Harold Titus's Blog - Posts Tagged "thomas-jefferson"

The son of a Massachusetts Tory, having served George Washington during the Revolutionary War, Timothy Pickering was President Washington’s postmaster general from 1791 to 1795, his secretary of war in 1795, and after December 1795 his secretary of state. He was a major leader of what John Hancock derisively dubbed the Essex Junto, a Massachusetts association of personages united by their patrician view of mankind. Social changes fostered by the American Revolution disturbed them greatly. Favoring a patriarchal society ruled by an elected aristocracy of elites, they supported strongly Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and his financial program. They vehemently opposed Hamilton’s rival, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.

For two decades war between England and France on the continent and on the seas threatened America’s independent existence. Impressment of American sailors and curtailment of American commerce with foreign countries forced Washington and his immediate successors to strive mightily to maintain America’s neutrality. Strongly supportive of England, Pickering advised otherwise.

Weary of his conflict with cabinet members -- Hamilton especially -- Thomas Jefferson resigned as secretary of state December 31, 1793. Fellow Virginian Edmund Randolph replaced him Jan. 2. The new secretary continued Jefferson’s efforts to maintain close relations with France and counteract Alexander Hamilton’s influence on the President. When Washington chose to accept the Jay Treaty, which secured commercial ties with Great Britain, Randolph strongly objected. Trade with neutral countries, and especially U.S. shipping to France, would be severely disrupted. Political intrigue against Randolph spiraled. Pickering produced a slanted translation of French documents intercepted by the British Navy that implied that Randolph had disclosed confidential information to the French and that he had solicited a bribe. Having lost Washington’s trust, Randolph resigned Aug. 20, 1795. Pickering filled his position.

Pickering continued on as secretary of state under John Adams. Fearful of "French influence" in American politics, Pickering believed that Jeffersonian Republicans were subversives. He used the Sedition Law to punish them. The Senate’s ratification of the Jay Treaty worsened U.S.-French relations. France’s hostile reaction -- the decision not to receive a U.S. Minister and the seizure of American merchant ships trading with Great Britain – cemented Pickering’s pro-British position. Working closely with Alexander Hamilton, he broke with the president when Adams initiated for a second time peace negotiations with the French. Pickering now supported waging war against France. He advocated establishing a large permanent army with Alexander Hamilton its commanding general. Pickering’s continued public attacks against Adams forced Adams to request Pickering’s resignation. Pickering refused. He was fired May 10, 1800.

As a United States senator from Massachusetts, 1803-1811, Pickering opposed vigorously Jeffersonian ideals and policy. Not surprisingly, he opposed the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. During the spring of 1804 Vice President Aaron Burr, having failed to win the presidency four years earlier, due largely to the opposition of his own Federalist Party leader, Alexander Hamilton, ran as a third party candidate for governor of New York. Burr had the backing of Tammany Hall and the secret support of many Federalists -- Pickering included -- who viewed the nation as “too big for union, too sordid for patriotism, too democratic for liberty.” Pickering specifically schemed to have Burr, once elected, appointed the leader of a seceded confederacy encompassing the New England states, New York, and New Jersey. Hamilton’s candidate defeated Burr in the New York election. Blaming Hamilton for his two political defeats, Burr killed the former Secretary of the Treasury in a clandestine duel.

Jeffersonian Republicans swept the northeastern states in the 1810 Congressional elections. Pickering found himself but one senator of a tiny Federalist Party minority. When he returned to Washington in December, he wanted desperately to discredit the President and Republican members of the Senate. Six weeks earlier, American settlers had seized West Florida, declared the region independent of Spain, and requested U.S. annexation. Claiming it to be a part of the Louisiana Purchase, President James Madison had obliged. Here was an issue Pickering believed he could exploit. Debating Madison’s action on the Senate floor, Pickering introduced a letter written by French Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand that President Thomas Jefferson had submitted to the Senate five years earlier. Talleyrand had pointed out that the United States had no legitimate claim to the West Florida region under the Louisiana Purchase. After Pickering had read Talleyrand’s letter, Senator Samuel Smith, a Maryland Jeffersonian, asked whether the letter had ever been made public. It hadn’t. Pickering had broken a Senate rule that forbad the public reading of a secret executive department document.

Pickering was charged with jeopardizing the system of presidential communication with the Senate and the Senate's constitutional power to advise and consent. He disagreed. He insisted that his action had not been indiscreet. Because he had over the years insulted Federalist colleagues, he had few allies. The Senate censured him, by a 20 to 7 vote. He was the first of nine senators in our nation’s history to be censured.

Defeated for reelection in 1811, he returned to Washington to serve in the House of Representatives, from 1813 to 1817. Retired thereafter from national public office, Pickering wrote about the Revolutionary War and the early years of the Republic. He planned to write a biography of Alexander Hamilton. In 1824 he wrote a polemical pamphlet that criticized John Adams. To demonstrate his longstanding contempt for his former boss, he endorsed Andrew Jackson instead of John Quincy Adams during the 1828 presidential campaign.

Pickering died in Salem, Massachusetts, January 29, 1829.

“A Pickering could never be happy in heaven, because he must there find and acknowledge a superior.” – John Adams

This is the second of a series of posts about Thomas Nelson, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, militia general, and third governor of Virginia.

Less than a year after his return from England, Thomas Nelson married Miss Lucy Grymes, a daughter of Philip Grymes of Brandom, in the neighboring county of Middlesex. They settled permanently in a commodious house built for them by Nelson’s father, the new house nearly opposite his own. In between his yearly trips to Williamsburg as a burgess representing his county, York, Thomas lived in a style of great elegance and hospitality. Upon Thomas’s marriage his father had given him an independent fortune and taken him into the family business. From his long resident in England, Thomas had acquired some of the manners and pursuits of its country gentlemen. He would ride out daily to his plantation, a few miles from York, with his fowling piece and an attending servant. He kept a pack of hounds at a small farm near the village, and in the winter his friends and neighbors would join him once or twice a week to participate in a fox hunt. Young Nelson’s home became the center of genteel hospitality. It was said that no gentleman ever stopped an hour in York without receiving an invitation to it.

Nelson found time during his residence in Williamsburg as a burgess to further his education. For a short time he attended William and Mary College. It was here that he met a young law student from Albemarle County, Thomas Jefferson. In 1763 Thomas’s father took under his care his orphaned niece, Rebecca Burwell. The twenty-year-old Jefferson, four years older than Rebecca, fell in love with the girl, and during their rather sporadic courtship became quite intimate with the Nelson family. This relationship was to be maintained through the Revolutionary War.

