USA > Virginia > Virginia, a history of the people > Part 31
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These vehement appeals, uttered with all the wonder- ful eloquence of the great orator, carried his resolution through the Convention ; and a committee was appointed to prepare a plan of organization and defense. Henry had once more overcome all opposition by the fire of his oratory ; but it is necessary to say that his biog- rapher, Mr. Wirt, has aimed at adding to his celebrity by the picture drawn of the scene in the Conven- tion. The impression is sought to be produced that a body of laggards were again inspired by one man ; and the view is singular in face of the record. The members of the Convention who were supposed to shrink from armed resistance were the representatives of a people who were already under arms and ready to re- sist. The letter of Lord Dunmore to the Earl of Dart- mouth sets forth the fact ; and another writer of the time said " the Province of Virginia is raising one company in every county, which make a body of six thousand men." This was written in November, 1774; at that date therefore the Virginians were arming to fight Eng- land. It is incredible that in March, 1775, many months afterwards, the representatives of these same men should have shrunk with horror, as Mr. Wirt inti- mates, from the idea of armed resistance.
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THE GUNPOWDER.
So much is necessary to establish the truth of history, which is nothing if not truthful. The immense service to the cause of Henry's call to arms remains. His rash- ness was better than deliberate counsels ; his judgment in reality sounder than that of cooler men. The reso- lutions announcing formally that Virginia was ready to figlit gave a great impulse to resistance. By their pas- sage, the voice of Henry became the voice of Virginia. What the great Commonwealth of the south said to her sister Commonwealths everywhere was, "The war is inevitable - let it come ! "
Patrick Henry had thus become, as in the days of the Stamp Act, the foremost of the Virginia leaders ; he also proved himself nearly a prophet. On the twen- ty-third of March he had exclaimed : "The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms." On the eighteenth of April a British force marched out of Boston to seize military stores belonging to the colony at Concord, came in collision with the militia at Lexington, pushed on to Concord, where they had a fight with the minute- men, and retreated, closely pursued, to Boston again. The " clash of arms," if not the "clanking of chains on the plains of Boston," had taken place, as Henry had predicted.
XII.
THE GUNPOWDER.
THE fighting had thus begun. The long parliament- ary war had ended in real war at last : the thunder of Percy's cannon as he fell back on Boston gave notice of the fact.
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VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
It was soon apparent that a preconcerted arrange- ment had been made to disarm all the Colonies. Con- olly, the secret agent of Lord Dunmore, made his ap- pearance in Williamsburg about the time of the affair at Concord, and a little before daylight (April 20, 1775), a party of marines who had been secreted in the Gover- nor's palace marched silently to the Old Magazine and removed the stores of gunpowder belonging to the Colony to the Magdalen man-of-war, lying in James River. When the fact was discovered soon after day- light, all Williamsburg ran to arms. A great crowd filled Gloucester Street, uttering loud threats and de- manding the restoration of the powder. The Council hastily assembled, and a hot discussion took place in the Palace. Lord Dunmore was incensed and terrified. When John Page, of Rosewell, supported the popular demand, Dunmore flew into a rage. Striking his fist violently on the table, he cried, " Mr. Page, I am as- tonished at you !" But the moment required action. The people had resolved to attack the Palace and seize Dunmore. They were persuaded, however, to send a deputation demanding the powder, and the deputation waited on the Governor at the Palace. The place was found in a state of defense : rows of muskets were lying on the floor to arm the household and repel an attack. But the Governor's reply was peaceful. He had sud- denly grown cool. He had removed the powder, he declared, in consequence of a report that the slares were about to rise in an adjoining county ; if it was needed at Williamsburg he pledged his honor that it should be returned "in half an hour." Unfortunately some words which escaped him contradicted this pacific explanation. Ile was heard to mutter with an oath that if violence
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THE GUNPOWDER.
were offered him, he would " proclaim freedom to the slaves and lay Williamsburg in ashes," - a curious com- mentary on his alleged reason for carrying off the ammunition.
