James City County, VA - Williamsburg, The Old Colonial Capital; Wm. & Mary Qrtly; Vol. 16, No.1
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Williamsburg -- The Old Colonial Capital
William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 16,
No. 1. (Jul., 1907), pp. 1-65.
Page 1
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE.
QUARTERLY HISTORICAL MAGAZINE.
VOL. XVI JULY, 1907. NO.1
WILLIAMSBURG -- THE OLD COLONIAL CAPITAL.
I. MIDDLE PLANTATION.
For twenty-three years after the landing at Jamestown, the English
settlements in Virginia were confined to the valley of the James and
to the Accomac peninsula. Nevertheless, the need of a colony on
York River, to act as a curb to the Indian tribes, seated on a branch
of the York River, known as Pamunkey River, had long been recognized.
As far back as 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, then governor, in a letter to
the Earl of Salisbury, recommended the establishment of a fortified
settlement at Chickiack, some twenty miles from Point Comfort. But
probably on account of the peace concluded in 1616 with the Indians
by Dale, nothing was immediately done in furtherance of the suggestion.
Chiskiack attracted attention again after the appalling massacre of
1622, when, of the settlers in Martin's Hundred, situated opposite on
the James, seventy-three were slain, and the plantation there was so
alarmed and weakened that it was temporarily abandoned. Then, in
1623, Governor Wyatt and his council wrote to Earl of Southampton
that they had under consideration a plan of "winning the forest" by
running a pale between the James and York from Martin's Hundred to
Chiskiack.
In March, 1624, when the royal commissioners, sent over by the king
to report upon the colony, enquired of the authorities in Virginia
"what places in the country are best and most proper to be fortified
or maintained," their reply was that "the running of a pale from
Martin's Hundred to Chiskiack, which is not above five miles, and
planting upon both rivers, would be the best means to protect the
Colony."
In 1626, Samuel Mathews, of Denbigh, and William Clai-
Page 2.
borne, of Kecoughtan, offered to build the palisades, and construct
houses, at short intervals, between Martin's Hundred and Chiskiack.
They placed the whole cost at L1,200 sterling, and the annual expense
of maintaining the work at L100. As a condition of their contract,
they required that a grant be made to them of six score yards, on
both sides of the palisades.(1) While it is not believed that the
offer was accepted, the general assembly, in February, 1630, upon the
arrival of Sir John Harvey as governor, passed an act to send and
maintain a company of men to plant corn at Chiskiack.
At a meeting held at Jamestown, October 8, 1630, Sir John Harvey
and his Council, "for the securing and taking in a tract of land
called the forest, bordering upon the cheife residence of ye
Pamunkey King, the most dangerous head of ye Indyan enemy," did
"after much consultation thereof had, decree and sett down several
proportions of land for such commanders, and fifty acres per poll for
all other persons who ye first yeare and five and twenty acres who
the second yeare, should adventure or be adventured to seate and
inhabit on the southern side of Pamunkey River, now called York, and
formerly known by the Indyan name of Chiskiack, as a reward and
encouragement for this their undertaking."
Under this order houses were built on both sides of King's Creek,
and extended rapidly up and down the south side of York River. During
the very next year after Chiskiack was settled, William Claiborne,
with one hundred men, settled Kent Island, 150 miles up Chesapeake
Bay from Jamestown, and at the general assembly which met at Jamestown,
February, 1632, Captain Nicholas Martian took his seat as the
representative of "Kiskyacke" and the Isle of Kent. By September,
1632, population on the south side of the York River had become
considerable enough to claim two representatives in the assembly. The
region on the York was divided into two plantations -- one retaining
the old name, Chiskiack, and the other styled "York," settled by Sir
John Harvey at the mouth of Wormeley's creek, about three miles
below the present Yorktown.
_____________________________________________________________
(1) Bruce, Economic History of Virginia, I., 300.
Page 3.
The plan of running a palisade across he Peninsula was no longer
deferred, and Dr. John Pott blazed the way by obtaining, July 12,
1632, a patent for 1,200 acres at the head of Archer's Hope Creek,
midway between Chiskiack and James River. September 4, 1632, the
general assembly directed that the encouragement of land offered two
years before to inhabitants at Chiskiack, should be granted to all
persons settling between Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek. Then
in February, 1633, it was enacted that a fortieth part of the men in
"the compasse of the forest" east of Archer's Hope and Queen's Creek
to Chesapeake Bay should be present "before the first day of March
next" at Dr. John Pott's plantation, "newlie built," to erect houses
and secure the land in that quarter. Under this encouragement,
palisades, six miles in length, were run from creek to creek, and, on
the ridge between, a settlement called Middle Plantation, (afterwards
Williamsburg), was made. Sir John Harvey's enterprise is described (2)
in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from
Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge.
When the Governor came first hither, he found James River only
inhabited and one plantation on the eastern side of the Bay, but now
he hath settled divers good plantations upon another river which lieth
northerly from James River and hath caused a strong palisade to be
builded upon a streight between both rivers and caused houses to be
built in several places upon the same, and hath placed a sufficient
force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of
Virginia have a range for their cattle, near fortie miles in length
and in most places twelve miles broade. The pallisades is very neare
six miles long, bounded in by two large Creekes. He hath an intention
in this manner to take also in all the grounde between those two
Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work
is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country and of no
extreame difficulty in case he may be countenanced from England in his
good endeavours by the State of England and assisted by the inhabitants
heere, who for the present are very destitute of all manner of Arms and
munitions for the defence of the country.
Dr. John Pott, who received the first patent for land at
________________________________________________________________
(2) Massachusetts Hist. Society Coll., ix (fourth series), III.
Page 4.
Middle Plantation, was a skilful physician, and doubtless recognized
the sanitary advantages of the country around. As the ridge between
the creeks was remarkably well drained, there were few mosquitoes and
but little malaria, and the deep ravines penetrating from the north
and south made the place of much strategic value. The only possible
road down the Peninsula is over this ridge, and this road is easily
defended.
Not much is known of the early years of the settlement beyond the
fact that it was kept walled in with strong palisades, and served as
a place of refuge from Indian attack.
In 1639, Middle Plantation was commanded by Lieutenant Richard
Popeley, who patented 1,250 acres west of the palisades. He was
born in 1598 in the parish of Wooley, Yorkshire, England, and in
1620, came in the Bona Nova to Virginia, where, in 1624, he was living
at Elizabeth City. Though of little book education, Popeley won a
high position in the colony by his valor and decision; and upon the
request of the governor the council gave him, in 1627, 1500 pounds of
tobacco, "he being a man, that both heretofore and is still ready to do
good service to the colony." When Claiborne made his settlement at
Kent Island in 1631, Popeley, who at the time was living near
Claiborne's house at Elizabeth City, was one of his company of a
hundred men; and a small island, now called Poplar Island, near Kent
Island, was honored with his name.(3) In 1637, he was again residing
at Elizabeth City; but in 1639 he was captain at Middle Plantation,
where he died before 1643, leaving a widow, but no children to lament
his loss.
On April 27, 1644, occurred the second Indian massacre, and in
consequence Captain Robert Higginson was directed, in 1646, to run a
new pale at the settlement, as the old was out of repair. In June of
that year the court of York County entered an order, referring the
difference between Captain Robert Higginson and one John Wethersford
to the next court,"in regard ye dangerousness of the tyme will not
permitt him (i.e. Higginson) to leave the charge and Care of his
underkinge
_________________________________________________________________
(3) Maryland Archives, v. 225.
Page 5.
at the Middle Plantation pale this prsent Court." And on October 26,
certain persons living at the lower end of York Parish were ordered
to pay each 35 pounds of tobacco to Captain Higginson for "not sending
up a man to the Middle Plantation for that genrall worke in setting
up a pale there according to former order."
Captain Higginson was the son of Thomas Higginson, of London, and
was a man of importance. It is recited in a grant for 100 acres at
Middle Plantation, that it was allowed him "for some certain service
by him performed to the Country Anno. 1646." It is, moreover, stated
on Lucy Burwell's tombstone in Gloucester County, that she was the
daughter of "the gallant Captain Robert Higginson, of the ancient
family of the Higginsons, one of the first commanders that subdued
the country of Virginia from the power of the heathen."
From the records in the land office in Richmond, and the deed and
will books of Yorktown, we learn the names of some of the first
residents of Middle Plantation.
Among them was John Clerke, or Clark, nephew of Sir John Clerke,
of Wrotham, in Kent County, England, of whom there is a long pedigree
in the "Visitation of 1621." He purchased 850 acres from Lieutenant
Popeley, but died in 1646, without any heirs in Virginia. Two other
settlers were Edward Wyatt and his brother, George, sons of Rev. Hawte
Wyatt, minister of Jamestown, and nephews of Sir Francis Wyatt,
governor of Virginia in 1621-1626, and again in 1639-1642. Stephen
Hamlin had 400 acres at the head of Queen's Creek adjoining the land of
Lieutenant Popeley, while George Lake had 250 acres at the head of
Archer's Hope Creek, adjoining another portion of Popeley's land.
Southwest upon George Lake, northeast upon Captain Popeley's land,
and southeast upon the palisades, Henry Tyler, ancestor of President
John Tyler, patented 254 acres, occupying the present site of the
"Mattey School" of William and Mary College, and extending westward so
as to take in the property called "Northington," lately owned by
Judge R. L. Henley, now deceased.
Page 6.
In 1643, Richard Kempe, Secretary of State, patented 4,332 acres
on both sides of Archer's Hope Creek, consisting of several former
grants, viz.: 1,200 acres called "Rich Neck," formerly the property
of George Menifie, Esq., situated on the west side of the creek, and
four tracts adjoining, of 100, 840, 2,192 and 500 acres respectively.
The whole is described as partly on the east and partly on the west
of the creek, bounded "East-south-east upon the said creek and the
palisades, north-east-by-east and South east-by-east upon George
Lake's Land, north upon the horse path, north-west-by-north upon the
branches of Powhatan swamp, and South upon the Secretarie's Land,"(4)
In the Virginia Historical Society rooms is preserved a plat of this
land, which shows a portion of the palisades making up from Archer's
Hope Creek, as also the horse path along the ridge, where, at present,
runs Duke of Gloucester Street. About 1660, this property, which
comprised the present college land, passed to Thomas Ludwell, Esq.,
one of Kempe's successors in the secretary's office. He lived at
"Rich Neck", where some old brick tiles mark the site of his habitation.
