USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 7
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In a MS. History of Virginia, by Edmund Randolph, who was present on this memorable occasion, he renders the final clanse of this memorable men- ace so as to greatly diminish its strength, reporting instead, "may he never have either."
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AUTOGRAPH BILL OF PATRICK HENRY, WHILE A SHOPKEEPER, With massive iron spectacles worn by him, from the original in the possession of R. A. Brock, Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society.
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Henry left the capital that morning for his home, and the next day, the defeated leaders, taking advantage of his absence, succeeded in hav- ing expunged, the fifth, last and most obnoxious of the resolutions, which claimed " that the Assembly had the sole right to levy taxes, and that the vesting such power in any other person whatsoever, had a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom." In 1769 Mr. Henry was admitted to the bar of the General Court, where he came into competition with the most eminent characters in the colony, some of whom had been educated at the Temple, London, and the names of a majority of them are historical. Here his wonderful powers of oratory were pre-eminent. His reputation was such that in January, 1773, Robert Carter Nicholas, who had enjoyed the first practice at the bar, being forced to relinquish it by accepting the office of Treas- urer of the Colony, committed to him by public advertisement, his uli- finished business. Mr. Henry removed from Louisa to his native county, Hanover, in 1767, but was continued a member of the House of Bur- gesses. The exactions and odious inflictions of Great Britain continued, and the storm of Revolution was gathering strength. Every act of re- sistance on the part of the Colonial Assemblies, was met by the royal Governors by a prompt dissolution. Thus matters progressed for sev- eral years; when, in 1774, the Virginia House of Burgesses, having been suddenly dissolved by Lord Dunmore, for their spirited resentment of the Boston Port Bill, the members met at the Raleigh Tavern, and recommended the first call of a Congress of all the friends of liberty. By the Convention at Williamsburg, shortly afterward, Mr. Henry was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress which met at Philadel- phia, September 4, 1774. He was the first to address this body, in an address of such surpassing eloquence, that great as was his reputation, he seemed to exalt himself to the magnitude of the occasion. His ex- traordinary powers astonished all listeners, and he took rank as the greatest orator of America. In the Virginia Convention, which on the 20th of March, 1775, reassembled at Richmond, in the venerable St. John's Church (of the exterior and interior of which, before alteration, accurate representations from photographs are given in this work), to take further steps in the cause of liberty. Mr. Henry, on the 230, moved the organization of militia and that the " Colony be immediately put in a state of defense." The bold proposal roused the resistance of many of the firmest friends of the colonial cause, and the debate was fierce in the extreme. But the genius of Henry rose to the full de- mands of the occasion, and as the last thrilling exclamation, "give me liberty, or give me death!" fell on the car of the House, all were infused with the spirit of the orator; the bill passed, and the colony was at once placed in an attitude of defense. Lord Dunmore, on the 20th of April following, having clandestinely removed all the powder from the
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public magazine at Williamsburg, to a sloop of war lying in York river, Henry placed himself at the head of the company of Captain Samuel Meredith (who resigned in his favor), of Hanover county, marched upon Williamsburg and forced the Governor to give him an order on the Receiver-General of the Colony, for the value of the powder. In June, Henry was appointed to the Colonelcy of the First Virginia regiment, and the command-in-chief of all the forces of the Colony. Colonel Henry at once went into camp at Williamsburg and ardently began the recruitment and disciplining of the troops. But the act of the Virginia Committee of Safety, in intrusting to Woodford, the second colonel in rank, the duty of arresting the ravages of the motley band of Dunmore, drove Henry, who had solicited the enterprise, from the military service back into the councils of state. Mortified by this disregard of his prerogative of rank, and being wounded further by the promotion over him, in the Continental line, to the rank of Brigadier- General, of two Colonels, to whose appointments his own was prior, he resigned his commission. The action of the convention excited univer- sal condemnation, and nearly produced a mutiny in the army.
Ninety officers united in an address to Henry, regretting his loss to the service and applauding his spirited resentment. With exalted unselfish- ness, Henry exerted himself to quiet the discontent of his soldiers, and having accomplished this, retired to his home.