As a burgess, Thomas Nelson served his country from 1761 to his appointment to the Continental Congress in 1775. He did not take an active part in the debates of the Assembly during the stormy years prior to the American Revolution. There were many gentlemen in the Assembly who were older than he and who possessed greater political experience. Better that he receive his training and acquire political wisdom by observing others and working quietly in various committees of the Assembly.

At the end of May 1765, following the passage of the Stamp Act, Patrick Henry managed to push through the Assembly several resolutions that, in essence, denied the right of Great Britain to tax the colonies. There is no record of how Nelson voted on the resolutions; but, considering his political feeling and actions following the Stamp Act, we can assume that he supported them. Following the repeal of the Stamp Act in March 1766 the British Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. The new measures were designed to raise a revenue by taxing common articles used by the colonies: glass, lead, paper, and tea. The House of Burgesses rose again in opposition, sending to the king in 1768 a petition and to Parliament a memorial and remonstrance. In 1769 it passed resolutions claiming the sole right to tax the colony's inhabitants. The governor dissolved the Assembly following each action taken. In 1769, the members met in The Apollo Tavern, where they signed a non-importation association written by George Mason and presented by George Washington. They pledged not to import or have imported any of the Townshend goods until the duties were repealed. A merchant, standing to lose more in material gain than most of the Burgesses, Nelson signed the agreement.

Following the repeal of all of the Townshend duties (except that on tea) in April 1770, the colonies and the British government enjoyed a brief period of relative peace. However, the winter of 1772-1773 was not a good time for Nelson. His father died November 19. Thomas’s religious upbringing is reflected in a letter he wrote soon afterward to his father's friend, Samuel Martin. “It falls to my lot to acquaint you with the death of my father … His death was such as became a true Christian, hoping through the mediation of our blessed Savior to meet with the reward promised to the righteous” (Meade 210). The funeral sermon delivered by a Mr. Camm, the president of William and Mary College and minister of York, summarized the qualities of the elder Nelson. “… his own gain by trade was not more sweet to him than the help which he hereby received toward becoming a general benefactor. He is an instance of what abundance of good may be done by a prudent and conscientious man without impoverishing himself or his connections, nay, while his fortunes are improving” (Meade 209).

President Nelson left to each of his five sons – Thomas, Hugh, William, Nat, and Robert – landed estates and servants. But to his eldest son, Thomas, he left 40,000 pounds, equivalent to $133,000 at that time.


Work Cited:

Meade, Bishop (William). Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1891). I. Print.

Parliament’s passage of the Tea Act in the spring of 1773 was the catalyst of a series of contentious events that culminated in colonial America’s war with Great Britain that began two years later and its declaration of independence in 1776.

The Tea Act granted the foundering British East India Company the right to import 18,000,000 pounds of surplus tea that it had stored in its London warehouses directly into the colonies without payment of any export tax. The Company would use co-signees appointed by royal governors in Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina and the proprietors in Pennsylvania rather than local merchants to sell its tea. The American tea merchant was legislated out of business. Even though consumers would still have to pay the tax on tea imposed by the 1767 Townshend Acts, they would be paying a price lower than that charged previously by American merchants and tea smugglers. With the Tea Act, Prime Minister Lord North hoped to accomplish two purposes: provide motivation for colonialists to accept the Townshend Acts tax on tea and reinforce Parliament’s authority to impose taxes of any sort on the colonies. In both particulars he failed. Colonial merchants of every kind recognized that they, too, could be legislated out of business. Colonial representatives objected to any tax imposed on the colonies by Parliament without their consent, regardless of whether the public benefited as to cost of product taxed. In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, they, fearful merchants, and disgruntled consumers deprived of choice of purchase were determined to prevent the off-loading of new East India Company tea onto their docks.

Resisters in New York and Philadelphia caused appointed co-signees to resign and ship captains to return their vessels to England with their unloaded cargo. In Charleston co-signees were also forced to resign and the cargo was left to rot on the unloaded ships. Boston had a very different outcome.

The tea ship Dartmouth arrived in the Boston Harbor in late November. British law required the Dartmouth to unload and pay import duties to customs officials within twenty days of its arrival. Massachusetts’s governor Thomas Hutchinson persuaded his co-signees, two of whom were his sons, not to resign. A mass meeting led by Sam Adams passed a resolution that urged the captain of the Dartmouth to send the ship back to England without paying the import duty. Governor Hutchinson refused to grant permission for the Dartmouth to leave without paying the duty. Two additional tea ships, the Eleanor and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor. Hutchinson also refused to allow these ships to leave. On December 16 (one day before the twenty day deadline was reached) at a meeting attended by about 7,000 people at the Old South Meeting House, Sam Adams declared: "This meeting can do nothing further to save the country" (Boston Tea Party 1). That evening a crowd of what later was roughly estimated to be 30 to 130 “Sons of Liberty” boarded the three East India Company tea ships. The entire cargo -- 342 chests of tea – were dumped into the water. This flagrant act of defiance impelled Parliament to pass several punitive measures that the colonists came to call the “intolerable acts.” The first measure, the Boston Port Bill, closed the port of Boston until the destroyed tea was paid for. The other three measures sought to cripple the political rights of the colony, transfer the trial of capital offenses to England, and renew the quartering of British troops in Boston. Massachusetts would be made the example of what British authority could do to rebellious colonies. Instead of being cowed, the twelve witnessing colonies, especially Virginia, made Massachusetts’s cause their own.

Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and other members of Virginia’s House of Burgesses saw the necessity of arousing the Virginia people “from the lethargy into which they had fallen” (Henry 176) the past three years following Parliament’s repeal of all but the one that taxed tea of the Townshend Acts. The group decided to have the House declare “a day of general fasting and prayer” to be observed June 1, 1774, the day the Boston Port Bill would go into effect. The House passed the resolution. Two days later Governor Dunmore dissolved the legislative body.

Eighty-nine burgesses, Thomas Nelson among them, assembled the following day (May 27) at “The Raleigh” Tavern, formed a non-importation association, and called for a meeting to take place at a later date at which time all House members could determine what else they could do to aid Massachusetts. Days later that meeting was scheduled for August 1 in Williamsburg. Meanwhile, Burgesses would meet with their constituents to formulate resolutions to be presented at the general meeting.

Thomas Nelson was moderator of the meeting of free holders in his county, York. He opened the meeting July 18 with a lengthy address that called for careful consideration of the resolutions about to be formed.

