Arnold, with his Fleet, in the James River.

Approach to Richmond.

Activity of Jefferson.

The Militia.

the state offices were located at the period in question. Thomas Jefferson was then Gov. ernor of Virginia.'

a 1781.

3

On the 3d of January, a Arnold, with his fleet, anchored near Jamestown,' and the next day proceeded as far as Westover, the seat of the widow of Colonel Byrd, about twenty-five miles below Richmond, where he landed almost a thousand troops, and led them toward the metropolis. Governor Jefferson had been apprised of the approach of the fleet, but was not certain whether Richmond or Petersburg was the point of the intended attack, until advised of the debarkation of the British troops. The whole country was speedily alarmed. Jefferson called out all of the militia from the adjacent counties; but so sudden was the invasion, and so great was the panic, that only a handful could be collected. The white population were few, and scattered over plantations, with their habitations widely separated; and private interest, in many cases, made the planters more intent upon securing their slaves and horses from capture than defending public property. Only about two hundred armed men could be collected for the defense of Richmond.*

The enemy encamped on the night of the 4th at Four Mile Creek, twelve miles below Richmond. Governor Jefferson, perceiving that resistance with his handful of raw militia would be useless, turned his attention to the salvation of the public stores. By his activity 2 large quantity was secured. Much of the portable property was carried across the river to Manchester, and also the stores which had been sent to Westham, six miles above Richmond, were ordered to be conveyed to the south side.

One object which Arnold had in view was the capture of Governor Jefferson. That officer left Richmond on the evening of the 4th, tarried a while at Westham to hasten the removal of the stores, and then rode on to join his family at Tuckahoe, eight miles further. Early the next morning he took them across the river to a place of safety, and then rode to Britton's, opposite Westham, and gave further orders respecting the disposition of the stores. Jan. 5, Hastening to Manchester, he arrived there in time to see the invading troops march, 1781. unopposed, into Richmond, at one o'clock.b

When within a few miles of Richmond, Arnold so disposed his troops as to have the ap pearance of twice their actual number. A patrol of the militia who were assembled at Richmond, met them when within four miles of the town, and, hastening back with the intelligence that fifteen hundred British troops were within an hour's march of the place, produced the greatest alarm and confusion. Many of the inhabitants fled into the country, and were afterward followed by the militia themselves, when the enemy entered the town.

Arnold, advised of the weakness of the place, halted at Rockett's, and sent Lieutenantcolonel Simcoe, with the Queen's Rangers, to drive the military from their position

The public buildings were only temporary. The old Capitol in which the Legislature held its sessions was private property, and stood upon the site of the present custom-house.

2 The Americans had a battery on Hood's Point, and when, late in the evening, the enemy anchored, a fire was opened upon them. Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe landed with one hundred and thirty of the Queen's Rangers and the light infantry and grenadiers of the 80th regiment, and made a circuit of about a mile in the dark to surprise the garrison. On approaching the battery it was found to be abandoned, and the fleet suffered no further inconvenience. See Simcoe's Journal, page 161.

3

Simcoe, who accompanied Arnold, says, "General Arnold's force did not amount to 800 men." American writers generally agree that the number was at least 900.

"The bare communication of the fact," says Tucker, in his Life of Jefferson, "that a force of one thousand, or, at most, fifteen hundred men, was able to invade a country containing at that time a population of more than half a million, and fifty thousand enrolled militia, march to its metropolis, destroy all the public, and much private property found there and in its neighborhood, and to leave the country with impunity, is a fact calculated to excite our surprise, and to involve both the people, and those who administered its affairs, in one indiscriminate reproach. But there seems to be little ground for either wonder or censure, when it is recollected that these fifty thousand militia were scattered over a surface of more than as many square miles; that the metropolis which was thus insulted was but a village, containing scarcely eighteen hundred inhabitants, half of whom were slaves; and that the country itself, intersected by several navigable rivers, could not be defended against the sudden incursion of an enemy, whose naval power gave it the entire command of the water, and enabled it to approach within a day's march of the point of attack."

The British at Richmond.

Old City Tavern.

Baron Steuben.

Depredations by British Frigates.

