Dunmore's Oath. General Excitement. Proceedings of the Assembly. Attempt to Destroy the Magazine. Dunmore's Flight the living God, that if any of his officers, were injured, he would raise the royal standard, enfranchise all the negroes, and, arming them against their masters, lay the city of Williamsburg in ashes. He also issued a proclamationa against "a certain Patrick Henry, a May 6. of the county of Hanover, and a number of deluded followers," and forbade all persons countenancing them in the least. He converted his palace into a garrison, filled it with his adherents, and surrounded it with cannon. The injudicious course of Dunmore, especially his savage threats and the fortifying of his palace, greatly exasperated the people throughout the colony. Six hundred inhabitants of the upper country, full armed, assembled at Fredericksburg, and offered their services to defend the Capitol against the governor. They were restrained from marching to Williamsburg by the prudent advice of Randolph and Pendleton, who begged them to. remain quiet until the Continental Congress should adopt some relative measure.' In every county committees of vigilance and safety were formed, and at public meetings the conduct of Patrick Henry was loudly applauded. Some of Dunmore's letters to ministers were brought to light, and, like Governor Hutchinson on a similar account, he was despised for the meanness which they exhibited. Dunmore unwittingly raised a whirlwind which swept away every vestige of his power. In the midst of the excitement, the governor unexpectedly convened the Assembly.b June 1. His object was to obtain the approbation of the Burgesses for a conciliatory plan proposed by Lord North. That plan was as specious and deceptive as the king's gracious speech against which Patrick Henry had warned them, and the Burgesses rejected it." While the Assembly was in session, some inconsiderate young men attempted to procure arms from the magazine, and one of them was wounded by a spring gun, placed there c June 5. by order of the governor. This event exasperated the people, and a large concourse assembled, broke open the magazine, and took away most of the arms. Leading members of the Burgesses induced them to return them, and the next day the keys of the magazine, by order of the governor, were delivered to the speaker of the House. On examination, several barrels of powder were found under the floor, evidently designed by Dunmore to blow up the magazine. This discovery augmented the excitement, and when, on the seventh,d a rumor prevailed that Captain Collins, of the Magdalen, had slipped her cables, and was coming up the river with one hundred marines in boats, the citizens flew to arms. The report was untrue, but the readiness of the people to seize arms on every occasion of alarm, was a lesson of deep import to Dunmore; and fearing personal violence, he left Williamsburg, with his family, early on the morning of the eighth, and proceeded to Yorktown, where he went on board the Fowey man-of-war. He was the first royal representative who "abdicated government here." d June, 1775. From the Fowey, Lord Dunmore sent letters, messages, and addresses, to the House of Burgesses, and received the same in return. They were mutually spirited. Finally, when the necessary bills were passed, and the House asked him to return to Williamsburg to sign them, at the same time pledging their honor for the safety of his person, he refused, and demanded that they should present themselves at his present residence (the ship-of-war) for signature. Of course they would not comply, for the demand was unwarrantable. . July 18. They then adjournede until October, after having appointed a committee of the delThey held a council on the receipt of this advice, and it was by a majority of only one that they concluded to disperse. They sent forth an address, which was tantamount to a declaration of independence. They pledged themselves to resist by force of arms all tyranny, and by the same to defend the laws, liberties, and rights of Virginia, or any sister colony. The address was sent to the neighboring counties, and read with approval at the head of each company of volunteers. In large letters, at the bottom of the address were the words, GOD SAVE THE LIBERTIES OF AMERICA! 1 * In a letter to Lord Dartmouth, Dunmore charged the colonists with a desire to subvert the government, in order to avoid the payment of heavy sums of money due to merchants in Great Britain. That some unprincipled men were flaming patriots for such a purpose, there is no doubt, but it was the rankest injustice to charge the whole people with such a motive. we viewed it in every 3 "We examined it minutely," said the Burgesses in an address to the governor ; point of light in which we were able to place it, and, with pain and disappointment, we must ultimately declare it only changes the form of oppression, without lightening the burden." Military Preparations. 1 Dunmore at Norfolk. New Government planned. Militia Organized. Great Seal. egates, as a permanent convention, to whom was intrusted the unlimited powers of government. That committee immediately took measures to raise a sufficient armed force to defend the colony. Dunmore's flight, and this act of the people, terminated royal power in Virginia. Early in the autumn, the British fleet, with Dunmore, proceeded to Norfolk, where his lordship established his head-quarters and put his threat of hostility into execution. He unfurled the royal ensign from the Fowey, and proclaimed freedom to all the slaves who should repair to it and bear arms for the king. He also issued a proclamation de- Nov. 7, claring martial law throughout Virginia, and in various ways assumed an attitude of deadly hostility to the colony. The result we shall consider presently. 