“You will know what it is to be FREE Men. You know the blessed privilege of doing what you will with your own, and you can guess at the misery of those who are deprived of this right. Which of these will be your case depends upon your present conduct. We have found already that petitions and remonstrances are ineffectual, and it is now time that we try other expedients. We must have those who are endeavouring to oppress us feel the effects of their mistakes of their arbitrary policy; for not till then can we expect justice from them” (Virginia Gazette July 21, 1774).

Nelson doubted that the colony could stop her exports without serious harm, “but that imports ought to be prohibited necessity demands, and no virtue forbids. It is not supposed that we can do this without subjecting ourselves to many inconveniences; but inconveniences, when opposed to the loss of freedom, are surely to be disregarded” (Ibid.).

Then, Nelson the merchant spoke: “It is true, we must resign the hope of making fortunes; but to what end should we make fortunes, when they may be taken from us at the pleasure of others” (Ibid.)?

Following the address, the county of York formed its resolves. They first defined the rights of the American colonies, coming to the ultimate conclusion that although British America was under voluntary subjection to the crown, every British parliamentary edict of taxation, custom, duty, or impost on the American colonies without their consent was illegal. The resolves declared the Tea Act illegal and the Boston Port Act unconstitutional, the latter due to the fact that Boston was only defending “their liberties and properties” the night the tea was thrown overboard. All imports would be stopped “with as few exceptions as possible.” The question of stopping exports would be settled at the August convention. Lastly, a subscription would be “immediately opened for the relief of the inhabitants of Boston” (Ibid.), under the direction of Thomas Nelson and his fellow burgess, Dudley Digges.

Nelson ultimately obtained 49 subscribers who pledged bushels of wheat and corn, barrels of flour, and shillings. In a not altogether trustworthy record kept by Massachusetts authorities, ten subscribers’ contributions were specifically noted as not having been delivered. This was due to no fault of Nelson. He had the contributions of twenty subscribers shipped to Boston at his own expense. The subscribers’ contributions averaged 4.8 bushels in wheat and 5.4 bushels in corn per person. Nelson sent 100 bushels of wheat.

Thomas Nelson and the delegates of the various other counties met in Williamsburg August 1. They agreed to cut off all British imports to the colony after November 1. They would also cut off their own exports to Britain if the mother country did not redress “American Grievances” before August 10, 1775. The Convention ended its business by electing seven of its leaders to represent Virginia at the First Continental Congress, which had been called to meet in September in Philadelphia. They were Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison and Edmund Pendleton. Nelson returned to York to spend what would be his last few months of peaceful living for the next four years.


Works Cited:

“Boston Tea Party.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_T.... Net.

Henry, William Wirtz. Patrick Henry’s Life, Correspondence and Speeches. Vol. I. New York: Charles Scribners and Sons, 1891. Print.

Virginia Gazette (Rind) July 21, 1774. Microfilm.

A stout man of 38 years sat waiting to affix his signature to a copy of the newly formed and approved Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had moved on June 7, 1776, that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States …” The Second Continental Congress’s Committee of the Whole had discussed Lee’s motion the following day and Monday, June 10, before deciding to postpone final consideration until July 1. The middle colonies and South Carolina had not been ready to sanction the final break; but -- the Committee had believed -- given time, they could be persuaded. A committee, which included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, had consequently been formed to write a declaration of independence. On July 2 a resolution for independence had been adopted. On July 4 twelve colonies had approved Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. The New York delegation had chosen not to vote. On July 15 New York had accepted the Declaration and Congress had ordered that it be engrossed on parchment and signed by the members.

Thomas Nelson was one of the famous Virginia delegation that had won so much praise from the pen of John Adams of Massachusetts. Washington, Henry, Pendleton, and Bland were all missing from that first group of delegates who had come north in the spring of 1775. Nelson was one of four new men who had taken their places. Adams described him “as a fat men … He is a speaker, and alert and lively for his weight.” Pennsylvania delegate Benjamin Rush provided more information. Rush wrote that Nelson is “a respectable country gentleman, with excellent dispositions in public and private. He was educated in England. He informed me that he was the only person out of nine or ten Virginians that were sent with him to England for education that had taken part in the American Revolution. The rest were all Tories” (McGee 224, 226).

Before affixing his signature Nelson very likely recalled his position on independence during the previous twelve months.

He had decided early that hostilities had progressed too far and that a final stand would have to be taken. There remained, however, opposition to independence in Congress, especially from New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. “But events were pushing the colonies in the direction of independence whether all of them liked it or not. In Virginia the militia commanded by William Woodford defeated a British force under [former Governor] Dunmore at Great Bridge, forcing the noble lord to abandon Norfolk; in Canada the combined American forces under Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery were repulsed before Quebec on December 31 [1775]. These occurrences, coupled with a royal proclamation of December 23 closing the colonies to all commerce as of March 1, 1776, made the breach between England and the colonies almost irreparable” (Evans 54). On January 22 Nelson had written his friend in Virginia, John Page, how he wished he knew “the sentiments of our people upon the grand points of confederation and foreign alliance, or, in other words, of independence … We cannot expect to form a connexxion with any foreign power, as long as we have a womanish hankering after Great Britain; and to be sure, there is not in nature a greater absurdity, than to suppose we can have any affection for a people who are carrying on the most savage war against us” (Sanderson 51).

Soon afterward, Thomas Paine’s famous Common Sense had been published. Nelson had sent a copy home to his friend, Thomas Jefferson, at Monticello. Here was a stirring piece of work that Nelson must have embraced heartily. No doubt he had hoped it would convince many in the states of the folly of striving for peaceful conciliation with Great Britain. There were still many men in the Congress who needed to alter their thinking. In February Nelson had written Page an intense letter that expressed his frustration.

“Independence, confederation, and foreign alliance are as formidable to some of the Congress, I fear a majority, as an apparition to a weak, enervated woman. Would you think that we have some among us, who still expect honourable proposals from the administration? By heavens, I am an infidel in politics, for I do not believe, were you to bet a thousand pounds per scruple for honour at the court of Britain, that you would get as many as would amount to an ounce. If terms should be proposed, they will savour so much of despotism, that America cannot accept them. We are now carrying on a war and no war. They seize our property wherever they find it, either by land or sea; and we hesitate to retaliate, because we have a few friends in England who have hips. Away with such squeamishness, say I” (Sanderson 52-53).

Upon returning to Virginia in March to spend time with his family and to attend to business matters, he had discovered that a majority of the colony’s population favored independence. The Virginia Gazette had “expressed the sentiment of many when, soon after his arrival, it declared: 'If we cannot enjoy the privileges of Englishmen when connected with them, let us instantly break off to them'” (Evans 55).