Immediately upon the resignation of his commission as Colonel, he was elected a delegate to the Convention from the county of Hanover. The session of that body which was approaching, was pregnant with impor- tance. Dunmore had abdicated the government, and the royal authority in the Colony was seen and felt no longer except in acts of hostility. The Convention met at Williamsburg on the 6th of May, 1776. On the 29th of June, a plan of government having been adopted, Patrick Henry was elected Governor of Virginia under its new constitution for a term of twelve months, at a salary of one thousand pounds per annum, Vir- ginia currency, equivalent in value to $3,333.333 in our present currency. His competitors for the office were Thomas Nelson and John Page, the latter of whom was subsequently Governor of Virginia. Shortly after the election of Mr. Henry as Governor, Lord Dunmore was driven from Gwinns Island and from the State, to return to it no more. The autumn of the year 1776 was one of the darkest and most dispiriting periods of the Revolution, and of which Thomas Paine, in his Crisis, used the memorable expression, "These are the times that try the souls of men." For a time the courage of the country fell. Washington alone was un- daunted. Even the heroism of the Virginia Legislature gave way, and in a season of despair, the mad projeet of a dictator was seriously meditated. Mr. Henry is said to have been thought of for this office, but there is no evidence that the project was ever countenanced by him,
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and his firm and unselfish patriotism, so abundantly evidenced, irrefragably refutes bare suspicion even. That the Virginia Assembly entertained no doubt of him is manifest in the fact that he was unanimously re-elected Governor for another annual term on the 30th of May, 1777.
The " Father of his Country," even, did not escape the insidious attacks of those who were basely envious of him. One of these anony- mous letters was received by Mr. Henry in January, 1778, filled with the grossest imputations of the incapacity and dishonesty of Washington, and suggesting Gates, Lee, or Conway as Commander-in-chief instead. Mr. Henry at once inclosed the letter to his loved and revered friend. Mr. Henry having completed a third term as Governor, retired from the office, being inelegible to re-election under the constitution. His admin- istration had been able, vigilant and effective. The wife of Mr. Henry died in 1775. He soon after sold the farm in Hanover, called " Scotch Town," on which he had resided, and purchased about ten thousand acres of land in Henry County, formed in 1776 from Pittsylvania county and named in his honor, as was subsequently the neighboring county of Patrick carved from Henry county in 1791. In 1777 he married, second- ly, Dorothea Dandridge, granddaughter of Governor Alexander Spots- wood, and daughter of Nathaniel West Dandridge, a descendant of Cap- tain John West, the brother of Lord Delaware-both early Governors of Virginia. Soon after the expiration of the governmental office of Mr. Henry, he removed with his family to his newly acquired estate in Henry county, called " Leatherwood," and resumed the practice of law. In 1780, he was again in the State Assembly and one of the most active members in the House. He continuously served in this body until November, 1784. Mr. Henry gave an endearing exhibition of his generous sensibility, in the winter session of 1780, in the resolution which he moved expressing sympathy with General Gates in his unfortunate defeat at Camden, and giving him assurance of continued regard and esteem upon the entrance into Richmond of the retreating General. In November, 1784, to conciliate the Indians on the borders of Virginia, and to avert the danger of hostility from them, Mr. Henry introduced a remarkable resolution, providing for the intermarriage of the white with the Indian race, and investing the offspring of such alliances with all the rights of citizenship. It was rejected. Washington visited Rich- mond on the 15th and Lafayette on the 17th of the month, and they were received with public demonstrations. On the 17th of November, 1784, Mr. Henry was again elected Governor of Virginia; his term of three years to commence on the 30th of the month. The necessities of his family compelled his resignation of his office on the 29th of November, 1786, declining re-election for another year, as constitutionally provided. On the 4th of December in the same year, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Ed- mund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, George Mason and George Wythe were appointed by the Virginia Assembly delegates to the convention
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to be held in May following in Philadelphia for the adoption of the Federal Constitution, but Henry was debarred by his pecuniary circumstances ( be- ing oppressed with debt) from obeying this honorable call. Of the Vir- ginia Convention to decide the relations of the State to the newly pro- posed Federal Constitution, Mr. Henry was elected a member from Prince Edward county. In this body, composed of the grandest intellects in the Old Dominion, and which met in Richmond on the 2d of June, 1788, in a quaint old edifice subsequently known as the African Church (and now displaced by another church with a colored membership of nearly 4,000 members), Mr. Henry opposed the ratification of the in- strument of compact with all the eloquence and vigor of his nature. He feared that the final result would be the destruction of the rights of the sovereign States. His faculties rose to the altitude of the occasion, and during his whole brilliant career he had never before appeared to greater advantage. But, for almost the only time in his life, he failed to carry his point. The opposing array of intellectual giants, backed by predomi- nant popular sentiment, were not to be overcome. His opposition, how- ever, was not fruitless. He secured the passage of a Bill of Rights and a variety of amendments, afterward incorporated into the Constitution. The Constitution having been adopted, the government organized, and Washington elected President, the repugnance of Mr. Henry measurably abated. The chapter of amendments considerably neutralized his objec- tions; but it is believed that his acquiescence resulted more from the con- sideration of his duty as a citizen, his confidence in the chief magistrate and a hopeful reliance on the wisdom and virtue of the people, than from any material change in his opinions. In 1794, he retired from the bar with an ample estate, and removed to his seat, "Red Hill." in Char- lotte county. In 1794 he was elected United States Senator, and in 1796 Governor of the State, but declined both offices, as he did, in 1795, the appointment by Washington as Secretary of State, to succeed Jeffer- son, and subsequently that of Minister to France by Adams.
From a letter of General Henry Lee, still preserved in the original, it appears that Washington, in December, 1795, after the declination of the office of Secretary of State, desired the acceptance by Mr. Henry of the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1798, the strong and animated resolutions of the Virginia Assembly in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Laws called again for his services in the councils of Virginia, and he presented himself as a candidate, at the spring election of 1799, for the House of Delegates. His speech on this occasion before the polls were opened was the last effort of his eloquence. As he finished, he literally descended into the arms of the uncontrollable throng and was borne about in triumph; whereon the eminent Presby- terian Divine, John H. Rice, D. D., touchingly exclaimed, "The sun has set in all his glory."
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It is memorable that the brilliant and erratic John Randolph (who · subsequently designated himself as "of Roanoke") offered himself on the same occasion at Charlotte Court House as a candidate for Congress, and undaunted replied to Mr. Henry with cutting satire and caustic crimina- tion of the Federal party. His effort was received with loud huzzas. This was a new experience to Mr. Henry, unaccustomed to rivalry, to be confronted by a beardless boy, for such was the youthful appear- ance of Mr. Randolph. Mr. Henry returned to the rostrum, and in a second address soared above his wonted passionate and majestic elo- quence. He unstintingly complimented the rare talents of his competitor, whilst he deprecated the youthful errors of his political zeal, and by his pathos wrought himself and audience to tears. In these efforts of Mr. Henry, as attested by two of his audience, Colonels Robert Morton and Clement Carrington, of Charlotte county, in 1837, in statements pub- lished by the late Charles Campbell in 1867, Mr. Henry did not approve the Alien and Sedition Laws (which he apprehended tended to civil war), and patriotically endeavored to quiet the minds of the people and to avert the apparent impending dissolution of the Union. He said : " Let us all go together, right or wrong. If we go into civil war, your Wash- ington will lead the Governmental armies; and who, I ask, is willing to point a bayonet against his breast ?"
Mr. Henry and Mr. Randolph were each elected severally to the stations for which they offered, but Mr. Henry, whose health had been visibly declining for several years, died on the 6th of June, 1799, a few months before Washington, and before the meeting of the body to which he had been elected. His remains and those of his second wife rest side by side beneath massive and ornate marble tablets in the family cemetery at " Red Hill," which seat is now owned by his grandson, William Wirt Henry.
The following obituary of Patrick Henry, which appeared contempo- raneously in the Virginia newspapers, and was written by General Henry Lee, is a touching plaint and merits perpetuation here .
" MOURN, VIRGINIA, MOURN.
"Your Henry is no more ! Ye friends of Liberty in every clime, drop a tear ! No more will his social feelings spread delight through his happy home. No more will his edifying example dietate to his numerous offspring the sweetness of virtue and the majesty of patriotism. No more will the sage adviser, guided by zeal for their common happiness, impart light and utility to his caressing neighbors. No more will he illuminate the public councils with sentiments drawn from the Cabinet of his own mind, ever directed to the public good, elothed with eloquence sublime, delightful and commanding. Farewell, great and noble patriot, farewell !
"As long as our rivers flow and mountains stand, so long will your excellence and worth be the theme of our homage and endearments ; and Virginia, bearing in mind her loss, will say to rising generations, IMITATE HENRY."
The affectionate reverence in which Patrick Henry was held is evidenced
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in the commitment to memory of this lament by numerous admirers and its oral transmission in some instances to the present day.
The distinguished orator and theologian, Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., a repeated personal witness, thus lucidly and satisfactorily an- alyzes the springs of the oratorical genius of Patrick Henry :
"The power of Henry's eloquence was due, first, to the greatness of his emotion and passion, accompanied with a versatility which en- abled him to assume at once any emotion or passion which was suited to his ends. Not less indispensable, secondly, was a matchless perfection of the organs of expression, including the entire apparatus of voice, in- tonation, pause, gesture, attitude, and indescribable play of counte- nance. In no instance did he ever indulge in an expression that was not instantly recognized as nature itself; yet some of his penetrating and subduing tones were absolutely peculiar, and as inimitable as they were indescribable. These were felt by every hearer, in all their force. His mightiest feelings were sometimes indicated and communicated by a long pause, aided by an eloquent aspect, and some significant use of the finger. The sympathy between mind and mind is inexplicable. Where the channels of communication are open, the faculty of reveal- ing inward passion great, and the expression of it sudden and visible, the effects are extraordinary. Let these shocks of influence be repeated again and again, and all other opinions and ideas are for the moment absorbed or excluded; the whole mind is brought into unison with that of the speaker; and the spell-bound listener, till the cause ceases, is under an entire fascination. Then perhaps the charm ceases, upon re- flection, and the infatuated hearer resumes his ordinary state. Patrick Henry, of course, owed much to his singular insight into the feelings of the common mind. In great cases, he scanned his jury, and formed his mental estimate ; on this basis he founded his appeals to their predilec- tions and character. It is what other advocates do, in a lesser degrec. When he knew there were conscientious or religious men among the jury, he would most solemnly address himself to their sense of right, and would adroitly bring in scriptural citations. If this handle was not offered, he would lay bare the sensibility of patriotismn. * * A learned and intelligent gentleman stated to me that he once heard Mr. Henry's defense of a man arraigned for a capital crime. So clear and abundant was the evidence that my informant was unable to con- ceive any grounds of defense, especially after the law had been ably placed before the jury by the attorney for the Commonwealth. For a long time after Mr. Henry began, he never onee adverted to the merits of the case or the arguments of the prosecution, but went off into a most captivating and diseursive oration on general topics, expressing opinions in perfect accordance with those of his hearers, until having fully sue- ceeded in obliterating every impression of his opponent's speech, he ob-
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liquely approached the subject, and as occasion was offered, dealt forth strokes which seemed to tell upon the minds of the jury. In this case, it should be added, the force of truth prevailed over the art of the con- summate orator."
The descendants of Colonel John Henry and of his eminent son Patrick Henry, comprise the distinguished family names of Meredith, Madison, Lewis, Bowyer, Christian, Pope, Bullitt, Campbell, Russell, Wood, Pres- ton, Armistead, Garland, Carrington, McDowell, Breckenridge, Floyd, Hampton, Johnston, Southall, Venable, Hughes, Michel, Fontaine, Roane, Lyons, Dandridge, Crenshaw, Granberry, Bailey, Scott, and others, and embrace authors, divines, educators, governors, generals, jurists, scientists, statesmen, etc.
A portrait of Patrick Henry, painted by Thomas Sully, and pro- nounced by his contemporaries an admirable likeness, is in the possession of his grandson, William Wirt Henry, a distinguished practitioner of the law, and the Vice-President of the Virginia Historical Society. From this portrait has been engraved the illustration in our work.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Upon the resignation of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, by elec- tion of the General Assembly, succeeded him as Governor of Virginia, June 1st, 1779. During his administration, in January, 1781, the traitor Arnold invaded Virginia, leaving ravage in his wake. At Richmond, the public stores fell a prey ; private property was plundered, and several houses were burned. Many of the public archives were also destroyed. Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, of his command, commanding the Queen's Rangers, proceeded to Westham, six miles above Richmond, and destroyed the foundry, magazine, arms, and military supplies there. Arnold now retired to Portsmouth, where he rested until April, when General William Phillips, succeeding to the command, paid another visit of desolation to Manchester. In May came Lord Cornwallis with his victorious army from the South, driving every thing before him. The 7th of May was the day appointed by law for the meeting of the Assembly at Richmond. A quorum not being in attendance, the house adjourned from day to day until the 10th, when, upon the approach of the enemy, they adjourned to the 24th, to meet at Charlottesville. The house did not proceed to business until the 28th. Eight days after, they again fled before the rapid approach of the rapacious Tarleton. All the machinery of government for a time was in confusion, the Governor. Assembly, and the Council, save a single member, Colonel William Fleming, as it appears, being in flight before the enemy. Gov- ernor Jefferson resigned June 1st, and was succeeded by General Thomas Nelson, Jr., on the 12th of the month. An extended sketch
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THOMAS LORD CULPEPER, Governor of Virginia, From a portrait in oil in the possession of the Virginia Historical Society.
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of the life of Thomas Jefferson will be found in the second volume of VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
WILLIAM FLEMING.
William Fleming emigrated from Scotland to Virginia in carly man- hood. By tradition he was of noble extraction, and he had received a liberal education. He is believed to have had a knowledge of medicine, and to have served in a medical and military capacity in the French and Indian war, with the rank of Lieutenant, in 1755 and 1756, and perhaps longer. He was of a bold and adventurous spirit, and was among the earliest settlers in the portion of Angusta County which now forms Botetourt County, taking up large tracts of land, which, enhanc- ing in value, made him a man of wealth. In 1774 he raised a regiment, which he gallantly and effectively commanded in the sanguinary battle of Point Pleasant, in which he received a wound from which he never fully recovered. He was a member of the Council of Virginia in 1781, and for a time in the month of June was the executive of the Colony, as is evidenced by the following resolution of the Virginia Assembly ( Hening's Statutes, Vol. X, p. 567) :
"It appearing to the General Assembly that Colonel William Flem- ing, being the only acting member of the council for some time before the appointment of the Chief Magistrate, did give orders for the calling out the militia, and also pursued such other measures as were essential to good government, and it is just and reasonable that he should be indemnified therein,
"Resolved, therefore, That the said William Fleming, Esq., be indemni- fied for his conduct as before mentioned, and the Assembly do approve of the same.
"JOHN BECKLEY, C. H. D.
" 1781, June 23d.
"Agreed to by the Senate.
WILL. DREW, C. S."
Colonel Fleming, in 1788, represented the county of Botetourt in the Virginia Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution-an emi- nent body.
Colonel Fleming married and left a family. One of his daughters, Anne, became the wife of Rev. George A. Baxter, D. D., Rector in 1798 of Liberty Hall Academy (the beginning of the present Wash- ington and Lee University). He was also Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy in that institution, and Minister of the New Monmouth and Lexington Presbyterian Churches.
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THOMAS NELSON.
Thomas Nelson, the eldest son of President William Nelson, of the Virginia Council, and his wife Elizabeth Burwell (granddaughter of Robert "King" Carter), was born at Yorktown, December 26th, 1738. After having been under the tuition of Rev. William Yates, of Glou- cester, afterward President of William and Mary College, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to England, to finish his education, remaining seven years. He enjoyed there the superintending care of the celebrated Dr. Beilby Porteus, afterward Bishop of London, who subsequently sent to his former ward in Virginia a volume of his sermons in token of remem- brance. Thomas was first at the school of Dr. Newcombe, at Hackney ; then at Eton. Graduated with distinction from Trinity College, Cam- bridge, be returned to Virginia in his twenty-second year. Whilst on his voyage, from respect to his father, he was elected a member of the House of Burgesses. He married, in 1762, Lucy Grymes, of Middlesex County, the eldest daughter of Philip and Mary ( Randolph) Grymes, the elder, of "Brandon." He was associated as a merchant with his father, from whom, at the death of the latter, he received a portion of £40,000 sterling (the equivalent of $200,000 in our present currency, and when, too, the relative value in purchasing capacity was several times greater than now).
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