(A A) upon Richmond Hill, near St. John's Church, on the south side of the Shockoe

Creek. He marched up the hill in small detachments, when the militia, after firing a few shots, fled to the woods in the rear. Along the base of the hill, leading into the portion of the town lying in the valley, Simcoe sent his cavalry to surprise the militia there. The latter escaped across the creek to Shockoe Hill, followed by the whole body of the Rangers, and made a stand near the site of the Capitol (B). A large number of spectators were also there, and as the Rangers ascended the hill, they fled to the country, hotly pursued by the enemy's cavalry.

After taking possession of Richmond, Arnold ordered Simcoe to proceed to West

ham, and destroy the cannon-foundery and the magazine there. The trunnions of most of the cannons were broken off; the powder in the magazine which they could not carry away was thrown into the river, and, before night, the foundery was a desolation. The Rangers returned to Richmond, and the whole hostile force quartered in the town during the night.a Arnold and Simcoe made their quarters at the Old City Tavern, yet standing on Main Street, but partially in ruins, when I visited Richmond. Many houses were entered and plundered by the invaders.

They obtained a considerable quantity of rum, and a large portion of them spent the night in drunken revelry.

Jan. 5 1781.

Baron Steuben, who was then collecting the Virginia levies for General Greene's army at the South, was at Colonel Fleming's, in Powhatan county, a few miles from Manchester. Thither Governor Jefferson went to solicit aid. While there, some of the citizens waited on him to tender an offer from Arnold to spare the town, provided British vessels were permitted to come up unmolested, and carry off tobacco from the warehouses. The governor promptly rejected the proposal, and the enemy applied the torch.

OLD CITY TAVERN.

A A is the first

NOTE. This plan represents the invasion of Richmond on the 5th of January, 1781 position of the American militia on Richmond Hill; B, the second position of the military and people on Shockoe Hill; C, the Queen's Rangers marching to the attack; D, the cavalry of the Queen's Rangers; E, Yagers; F, the main body of the British with General Arnold; G, two cannons in battery; H, a fine plantation, opposite the present Rockett's.

This is a frame building, and stands on the northwest corner of Main and Nineteenth streets. A portion of the lower part is yet inhabited (1852). The glass and some of the sashes in the upper story are gone, and the roof is partly decayed and fallen in on the west end. Here Cornwallis and other British of. ficers were quartered at a later period, and beneath its roof the good Washington was once sheltered.

2 British frigates ascended the rivers of Virginia, and levied contributions upon all the tide-water counties. On one of these occasions the Mount Vernon estate was menaced with destruction by Captain Graves, of the Acteon. The manager, Mr. Lund Washington, to save the buildings, complied with the terms, and consented to furnish a supply of provisions. Washington highly disapproved of this proceeding, and, in a letter to his nephew, declared that he would rather have had the buildings destroyed, than saved by such "a pernicious example."

Departure of Arnold from Richmond.

French Fleet in Hampton Roads.

Houdon's Statue of Washington.

Quite a number of public and private buildings, together with a great quantity of tobacco, were burned. The public records had been saved through the vigilance of Jefferson; and Arnold, finding no more plunder or objects on which to pour out his wrath-the ire of a most vindictive heart toward those whom he had foully wronged-withdrew to Westover, and re-embarkeda to proceed to commit other depredations upon the river shores and the coasts of the Virginia bays. On the same day Jefferson returned to Richmond, and quiet was restored.

a Jan. 7.

A large body of militia rapidly rallied around Steuben; and General Nelson also collected another large force lower down on the James River. Arnold was pursued, but succeeded in reaching Portsmouth, opposite Norfolk, where he established his head-quarters. Soon afterward a French sixty-four gun ship (the Eveille), and two large frigates, from Newport, entered the Chesapeake.' Thus menaced by land and water, Arnold resolved to remain at Portsmouth, whither the large French vessels could not follow." The little fleet, after making a few captures, and efforts to ascend the Elizabeth River, returned to Newport, b having been

o Feb. 24, 1781.

days.

absent only fifteen We shall meet Ar

nold again presently.