In 1644, Henry Brooke, merchant of London, purchased from Captain
Popeley 500 acres, which, in 1646, he sold to Nicholas Brooke, Jr.,
who, in 1649, conveyed the land to his father, Nicholas Brooke, Sr.,
which last, in 1652, sold 200 acres to Sam'l Fenn, of Martin's
Hundred, describing it as beginning "att the creek upon the old
pallasadoes, for length unto the land of Captain Robert Hickenson
(Higginson) claimed, and for breadth unto the forrest."
After the restoration of Charles II., in 1660, we find resident at
Middle Plantation such men as Peter Efford, whose daughter Sarah
married Major Samuel Weldon; Otho Thorpe, who was of the same family
as George Thorpe, massacred by the Indians in 1622; Colonel John Page,
who ws founder of the distinguished Page family of Virginia; and
James Bray, a prominent merchant and later member of the council.
In Bacon's Rebellion, which happened in 1676, Middle Plantation
figured next to Jamestown as the theatre of politics.
________________________________________________________________
(4) The "Secretarie's Land," comprised 600 acres on Archer's
Hope Creek, between Jockey's Neck and Archer's Hope.
Page 7.
Here, on August 3, at the house of Major Otho Thorpe, Bacon held a
convention of the leading men, including four councillors. Under the
inspiration of his presence, resolutions were adopted, breathing the
love of liberty, which characterized the work of the patriots in
Williamsburg a hundred years later. The people pledged themselves to
resist Sr. William Berkeley to the utmost, and even to oppose any
force sent out from England. "Five hundred Virginians," said Bacon,
"might beat two thousand Red Coats!"
After Bacon's death and the suppression of his followers, Middle
Plantation was the scene of the execution of William Drummond, whom
Berkeley was inclined to believe "the original cause of the whole
Rebellion." On January 17, 1677, Berkeley, after an enforced absence
on the Eastern Shore of about four months, landed at Colonel Nathaniel
Bacon's residence at King's Creek, York River. Here he was presented
by some of his solderis with the distinguished prisoner, captured not
long before in the recesses of Chickahominy Swamp.
When Drummond was brought before him, Berkeley said with much
unction: "Mr. Drummond, I am more glad to see you than any man in
Virginia; you shall hang in half an hour." Drummond was made to walk
to Middle Plantation, about eight miles distant, and tried before a
drum-head court-martial, the next day, at the house of James Bray,
Esq., under circumstances of great brutality. He was not permitted to
answer for himself; his wife's ring was torn from his finger; he was
stripped before conviction, was sentenced at one o'clock and hanged
at four. Drummond was an educated Scotchman of good family, who had
served as a sheriff and burgess for James City County, and as first
governor of North Carolina. He lived near Greenspring, and had
quarreled with Berkeley over some land. In the beginning of the
difficulties he was told that Berkeley had "put a brand" upon him; and
his reply(5) was: "I am in overshoes, I will be over boots." The same
day on which Drummond was executed at Middle Plantation another rebel,
a Frenchman, called Jean Baptista, was also hanged there. Not
__________________________________________________________________
(5) Force, Tracts, I., No. ix. 23.
Page 8.
long afterwards, the expected regiment from England arrived in the
colony, but found the rebellion suppressed; and the soliers, after
spending the winter among the ruined tenements at Jamestown, took up
their quarters, in the spring, at Middle Plantation. They were under
the command of Colonel Herbert Jeffryes, who held a commission to
succeed Berkeley as governor, and was joined with two other persons --
Sir John Berry and Colonel Francis Moryson -- in a commission to
investigate the causes and history of the rebellion.
Succeeding Berkeley's departure for England, on May 5, 1677,
Governor Jeffryes invited the werowances of the neighboring Indian
tribes to his camp May 29, 1677, King Charles II.'s birthday, to treat
about a lasting peace. On this day there were present the queen of
Pamunkey, her son, Captain John West(6), the queen of Weyanoke, the
king of the Nottoways, and the king of the Nansemonds. By the articles
which they all signed, the Indian prices agreed to live in due
submission to the English people, and, as a guarantee of good treatment,
Jeffryes presented to each of them a coronet or frontlet adorned
with false jewels. One of the frontlets, presented to the queen of
Pamunkey, is now the property of the Virginia Historical Society.
The Middle Plantation must have presented a picturesque scene on
this occasion. There were old residents, full of excitement over the
situation, looking with equal curiosity upon the Indians and the red
coats. Each werowance was attended by a retinue of chiefs, resplendent
in beads and feathers. The troops, numbering in all 1,094 men, were
clothed in new uniforms; and, as they paraded, each of the five
companies carried two flags with a coat-of-arms. The flags borne by
Colonel Jeffryes' particular company carried "a crowned lion passant,
upon the crown;" those of Captain John Mutlow's company, "the ground
blue, with a red cross in a white field;" those of Captain Edward
Picks' company, "the royal oak crowned;" those of Captain Charles
Middleton's company, "white waved with lemon, equally mixed, with a
red cross quite through, with J. D. Y. (James, Duke of York) in
____________________________________________________________________
(6) A half-breed, the reputed son of "an English colonel."
Page 9.
cipher, in gold;" and those of Captain William Meole's company, "the
ground green, with a red cross in a white field."(7)
As the state house and all other buildings at Jamestown were
destroyed by Bacon, the first general assembly summoned after the
suppression of Bacon's Rebellion was held, in February, 1677, at
Berkeley's residence, "Greensping," but in the succeeding October,
the assembly met at Major Othe Thorpe's house in Middle Plantation.
Among the laws made at the latter session was one which may be
commended to our own times. A fine of 400 pounds of tobacco was
imposed upon any person, who, by the use of such provoking terms as
"traitor," "rogue," or "rebel," should "renew the breaches, quarrels
and heart-burning among us," and delay the restoration of the colony
to its "former condition of peace and love." The growing importance
of Middle Plantation was shown by a petition from some inhabitants
of York County that the place be recommended to the king as the seat
of the government. But the commissioners were not willing to abandon
Jamestown; and, on April 25, the general assembly resumed its sittings
at the country's ancient capital, and steps were taken to rebuild the
state house on the old walls.
On March 6, 1679, died at Middle Plantation, Hon. Daniel Parke, who
succeeded Thomas Ludwell as secretary of the colony. He was born in
Essex County, England, and his wife was Rebecca, daughter of George
Evelyn, of the county of Surry. He was ancestor of Daniel Parke
Custis, first husband of Mrs. George Washington, and was buried in
the church, on the walls of which was placed a beautiful table to his
memory.
Middle Plantation had, in 1674, been included in a parish called
Bruton, and Rev. Rowland Jones, of Burford, in Oxfordshire, was the
first minister. In 1683, a handsome brick church, costing L800
sterling, was erected on the horse path "in Middle Plantation old
fields," to take the place of the wooden churches hitherto used. Then,
in 1688, the minister of the parish died and was interred in the church
yard. As Daniel Parke was the ancestor of Mrs. Washington's first
husband,
_____________________________________________________________________
(7) Calendar State Papers, Colonial (1675-1676), 1112.
Page 10.
so Rev. Rowland Jones was the ancestor of Mrs. Washington herself.
Some others of the old denizens of Middle Plantation died not long
after: James Bray, of the council, in 1691; John Page, also of the
council, in 1692; and Major Otho Thorpe, in 1693.
In October of the latter year (1693) an act of assembly designated
the Middle Plantation as the site for the proposed "free school and
college" of William and Mary. "Townsend's land" on the bluff west of
Yorktown had been first thought of, but the assembly declared the
Middle Plantation to be "the most convenient proper for that design,"
which was now ordered to be built "as neare the church now standing
in Middle Plantation old fields as convenience will permit."
II. COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG.
In October, 1698, the state house at Jamestown fell again a victim
of flames, and Governor Francis Nicholson(8) carried out the idea
formerly suggested, and made Middle Plantation the seat of government.
The assembly approved, declaring that Middle Plantation "hath been
found by constant experience to be healthy and agreeable to the
constitution of the inhabitants of this his majesty's colony and
dominion having the natural advantages of a serene and temperate air,
dry and champagne land, and plentifully stored with wholesome springs
and the convenience of two navigable and pleasant creeks that run out
of James and York Rivers necessary for supplying the place with
provisions and other things of necessity." Rev. Hugh Jones states
that Middle Plantation's exemption from
___________________________________________________________________
(8) Francis Nicholson was born in 1660; received an ensign's
commission in the army June 9, 1678; made lieutenant May 6, 1684;
lieutenant-governor of Virginia 1690; January, 1694, governor of
Maryland; in 1698 returned to Virginia and remained there until 1705;
in 1713 was made governor of Acadia, and in 1719 governor of South
Carolina. He was knighted in 1720, returned to England in June,
1725, and died in London, March 5, 1728. By his will he left all his
land in New England, Maryland and Virginia to the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, and to educate in England
young New England ministers, to be sent back to their native country.
Page 11.
mosquitoes, which very much troubled the dwellers at Jamestown, was
another reason operating with the governor and assembly in favor of
the removal.
The place was now newly named Williamsburg, after the reigning
monarch, King William, and the first survey was made by Thoedorick
Bland. Two ports, each about a mile distant from the town, were laid
out -- one called Princess Anne Port on Archer's Hope or College
Creek, about five miles from James River, and the other called Queen
Mary's Port on Queen's Creek, about the same distance from York River.
The body of the town occupied 220 acres; Princess Anne Port 23 acres,
37 1/2 poles, and Queen Mary's Port 14 acres, 71 1/4 poles. So that
the whole area of the town and ports, (including the two roads leading
to the latter embracing 25 acres, 86 3/4 poles) was 283 acres, 35 1/2
poles. The main street (called in 1705, Duke of Gloucester Street,
in honor of Queen Anne's eldest son) followed partially the course of
the old Middle Plantation horse path, and was 99 feet wide and seven-
eigths of a mile long from the college to the east end of town, where
the capitol building afterwards was placed.