At the intelligence of the seizure of the powder, Vir- ginia was in commotion. The minute-men hastened to arm, and more than six hundred men of the Rappahan- nock country assembled at Fredericksburg. They re- solved to march on Williamsburg and force the restora- tion of the powder, and sent messengers to offer their services to the authorities. They were only dissuaded from their purpose by Washington and Pendleton, who urged them to await the action of Congress ; and dis- banded after signing a paper pledging themselves to defend " Virginia or any sister colony," and ending with the words, " God save the liberties of America."
These scenes took place in the last days of April. Lord Dunmore, shut up in his palace with the Countess and his daughters, awaited the development of events. Times had changed since the Virginians had greeted them with shouts, illuminations, and grand assemblies. The acclamations had been followed by hoarse murmurs, the smiles and bows by sullen indignation. But Dun- more was unmoved ; he was confident of the power of his government, and wrote Lord Dartmouth that if a few troops were sent him he could " raise such a body of Indians, negroes, and others as would reduce the re- fractory people of this colony to obedience." Thus after all, he meant to arouse the Indians and even the negroes to attack the Virginians; suddenly information came that he was going to be attacked himself.
The cloud in the direction of the Rappahannock had dispersed, but a blacker one rose. Patrick Henry called
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VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
a meeting of the Committee of Safety of Hanover, at New Castle (May 2, 1775), made a passionate address, and at the head of a company of minute-men marched on Williamsburg to recover the powder. The whole surrounding country rose in arms to join him, but without waiting he continued his march ; and at the head of one hundred and fifty men reached Doncas- tle's Ordinary, a tavern about sixteen miles from Wil- liams burg.
At the Capital all was now in confusion. Lady Dun- more and her daughters were hurried off to Yorktown, where they took refuge on the Fowey man-of-war. Dun- more planted cannon in front of his Palace, and ordered up a detachment of marines from the Fowey ; and the captain of the vessel wrote to President Nelson at Yorktown, that if the Governor were attacked he would open fire on the place. An armed collision was warded off for the moment by a compromise : Lord Dunmore agreed to pay the value of the powder, and sent a bill for the amount, £330, to Henry. For this Henry gave a receipt binding himself to pay the amount to the Vir- ginia delegates to Congress. He then offered to continue his march to Williamsburg and remove the deposit in the treasury to a safer place ; but this offer was declined, and he returned to Hanover ; whereupon Lord Dunmore denounced him and his followers in a public proclama- tion for " unlawfully taking up arms," as Berkeley had denounced Bacon a century before.
In the midst of this turmoil came a sudden lull. News arrived that the English ministry were going to abandon the attempt to coerce America. In February, Lord North brought in his " conciliatory plan," known as the " Olive Branch." If the Colonies would themselves
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THE GUNPOWDER.
make due appropriations for their part of the expenses of the kingdom, then it would be expedient that Great Britain should cease to tax them.
Dunmore at once issued writs for an Assembly on the first of June, - the last House of Burgesses that was to meet by royal authority on the soil of Virginia. The House assembled (June 1, 1775), and presented a curi- ous spectacle. Many of the members wore hunting- shirts and brought their rifles. It was no longer a body of civilians in ruffles and powder, but a meeting of men in military accoutrements ready to fight. Lord Dun- more made a courteous address, presented the " concili- atory plan," and a committee was appointed to report upon it. The report was written by Jefferson, and de- clared that the plan ought to be rejected. The colonies had the right to give their money as they pleased ; other wrongs were unredressed ; their country was invaded ; Virginia would not treat without the concurrence of the other colonies ; nothing was to be hoped for from Eng- land, and the justice of heaven must decide the event of things.
All at once an unexpected incident put an end to all further discussion. Lord Dunmore had delivered up the keys of the Old Magazine, and on the night of the fifth of June some young men entered the place to procure arms. As they opened the door a cord discharged a spring-gun and three of the party were wounded. At this intelligence the Assembly took fire and appointed a committee to examine the Magazine, when several bar- rels of powder were discovered buried under the floor. The discovery excited the rage of the people. Again Gloucester Street filled with a great crowd uttering threats and curses ; and before daylight (June 8, 1775),
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VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
Lord Dunmore and his family, who had returned to the Palace, fled from the Capital and took refuge on board the Fowey, lying at Yorktown.