I passed the day after my arrival at Richmond in visiting and sketching some localities and objects of note within the city. I first went up to the Capitol, where, after loitering an hour in the state library, I copied the fine statue of Washington, by Houdon, a celebrated French sculptor, which stands within an iron railing in the center of the rotunda. It was made in Paris, five years after the close of the Revolution, by order of the Virginia Assembly, under the direction of Mr. Jefferson, who was then minister at the court of Ver

STATUE OF WASHINGTON.

sailles. The statue is of fine white marble, of life size; the costume, the military dress of the Revolution. The right hand of the patriot rests upon a staff, the left is upon the folds of a military cloak covering one end of the fasces, Iwith which is connected the plowshare, the emblem of agriculture, the chief pursuit of the Virginians. The inscription upon the pedestal was written by James Madison, afterward President of the United States. In a small niche near is a marble bust of La Fayette, and in the gallery of the rotunda is a fine full length portrait of Chief-justice Marshall.

From the Capitol I walked to the Monumental Church, a neat edifice of octagon form, belonging to the Protestant Episcopalians. It derives its

1 At the solicitation of Governor Jefferson and of Congress, Luzerne, the French minister, had requested that, if possible, a ship of the line and some frigates might be sent up the Chesapeake to oppose Arnold. It was determined to use every effort to capture the traitor; and, while Steuben was narrowly watching his movements from a nearer point of view, Washington detached La Fayette with twelve hundred men, drawn from the New England and New Jersey lines, to march to Virginia, and co-operate in the double enterprise of defending that state and capturing the renegade. M. de Tilley was detached from Newport, on the 9th of February, with a sixty-four and two frigates, for the Chesapeake. The little squadron of De Tilley captured the Romulus, a British frigate of forty-four guns, and also two privateers, one of eighteen and the other of fourteen guns; sent four prizes to Yorktown, and burned four others. They also captured about five hundred prisoners. Fortunately for Arnold, Admiral Arbuthnot gave him timely warning of the approach of the French vessels, and, as I have mentioned in the text, he escaped up the Elizabeth River. The events at Norfolk and vicinity will be detailed on pages 327 to 332 inclusive.

* The Eveille did not attempt to follow him from Hampton Roads. One of the frigates, the Surveillante, ran aground in endeavoring to ascend the Elizabeth River, and was got off only by taking out her guns and casks of water.

The following is a copy of the inscription:

Mouumental Church.

Destruction of the Richmond Theater.

St. John's Church. Virginia Washington Monument. name from the circumstance that under its portico is a monumental urn, erected to the memory of those who lost their lives when the Richmond theater was burned, on the night of the 26th of December, 1811.' This church was erected upon the site of the destroyed theater. There the late venerable Bishop Moore preached during the whole time of his residence in Richmond; and there I heard the voice of his successor, Bishop Mead, on whom the mantle of his goodness hath fallen.

Crossing the deep valley of the Shockoe upon the broad and lofty causeway just completed, I visited and sketched old St. John's Church (see engraving on next page), upon Richmond Hill, and lingered long among its venerable graves. It is the oldest church in Richmond, and one of the most ancient in the state. The burial-ground which surrounds it is embowered in trees and shrubbery, and from its southern slope there is a noble view of the city and surrounding country. The main portion of the building is the same as it was in the Revolution, the tower alone being modern. On Sunday I sat within its hallowed walls, and, while the voice of the preacher was uttering the eloquence of persuasive piety, predicated upon the apostolic annunciation, “We are embassadors for Christ," and urged his hearers to heed his voice of warning, and join the standard of those who sought the freedom of the Gospel, my thoughts involuntarily glanced back over a period of seventythree years, to the hour when, within that same temple, a the voice of Patrick Henry enunciated those burning words which aroused the Continent to action, "GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR GIVE ME DEATH!" There the people of Virginia assembled in rep

"GEORGE WASHINGTON.“

a March, 1775.

"The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused this statue to be erected, as a monument of affection and gratitude to GEORGE WASHINGTON, who, uniting to the endowments of a HERO the virtues of the PATRIOT, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given the world an immortal example of true glory. Done in the year of CHRIST, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the year of the Commonwealth, the twelfth." On the 22d of February, 1850, the corner-stone of a new and elegant monument, to be erected upon Capitol Square, by order of the Virginia Legislature, was laid with imposing ceremonies. The appropriation made by the Legislature for the purpose was first suggested by the Virginia Historical Society. Crawford, the eminent American sculptor, is now engaged upon the work in Italy. The monument will be composed of a broad base, with flights of steps between pedestals at proper intervals. These pedestals, six in number, will support each a colossal eagle. From this base will arise another for the lofty and elegantly wrought pedestal in the center, designed to support a colossal equestrian statue of Washington. Upon the second base are to be eight small pedestals, supporting the statues of Virginia and Liberty, and of several of the Revolutionary patriots of that state. The grand pedestal will contain, in different parts, appropriate inscriptions, civic wreaths, stars, &c. This is but a meager description of the beautiful design be fore me. It will be an honor not only to Virginia, but to the Republic.

The grand master of the Masonic fraternity laid the corner-stone of the monument, in the presence of President Taylor and his cabinet, the Governor of Virginia, and a large concourse of people. On that occasion, he wore the apron beautifully wrought by the hand of La Fayette's wife, and presented to Washington by the Grand Lodge of France. Both generals were members of the order. The apron is in the possession of Mount Nebo Lodge, No. 91, located at Shepherdstown.* The oration delivered on the occasion was by Robert G. Scott, Esq. It is expected that the monument will be completed in 1855.

1 The audience on that night was uncommonly large, and composed chiefly of the first class of citizens, among whom was the governor of the state, George W. Smith. Some of the scenery was ignited by a chandelier at the back part of the stage, while the most of it was concealed by a drop-curtain. The combustible materials of all the stage arrangements made the flames spread with wonderful rapidity, and before the audience could make their escape by the only door of egress, in the front of the building, the whole wooden edifice was in flames. Some leaped from the windows and were saved; others were thus severely injured; and a large number perished in the flames, or were suffocated by the smoke in the burning building. Sixtysix white persons, and six colored ones, were destroyed. The governor was one of the victims. It was a night of woe in Richmond, and months and even years were required to elapse, before the gloom was entirely dissipated. The funeral obsequies of the dead were performed on the 28th of the month, in the presence of almost the entire population. s Gal., v., 20.

Current traditions at Morristown, New Jersey, assign to that village the honor of having been the place where Washington was first initiated into the secrets of Freemasonry. The records exhibited by the orator on the occasion of laying the corner stone of the Virginia Monument show that he was initiated on the 4th of November, 1752, in Lodge No. 4, in Fredericksbarg, Virginia, when he was not quite twenty-one years of age. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason on the 4th of August, 1753. It is asserted that all of the major generals of the Revolutionary army were master masons, except one; that one was the lost Pleiad"-BENEDICT ARNOLD. It is a mistake. Arnold was a member in good standing in a lodge in Connecticut.

The Constitutional Convention.

1788.

Its Members and their Vote.

Mayo's Bridge.

The "Old Stone House.'

resentative convention to ratify or reject the Federal Constitution, the glorious guaranty of our civil freedom. Patrick Henry was then there, and, filled with ap

prehension lest the new Constitution should destroy state sovereignty and concentrate a fear ful power in the hands of the chief magistrate, he lifted up his eloquent voice against it. There, too, were Madison and Monroe, who both subsequently filled the chair of the chief magistracy of the republic. There was Chancellor Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; Marshall, the eminent chief justice, and the biographer of Washington; Pendleton, one of Virginia's noblest sons, and president of the Constitutional Convention;

Mason, the sage, and personal friend of Washington; Grayson, the accomplished scholar and soldier; Nicholas, an officer of Washington's Life Guard; Edmund Randolph, then governor of the state; Bushrod Washington, a nephew of the general; Innes, the attorney general of the state; the brave Theodoric Bland of the Continental army; Harrison, another signer of the great Declaration, and many other luminaries of less brilliancy. Of the 168 members who voted on the measure in that convention, there was a majority of only two in favor of the Federal Constitution.

Leaving St. John's and its interesting associations, I strolled into the town, and crossed the James River to Manchester, over Mayo's Bridge. On my way I sketched the City Tavern, printed on page 229, and the Old Stone House near it, which was the first

THE STONE HOUSE.

This view is from the burial-ground, looking southwest. The willow seen on the left, leaning by the side of a monument, is a venerable tree. It appears to have been planted by the hand of affection when the monument was reared. In the progress of its growth the trunk has moved the slab at least six inches from its original position. How imperceptible was that daily motion when the sap was flowing, and yet how certain and powerful!

2 This bridge is nearly four hundred yards in length, and spans the James River near the foot of the great rapids. It was built, soon after the close of the Revolution, by Colonel John Mayo, who received a large revenue from the tolls.