Governor Nicholson at first entertained the fanciful idea of laying
out the town in the shape of a cipher, representing W. & M., but he
changed his view, because of its inconvenience, though there is still
a suggestion of these letters in the make-up of the eastern and
western ends. Duke of Gloucester Street was flanked by two streets,
which, taken together, made the founder's name, "Francis" (the street
on the south,) and "Nicholson" (the street on the north). South of
Francis Street was a parallel street, called Ireland Street, and
north of Francis street was a parallel street, called Scotland street.
In the center of the town was a market square, through which ran
England Street, at right angles to Duke of Gloucester Street. The
other original cross streets were Nassau, King, Palace and Queen
Streets. Botetourt, Henry and Colonial appear to have been, from
their names, of later origin. The directors who had charge of the
building of the town were Governor Francis Nicholson, Edmund Jenings,
Esq., of the council, Philip Lud-
Page 12
well and Thomas Ballard, of the house of busgeses; and Lewis Burwell,
Philip Ludwell, Junior, John Page, Henry Tyler, James Whaley and
Benjamin Harrison, Junior, gentlemen. The ground was apportioned
into half-acre lots, and one of the conditions of purchase was that
no house should be built within six feet of the main street.
In a short time there arose at the Middle Plantation, under the
fostering care of Governor Nicholson, a brick capitol (the first in
the United States, so called), and a brick prison; and, to make the
street (Duke of Gloucester) from the college to these buildings
perfectly straight, it was ordered that the four old houses and oven
of Mr. John Page (nephew of Colonel John Page) standing in the way
should be pulled down and removed.
Nicholson did not remain in the colony long after this. He became
infatuated with a young daughter(9) of Major Lewis Burwell, of King's
Creek, and not finding his advances encouraged, he conceived the wildest
jealousies against Dr. Archibald Blair, brother of the president of the
college, and other prominent people in the colony. He often swore that
if Miss Burwell married any other than himself he could cut the throats
of three persons -- "the bridegroom, the minister who should perform
the ceremony, and the justice who should give the license." The
majority of the council -- Robert Carter, Dr. James Blair, John
Lightfoot, Matthew Page, Benjamin Harrison and Philip Ludwell -- all
connected with one another, so Nicholson charged, by blood or marriage,
united in an address to Queen Ann, and he was recalled to England.
And yet, despite his hot, peppery ways, Nicholson was no ordinary
chief magistrate. While governor of Virginia, he did much to promote
the college, gave money to a free school in Yorktown, and was the founder
of Williamsburg; and while governor of Maryland, he founded, at Annapolis,
King William's School (now St. John's College.)
He was succeeded as lieutenant-governor by Edward Nott,
__________________________________________________________________
(9) Martha Burwell, who later married Colonel Henry Armistead of
"Hesse," in Gloucester County, son of William Armistead, of Eastmost
River.
Page 13.
who, wiser than Nicholson, took care not to offend his council, and was,
therefore, very popular; but he died only two years after his arrival.
Three important events are identified with his administration: The
burning of the college, in October, 1705; the passage of an act, during
the same month and year, for the building of a governor's house or
palace; and the founding, in 1706, by Mrs. Mary Whaley, of Mattey's free
school, which was built on the road leading to Queen's Creek, not far
from the bridge over the Chesapeak and Ohio Railroad track. Upon the
sudden demise of Nott, the general assembly erected over his remains in
Bruton churchyard, a handsome box-shaped monument, which is still
standing. He was succeeded at the head of government by the president
of the council, Edmund Jenings, (son of Sir Edmund Jenings, of
Yorkshire, England), who acted as governor for four years. He, of course,
spent most of his time in Williamsburg, but had his country residence
at Ripon Hall, on York River, about six miles away.
In 1710, Alexander Spotswood(10) arrived as lieutenant-governor, and,
being a man of great energy, bestowed much attention upon Williamsburg
during his administration of twelve
____________________________________________________________________
(10) Alexander Spotswood was great-grandson of John Spotswood, of
Spotiswood, Scotland, who in 1635 became Archbishop of Glasgow, and
one of the Privy Council. His grandfather, Sir Robert Spotswood,
president of the Court of Sessions, was a distinguished author, and was
executed by parliament January 17, 1746. His father, Dr. Robert
Spotswood, married a widow, Catherine Elliott, who had by her first
husband, a son, General Elliott, whose portrait is now in the State
Library, at Richmond, Va. Alexander Spotswood, only child of Robert
and Catherine Spotswood, was born in 1676 at Tangier, while his father
was surgeon to the governor of the island. He fought under Marlborough,
and served as quartermaster-general with the rank of colonel, He was
dangerously wounded in the breast at the battle of Blenheim. He
brought to Virginia a confirmation of the writ of habeas corpus; his
farm in Spotsylvania County, where he engaged in the manufacture of
iron; in 1720 deputy postmaster-general of America; appointed in 1740
major-general of an expedition against Carthagena, but died before
the embarkation, at Annapolis, June 7, 1740, where he was probably
buried. He left descendants in Virginia.
Page 14.
years. He caused several ugly ravines that ran across the main street
to be filled up, and thus made one level way from college to capitol.
He assisted in rebuilding the church, and provided some of the brick.
He built a brick magazine for the safe-keeping of the public ammunition,
and completed the governor's house, which Nott had begun. Finally, he
assisted in rebuilding the college, and was a patron of the first
American theatre erected in Williamsburg. In addition to these
building, which were pronounced at the time, by Rev. Hugh Jones, as the
best then in British America, there were also a few private houses of
brick, which presented quite a handsome appearance, and were inhabited
by some very good families, who nearly all had their coach, chariot,
berlin, or chaise. The stores in town were furnished with the best
provisions and liquors, and the ordinaries afforded good accommodations
to travellers and visitors. However, the generality of the private
buildings were very ordinary structures of timber, of a story and a
half high, painted white, and they afforded a rather startling contrast
to the "well-dressed, compleat gentlemen and ladies" inhabiting them.
We are told that, at the governor's house, on birth-nights, balls and
assemblies, the scene presented was equal to anything outside the court
circles in England.
The great lawyers resident in Williamsburg were the attorney-
general, John Clayton, William Robertson, William Hopkins, John
Holloway, and John Randolph. The leading physicians were William
Cocke, the secretary of state, Archibald Blair, Lewis Contesse, John
Serjanton, Robert Innis, and John Brown. Among the inn-keepers, the
most prominent were Mrs. Mary Luke, widow of John Luke, formerly
collector of the customs for the lower district of James River; Gabriel
Maupin and Jean Marot -- the last two being Huguenot settlers, who
came with other Frenchmen to Virginia in 1700. Other residents were
Colonel Nathaniel Harrison, Richard Bland, Francis Tyler, Dr. George
Allen, John Tyler, Christopher de Graffenreidt, Gawin Corbin, Graves
Pack, William Robertson, Francis Sharpe, Benjamin Harrison, and
John James Flournoy.
Page 15.
Williamsburg now began to assume an air of more than local
importance. Ultimate American independence grew out of the conflict
between France and England for mastery of the west, and Spotswood was
singularly active in asserting the English title and in resisting the
encroachment of the French and Indians. In 1716, he led from Williams-
burg to the valley of the Shenandoah an expedition which blended
romance with politics. Upon his return to Williamsburg, he presented
every one of his company with a golden horse-shoe, bearing the in-
scription Sic Juvat Transcendere Montes, and some of them are said to
have been covered with valuable stones, representing heads of nails.
As the college was obliged, by its charter, to pay two copies of
Latin verses to the governor every fifth of November, as quit rent for
its lands, Rev. Arthur Blackamore, professor of the grammor or classical
school, sang the praises of this "Utra Montane Expedition" in classic
lines, which he presented to the governor.
Among other incidents connecting Spotswood's name with Williamsburg,
was the trial in general court, over which he presided, and the sub-
sequent execution at Williamsburg, of some pirates, associates of the
famous Black Beard, otherwise called Captain Teach. This ruffian, who
had been a terror to the coasts, was surprised in Pamlico Sound, in
North Carolina, in 1718, by some sloops sent out by Spotswood, and in
a hand-to-hand fight, was killed by Captain Henry Maynard, who
commanded the expedition. Such of the crew as were captured were
taken to Williamsburg, tried, and, after conviction, were hanged on
the road leading to Queen Mary's Port (Capitol landing). For this
reason, the road is still sometimes, called "Gallows Road," though it
is now more generally known as the Lovers' Lane, because of its
affording a promenade for the young people of Williamsburg.
In 1720, died the secretary of state, Dr. William Cocke, born in
Sudbury, Suffolk County, England and educated at Queen's College,
Cambridge. His wife, Elizabeth, was the sister of the celebrated
naturalist, Mark Catesby, whose work
Page 16.
on the ornithology of America is still greatly admired. Dr. Cocke's
tablet in Bruton Church reads as follows:
His Honorable friend, Alexander Spotswood, Esq., then Governor,
with the principal gentlemen of the country, attended his funeral
and, weeping, saw the corpse interred at the west side of the
altar, in Bruton Church.
In the year of Spotswood's administration (1722), the town of
Williamsburg was made, by order of the colonial council, "a city
incorporate," and given all the rights and privileges usually
incident to cities. By the charter, John Holloway, the eminent lawyer,
became the first mayor; John Clayton, the first recorder; and John
Randolph, John Custis, James Bray, Archibald Blair, William Robertson,
and Thomas Jones, the first aldermen. The mayor, recorder and
aldermen were empowered to choose from the free inhabitants twelve
persons as a common council, and to fill all vacancies which should
occur in their number; and the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common
council constituted the city hall, which was vested with the power
of making city ordinances and regulations. The members of the two
chambers were to hold office during good behavior, but the mayor and
the recorder were elected annually by the city hall out of the aldermen;
and vacancies among the aldermen were supplied by the associated bodies
out of the common council. The charter gave the city authorities the
right to hold markets on Wednesday and Saturday of every week, and two
annual fairs -- on the 12th of December and the 23rd day of April in
each year. A hustings court, composed of the mayor and aldermen, was
to be held monthly, and the city was empowered to send to the house of
burgesses one delegate, who, if a resident, was required to have a
visible estate of two hundres pounds sterling, and, if not a resident,
one of five hundred pounds sterling. It is thus seen that the
government of Williamsburg originally was not very democratic in its
administration, but it was not more aristocratic than towns in England.