Lord Dunmore never returned to Williamsburg. Mes- sages continued to pass to and fro between him and the Assembly ; but he refused to trust his person in the dangerous Capital, and the Burgesses declined to wait on him on board the Fowey. All was now seen to be at an end ; and the Assembly, after calling a meeting of the Convention in July, adjourned. The die was cast, and it was felt that armed resistance was the only re- source. Richard Henry Lee, standing on the porch of the Old Capitol with two or three friends, wrote on one of the pillars -
" When shall we three meet again ? In thunder, lightning, and in rain ? When the hurly-burly 's done, When the battle's lost and won."
North and south it was seen that this " battle " was now unavoidable. The affair at Concord and the events in Virginia had shown that military force was to decide the question ; and the Americans, brought face to face with the fact, acquiesced. On the fifteenth of June (1775), George Washington was elected Commander-in- chief of the American forces; and on his way to Boston was met by the intelligence of the battle of Bunker's Hill. He reached Boston on the second of July, and was received with shouts and the thunder of cannon, and on the next day (July 3, 1775), assumed command of the American army.
If England had doubted the nerve of the Colonies the doubt was now dispelled. They were going to fight.
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THE LAST OF DUNMORE IN VIRGINIA.
XIII.
THE LAST OF DUNMORE IN VIRGINIA.
LORD DUNMORE's subsequent career in Virginia may be dismissed in a brief space. It was short and full of trouble. His proceedings indicated that he was pro- foundly incensed at the opposition to his authority, and that thenceforth he meant to keep no terms with rebels. He summoned the friends of the royal cause to join his standard ; his armed vessels ravaged the banks of the rivers, and committed every outrage ; and it was obvious that if he ever returned to Williamsburg it would be to do justice upon the traitors who had resisted the King.
Thus the Colony was without an executive, and the Convention which met in July proceeded to appoint one. The result was the famous "Committee of Safety," consisting of Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Car- rington, Dudley Digges, William Cabell, Carter Brax- ton, James Mercer, and John Tabb. The powers con- fered on this Directory, of which Edmund Pendleton was President, were very great. It was to commission of- ficers, direct military movements, issue warrants on the Treasury, and all commanding officers.of the forces were required to pay " strict obedience " to its orders. The sword and purse were thus both placed in the hands of the Committee, but it was to be accountable to the Convention. The Convention appointed Patrick Henry Commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces, and, after choosing delegates to Congress, adjourned.
The military organization directed by the Convention
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VIRGINIA : A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
had not come too soon. Dunmore was making open war, and laying waste the shores of the Chesapeake. He had proclaimed martial law ; offered their freedom to all slaves who enrolled themselves under his flag ; and, with his headquarters at Norfolk where he had mounted cannon, was awaiting a force from England which would enable him to return in triumph to his Capital. At the end of the year took place an event which brought mat- ters to a final decision. The Committee of Safety sent a force, under Colonel William Woodford, toward Nor- folk, and an action followed (December 9, 1775), at Great Bridge. The spot was about twenty miles from the town, and the British had erected a fort on ground only approachable by a causeway, through a morass. Woodford halted at the southern end of the causeway, threw up breastworks, and was speedily attacked. Cap- tain Fordyce, at the head of about sixty grenadiers, charged the works, but was received with a hot fire which threw him back. A bullet wounded him and he fell, but rose to his feet brushing his knees as though he had stumbled, and continued to cheer on his men until he fell dead within twenty paces of the American works. At his fall the grenadiers retreated, pursued by the Virginians across the causeway, and took refuge under the cannon of the fort.1
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The intelligence of this defeat threw Lord Dunmore into a rage, and he is said to have threatened to hang the boy who brought him the information. He hurried on board his fleet, and on the first of January (1776)
1 Among the troops who drove the enemy into their works were the Culpeper " Minute-men," whose flag exhibited a coiled rattlesnake with the motto " Don't Tread on Me." One of the Lieutenants of this company was young John Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States.
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THE LAST OF DUNMORE IN VIRGINIA.
sent on shore a party of marines to burn Norfolk. The place was soon in flames, and a painful scene followed. Men, women, and children were seen running from the burning houses; and a cannonade from the British ships was added to the horrors of the time. When Lord Dunmore weighed anchor and sailed away nearly the whole town was in ashes.