On May 6, one hundred twenty-eight delegates had convened in Williamsburg to conduct the final business of the soon to be replaced House of Burgesses. The Convention had elected Edmund Pendleton to be its president. Nelson had been appointed to the important Committee on Privileges and Elections. Jefferson had urged Nelson to raise in committee the issue of independence. He had done so in his numerous communications with other delegates. To one delegate (not identified) he had written “having weighed the arguments on both sides, I am clearly of the opinion that we must, as we value the liberties of America, or even her existence, without a moment’s delay, declare independence.” There was no need to determine the opinions of France and Spain. France would benefit from the separation. Fear in the minds of some that England would give territory to either country on the condition that it not support the colonies was “chimerical.” Nelson declared that the military “would abandon the colors if independence were not declared. … the spirit of the people (except a very few in these lower parts, whose little blood has been sucked out by mosquitoes), cry out for this declaration” (Evans 56).

Quite surprisingly, Patrick Henry had been hesitant. He had feared precisely what Nelson had dismissed – “that England would call on some European ally with the promise of a part of the colonies as a reward for helping to subdue them.” Henry had believed that an alliance with France or Spain had to be affected before separation could be declared. When he had recognized that “he would lose much of his support unless he lead the movement [for immediate independence], he took the initiative, allies or no allies” (Evans 57). Consequently, he had devised a plan. He would persuade Nelson to introduce a motion for independence and Henry would then work for its acceptance. The plan had been effected.

Edmund Randolph had written later that Nelson “affected nothing of oratory, except what ardent feelings might inspire, and characteristic of himself he had no fears of his own with which to temporize …” (McGee 226-227). “He passed over the probabilities of foreign aid, stepped lightly on the difficulties of procuring military stores and the inexperience of officers and soldiers, but pressed a declaration of independence upon what, with him, were incontrovertible grounds; that we were oppressed; had humbly supplicated a redress of grievances, which had been refused with insult; and to return from battle against the sovereign with the cordiality of subjects was absurd” (Evans 57).

On May 17 Nelson had left for Philadelphia with the Virginia delegation carrying the resolutions that the Virginia convention had agreed upon., to wit that Congress “‘declare the United colonies free and independence states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the crown or parliament of Great Britain’” (Evans 58).

Now, August 2, Thomas Nelson affixed his signature to the official document.

Nelson had much to lose financially. He had written to a Virginia colleague three months earlier that “no man on the continent will sacrifice more than myself by separation” (Evans 56). Yet quite early he had stood forcefully for independence. He, like every delegate to the Continental Congress, also knew the personal danger of this position. What real chance did a band of disjointed states, challenging the immense power of Great Britain, have of prevailing? It behooved Nelson to work assiduously to achieve that outcome.


Works cited:

Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. The University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1975. Print.

McGee, Dorothy Horton. Famous Signers of the Declaration. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1955. Print.

John Sanderson, Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Second edition. Philadelphia: William Brown and Charles Peters, 1828. V. Print.

“On February 18, 1779, Nelson presented his credentials to the [Continental] Congress and immediately entered into the business of government. He was terribly concerned with the critical situation of the country. Never, ‘since the commencement of the war,’ he wrote, had America ‘been in so much danger’” (Evans 80). The British had turned their attention from the north and now looked to the south as a means of bringing an end to the war. They had captured Savannah in December of 1778, and soon they would be marching though the Carolinas. Equally frightening was the depreciation in value of the Congress’s and the state’s paper currency and both governmental bodies’ inability to raise money to finance their efforts to wage war. Nelson “was regular in his attendance, served on a variety of committees, and took part in the two serious debates during his stay in Philadelphia” (Evans 80): what should America’s demands be in a peace settlement with Great Britain and how to settle an emerging conflict between the Southern and New England states regarding free navigation of the Mississippi River and fishing off the banks of Nova Scotia.

To the end of his life close confinement and severe mental exertions preceded Nelson’s illnesses. A relapse in early April provided him the opportunity to leave Congress, which seemed incapable of accomplishing anything, to serve more meaningfully his state. “He later told Washington that he left Congress ‘with reluctance,’ but it is reasonably clear that he had always intended to resign and run for a seat in the House of Delegates.” It is puzzling that as with previous sicknesses in Philadelphia, “Nelson returned home to take on tasks as strenuous as those he left behind” (Evans 81).

Not long after Nelson had returned from Philadelphia, sails were sighted in the capes, as they had two years earlier. This time the enemy did not sail up the Chesapeake. Commanded by Major General Edward Mathew, the British landed 2,000 men at Portsmouth, captured Norfolk, and then marched 18 miles to Suffolk. At Suffolk they burned all buildings except a church; in Portsmouth they seized 3,000 hogshead of tobacco. Altogether, their operation destroyed 100 small vessels. Over 2,000 militiamen were called up to respond to the invasion.

Whether or not Nelson -- elected to the Assembly in May -- commanded the militiamen is open to debate. Many members of the General Assembly had wanted General Charles Scott -- one of Washington’s brigade commanders and a Virginian who, fortuitously, was in the state -- to take command. Some of the members had “felt that to appoint Scott would be treating Nelson unjustly.” Hearing of the Assembly’s preference, Nelson “announced that he would be honored to serve under General Scott for the duration of the invasion. … The record does not show whether Scott was actually named” (Evans 82). In any event, Nelson did collect what militia forces he could, stationing most of them at Yorktown, where he expected that the main attack would occur. Striking instead south of the James River, Mathew’s soldiers had met little opposition. Having accomplished what they had intended, on May 26 they left the Portsmouth area on British ships to return to New York.

Although Nelson had been able to do little about the raid, he made sure that the families of the poorer men in York County that had been called into the militia would not suffer from their absence. Nelson sent all of his York plantation laborers and some of his domestic servants to assist them until their men returned.

Mathew’s raid made clear that Virginia’s vast coastline with its many rivers emptying into Chesapeake Bay and the sparse population that inhabited the area made invasion by the British an easy endeavor. Worse, Virginian had little resource to defend itself. It possessed a flotilla of four little vessels with a total of five dozen guns, and three armed boats. “Nowhere was there fortifications strong enough to resist a stout British frigate” (Padover 48). And what military forces there were consisted mostly of poorly armed, untrained, and undisciplined militia.