Hugh Drysdale succeeded Spotswood as governor, and, after his death,
in 1726, Colonel Robert Carter as president of the council assumed
the government. After little more than a
Page 17.
year, Carter, in turn, gave way to William Gooch, Esq.,(11) who had
been an officer in the British army. Gooch made himself very popular
with the Virginians; and, outside of the ordinary vicissitudes, things
went along very prosperously during his time.
In 1734 died John Holloway, first mayor of Williamsburg, who, for
thirty years, had practiced law with great reputation and success. He
was fourteen years speaker of the house of burgesses, and for eleven
years treasurer of the colony. The same year his rival at the bar,
William Hopkins, died in London.
In 1728, William Parks, of Annapolis, Maryland, opened his printing
office on Duke of Gloucester Street, and on Friday, August 6, 1736, he
issued the first number of a weekly called the Virginia Gazette.
In March, 1737, died in Williamsburg, Hon. Sir John Randolph,
speaker of the house of burgesses, treasurer of the colony, and
representative in the assembly for the college. His funeral oration,
in Latin, was pronounced by Rev. William Dawson, a professor in the
college, and he was, at his own request, carried to his resting-place
in the college chapel by six honest, industrious poor house-keepers of
Bruton Parish, who had twenty pounds divided among them. Peyton
Randolph, afterwards first president of the continental congress, and
John Randolph, who lived to be the most distinguished lawyer in the
colony, were his sons. Sir John Randolph was succeeded in the offices
of treasurer and speaker by John Robinson, Jr., of King and Queen
County.
In November of the same year died another great lawyer,
____________________________________________________________________
(11) William Gooch was born at Yarmouth, England, October 21, 1681.
He was nephew of William Gooch, whose tombstone is in the old church-
yard at Temple Farm. He served under Marlborough and in the Rebellion
of 1715. He arrived in Virginia October 13, 1727; in 1740 was
commander of the ill-fated expedition against Carthagena; in 1746 was
made a baronet, and later a major-general; he returned to England
in 1749, leaving John Robinson as acting Governor; he died December
17, 1751. He married Rebecca Stanton, and had only one son, William
Gooch, who married Eleanor Bowles, but he left no issue.
Page 18.
John Clayton, Esq., (son of Sir John Clayton, of London), who had been
attorney-general of the colony, frequently a member of the house of
burgesses, and judge of the admiralty court since 1714. His son, John
Clayton, was a celebrated botanist, who wrote Flora Virginica, and
kept a botanical garden at "Windsor," his home on the Pianketank.
In 1740, troops for the first time were transported from Virginia
to co-operate with the forces of the mother country in an offensive
war. England fell out with Spain, and Spotswood was made general of
an expedition against Carthagena in Central America. Preparatory to
setting out to Annapolis, whence he expected to embark, he visited
Williamsburg, and while sojourning at the Brafferton building at the
college, he made his will, devising his books and mathematical in-
struments to the institution. He died soon after at Annapolis, and
Colonel Gooch was appointed chief in his place, with Lawrence Washington,
half-brother of George Washington, as second in command. The
expedition proved a dismal failure, and Gooch returned to Williamsburg
without any military glory.
During his absence, which was from June, 1740, to July 1741, Dr.
James Blair, president of the college, acted as chief executive. He
died in 1743, after a ministry of fifty-eight years, and after having
served fifty-four years as commissary to the Bishop of London, and
fifty years as president of the college.
The same year died Edward Barradall, an eminent lawyer, who
succeeded Clayton both as attorney-general and as judge of the
admiralty court. He was buried in the churchyard of Bruton church,
under a splendid marble monument, which has a long Latin epitaph,
celebrating his worth. He compiled the first reports of law causes
in the general court, before which he practiced with much success.
In 1744, William Parks erected a paper mill on a branch of Archer's
Hope Creek behind the present hospital for the insane, and some verses
were printed in the Virginia Gazette to celebrate the enterprise of
the editor, who thus published his news on paper made in the colony.(12)
_________________________________________________________________
(12) Virginia Magazine VII., 442.
Page 19.
In 1746, the capitol accidentally caught fire and was burned down,
and thereupon an effort was made to change the seat of government to
Pamunkey River, but it did not prove successful, and a law was passed
in 1748, to restore the capitol on the same site.
In May, 1746, the assembly appropriated four thousand pounds to the
raising of Virginia's quota of troops for an invasion of Canada. They
sailed from Hampton in June; but the expedition, like that against
Carthagena, proved a failure. Governor Gooch, who was offered the
command and declined, was made a baronet during the year, and in 1747
a major-general. At length, in 1749, after a long and popular
administration, he retired to England with his wife, the Lady Rebecca
(Stanton) Gooch, where he died December 17, 1751. His widow, who
survived him till the year 1775, left, at her decease, to the college
a silver gilt cup and patten, which are now in the possession of the
authorities of Bruton church, in Williamsburg.
After his departure, there was an interval of two years, during which
John Robinson, Thomas Lee and Lewis Burwell, as presidents of the
council, acted as deputy-governors, and in this time steps were taken
towards rebuilding and enlarging the palace. On October 15, 1751,
Governor Ogle, of Maryland, visited the town, and on November 20th,
Robert Dinwiddie(13) arrived at Yorktown with a commission as
lieutenant-governor. He was an able man, had been collector of customs
in Bermuda, where he exposed an enormous defalcation in the collections,
and for his service, it is said, he was promoted, in
____________________________________________________________________
(13) Robert Dinwiddie, the son of Robert Dinwiddie, a prominent
merchant of Glasgow, and Sarah, daughter of Matthew Cumming, who was
a baillie of the city in 1691 and other years, was born in 1693 at
Germiston, his father's seat; appointed December 1, 1727 collector of
customs in Bermuda, and by his influence in detecting a fraud in the
collection of the customs in the West Indies, was appointed
"surveyor-general of customs of the southern ports of the continent
of America"; commissioned August 17, 1753, inspector-general; appointed
July 20, 1753, lieutenant-governor of Virginia; relieved at his own
request from the government in January, 1758. He married Rebecca
Affleck. His brother, John Dinwiddie, left numerous descendents in
Virginia.
Page 20.
1751, to the office of deputy-governor of Virginia, now the most
populous and the most wealthy of all the Anglo-American colonies.
The day after his arrival at Yorktown, November 21, 1751, he set
out for Williamsburg, in company with his wife, Rebecca (nee Affleck),
his two daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca, and his secretary, Nathaniel
Walthoe, and was escorted by William Nelson and William Fairfax. When
he arrived on the outskirts of the city, he was met by several other
gentlemen -- Dr. William Dawson, Colonel Philip Ludwell and John Blair,
nephew of the late President Blair, of the college. At the capitol he
was complimented with an address by the mayor, aldermen and common
council, to whom he replied in a handsome manner, declaring his
purpose of studying the welfare of the country and promoting its
prosperity as far as possible; after which he took the oath as
governor, and the councillors took their oaths anew, and soon after
they all sat down, amid the booming of cannon, to a grand dinner at
the Raleigh Tavern.
As the palace was not ready for occupancy when Dinwiddie arrived, he
resided during part of his term in a house on the Palace Green, leased
from Dr. Kenneth McKenzie, and now known as the Saunders house. A few
weeks after his arrival the last top brick was laid on the capitol
walls, but it was not till 1754 that the general assembly removed from
the college, where it was temporarily lodged, to the completed
building at the other end of the street. There was much gaiety in
Williamsburg during Dinwiddie's time, and the plays attracted many
people from a distance. The old play-house had been sold, in 1748, to
the city as a city hall, and a new theatre was constructed, in 1751,
at the east end, near the capitol. The city was the center of the
business interests of the colony, and the merchants had a "cape
company," which met twice a year for the regulation of exchanges and
other matters of commercial importance.
Dinwiddie's stay in the colony is, however, chiefly remembered
for difficulties with the French, which finally broke out
Page 21.
into actual hostilities. The design of the latter was to hedge in the
English colonies by a chain of forts extending from Canada to Louisiana,
and, in 1733, they established a fort on the Ohio River in the
territory of Virginia. Dinwiddie resented this presumption, and in
1754, sent George Washington from Williamsburg to protest against it.
The war, which soon followed, greatly excited the colonists, and in
maintaining the English side Dinwiddie was tireless and indefatigable.
The war, at first, was very disastrous to the English. General
Edward Braddock was sent, with a strong force of British regulars and
colonial militia, to capture Fort Duquesne, but was caught in an
ambush and slain with many of his men. Indeed, Washington and his
Virginians alone saved the army from complete destruction. In the
north the French captured Oswego, and the torch of their Indian allies
enveloped the frontiers with fire.
In his measures of administration, Dinwiddie, though prudent and
wise, was not as tactful as Gooch, and consequently was embroiled
much of the time with his council and general assembly, who always
respected his character, but often condemned his conduct.
In October, 1755, died William Stith, who had written a history of
Virginia and was serving, at the time of his death, as president of
the college. In June, 1756, Benjamin Franklin visited Williamsburg,
and the college conferred upon him the degree of master of arts.
In Dinwiddie's time, also, several additions were made to the city
limits. In 1756, there was annexed a considerable parcel of land,
belonging to Benjamin Waller, at the east end of the town; and in 1758,
another parcel, of seventeen acres and twenty-six poles, formerly
belonging to Col. Philip Johnson, adjoining the southern bounds, was
added. In 1759, two other tracts were taken in -- one of twelve lots
belonging to Matthew Moody, on the west side of the road leading to the
capitol landing, and the other piece of land belonging to Benjamin
Waller, on the south side of the road leading to Yorktown.