1775. b 1776. The Virginia committee of safety exercised its delegated powers with industry and energy. Having provided for the military defense of the colony, its attention was directed to a new organization of government. Elections were held throughout the state, and on the sixth of May following,b a general convention of delegates assembled at Williamsburg.' The old House of Burgesses also met on the same day, but as they had not been summoned by a governor, they conceived that they could not act legally, and accordingly dissolved themselves. With that dissolution passed away forever the forms of royal rule in Virginia, and the convention exercised all the functions of government. By resolution, the delegates of Virginia in the Continental Congress, were instructed to propose a total separation from Great Britain.c The convention also appointed a committee to prepare a Declaration of Rights, and a plan of government for the colony. The 1776. c May 15, former was adopted on the twelfth of June, and the latter on the twenty-ninth. On the fifth of July, it was decreed that the name of the king should henceforth be suppressed in all the public prayers, and the Church Liturgy was altered accordingly. It was also ordained that the great seal of the commonwealth should be changed, upon which Virtue should be represented as the tutelar genius of the province, robed in the drapery of an Amazon, resting one hand upon her lance, and holding a naked sword in the other; trampling upon tyranny, under the figure of a prostrate man, having near him a crown fallen from his head, and bearing in one hand a broken chain, and in the other The following-named gentlemen composed the committee of safety. Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, James Mercer, Carter Braxton, William Cabell, and John Tabb. THE CULPEPPER MINUTE MEN LIBERTY The convention appointed Patrick Henry colonel of the first regiment, and "commander of all the forces raised and to be raised for the defense of the colony." He immediately summoned corps of volunteers from various parts of the colony. Three hundred minute-men instantly assembled at Culpepper Court House, and marched for Williamsburg. One third of them were Culpepper men, who adopted a flag with the significant device of a coiled rattle-snake,* seen in the engraving. They were dressed in green hunting shirts, with Henry's words, LIBERTY OR DEATH, in large white letters, on their bosoms. They had bucks' tails in their hats, and in their belts tomahawks and scalping-knives. Their fierce appearance alarmed the people as they marched through the country. They did good service in the battle at the Great Bridge in December following. William Woodford was appointed to the command of the second regiment. Alexander Spottswood was appointed major, and the heroic Captain Bullit, who had distinguished himself at Fort Duquesne, was made adjutant general. OR DEATH DONT TREAD ON ME 3 Edmund Pendleton was chosen president, and John Tazewell, clerk. Patrick Henry, who, to the great regret of the Virginians, had resigned his military commission, was elected a member of the convention for Hanover county, and took his seat on the first day of the meeting. These documents were drawn by George Mason, the friend and associate of Washington. Mr. Jefferson then a member of the Continental Congress, also prepared a constitution and sent it to the Convention. It arrived a day or two after the adoption of Mason's form. The convention prefixed Jefferson's preamble to it, which, in a great degree, resembles the Declaration of Independence.-See Tucker's Life of Jefferson. * This device was upon many flags in the army and navy of the Revolution. The expression "Don't tread on me," had a double signification. It might be said in a supplicating tone, "Don't tread on me;" or menacingly, "Don't tread on me." Officers under the new Government. Declaration of Independence proclaimed at Williamsburg. Freneau's Prophecy a scourge. Over the device was placed the word VIRGINIA; and beneath, Sic semper tyrannis. Thus always to tyrants.' The convention adjourned on the fifth of July, and the government under the new Constitution was established." The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed at Williamsburg on the twenty-fifth of July, amid great rejoicings, and from that time until 1779, when the government offices were removed to Richmond, the old Capitol of the commonwealth for eighty years, was the center of Revolutionary energy in Virginia. Here let us close the chronicle and depart for Yorktown, the scene of the last great triumph of the patriot armies of the Revolution. 1 The device on the reverse of the great seal is a group of three figures. In the center is Liberty, with her wand and cap; on the right side, Ceres, with a cornucopia in one hand, and an ear of wheat in the other; and on her left side, Eternity, holding in one hand the globe on which rests the Phonix. The following-named gentlemen were appointed to fill the respective offices provided for by the Constitution: Patrick Henry, governor; John Page, Dudley Digges, John Taylor, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Charles Carter, and Benjamin Harrison of Brandon, counselors of state; Thomas Whiting, John Hutchings, Champion Travis, Thomas Newton, Jr., and George Webb, commissioners of admiralty; Thomas Everard, and James Cooke, commissioners for settling accounts; and Edmund Randolph, attorney general. The General Assembly of Virginia met at Williamsburg for the first time on the seventeenth of October, 1776. Then commenced her glorious career as a sovereign state of a great and free confederacy. It was a joyful day for her patriot sons; and her sages, scanning the future with the eye of faith and hope, were prone to exclaim, in the words of Freneau, written a year before : "I see, I see Freedom's established reign; cities and men, Ride to Yorktown. William Nelson, Esq. Location and Appearance of Yorktown. Its early Settlement E CHAPTER XII. Again to fair Virginia's coast JOHN TRUMBULL. VENING was approaching when I left Williamsburg for Yorktown, twelve miles distant. It was an exceedingly pleasant afternoon, so mild, that wild flowers peeped cautiously from the hedges, and a wasp and a grasshopper alighted on the splash-board of my wagon, while stopping on the margin of a clear stream. Soon after leaving Williamsburg, the road entered a pine forest ; and all the way to Yorktown these solitudes form the principal feature in the landscape. The country is quite level, and the cultivated clearings are more