In June Patrick Henry’s third term as governor expired. The new state constitution prohibited the governor from serving more than three consecutive yearly terms. A new person had to be elected to replace him. Succeeding Henry may have been one of the reasons why Nelson had wanted to quit Congress. His two opponents for the office were Thomas Jefferson and John Page. Nelson and Jefferson had been friends since the 1760’s. To each, John Page was a closer friend. Page had been an intimae friend of Jefferson’s at William and Mary. Nelson had come to know him when Page had settled in York.

On the first ballot Jefferson received 55 votes, Page 38, and Nelson 32. Jefferson had received a plurality, but not a majority. Nelson withdrew from the race and Jefferson received a sufficient number of votes to win - 67 votes to Page’s 61. Jefferson’s political support had come chiefly from the back counties where he was regarded as “being with Henry rather than against him” (Malone 303). Nelson and Page had been favored by the Tidewater voters. Page had served as lieutenant governor under Henry.

“Certainly he [Nelson] was disappointed and he may have been miffed by the fact that Page, who had taken a far smaller part in the Revolution, had killed his chances of election. Nelson was ambitious and he wanted to serve the American cause to the fullest extent possible.” Rather than to devote all of his attention either to the military or to politics, he had chosen to do both and, thereby, had not been entirely successful with each. “Military service agreed with him and he told Washington that he had ‘often lamented … not taking the field with you at the commencement of this War.’ But now it was too late, … ‘for to enter in a subordinate rank would not suit my own feelings,’ and to take a rank higher than those ‘who had borne the brunt of the war’ would indicate ‘a want of generosity’ on his part. On June 4, perhaps to rest and restore his wounded feelings, he got permission to be absent from the House of Delegates for seven days” (Evans 82, 83).

In June the General Assembly spent a considerable length of time debating whether to move the capital to Richmond. The Tidewater members violently opposed it; the “up country” members, in the majority, pushed it. Of more importance were the army’s need for men and supplies and the necessity of controlling inflation. The legislature eventually amended previous legislation to allow the sale of British estates, the proceeds of which would go to the state. In July the legislature adjourned. The freeholders of York County met to discuss ways and means of helping the government restore the value of paper currency. “Nelson served on a committee of fourteen that recommended a ceiling on prices. The suggestion, though sensible, seems to have gained no support. To be effective, it would have had to be not only statewide, but nationwide, almost an impossibility considering the weakness of the Continental Congress” (Evans 83).

In September the Continental Congress stopped issuing paper money. This placed the main burden of supporting the war on the states. The state assembly during its fall session tackled its insolvency problem, with little success. Seeing no alternative to agreeing to a “humiliating, inglorious and disadvantageous peace,” the assembly “authorized the state to borrow 5 million pounds from its citizens and, to provide for the interest and principal on the loan, they fixed a tax of ‘thirty pounds of inspected tobacco’ per year for the next eleven years on every tithable person, except free white tithables between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one” (Evans 84). The legislation that had authorized the sale of British estates was amended to correct the problems of estate purchases being tied up in the courts and the estates of Virginia citizens absent from the country being seized and auctioned. The estates of absent citizens were protected, litigation proceedings were streamlined, and buyers of estates were given “ironclad guarantees respecting the validity of their purchases. … Returns from the sale of British estates and the payment of British debts were meager and the money that did come in was rendered almost worthless by the continued depreciation of Virginia currency” (Evans 84-85).

Saddled now with a 26 million pound debt, in February 1780 the state floated a loan of 5 million pounds. “But very little money trickled in because people who had funds could get as high as 20 percent interest on private loans, whereas the state paid only 6 percent. … Jefferson and the Council … appealed to Virginia’s citizens to support the loan drive. The government also requested certain individuals, who were concerned with the plight of the state, to solicit loans” (Evans 85). Nelson did so. He encountered great resistance. People doubted the government’s ability to repay the loans. Consequently, Nelson, and others, pledged to pay back what the government could not. Nelson managed to raise 10,974 pounds out of the total of about 60,000 pounds raised for the state.

Prices rose. People with money bought “back lands on the river Ohio” and complained about heavy taxation, and candidates for state office who promised tax relief – “men of mean abilities and no rank” – were predominately elected. The newly-elected assembly met in 1780 in Richmond, the new capitol. The Continental Congress had asked the states to continue to raise 15 million dollars monthly for its use. On May 30 the Congress requested an appropriation of $1,953,200 by June 15. “A large French expeditionary and naval force was expected soon to act in conjunction with the American army, and congress did not have the funds to support any offensive action” (Evans 86). The Assembly on June 1 resolved that money be borrowed from private individuals and be supplemented by the sale of 600,000 pounds of state tobacco. Those who loaned cash were to be repaid in December or have the amount discounted from their taxes at the rate of 6 percent. Nelson was one of seven men authorized to receive the loans.

He canvassed vigorously his own locality and, afterward, solicited south of the James River. “As was the case in February, Nelson found that many people were unwilling to lend money on the shaky security of the state. Again Nelson pledged his own security for the payment of these loans in case the state was unable to fulfill its obligations” (Evans 87). He raised 41,601 pounds. Altogether, Virginia raised $1,430,239, some $500,000 short of its goal.

“Nelson’s contribution, over the past three years, toward American independence had been exceptional. … Thomas Nelson had ‘exerted every nerve,’ and rarely had he allowed his own personal interests to interfere with those of the country. His fortune, time, energy, and considerable political influence had all been enlisted in the cause. Much had been asked of him and he had given freely. Yet the end was not in sight” (Evans 87).


Sources Cited:

Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Charlottesville, The University Press of Virginia, 1975. Print.

Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the Virginian. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1948. Print

Padover, Saul K. Jefferson. New York, A Mentor Book, 1953. Print.

Of great aid to the Americans would be the French fleet. It would be most valuable at the Battle of Yorktown. But the fleet had to be kept in provisions and armament, and it was America’s responsibility to see that it was. Early in June of 1780 the Continental Congress called for $2,000,000 to be placed in the Continental Congress Treasury to help provide for the French fleet. Thomas Nelson set out personally to raise as much money as he could in Virginia. His excursions took him through most of the southern counties of the state, but he had great difficulty finding people willing to advance their money. The resources of the state were drained and people were poor. Those who possessed money were afraid to trust it to no better security than that of the government, already too deeply involved financially to extricate itself from its difficulties. Nelson was turned down everywhere. But seeing that the need of the money was great, he decided he would add his own personal security to that of the government. The people of the state trusted Nelson, and many accepted Nelson’s offer of security and loaned to the government what money they could spare. Ultimately, Nelson succeeded in raising a good sum of money, through his own personal efforts, and through the efforts of his agents, whom he sent out with authority to use his name and pledge his fortune.