Governor Dinwiddie was relieved from the post of governor
Page 22.
of Virginia at his own request, and sailed for England in January, 1758,
after receiving testimonials of regard from the council and the municipal
authorities. The library of William and Mary College, until its
destruction by fire in 1857, preserved several books presented by him,
each marked with his book-plate.
After his departure, Hon. John Blair, president of the council, served
as acting-governor for a few months, when he was superseded by Francis
Fauquier, who arrived June 17, 1758, from England, with a commission of
lieutenant-governor.(14) In spite of his rather peppery temper, he was
nearly everything that could be wished for in a royal governor. He was
generous and liberal in his manners, and as a fellow of the Royal Society
of England, he had a scholarly character and fine literary taste. His
influence and example gave a decided stimulus to business, to the
cultivation of literature, and to the spread of the arts and sciences,
so that the period of his stay may not be inaptly termed the "golden age"
of colonial Virginia. Shortly after his coming, an expedition, under
General Forbes, captured Fort Duquesne, and after that the war with
France took the turn of uninterrupted English success; and there was, in
consequence, more gaiety than ever in Williamsburg, at the theatre as well
as in private houses, where dancing parties and musical entertainments
were very frequent.
___________________________________________________________________
(14) Francis Fauquier was the eldest son of Dr. John Francis
Fauquier and Elizabeth Chamberlayne, his wife. He was born in 1704,
made a director in the South Sea Company in 1751, and a fellow of the
Royal Society on February 15, 1753. He married Catherine, daughter of
Sir Charles Dalton, who was buried at Totteridge in 1781. He wrote an
essay on "The Ways and Means of Raising Money for the Support of the
Present War Without Increasing the Public Debt." (8vo.), published at
London in 1757. In January, 1758, he was appointed lieutenant-governor
of Virginia. In 1760, Mr. Pitt wrote to Fauquier that when the war
with the French was over, Parliament would tax the Colonies. Fauquier,
in reply, expressed great apprehensions. Fauquier was still governor
when the stamp act passed, and that measure was excessively distasteful
to him; but Henry's resolutions went too far for him, and received his
censure. He died in Virginia March 3, 1768. -- William and Mary Coll.
Quart., Vol. VIII., No. 3, pages 171-177.
Page 23.
Washington, at the head of the Virginia troops, had greatly
distinguished himself in the war, and upon his return to Williamsburg,
in 1758, a vote of thanks was extended to him by the general assembly.
As soon as he took his seat in the capitol, the speaker, John Robinson,
addressed him, in the name of the house of burgesses, in such glowing
terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to express his
acknowledgements, but blushed and faltered, when the speaker relieved
him from his embarrassment by saying: "Sit down, Mr. Washington, your
modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language
that I possess."
In February, 1759, a society for the promotion of manufactures was
formed, who were authorized by the general assembly to offer bounties
for discoveries and improvements. As large sums were drained from the
colony for foreign wines and silks, this body offered L500 as a premium
to any person who should, in any twelve months within eight years, make
the ten best hogshead of wine; and there was a second prize of L100 for
the second best sample.
During the same year, Rev. Andrew Burnaby visited Williamsburg, and
he has left a record of his impressions of the place. The streets were
not paved, and consequently, were very dusty; the capitol and college
were "far from magnificent;" the governor's house was only "tolerable,"
though he admitted it to be the "best on the continent;" and the church,
the prison, and the other public edifices were, all of them, "extremely
indifferent." As to the houses, "they were generally indifferently
built," and were generally of wood, covered with shingles. Nevertheless,
taken as a whole, the town made a "handsome appearance," and seemed a
"desirable place of residence." Burnaby observed that the situation of
Williamsburg had the advantage, which few or no places in Eastern
Virginia had, of being wholly free from mosquitoes. He also said that,
besides the merchants and tradesmen, there were ten or twelve gentlemen's
families constantly residing in the place.
Page 24.
III. CRADLE OF REVOLUTION.
The year 1763 was memorable for the famous "Parson's Cause," which
afforded the genius of Patrick Henry its first opportunity for glory. In
a suit brought in Hanover County against his vestry, by Rev. James Maury,
for damages on account of the "Two Penny Act," Patrick Henry, as
counsel for the defendants, denounced the king is such impassioned
language that he was interrupted with a cry of "treason" from Mr. Peter
Lyons, the attorney on the other side. Nevertheless, the jury, in less
than five minutes, returned a verdict of one penny damages, equivalent to
a dismissal of the suit. The speech of Henry was looked upon as asserting
supreme authority in the provincial legislature, and the verdict of the
jury paved the way to the resolutions of the legislature on the stamp
act passed two years later. As to Governor Fauquier, his sympathies
were against the clergy, and he gave them to understand that, law or
no law, he ws unequivocally on the popular side.
Another circumstance distinguishing the year 1763, was the termination
of the war with the French and Indians. France lost all her possessions
on this continent, as well as extensive holdings in the West Indies and
Asia; but out of this triumph of the English were to grow domestic
difficulties, which, in a measure, revenged France for her misfortunes.
To assist in paying the expenses of the war, the British parliament
proposed that no writing in the colonies should be held valid until a
stamp was purchased and placed upon it. Massachusetts led the way in
protesting against the enactment of such a law, and the other colonies,
including Virginia, followed suit, but parliament paid no attention, and
passed the bill. Then it appeared as if no resistance would be made to
the execution of the act, and in Massachusetts, the foremost patriot,
Samuel Adams, did nothing more than to propose a convention of the
colonies for consultation, while James Otis, her distinguised orator,
declared resistance "treason." It was a supreme moment, and Virginia
sprang to the front and saved the day. On May 30, 1765, Patrick Henry
offered in the house of burgesses a series
Page 25.
of resolutions, which declared that the stamp act violated the principle
held dear from the infancy of the colony that no taxes or impositions
could be laid upon the inhabitants of Virginia, except by the general
assembly. In the stormy debate which followed, resulting in the
adoption of the resolutions, Mr. Henry electrified the house with a
speech, which contained these inspiring words: "Tarquin and Caesar
had each his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell and George III." -- and
here he was interruped by the cry of "treason" -- "may profit by their
example; if this be treason, make the most of it." "This is the way,"
says Bancroft, "that the fire began; Virginia rang the alarm bell for
the continent."
The action of Virginia created a tremendous sensation, and after this,
opposition to the stamp act blazed out in all parts of America. When,
in the last week of October, 1765, George Mercer, distributor of the
stamps for Viginia, arrived in Williamsburg, a crowd gathered and de-
manded whether or not he intended to enter on the duties of his office.
Mercer asked for time, but promised to give reply at five o'clock the
next evening. In the interim he conferred with the governor and the
council, and at the hour appointed he met at the capitol a large concourse
of the people, including the principal merchants of the colony, and
agreed not to undertake the execution of the stamp act until he received
further orders from England, nor then, without the consent of the general
assembly of Virginia. He was immediately borne out of the capitol gate
amid loud applause, and carried to the Raleigh Tavern, where he was
welcomed with renewed acclamation, and with the noise of drums, French
horns, and other instruments of the kind, and given an elegant entertain-
ment. At night the bells of the capitol, the church and the college
were rung, and the city was illuminated.
The following year (1766) there was published in Williamsburg a
remarkable pamphlet, written by Richard Bland, formerly a student of the
college, which took the ground that Virginia was no part of the kingdom
of England, but only united to it by the tie of the crown. While this
was not a new doctrine in Virginia, the pamphlet contained the first
formal annunciation of it on the continent.
Page 26.
During this year, also, was established in Williamsburg by William
Rind a second Virginia Gazette, intended as an opposition paper, as the
other, Hunter's was deemed by some of the patriots as too much under
government control.
A change of government in England from the Grenville ministry, who
originated the stamp act, to that of Lord Rockingham, a conservative,
and the impossibility recognized by the latter of enforcing the measure,
brought about its repeal by parliament on March 17, 1766. When the news
reached Virginia, the demonstration of joy in Williamsburg far exceeded
that which celebrated Mercer's resignation. When the general assembly
met in November, 1766, the question of raising a statue to King George
III., and an obelisk to Barre, Pitt, Conway, Burke and other prominent
English statesmen, who had defended in the British parliament the rights
of the American colonies, was discussed, but no final action was taken.
Governor Fauquier's devotion to scientific studies inspired him with
an aversion to dogmas of all kinds -- religious or governmental -- and
he strongly disapproved the stamp act. His favorite companions were
Dr. William Small, professor of natural philosophy at the college; and
George Wythe, the eminent lawyer and scientist; and at his table the
youthful Jefferson, Page, Walker, McClurg and other students of the
college learned their lessons in the rights of man. His example in
another respect was not so fortunate; he was addicted to playing cards,
and diffused in the colony a passion for gaming, which continued until
sernly rebuked by the revolutionary spirit expressed in the orders of
the county committees about 1775.
Though they repealed the stamp act, the British parliament, in 1767,
under the lead of Lord Townshend, laid a duty on glass, painter's colors,
paper and tea, to take effect in the autumn. As a consequence, fresh
agitations arose. The Massachusetts assembly, ever vigilant in the
cause of liberty, in January, 1768, petitioned the English government
against the new law, and addressed a circular letter to the other
colonies, inviting co-operation and mutual consultation. Not long after,
Page 27.
Governor Fauquier, who sympathized with the colonists, died in Williamsburg,
March 3, 1768, in his 65th year.
His body was interred, after an imposing funeral, in the north aisle of
Bruton parish church; and, in issue of the Gazette for March 10, 1768, an
admirer of the deceased expressed the general grief in some verses, in
chich the following lines appear:
"If ever virtue lost a friend sincere,
If ever sorrow claimed Virginia's tear,
If ever death a noble conquest made,
'Twas when Fauquier the debt of nature paid."
His death devolved the government, for the second time, upon John Blair,
president of the council, and on March 31, 1767, the general assembly,
called by Fauquier, met in Williamsburg, and adopted protests and
memorials to the English government, penned in even a bolder style than
those from Massachusetts.
