in command. Woodford, upon approaching Dunmore, found that he had entrenched him- self on the north side of the Elizabeth River, at the Great Bridge, about twenty miles from Norfolk. Judge Marshall says that it was necessary for the Provincials to cross it in order to reach
Richard Bland advised that saltpetre should be made at Appomattox warehouses, (Petersburg, ) fearing that supineness possessed all ranks, and offering to contri- bute toward that useful work.
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HISTORY OF THE COLONY AND
Norfolk, but Thomas Ludwell Lee, writing at the time, says that there were other ways by which to pass to Norfolk. "Our army has been for some time arrested in its march to Norfolk by a redoubt, or stockade, or hog-pen, as they call it here, by way of derision, at the end of this bridge. Though, by the way, this hog-pen seems filled with a parcel of wild boars, which we appear not overfond to meddle with." Some of the more eager patriots were apprehensive that Woodford would be amused at that post until Dunmore should finish his fortifications at Norfolk, where he was now entrenching and mounting cannon, some hundreds of negroes being employed in the work. Added to this the advanced season of the year and the hourly expectation of the enemy's receiving a re-enforcement from St. Augustine, as was known by intercepted intelligence, made a bold movement necessary, "while we walk too cautiously in the road of prudence."
Dunmore's power on land was confined to the counties of Nor- folk and Princess Anne; his recent course had united the colony with few exceptions against him, and if the ministry had ran- sacked the whole world for the person of all others the best fitted to ruin their cause, they could not have found a fitter agent than Lord Dunmore. He had just now proclaimed liberty to the slaves, and declared martial-law.
It was believed that one frigate could capture the whole of his fleet, and other vessels laden with the floating property of tories, of enormous value. John Page wished earnestly for a few armed vessels to keep possession of the rivers, the arteries of commerce, at the least the upper parts of them. While five thousand men could not defend so exposed a coast against the depredations of Dunmore's fleet, yet five hundred in armed vessels could easily take the fleet. But a majority of the committee of safety and of the convention, held it in vain for Virginia then to attempt any thing by water .*
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