His career was now near its end. He continued to ravage the banks of the bay until the summer of the same year, when he intrenched himself at Gwynn's Island, on the western shore, to await further events. Here he was attacked (July 9, 1776) by a Virginia force under the same Andrew Lewis with whom he liad quarreled on the Ohio; and a heavy cannonade was opened on the island and the British ships. A ball passed through Lord Dunmore's flag-ship, and he ex- claimed, " Good God, that it should ever come to this ! " and on the next day Lewis sent a force in boats to land on the island. Lord Dunmore did not wait. He weighed anchor, spread all sail, and escaping from the island, which the Americans found a lazar-house of dead bodies, disappeared. Sending the negroes who had joined him to the West Indies, he proceeded to New York and thence to England, leaving behind him the reputation of having been the very worst of the Virginia Gover- nors.
There was a species of poetic justice in the fact that Lewis should have struck the last blow at him ; and another proof of the irony of fate was the appointment of Patrick Henry to succeed him as Governor, -the first Republican executive of Virginia.
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VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
XIV.
VIRGINIA DECLARES HERSELF AN INDEPENDENT COMMONWEALTII.
THE moment had come now when it was necessary that Virginia should formally define her position. The Colonies were at war with England, and the character of the struggle was left in doubt. Were they rebels in revolt against the Crown, or belligerents ? No gen- eral declaration of independence had yet been made ; and Virginia proceeded to act for herself.
Even the boldest still hesitated to cast off all alle- giance to England. As late as May, 1776, so resolute a man as Thomas Nelson had " his thoughts sorely em- ployed on the great question whether independence ought or ought not to be declared." But he added : " Having weighed the argument on both sides, I am clearly of opinion we must, as we value the liberties of America, or even her existence, without a moment's delay declare for independence." All the American Colonies were also, no doubt, " weighing the argu- ments." Virginia first took the decisive step.
The Virginia Convention met early in May and (May 15, 1776) unanimously adopted a preamble and resolutions, written by Edmund Pendleton and pre- sented by Thomas Nelson, directing the Virginia dele- gates in Congress to propose to that body to " declare the United Colonies free and independent States." On the next day the momentous resolutions were read to the troops assembled at Williamsburg ; they were re- ceived with shouts and cheers ; cannon thundered ; the
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AN INDEPENDENT COMMONWEALTH.
" American flag " was raised on the Capitol, and at night the town was illuminated. Whatever might be the ac- tion of Congress, the decision of the Commonwealth of Virginia had been made; and this decision was for a final separation from Great Britain. The Convention then proceeded to adopt a Declaration of Rights and a Con- stitution. Both instruments had been written by George Mason, and were ready. On the 15th of June the Dec- laration was adopted, and June 29 (1776) the new Con- stitution. Virginia thus declared herself an independent sovereignty, entitled to receive the absolute allegiance of her citizens, and prepared to defend her claim with the sword.
The Bill of Rights may be called not only the Magna Charta of Virginia, but of America. It first announced the great principles upon which the Americans meant to rest in the approaching struggle, and after a century of republican freedom there is nothing to add to this great protest in favor of the rights of man. The Con- stitution directed that the Government of Virginia should consist of a House of Delegates and Senate; the first composed of two members from each county, and one from every city and borough ; and the latter of twenty- four members, representing twenty-four senatorial dis- tricts. The Delegates and Senators were to be free- holders, and elected by freeholders, who were to be persons having a freehold estate in one hundred acres of unimproved land or twenty-five acres of improved, or a house and lot in a town. The Executive was to be a Governor, elected annually by the House and Senate, and was not to be eligible more than three years in suc- cession ; nor, after going out of office, for four years afterwards. He was to be assisted by a Privy Council
440 VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
of eight members chosen by the Assembly ; and the Assembly was also to choose the judges of the Court of Appeals and of the General Court.
Such was the first Republican Constitution ever adopted in America. Except as to the suffrage and the election of Governors and other officers, it remains vir- tually unchanged. The revolutionists of 1776, like the old King's-men of the seventeenth century, decided that only such should vote as by their estates had an " in- terest to tie them to the endeavor of the public good." That princple is now derided, and regarded as unrepub- lican ; but the fact remains that the men of the Revolu- tion had faith in it, and would allow the suffrage to none but freeholders.
The Convention elected Patrick Henry Governor and Edmund Randolph Attorney-general ; and the new government went at once into operation.
The result of the action of Virginia is a part of the history of America. On the 7th of June, 1776, Rich- ard Henry Lee moved in Congress " That these United Colonies are and ought to be free and independent States, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved." The motion was seconded by John Adams, and the debate upon it lasted for three days. The op- position was determined, but it was fought through the Congress, and a committee was appointed to draw up the Declaration. Of this committee Richard Henry Lee, by parliamentary usage, must have been the chairman, but the illness of his wife called him away to Virginia, and the position was conferred on Thomas Jefferson, whose ability as a writer was known from his " Sum- mary View." He proceeded to draw up the paper ;
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AN INDEPENDENT COMMONWEALTH.
and, July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence as composed by him, with a few alterations, was adopted by Congress. What remained was to support it on the battle-field.
The passage of the Declaration marks a distinct epoch in the history of Virginia as well as of America. Thenceforth there was no retreat, and she was to stand or fall with her sister colonies. The part borne by her in the events which led to this final decision had been important. What she had contributed to the cause was : -
I. The resolutions of 1765 denouncing the Stamp Act as a violation of American right.
II. The origination in 1773 of the Committees of Correspondence which united the Colonies.
III. The call in 1774 for a General Congress, which inaugurated resistance.
IV. The instructions to the Virginia delegates in May, 1776, to propose a Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson, a Virginian, wrote, and Washington, a Virginian, was to support as Commander-in-chief.
The United States had thus entered upon life. The birth was stormy and the sky black. The enemy were about to occupy New York, and the American forces were unorganized ; there was no executive head in con- trol of the government ; in some States there was a large Tory party who only awaited disaster to become dangerous ; faint hearts croaked as they always do ; the despondent predicted ruin, and the bravest saw that the struggle was doubtful ; but the Americans did not lose courage. The day was dark, but the country, north and south, went forward to the long wrestle with that heart of hope which leads to victory.
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VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
XV.
THE OVERTURNERS.
THE heavy struggle in Congress which had resulted in the Declaration of Independence was followed by one as heavy in Virginia in reference to Virginia affairs ; and this was succeeded in turn by a project so startling that certain historians have labored to show that it never existed.
Jefferson returned and was elected to represent his county in the Assembly. The " laboring oar," he said, was in Virginia ; what he meant was that the adoption of a republican Constitution was only a beginning. The real struggle was yet to come. The Declaration of Rights had laid down the great principle that " all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion ; " but no laws had been passed to carry the principle into effect. The Establishment still virtually existed ; and the Non- Conformists throughout the Commonwealth were clamorous to have it extinguished, and the new order of things formally inaugurated. It is unnecessary to say that Jefferson espoused their demands with ardor. It is true he regarded any and all religions merely as superstitions, but the Establishment was particularly hateful to him, since it ran counter to his cherished convictions on the rights of man. His views on the latter point were perfectly just, and made him a dangerous ad- versary. On this and the subject of entails a furious struggle was now to take place. It was the new world fighting the old, which was retreating step by step be- fore it, but opposing it to the last.
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THE OVERTURNERS.
The old Convention, or new House of Delegates - they were the same - met at Williamsburg (October 7, 1776) and addressed themselves to the great business before them. . The religious struggle at once began, and lasted from the eleventh of October to the fifth of December. It was obstinate, almost fierce. The friends of the Establishment opposed the separation of Church and State with an energy which made Jefferson say afterwards that it was the severest contest he had ever engaged in. Edmund Pendleton and John Page were the leaders of the party opposed to disestablishment. Both were devoted Churchmen and represented the opinions and feelings of the great body of the Planters. This class saw with anguish and a sort of horror that the Church in which their ancestors had worshiped for many generations was in danger of being completely overthrown. All connected with it was dear to them. They had laughed at the parsons, having but a poor opinion of many of them, but they had never laughed at the Church. In their eyes it was sacred as the em- bodiment of the purest Protestant Christianity. To overthrow it would be monstrous, unless the advocates of the measure were determined to deny the divine origin of Christianity itself.
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