frequent and extensive than further up toward the Chickahominy. The green foliage of the lofty pines, of the modest holly, and the spreading laurel, made the forest journey less gloomy than it would otherwise have been; for the verdure, the balmy air, and the occasional note of a bird, made me forget that the Christmas holidays were near at hand, and that the mountains of New England were probably white with snow. 1848. I arrived at Yorktown at twilight,a and passed the night at the only inn in the a Dec. 20, place, which is owned by William Nelson, Esq., grandson of Governor Thomas Nelson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. To the kindness and intelligence of that gentleman, I am indebted for much of the pleasure and profit of my visit. there. We supped together upon far-famed York River oysters just brought from their oozy bed, and it was near midnight before we parted company. Mr. Nelson resides in the fine old mansion which belonged to his grandfather, and which yet bears marks of the iron. hail poured upon it during the siege of Yorktown. Early the next morning I strolled over the village. It is situated upon a high bluff of concrete or stone marl, covered with a sandy soil, on the south side of the York River, about eleven miles from its mouth. The peninsula on which the town stands is level, and is embraced upon each side by deep ravines, which almost meet in the rear. The ground is the highest upon either the York or James Rivers, below Richmond. Being the shire town of the county, it contains the public buildings. These, with about forty dwellings, some of them decaying, compose the village, which formerly was one of the most flourishing towns 1 York is one of the original counties into which Virginia was divided in 1634. The village was established by law in 1705, and for a long time vied with Williamsburg, the capital. The average width of the river is here nearly two miles, but is narrowed to a mile opposite Yorktown, by the projecting cape on which Gloucester stands. The latter village was once a thriving place. It had considerable commerce, but, like Yorktown, the depreciation of the surrounding country for agricultural purposes paralyzed its enterprise, and made busy the fingers of decay. Old Church at Yorktown. The Nelson Tombs. Cornwallis's Cave. An Imposition A on the peninsula. It contained about sixty houses at the time of the siege in 1781. fire which occurred in 1814 destroyed much property there, and from that blow the village seems never to have recovered. At that time its old church, built a century and a half be fore, was destroyed; nothing but its stone-marl walls were left standing. In this picturesque condition it remained for thirty years, when it was repaired, and is now used as a place of worship. In the old burial-ground adjoining it are the tombs and monuments of the Nelson family, situated a few yards from the banks of the York. The nearer one in the engraving, which stands over the grave of the first emigrant of the family (who was called "Scotch Tom"), although mutilated, is yet highly ornamental. It is about four feet high, three feet wide, and six feet long. Upon one end are sculptured two angel-heads breaking from the clouds. Over the upper one are the words, "All glory be to God." The one below it is blowing a trumpet. On the other end are two heads, one of which is about receiving a crown. On the side is an heraldic cloth, with the head of an angel at the center of the top; and on the top slab is the Nelson coat of arms, with an appropriate epitaph. This monument is of white marble, and was made in London. The second monument is that of president William Nelson. It is built of brick, with a handsomely wrought and inscribed marble slab on the top. In a vault at the end of the fragment of the brick wall seen beyond the monuments, rest the remains of Governor Nelson, the signer of the Declaration. There is no monument above it, and nothing marks the spot but a rough stone lying among the rank grass. Around these are strewn fragments of the stone mark of the old church wall, beautifully crystallized, and indurated by exposure. The view from this point is very charming, looking out upon the York stretching away toward the broad Chesapeake, and skirted by wo lands and cultivated fields. After breakfast, accompanied by Mr. Nelson in his carriage, I visited the several localities which make Yorktown historically famous. We first descended the river bank and visited the excavation in the marl bluff, known as Cornwallis's Cave. It is square, twelve by eighteen feet in size, with a narrow passage leading to a smaller circular excavation on one side. It is almost directly beneath the termination of the trench and breastworks of the British fortifications, which are yet very prominent upon the bank above. Popular tradition says that this excavation was made by order of Cornwallis, and used by him for the purpose of holding councils with his officers in a place of safety, during the siege. Taking advantage of this tradition, cupidity has placed a door at the entrance, secured it by lock and key, and demands. a Virginia ninepence (12 cents) entrance fee from the curious. I paid the penalty of curiosity, knowing that I was submit CORNWALLIS'S CAVE. This view is from the burial-ground looking down the York River toward Chesapeake Bay. The inscription upon the first monument is in Latin; the following is a translation of it: "Here lies, in certain hope of a resurrection in Christ, THOMAS NELSON, gentleman, son of Hugo and Sarah Nelson, of Penrith, in the county of Cumberland; born February 20th, A.D. 1677, died October 7th, 1745, aged sixty-eight years." The inscription upon the second monument is much longer, and quite eulogistic. William Nelson was president of his majesty's council in Virginia, and died on the nineteenth of November, 1772, at the age of sixtyone years. No epitaph tells of the many virtues and heroic deeds of him who lies in the obscure vault beyond. History has written them upon the enduring pages of the chronicles of our republic; and in this work his biography and portrait may be found among those of the signers of the Declaration of Independence |