The British ministry quailed before the united opposition of the two
most powerful American colonies, and it was resolved to disunite them,
if possible, by over-awing Massachusetts with soldiers and armed ships,
and placating Virginia with new dignities. Accordingly, two regiments
were ordered from Halifax to Boston, and Bernard, the governor of
Massachusetts, in compliance with directions received from England, called
upon the Massachusetts assembly in July, 1768, to rescind their circular
of January preceding; but they refused to comply; and a convention of
delegates from Massachusetts towns in September addressed a petition to
the king, the chief purpose of which was to defend the colony from the
imputation of a rebellious spirit.
Since the days of Lord Howard, of Effingham, the chief executive sent
from England to Virginia, had enjoyed only the title and pay of lieutenant-
governor, while some person in England, who never saw Virginia, drew the
full salary, and called himself governor. It was determined by the
English ministry to flatter the colony by sending over, in the future, a
man who should have both full honor and full pay. Norborne Berkeley,
Page 28.
Baron de Botetout,(15) was selected, and sailed in a 74, taking with him
a coach of state, presented to him by the Duke of Cumberland, the king's
uncle.(16) On October 21, 1768, Botetourt arrived in Hampton Roads, and
next morning landed at "Little England," on Hampton River, where he was
received with a salute from the cannon on shore. The same day at noon,
he set out for Williamsburg, and, as the sun went down, arrived at the
city, where he was honored with the usual welcome ceremonies. He was met
at the entrance of Williamsburg by the councillors and other gentlemen of
distinction, who conducted him to the council chamber in the capitol,
where he read his commission as governor, and took the oath required by
law, after which they all repaired to the Raleigh Tavern and sat down to
an elegant supper. That night the city was brilliantly illuminated in his
honor, and in the succeeding Gazette an ode was published, from which the
following is an extract:
Virginia, see they Governor appears!
The peaceful olive on his brow he wears!
Sound the shrill trumpets, beat the rattlin drums;
From Great Britannia's isle his Lordship comes.
Bid Echo from the waving woods arise,
And joyful acclamations reach the skies;
Let thy loud organs join their tuneful roar,
And bellowing cannons rend the pebbled shore;
Bid smooth James River catch the cheerful sound,
And roll it to Virginia's utmost bound;
While Rappahannock and York's gliding stream,
Swift shall convey the sweetly pleasing theme
To distant plains, where pond'rous mountains rise,
Whose cloud-capp'd cerges met the bending skies.
The Lordly prize the Atlantic waves resign,
And now, Virginia, now the blessing's thine:
His listening ears will to your trust attend,
And be your GUARDIAN, GOVERNOR AND FRIEND.
______________________________________________________________________
(15) Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, son of John Symes
Berkeley, was born in 1718; in 1761 was colonel of the North Gloucester-
shire militia; represented the shire in Parliament; and in 1764 was raised
to the peerage; appointed governor of Virginia in July, 1768, and died
in that office October 15, 1770. He was buried in a vault underneath
the floor of the college chapel.
(16) William and Mary Coll. Quart., XIII., 87.
Page 29.
In December, 1768, a new parliament covenend in London, and considered
all the papers relating to the colonies, and particularly the recent
proceedings in Massachusetts. The house of lords denounced the convention
held at Boston in September, and petitioned the king to cause the principal
actors in the province to be brought to England to be tried for treason.
In Virginia, a new assembly was called by Botetourt, to meet May 11,
1769, and, when it convened, the insignia of royalty were displayed with
unusual pomp. Botetourt was an amiable and attractive man, and soon
after his arrival he made himself very popular by concurring with the
council, in refusing to issue writs of assistance for the enforcement of
the navigation act. For this reason, a large crowd was present at the
opening of the assembly, which was one of unusual interest.
The governor, attended by a numerous retinue of guards, rode from the
palace to the capitol in his superbly furnished state coach, drawn by
six milk-white horses. He was dressed after the fashion of the day, in
a very handsome, rich costume; and his coat, which was of a light red
color, was heavy with gold thread tissue. He made a rather long speech
to the burgeses in the council chamber, enunciating very slowly and with
frequent pauses; and it is said by those who had heard George III. speak
from the throne of England, that his lordship, on the throne of Virginia,
conducted himself very much like the king.(17) He considered it, he said,
a peculiar felicity to announce his majesty's gracious intention "that,
for the future, his chief governors of Virginia shall reside within their
governments." During the ten days' sitting of the assembly, the time
of the members was chiefly taken up in debate upon the important subject
of colonial rights, and terminated in a number of spirited resolves,
directed especially against the policy of sending Americans to England
to be tried.
The governor received a hint of what was going on, and sent Nathaniel
Walthoe, his secretary, to find out the facts from the journal; but
George Wythe, clerk, delayed him long enough for the house to get its
resolution in shape and pass
________________________________________________________________________
(17) William and Mary Coll. Quart., XIII., 87.
Page 30.
them. At length, the action of the house could no longer be concealed,
and the governor summoned the burgesses to his presence in the council
chamber. The burgesses obeyed, and found his excellency awaiting them,
dressed in a suit of plain scarlet. The speaker, Peyton Randolph, in
the lead, all the members following, advanced towards the representative
of majesty, but stopped at the distance usual on such occasions. A
solemn pause of a moment or two ensued, when the governor, assuming a
stern countenance, said with considerable power of voice: "Gentlemen, I
have heard of your resolves, and I augur ill of their effect. You have
made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly."
The effect of resolves passed by Virginia at this time was immense,
and the press teemed with her praise. Delaware, and every colony south
of Virginia, adopted a similar set of resolves, and even Pennsylvania
was aroused from her slumbers to express, through her merchants, their
approval of what had been done. Thus Virginia led the way and united
the colonies in resisting British encroachments on their rights of person,
as she had done on their rights of property.
Immediately after a dissolution of the assembly by Botetourt, the
members met in the long room of the Raleigh Tavern, called Apollo, and
signed an agreement, presented by Washington, but drawn by George Mason,
pledging themselves to encourage industry, and not to import or buy any
articles which were taxed by parliament. Some of the other colonies had
already entered into similar agreements, and the endorsement of Virginia
caused all the rest to join the movement. Homespun clothes became
fashionable, and manufactures were encouraged.
But the heart of Botetourt beat really in unison with the colonists,
and when, not long after he received assurances from the Earl of
Hillsbrough, the British secretary of state, that it was the intention of
the English government not to propose any further taxes, but, on the
contrary, to secure a repeal of the duties already imposed, he made haste
to call a new assembly to meet in November, in order to inform them
officially of the joyous news.
Page 31.
In October, 1769, Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, president of the newly
founded college at Princeton, New Jersey, visited the city in the
interest of his institution. It is stated in the Virginia Gazette that
such enthusiasm was felt by the people in his objects that no building
in Williamsburg, not even the capitol, could hold the crowd that pressed
to hear him speak. He, therefore, made his address in the capitol yard,
and collected from the audience upwards of sixty-six pounds, to which the
generous Botetourt added fifty pounds on his own account. A similar
spirit of liberality had at other times been shown by the citizens of
Williamsburg -- in 1751, when Rev. Thomas Bacon came from Talbot County,
Maryland, to raise funds for his industrial school, and, again in 1765,
when Montreal was destroyed by a fire, and made an appeal for aid.
When the general assembly convened a month after Dr. Witherspoon's
visit, Botetourt, in conveying to them the intelligence from England,
added his own personal pledge that he would be content to be "declared
infamous, if he did not, to the last hour of his life, at all times and in
all places, and upon all occasions, exert every power with which he was or
ever should be legally invested, to obtain and maintain for the continent
of America that satisfaction which he had been authorized to promise that
day." The burgesses received this speech with much applause, and began
the work of the session with an ardor of which the code bears evidence.
On December 21, they adjourned, and met again to conclude their work
May 21, 1770, remaining in session till June 28, 1770.
Among their enactments there are three which challenge the attention.
One appointed commissioners to purchase one hundred acres of land near
Williamsburg, for a purpose similar to that entertained by the London
Company a century and a half before. Then the London Company settled
Anthony Bonell and his Frenchmen at Buckroe, in Elizabeth City County,
for the purpose of instructing the colonists in the art of raising silk
worms and cultivating grapes. Now Andrew Esclave, a Frenchman, an expert
in the wine culture, was granted the use of some land near Williamsburg,
to establish a
Page 32.
vinyard, to serve as an object lesson to the planters. This vineyard, as
afterwards laid out, was on the road to Yorktown, a mile east of the town,
near Fort Magruder, where occurred, in 1862, one of the fiercest battles
of the war between the States of the Union. Esclave boasted in the news-
papers of his success, but the war of the Revolution put a stop to his
labors; and, in 1784, the land was given, by the general assembly, to the
college of William and Mary. The college disposed of it in 1789, and the
deed of the president and faculty is now hanging in the library of the
college. The land still goes by its ancient name of the Vineyard land.
The second of the enactments provided for the establishment of a
hospital for persons of disordered minds, recommended by Governor
Fauquier in 1766, and the first of its kind established in the United
States. The third measure sanctioned an agreement of the county of James
City and the city of Williamsburg to erect, at their joint expense, a
court-house on the market square in said city.
The English government was so far from respecting the assurances given
to Botetourt that, though they repealed the taxes on glass and other
articles, they retained the taxes on tea, which was a great disappointment
to the colonists. As we have already noticed, the merchants of Virginia,
who, being the moneyed men of the colony, had always an importance in
society, had an organization amongst themselves called the "cape company"
At the annual meetings in Williamsburg usually only a few came together,
but now the perverse course of the British ministry brought to Williams-
burg, on June 22, 1770, a large covention. They elected Andrew Sprowle,
of Norfolk, chairman, and he and his associates joined with the gentlemen
of the house of burgesses in an association against importing any
manufactures from Great Britain, or any slaves from anywhere, and against
using any tea, until the obnoxious laws of parliament were repealed. Nor
was the action of the British ministry less keenly felt by Botetourt.
Finding himself deceived, he demanded his recall, but not long after he
fell sick of bilious fever, which, aggravated by chagrin and disappoint-
ment, soon reached a fatal termination.
Page 33.
There is a story of his last hours, which conveys a touching lesson.
He had an intimate friend in the pure-minded and deeply-pious Robert
Carter Nicholas, treasurer of the colony, who, in one of his familiar
visits to the palace not long before his fatal sickness, had observed
that "he (Botetourt) ought to be very unwilling to die." "Why so?"
asked his lordship. "Because you are so social in your nature," said
Nicholas, "and so much beloved, and you have so many good things about
you that you must be loth to leave them." His lordship smiled, and
made, at the time, no reply, but when taken with this last illness
sent a request in haste for Nicholas, who lived near the palace.
Nicholas entered the chamber of his dying friend and asked his commands.
"I have sent for you," said Botetourt, "merely to let you see that I
resign those good things of which you formerly spoke with as much
composure as I enjoyed them."
His death, which took place on October 15, 1770, was deeply lamented
throughout the colony. The funeral ceremonies were very elaborate, and
the cost aggregated L700 sterling. All the leading men of the colony
attended, and the long procession was headed by mourners, who carried
in their hands staffs draped in black. His remains, encased in three
coffins, one of them a leaden coffin, heavily ornamented with silver,
were deposited, according to his request, under the floor of the chapel
of William and Mary College, and the general assembly voted a large sum
of money to erect a marble statue to his memory. This statue was made
in London in 1773, by Richard Hayward, and stood for many years in front
of the old capitol building. When the seat of the government was re-
moved to Richmond, it was suffered for some years, to remain in its
place, where it met with defacement and mutilation at the hands of the
boys of Williamsburg, whose revolutionary spirit resented everything
suggestive of royalty. At length, in 1797, it was removed to the front
of the college, where it still stands in a rather shattered condition
as a sort of guardian genius to the institution.
The patron of learning, Lord Botetourt, gave to the college during
his life-time a sum of money, the interest of which was
Page 34.
sufficient to purchase annually two gold medals, to be given -- one to
the best classical scholar, and the other to the best scholar in natural
philosophy and mathematics. By the order of his nephew and executor,
the Duke of Beaufort, all of his effects in Virginia were sold, except
the state coach and the king's and queen's portraits, which were
presented to the council of Virginia, for the use of the succeeding
governor. The death of Bototourt devolved the government for the
third time on John Blair, who resigned because of his health, and
thereupon William Nelson, succeeding him as president of the council,
was chief executive for nearly a year.
On Tuesday, November 3, 1770, died Hon. John Blair, nephew of Dr.
James Blair, and late president of the council. He had served twice
as acting governor of Virginia, and his ability, vigilance and industry
were signally displayed in his long life of 84 years.
Not long after, some zealous churchmen in New York and New Jersey
started an agitation for an American Episcopacy, and Rev. Thomas
Horrocks, the commissary in Virginia, called a convention of the clergy.
A few ministers met at the college June 4, 1771, and adopted a
resolution, by a small majority, to join in a petition to the king for
the establishment. John Camm, professor of divinity, was the chief
agitator, and he was warmly opposed by Rev. Samuel Henley and Rev.
Thomas Gwatkikn, two other professors in the college, and by two
clergymen among the generality, Rev. Richard Hewitt and Rev. William
Bland.
The proposition created a great stir, not in Williamsburg only,
whose citizens were much opposed to it, but in all other parts of the
colony, and in the sister colonies as well. A war of pamphlets and
newspaper articles ensued; and, when the assembly met July 11, 1771, the
thanks of the house of burgesses was extended to Messrs. Henley and
Gwatkin, through Richard Henry Lee and Richard Bland, for their "wise
and well-timed opposition." The majority of the clergy in Virginia
were opposed to the bishoprick, and nothing came out of the movement.
Page 35.
In the fall of this year arrived in Williamsburg as governor-in-
chief John Murray, Earl of Dunmore,(18) a Scotch nobleman and a peer
of the realm. He was a contrast in every way to the courtly and
intelligent Botetourt; for, if we are to believe the reports which have
come down to us, he was coarse in his manners and mediocre in his
intellect. He was, nevertheless, welcomed to the city with the
customary honors, and installed in the palace with much ceremony. Not
long after his arrival, he called a session of the assembly for
February 10, 1772, and one of the noteworthy acts of this session was
the adoption of a new petition to the king to stop the slave trade,
being the last of many appeals which they addressed to him on that
subject. In this petition they besought the king to remove all those
restraints which inhibited the governors of the colonies from
assenting to "such laws as might check so very pernicious a commerce."
The spoke of the importation of slaves as a trade "of great inhumanity,"
and one calculated to endanger "the very existence of your majesty's
American dominions." In addition to this, various bills for opening
and extending internal navigation were passed, and among them was one
for cutting a canal from Archer's Hope Creek, through or near the city
of Williamsburg, into Queen's Creek, for boats and other vessels of
burden. The sum of L5,000 sterling was subscribed before the assembly
adjourned, which spoke well for the people. No actual work was done
on the canal, as the money was soon needed for objects of a more
pressing character.
May 27, 1772, died Thomas Hornsby, a prominent merchant of Williams-
burg, born in Loncolnshire, England; and November 19, 1772, died in
Yorktown, Honorable William
___________________________________________________________________
(18) John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was born in 1732, and was
descended in the female line from the royal house of Stuart, and
succeeded to the peerage in 1756; appointed governor of New York in
January, 1770, and of Virginia in July, 1771; he returned to England
in 1776, and in 1786 was appointed governor of Bermuda. He died at
Ramsgate, England, in May, 1809. He was a man of culture, and had
a large library. He was been severely abused by American writers,
but his friends warmly attest his kindness and generosity.
Page 36.
Nelson, father of General Thomas Nelson of the American Revolution.
He was long a member of the council, and often its presiding officer.
The horizon was again darkened by gathering clouds. A British
armed revenue vessel having been burnt in Narragansett Bay, a new
act of parliament punished such offenses with death, and required the
accused to be transported to England for trial. There was a great
deal of indignation in Virginia against the act, and when the assembly
came together again, March 4, of the next year (1773), measures were
promptly taken to bring about a more combined action on the part of the
colonies. Dabney Carr, of Charlotte, a brilliant young statesman,
moved a series of resolutions for the appointment of a committee to
correspond in regard to colonial affairs with similar committees to
be appointed by the other colonies. Richard Henry Lee was the draftsman
of the resolutions, and Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and several
other great Virginians, supported the measure; and it passed un-
animously, being thus the first step taken in America to a union of
the colonies. Like the resolutions of 1769, they exerted an immense
effect on political conditions. The resolves were sent to the other
colonies, and, in accordance with the suggestions, a committee was
appointed in each.
The effect of the interdictions against British commerce was to
promote manufactures in Virginia and encourage home production. In 1769,
at a ball given to Lord Botetourt at the capitol, soon after his arrival,
more than one hundred ladies appeared in homespun dresses. In 1770
William Nelson, president of the council, wrote(19) to Samuel Athawes,
a prominent merchant of London, that he wore a good suit of clothes
manufactured, as well as his shirts, in Albemarle, and that his shoes,
hose, buckles, wig and hat were made in his own country; "and in these,"
he said,"we improve every year in quantity and well as in quality."
Williamsburg participated in the industrial movement; and a joint stock
company built a factory for making woolen and linen cloth on the north
side of Queen's Creek,
_____________________________________________________________________
(19) William and Mary Coll. Quart., VII., 26.
Page 37.
opposite to Queen Mary's Port; and of this company Peyton Randolph was
president and John Crawford factory manager. Then, on the edge of the
town, on the road going to Queen's Creek, was a tannery kept by William
Pearson, the lot on which it stood being still known as the tan-yard
lot. In the town itself there was a carriage factory, a factory for
making wigs, and a snuff mill. It is believed that the paper factory
erected by Parks in 1744, still continued on the branch of Archer's
Hope Creek.
The trades and professions were represented by men of ability and
fine character. Among the store-keepers were John Blair, Jr., James
Tarpley, Alexander Craig, William Prentis, Robert Nicholson and Benjamin
Powell; among the jewellers and goldsmiths, James Geddy, Samuel Coke,
James Craig and James Galt; among the lawyers, Benjamin Waller, Thomas
Everard, Robert Carter Nicholas, George Wythe, John Randolph, and John
Tazewell; and among the doctors, George Randell, Peter Hay, John Minson
Galt, John Sequeyra and William Pastuer. Dr. Galt was afterwards
surgeon-general of the United States in the war of the Revolution, and
Dr. Sequeyra was first physician to the hospital for persons of dis-
ordered mind. The ordinary keepers were, at this time, important men,
and James Barrett Southall had succeeded Anthony Hay in control of the
Raleigh Tavern. Schools were numerous, and the Indian school at the
college, the grammar school, the Mattey free school adjoining the
tannery of William Pearson on Queen Mary's road, and Curtis' free school
on England Street, near the old James City court-house, provided
elementary education. Then, there was Miss Hallam's fashionable
school for young ladies. There was also a school in the town, which
taught the free negro children to read and write.
Increasing interest was felt in scientific studies, and there was
organized in Williamsburg in May, 1773, "a Society for the Promotion
of Useful Knowledge," which continued for quite a number of years after
the Revolution. The first officers of this society were: John Clayton,
of "Windsor," the botanist, president; John Page of "Rosewell," vice-
president; Rev.
Page 38
Samuel Henley, professor of moral philosophy in the college, secretary;
St. George Tucker, (son of Henry Tucker, formerly secretary of state of
the Bermuda Island,) assistant-secretary; and David Jameson, of York-
town, treasurer. John Page, Esq., the vice-president, calculated at
his home in Gloucester County, an eclipse of the sun and published his
work in the newspapers, from which account he was named by his neighbor,
Major John Robinson, the "John Partridge," of Virginia, after the noted
almanac maker in England.
Some improvement was made in the city administration, and as fires
were frequent, fire engines were procured, and four watchmen were
appointed to take care of them, and to patrol the streets after ten
o'clock and cry the hours. A race course adjoined the west end of the
town, permitting heats of either two or three miles; and races were
held twice a year, and were commonly continued for a week at a time.
The purses amounted to a hundred pounds each for the first day's
running, and fifty pounds each for every day thereafter. There were
also matches and sweepstakes for very considerable sums. The stock
of horses was derived from English and Arabian thoroughbreds. To these
races people came in great numbers from remote parts of the colony.
An English traveller, J. F. D. Smythe, describes the capitol, in
1773, as "an elegant building," the college as "an old monastic
structure," and the governor's residence "as large, commodious, and
handsome." The generality of the houses, he said, were of wood, painted
white, every one detached from the other. There were no shade trees
along the side-walks, and the streets were deep with white sand(20)
"wherein every step was almost above the shoe." He remarks upon the
absence of mosquitoes, and speaks of dining very agreeably at the
Raleigh Tavern, where he drank exceeding good Madeira. The population
of the place was estimated at about 1,800 people.
In August, 1773, died in Williamsburg, John Tyler, who had long
held the position of marshall of the vice admiralty
___________________________________________________________________
(20) As this itinerant visited Williamsburg in the summer, he
doubtless mistook "dust" for "sand." The soil is not sandy.
Page 39.
court. He was father of John Tyler, speaker of the house of delegates
from 1781 to 1785, and governor of Virginia from 1808 to 1811, and
grandfather of John Tyler, president of the United States from 1841
to 1845.
Meanwhile, important events had taken place in England. The
refusal of the colonies to buy tea exported from England had greatly
embarrassed the East India Company, and caused an accumulation in
their ware-houses of that commodity, for which they had no market.
On April 27, 1773, Lord North proposed that the company be allowed
to export their tea to America free of all duties collectible in
England and only subject to the duty of three pence per pound,
collectible in the colonies. After the proosal became a law, the
East India Company began to ship cargoes of tea to Boston, Charleston,
New York and Philadelphia, supposing that the Americans would not
decline to buy the tea at the cheap rates at which it was sold by
reason of the repeal of the English duty. The consignees at all four
ports, except Boston, declined to receive the tea and resigned. At
Boston alone the consignee held to his commission, and thereby
precipitated a crisis. On the night of December 16, 1773, a band
of men, disguised as Indians, boarded the vessels, cut open the tea
chests, and threw the entire cargo overboard.
Upon learning of this proceeding, the English government was
greatly enraged; and Boston was made to suffer for the deed of ir-
responsible persons. On March 14, 1774, Lord North asked leave to
bring in a bill to close the port of Boston, to go into effect June 1;
and it passed without division, although eloquent protests were
uttered by the Earl of Chatham, Burke, Sawbridge and Dowdeswell.
Thre was great indignation in Virginia, and the people waited
impatiently for the house of burgesses to meet.
In April, 1774, arrived in Williamsburg Lady Dunmore and her
children, George, Lord Fincastle, and the Honorables Alexander and
John Murray, and the Ladies Catherine, Augusta and Susan Murray.
They were welcomed with an illumination of the city, and the three
young noblemen were put to school at the college.
Page 40
When the assembly met in May, 1774, Williamsburg presented a
scene of unwonted gaiety, and a court herald published a code of
etiquette for the regulation of the society of the little metropolis.
There were balls, dancing assemblies, theatricals, and a large
concourse of people from the country. George Washington arrived and
dined with Lord Dunmore.
The scene, however, changed as soon as the news of the act of
parliament with reference to the closing of the port of Boston reached
the city. Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, R. H. Lee, Francis
Lightfoot Lee and three or four other gentlemen drew up a resolution,
which they persuaded Robert Carter Nicholas to offer, denouncing the
action of the British government and setting apart the first day of
June on which the port bill was to commence, for a day of fasting,
humiliation and prayer throughout the colony. These resolves were
printed in the Virginia Gazette of May 26, and on seeing them Lord
Dunmore ordered the house immediately that day to come upstairs to
the council chamber, where he addressed them in the following
language: "Mr Speaker and gentlemen of the house of burgesses, I
have in my hand a paper published by an order of your house, conceived
in such terms as to reflect highly upon his majesty and the
parliament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary for me to
dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly."
The members, thereupon, left the capitol, and next day (May 27)
gathered together in the Apollo Hall at the Raleigh Tavern, where
they formed an association not to purchase or use any kind of com-
modity imported by the East India Company except saltpetre and spices;
and in this agreement they were joined by a number of clergymen and
other inhabitants of the colony.(21). At the same meeting, an
annual congress, to be composed of deputies from the different
colonies, was recommended. By this act Virginia maintained herself
at the front of the Revolutionary movement; for, although, unknown
to our patriots in Williamsburg, the suggestion of a congress was
made in advance during the same month by the "Sons of Lib-
_________________________________________________________________
(21) The number of associators was 89.
Page 41.
erty" of New York, by a town meeting in Providence, and by the New
York and Philadelphia committees of correspondence, this was the first
call for a continental congress by an organized legislative body
presided over by a speaker, and assuming to speak officially for a
whole colony. It was the glory of Virginia that her burgesses took
the lead in calling not only a congress, but "an annual congress" of
the colonies, involving a permanent union. The action was decisive,
and the assembly of Rhode Island followed her example June 15, and
that of Massachusetts June 17. But Virginia went a step further,
when, on May 29, the Philadelphia letter containing the suggestion
for a general congress reached Williamsburg. The speaker called all
the legislatures that remained in the city, some twenty-five in number,
and they adoped a resolve, summoning the first Virginia Convention,
which met in Williamsburg on August 1, 1774.
June 15, 1774, the "Society for the Advancement of Useful
Knowledge" held its second session at the capitol. As John Clayton
had died in the interval, his place as president was filled by John
Page, of "Rosewell." George Wythe was made vice-president; James
Madison, (professor of natural philosophy and mathematics in the
college), and Rev. Robert Andrews, of Yorktown, secretaries; David
Jameson, treasurer; and James Madison, curator. They held their
meetings in the capitol, and several valuable philosophical papers
were read. John Hobday, of Gloucester County, was voted a
pecuniary reward and medal for his model of a very ingenious and
useful machine for threshing wheat. Dr. Franklin, Dr. Lettsom, of
London, Rev. Thomas Baldwin, John Baldwin, Esq., of Chester, England,
Dr. Smith, provost of the College of Philadelphia, Dr. Morgan, Dr.
Rush and Mr. Rittenhouse, of the same city, Edward Foy, the governor's
secretary, Dr. Steward, of Bladensburg, Maryland, and Dr. Smibert,
of Boston, were chosen corresponding members.(22).
__________________________________________________________________
(22) After this time there are but a few notices of this society,
though it appeared to have kept up an organization of some sort for
many years. Among the letters of Jefferson is one in 1787 in answer
to John Page.
Page 42.
The convention of delegates from the colony at large met, according
to appointment, on August 1, in the city of Williamsburg, and appointed
deputies, with Peyton Randolph, of Williamsburg, at their head, to
attend the general congress at Philadelphia in September. The members
of this convention agreed, in behalf of the colony, to purchase nothing,
except medicine imported from Great Britain, after November 1; to buy
no slaves imported from any place whatever, and to use no more tea. It
was further agreed that, unless American grievances were redressed
before August 10, 1775, they would export no more tobacco or any other
article whatever to Great Britain.
September 14, 1774, the first general congress met in Philadelphia;
Peyton Randolph, of Williamsburg, was elected president, and Patrick
Henry opened the proceedings with a speech. A petition to the king was
adopted, a new association against imports recommended, and the different
colonies were advised to appoint committees in every town and county to
see that tis provisions were carried out.
Meanwhile, an Indian war had broken out on the frontiers, and in
September, 1775, Lord Dunmore left Williamsburg for the scene of action.
On October 10, the Virginians, under the command of General Andrew
Lewis, met the Shawnees and their confederates at Point Pleasant, on
the Ohio River, and after an obstinate battle, defeated them. Soon
after Lord Dunmore made peace with the Indians, and returned to
Williamsburg.
Page 42 (Continued)
In November, Hanover County, under the lead of Patrick Henry,
appointed its county committee as advised by congress, and the example
was soon followed. Williamsburg elected the following gentlemen, in
December, 1774, members of the city committee: Hon. Peyton Randolph,
Esq., Benjamin Waller, James Cocke, James Southall, James Hubard,
Thomas Everard, Robert Nicholson, John Minson Galt, Robert Carter
_________________________________________________________________
who urged him to accept the presidency. He wrote that "he should feel
himslef out of his true place to stand before McClurg." Dr. James
McClurg was probably president at that time.
Page 43.
Nicholas John Dixon, Benjamin Powell, George Wythe, John Tazewell and
John Carter.
In the beginning of 1775 the people of Williamsburg were in anxious
suspense, expecting an outbreak of civil war. They raised a large
supply of provisions and clothes, and shipped it to the people of
Boston, suffering for the necessities of life under the operation of
the port bill. On February 7, 1775, the first number of a third
Gazette was published by Alexander Purdie, at Williamsburg. Dunmore
was regarded with suspicion, and remained in gloomy solitude in his
palace, tenacious of authority, but fearful of resisting the popular
will. His true course was to adopt a "do nothing" policy, but this
he had not the firmness or inclination to do. February 20, parliament
adopted a resolution called Lord North's "Olive Branch," pledging
itself in very vague and uncertain language not to tax any colony
which should raise its quota of the common expense.
March 20, 1775, the second Virginia convention assembled at Richmond,
and on the 23rd, Patrick Henry introduced his famous bill for organiz-
ing the militia. In its support, he used those words which will ring
through the ages to come: "Is life to dear or peace so sweet as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty
God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death."
March 28, 1775, Dunmore issued a proclamation requiring all civil
officers to do their utmost to prevent the appointment of deputies
from Virginia to the continental congress, which was to assemble at
Philadelphia on May 10. This proclamation, however, had no other
effect than to irritate the colonists and weaken the influence of the
government. But it was not long before Dunmore resorted to a procedure
far more stupid and exciting.
The magazine in Williamsburg contained twenty barrels of powder and
a considerable number of guns, and Lord Dunmore became apprehensive
that its contents would be seized to arm the militia. The people of
the town and the city volunteers
Page 44.
under Captain James Innis,(23) usher of the grammar school at the
college, patrolled the streets, and kept a pretty strong guard. But
at length, doubting the truth of the report, they grew a little
negligent; and before daybreak, on Thursday, April 20, