USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 33
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Virginia has ever had patriots and statesmen within her borders to whom she has turned a listening car, 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
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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 Honse 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 for- bade all persons to recognize or harbor him or " any other concerned in like combinations." On the 11th, Henry left Virginia to attend the meet- ing 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 bom- bard 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 illus- trious gentlemen : Ednund Pendleton, George Mason, Jolm Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, James Mercer, Carter Braxton, William Cabell and John Tabb. The conven-
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tion 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 establish- ment, 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 patri- otic 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
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throughout Virginia; declared all able to bear arms traitors, who did not resort to the king's standard, and offered freedom to all slaves " apper- taining 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 proportion- ately 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 remain- der of the town, and thus prevent the British from making it a per- manent post. The orders were executed, and Norfolk, containing 6,000 inhabitants, and then the most populous town in Virginia, was laid in aslıes.
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 govern- ment 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 reso- lution :
"That the delegates appointed to represent this colouy 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 dliances, and a confederation of colonies, at such time and in the man- ter that to them shall seem best; provided, that the power of forming governments for, and the regulation of the internal concerns of each olony, be left to the colonial legislatures."
Thus Virginia furnished the draft of the future declaration of inde- pendence.
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On the 20th 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 writ- ten by Thomas Jefferson, unanimously adopted by the convention, and the following officers appointed in compliance with its provisions: Pat- rick 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 constitueney, 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 name- of those who thus signed the charter of American Liberty, were as follows: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Ben- jamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Carter Braxton.
In the early days of June, Dunmore, with his fleet, had left Hamp- ton Roads, landed and erected fortifications on Gwyn'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, dis- patched 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 Independ- ence was officially announced at Williamsburg amid the acclamations of the people, the roar of artillery and rattle of musketry. The A- sembly 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 appoint-
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MEREWETHER LEWIS, Of the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, (In Indian costume.)
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ment 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 Wash- ington, 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 Col- lege, continned 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 continu- ation 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 prem- ium for the scalps snatched from the heads of helpless women and chil- dren. 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 com- mitted at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, in the summer of 1777. This was the shocking murder of Cornstalk, the cele- brated 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
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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 eye- witness 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 Gil- more 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 halloved. 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
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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 exceed- ingly. His father encouraged him not to be afraid, for that the Greut Man above had sent him there to be killed and die with him. As the men advaneed 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 re- ward 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 sur- render 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 contin- ued 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
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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 Vir- ginia 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 rein- forcements.
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 correet, 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 briga- dier-general's commission in the British army, arrived with fifty sail in the Chesapeake, and after embarking in lighter vessels, aseended 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 pos- session of the traitor than her stores were plundered, her archives. destroved, 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, commeneed their voyage down the river, destroy- ing all property, public and private, on both sides of the river. Vir- ginia 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.
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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 watch- ing 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 Vir- ginia. 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 col- lected a force of several hundred militia, and lay at Falmouth guarding the arms manufactory at that place. In addition to these forces, Gen- eral 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, ad- vanced to Charlottesville, where he hoped to capture a republican legis- lature, 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.
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