Nelson would take a great financial beating in this enterprise. It seems that he kept a record of the amount of money he pledged to back these loans. But during the year of war that came to Virginia the records were lost. When it came time for the loans to be redeemed, the government was practically without funds. And Nelson was forced to pay back the debts personally. Nelson could not furnish the Continental Congress with an accurate record of these expenditures. Consequently, he was never reimbursed for his losses.

In 1780 the British, under the generalship of Charles Cornwallis, opened in earnest their campaign to recover the southern colonies. Having already captured Savannah in December of 1778, the British seized Charlestown in May 1780. The Carolinas had little to oppose Cornwallis but hastily drawn militia. Congress then sent Horatio Gates with an army of regulars south to aid the southern militia. Gates was soundly beaten August 16 at Camden, South Carolina, and was replaced soon afterward by the competent Nathanial Greene. Moving though Virginia on his way southward, Greene left General von Steuben as the temporary commander-in-chief of the Continental forces in Virginia and Greene’s personal representative. Greene would need reinforcements from Virginia, and he thought this could be accomplished more easily with von Steuben in Virginia. Thomas Nelson placed himself and his state militia under von Steuben’s authority.

On December 31, 1780, Thomas Nelson received a letter from a citizen informing him that 27 sails had been sighted entering the capes. The arrival of the French fleet in Virginia had been eagerly awaited. But no one knew yet whether this fleet was friend or enemy. Nelson immediately informed Governor Jefferson of the fleet, and Jefferson sent the general down into the southern area of the state with full power to “take such steps as the exigencies of the moment might require” (Bowers 262).

Learning that the fleet was British, but believing it to be another raiding party, the governor called out half of the militia of the counties closest to the enemy, as well as one fourth of the militia from the more distant counties. Jefferson intended to put 4,600 militiamen in the field. On January 3, 1781, a force of 1,500 men sailed up the James River under the command of the recent American patriot turned traitor, Benedict Arnold. At this time Nelson was about 13 miles above Williamsburg on the Chickahominy River watching the advance of the enemy and waiting for bands of militia to gather. He wrote Jefferson in Richmond January 4 that the enemy had passed by the former state capitol and seemed headed for either Richmond or Petersburg. He theorized that the enemy would “proceed as high up the river as they can for fear of desertion among their troops, to which they are much disposed” (Kimball 132). Then, Nelson wrote the same day that the enemy had landed their full force at Westover and were marching for Richmond. With militiamen from the counties of King William, King and Queens, Gloucester, and New Kent arriving daily, he expected his strength to be about 350 in a day. He would then follow the movements of the enemy from the rear.

The enemy was able to reach Richmond and capture the town, but not before Jefferson had been able to flee to safety. The militia had not gathered in time to join von Steuben’s regulars to attempt to turn back Arnold. But soon the American forces were large enough to exert pressure. However, considerable lack of supplies and ammunition handicapped them. “Muskets and cannon that had been hidden from the British could not be found, other weapons had been handled so roughly in the excitement that they were unserviceable, and it was difficult to get wagons to transport usable arms to the troops who needed them” (Evans 92-93). Von Steuben, on the south side of the James River, wrote to Greene about this time complaining bitterly of the shortage of arms, and of the lack of “tents and camp kettles. It is impossible to describe the situation I am in – in want of everything” (Malone 141).

In writing to Jefferson January 8 Nelson exhibits great disappointment at not being able to help prevent Arnold’s capture of Richmond.

“I am pained to the very soul that we have not been able to prevent the return of the enemy, but even the elements have conspired to favor them. On Saturday night a flood of rain poured down as to render my plan abortive by almost drowning the troops, who were in bush tents that they (the enemy) may not go off without some injury. I have ordered two pieces of cannon to be planted … where I am told we may do them mischief. These cannon I propose to defend by infantry as long as I can … It is better to lose the guns than not to attack somewhere” (Kimball 142-143).

On January 13 Nelson reported the enemy’s withdrawal from Richmond and felt certain it intended “nothing further on the North side of James River at present” (Boyd 351). He was right. Arnold returned to Portsmouth, where he could feel safe from American resistance. Von Steuben, “a fine organizer and trainer of troops, was not noted for brilliant tactical leadership in the field; he was, in fact, overly cautious and his brigade commanders soon appeared to be of similar inclination” (Evans 94). He met with Nelson in Williamsburg January 20. They decided that an attack on Arnold would be inadvisable. Von Steuben decided instead “to concentrate on trying to contain Arnold at Portsmouth, keeping him from again raiding the heart of the state” (Evans 94).

Although Virginia’s forces outnumbered Arnold’s troops, the numbers were illusory. “Absence from home and expiring enlistments were not the only things that made militia hard to keep. Food, though plentiful, reached the troops only with difficulty and consisted largely of corn meal. The men were housed badly in brush huts or tents, which in a typically cold, wet, Virginia winter was a circumstance not conductive to the highest moral. … Through late January and early February of 1781 Nelson wrestled with these problems, but despite his efforts his force dropped to eight hundred men” (Evans 95).

Arnold seemingly content to remain in Portsmouth, Virginia’s leaders hoped for the arrival of the greater portion of the French fleet. With the fleet blockading all possible retreat by the sea after destroying Arnold’s ships, and American land forces engulfing Portsmouth on all other sides, Arnold’s army would be forced to surrender. When three French ships (one 64 gun ship and two frigates of 36 guns each) arrived at the posts below Williamsburg on the James River, Nelson felt the time for Arnold’s destruction had arrived. To von Steuben, February 14, he wrote, “What you expected has taken place. I give you joy with all my soul. Now is our time. Not a moment ought to be lost” (Boyd 678n). However, Nelson’s enthusiasm was dashed the next day after consulting the commander of the small fleet, Captain Arnaud Le Gardneur de Tilly. The Captain’s three ships blocked Arnold’s passage out of the Elizabeth River into the James River and Chesapeake Bay; but one of Arnold’s ships had managed to slip past “which was reportedly dispatched to New York, and de Tilly, fearing that if he lingered he would be caught by a superior fleet, decided to leave” (Evans 97). The Frenchman told Nelson that he would cruise off the capes to intercept British supplies, distress the enemy, and watch for the possible arrival of a superior British force. In fact, he sailed directly to Newport, Rhode Island to join the main French fleet.

Nelson was ill in Williamsburg February 19 with a severe cold. He remained sick for a month. Not surprisingly, he was bitter about de Tilly’s departure. He wrote to Jefferson that Arnold would now “make use of all the Advantages which their Command of the Water gives them over us” (Boyd 650-651). Because of some losses at the hands of the French fleet they would probably “wreck their Vengence on the Parts of the State most exposed,” especially Hampton, that had furnished pilots for the French. “It gives me the utmost pain that I find myself unable to give them the Protection they merit” (Kimball 153). He had now only a force of about 400 men.

“As February drew to a close, Nelson began to regain his strength, but a relapse forced him to remain in bed throughout the month of March. Steuben was especially upset, for he had come both to like Nelson and to depend on his advice.” In March he wrote Nelson that the Virginian’s indisposition “deprives me of your council and assistance at a time I am in the greatest want of it. You are better acquainted with the Strength and weakness of this state and you have the confidence of the People – judge then how much I regret your absence” (Evans 98).

Washington had also hoped that Arnold’s troops could be bottled up and taken. Accordingly, the commander-in-chief sent to Virginia in March the French patriot, Marquis de Lafayette, and an estimate 1,200 troops, the “elite corps” of Washington’s army, the Light Brigade. Rear Admiral Charles René Dominique Sochet, Chevalier Destouches’ fleet, sent to augment Lafayette, was driven away March 16 near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay in the Battle of Cape Henry by a British fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot. Destouches returned immediately to Newport, while Arbuthnot protected the bay for the arrival of land forces dispatched from New York to reinforce General Arnold. Lafayette had landed in York March 14. Because he had been deprived of the fleet, the plan for trapping Arnold was abandoned.


Works cited:

Bowers, Claude G. The Young Jefferson 1743-1789. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1945. Print.

Boyd, Julian F., ed. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1951, IV. Print.

Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Charlottesville, The University Press of Virginia, 1975. Print.

Kimball, Marie. Jefferson War and Peace 1776 to 1784. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1947. Print.

Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the Virginian. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948. Print.

Here are links to two maps to help you locate the rivers and cities referenced below.

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/chesbay...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...


Lafayette returned to Annapolis after American and French efforts to trap General Benedict Arnold in Portsmouth were abandoned. Not long afterward, General William Philllips and 2,600 redcoat soldiers reinforced Arnold. Virginia forces had dwindled to 1,200 men. Only 700 were positioned south of the James River. Lafayette was expected to return with about 1,200 soldiers. A new group of militia was being desperately called up. Neither source of reinforcements, however, would be useable before the end of April. Consequently, General von Steuben withdrew his troops from Portsmouth and stationed them at Richmond. Given free reign, on April 18, 1781, Arnold and 2,500 British troops left Portsmouth to move up the James River to plunder.

They launched an attack on the supply depot of Petersburg. Generals Steuben and Muhlenburg, with 1,000 militiamen, defended stubbornly. At the end of the day Steuben ordered a withdrawal. Arnold advanced into Petersburg where he destroyed four thousand hogsheads of tobacco. He destroyed at Osbornes, a small village on the James River 15 miles below Richmond, what passed for the Virginia navy. General Phillips burned barracks and stores at Chesterfield Court House. Both generals then moved toward Manchester, just across the James from Richmond.

Thomas Nelson, having recovered from his illness, gathered a handful of militiamen hoping somehow to defend the capitol city. “Fortunately the British did not get to Manchester until the morning of April 30, and on the previous afternoon General Lafayette had marched his nine hundred weary troops into Richmond, after a forced march that had taken them only ten days in miserable weather to cover the 150 miles from Annapolis. Thus, when the British arrived in Manchester, they were confronted across the river by Lafayette’s troops located in good position. Though superior in numbers, the British decided not to attack, and after burning some tobacco they dropped down the river, and by May 6, were below Jamestown” (Evans 99). To put Richmond beyond further attack, Lafayette moved Nelson and his militia to Williamsburg and his own forces between that city and the capitol.

In May, General William Cornwallis came driving up into Virginia from North Carolina. He had won a costly victory at Guilford Court House in March and had then moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he had made plans to march into Virginia to join Arnold and Phillips at Petersburg. He did so May 20, Lafayette, being outnumbered, forced to withdraw to Richmond. For a week and a half neither Lafayette nor the British made any further move.

On May 10, the state legislature had decided to convene two weeks later not in Richmond but in Charlottesville. In Richmond, Lafayette reorganized his army, now totaling 900 Continentals and the 1,200 to 1,500 militia divided into two brigades commanded by Nelson and Muhlenburg. After Cornwallis’s arrival May 20, British forces totaled about 7,200 men.

During this time Nelson had had to deal with numerous disloyal acts. “In early May, he was forced to take twelve disaffected persons into custody, including Williamsburg merchant John Greenhow, who had advised a ‘militia officer to lay aside his Sword because we were already conquered.’ Horses, which might strengthen an already superior British cavalry, had to be removed from Cornwallis’s path. Owners who did not cooperate were to have their animals seized. Nelson also had to oversee the impressment of horses for Lafayette’s cavalry. A condition approaching martial law prevailed” (Evans 100).

On May 24, Cornwallis marched out of Petersburg, crossed the James River, and headed toward Richmond to attack Lafayette. Wanting to keep his army intact and determined to prevent Cornwallis from getting between him and General Anthony Wayne, who was marching from Pennsylvania with reinforcements, Lafayette retreated northward toward Fredericksburg. On the last day of the month, Cornwallis ended his pursuit, deciding to direct his aggressive activities elsewhere.

Cornwallis wanted to destroy a main supply depot fifty miles above Richmond, capture the Virginia legislature in session in Charlottesville, and seize Governor Thomas Jefferson. Lieutenant Colonel John Simcoe and 500 troops destroyed the depot. Steuben and 400 militiamen ordered to defend it retreated. “Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and 250 cavalry, assigned the second objective, fell upon Charlottesville early on the morning of June 4. Had it not been for the ride of Captain Jack Jouett from Cuckoo Tavern to warn the legislature and the governor, the plan would have been successful” (Evans 101). Here is how The Meriwether Society, Inc., on the internet, narrates this event.

***

On May 28th, the first day a quorum was present for the reconvened Assembly, Governor Jefferson wrote George Washington pleading he bring the Continental Army to Virginia to bolster the weary patriots, “That your appearance among them I say would restore full confidence of salvation…” Soon afterwards, General Washington wrote Jefferson almost apologetically, “The progress which the enemy are making in Virginia is very alarming…,” only daring to hint at his plans for the British, which would only be secured by a Naval Superiority not yet in place.

…

The Green Dragoons moved easily through the countryside between the North and South Anna Rivers on “a rainy dark day”. The heat of the weather obliged a rest around noon to refresh the men and horses. Then they pressed on into the night, and at a small crossroads in eastern Louisa County (the junction of today’s US 33 and US 522), tradition has it that their motions were then observed. About 10:00pm there at the Cuckoo Tavern, a young member of the Virginia militia, John Jouett (of Huguenot origins), watched the British cavalry sweep past along the main road. Whether they stopped is unknown; perhaps some officers entered the Tavern and Jouett overheard them talking, or maybe in watching from a window he just guessed what they were up to. A native of Charlottesville, Jouett’s father was the keeper of the Swan Tavern there, a stopping place and meeting room for many delegates to the Virginia Assembly. Figuring the British would take the main road, Jouett inconspicuously left the area, then mounted a horse said to be the finest in 7 counties, and (thoroughly familiar with the region) rode 40 miles over back roads in the middle of the night, which had nearly a full moon though it was probably overcast. He traveled through a maze of vines, brambles, and potholes, to Monticello where at 4:30am June 4 he awoke Jefferson and several prominent members of the legislature, effectively warning them. It is said he paused only briefly before continuing to Charlottesville. Jouett’s descendants say he wore the scars of brambles and branches from that ride the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, Tarleton’s troops arrived at the Louisa County Courthouse at 11:00pm. They remained on a “plentiful plantation” in Louisa until 2:00am June 4, 1781, then resumed their march. Before dawn, they burned a caravan of 12 supply wagons with stores of arms and clothing headed for South Carolina.

…

… Tarleton ordered Dr. Walker and his wife to prepare breakfast for the British Legion. It is said the Walkers knew or guessed of the plan to capture Jefferson, so while Mildred Walker “ordered the cooks to be slow in preparing breakfast, Dr. Walker was busy mixing mint juleps for… Tarleton and his troops.” … He [Tarleton] was still at that point counting on the surprise he might gain from the approximately 70 mile distance covered that night and the previous day.

…

Just ahead of the British on the morning of June 4, 1781, militia rider John Jouett reached Charlottesville, an 18-year-old town described by a visitor at the time as “a courthouse, one tavern, and about a dozen houses.” He warned the Virginia Assembly members staying there about the approaching raid. They hastily convened, and arranged to reconvene in Staunton, safely across the Blue Ridge Mountains in 3 days time. Their main business of electing a new Governor, because Jefferson’s term had expired June 1, would have to wait. A then little-known Colonel Daniel Boone and some others started loading up wagons with some of the public records.

Not far behind, British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and his troops were on the way, refreshed after a quick breakfast at Castle Hill. …

…

… About that time the former Governor had just left Monticello after seeing his family safely off via carriage toward Enniscorthy, the Coles plantation about 14 miles distant in southern Albemarle County. Jefferson had ordered his favorite riding horse to be shod and brought to the road (about where state highway 53 is today) in the valley between his mountaintop home and the nearby Carter’s Mountain … According to a popular folktale of the time, as the British approached, Jefferson walked a ways up Carter’s Mountain to a good viewing point, and gazed from a telescope. He looked down at the streets of Charlottesville and saw nothing out of order. Jefferson started to walk away, but it is said he noticed his light walking sword had slipped from its sheath, so he returned to retrieve it, and then took another look through his telescope, this time to see the streets swarming with Dragoons, identifiable by the color of their uniforms--green for the British Legion, and red for the Fusiliers. Jefferson then mounted his horse and briskly made his escape. [The Jeffersons’ eventual destination was their family’s Poplar Forest plantation further south.]

… with the help of Jouett’s early warning and the Walker family’s strategic delay, Jefferson, his family, and guests (including the Speakers of the State Senate and House, and some others) all had narrowly escaped, missing the British by just 10 minutes. …

Down in Charlottesville, the British were raiding the town, burning goods and seizing firearms. The numbers vary according to different sources. The British said they destroyed 1,000 muskets, 400 barrels of powder, 7 hogsheads of tobacco, and a quantity of Continental soldier’s clothing and “accoutrements”, while the American estimates were much lower. Also, invaluable county legal records were destroyed, that are still missing from 1748-1781, burned on the Courthouse green. About 20 prisoners, remnants from the neighborhood of The Barracks prisoner-of-war camp on the West side of town, were liberated.

… Elsewhere in Charlottesville, a British officer overtook Daniel Boone, dressed inconspicuously in frontier hunting shirts and leggings, with John Jouett walking away. The former was questioned and dismissed, then the latter. According to Boone family tradition, as their relative walked away, Jouett (probably exhausted and/or still full of adrenaline) absentmindedly called out Colonel Daniel Boone’s rank and name so that he could catch up with him. The British officer overheard and promptly arrested Boone.

…

After the drama and violence of the early June days and nights in 1781, life in Charlottesville gradually returned more to its routines. The most hunted General Assembly in Virginia’s history reconvened at the Old Trinity Church in Staunton with most of its members, somewhat riled by their recent harrowing experiences. Some placed blame on Jefferson for their lack of security.

… The Assembly later voted to exonerate Jefferson of any blame. A year later, Jouett traveled Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road to Kentucky, serving well as a progressive delegate in State Assemblies. …

… unsuccessful in the main goal of his mission, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and his Green Dragoons sometime between June 6-9 made it back to join General Cornwallis at Point of Fork, where the Rivanna River meets the James River (near present day Columbia). He reported “the attempt to secure Mr. Jefferson was ineffectual.” Their main prisoners from the raid were then paroled, including Daniel Boone.

***

Jefferson’s term of office had expired on June 2. “The gentle Virginian was not a military man, his second term had been a frustrating one, and he was determined to step aside for someone better fitted for the position. A little over a week later, the Assembly meeting in Staunton chose General Thomas Nelson as Jefferson’s successor” (Evans 101).

Washington’s decision to remain north proved to be fortunate. General Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of all British forces in the Colonies, situated in New York City, feeling uneasy about Washington’s near presence, ordered Cornwallis to take a defensive position at Williamsburg and York and send to him every man he could spare. Then, seeming to regain his composure, Clinton ordered Cornwallis to send no reinforcements. But Clinton did not countermand his order instructing Cornwallis to take a defensive position. Consequently, on August 2 Cornwallis positioned at York his 4,500 men.


Works cited:

Long, Stephen Meriwether. “British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and the American Revolution: Drama on the Plantations of Charlottesville.” The Meriwether Society, Inc. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.co.... Net.

Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Charlottesville, Virginia, The University Press of Virginia, 1975. Print.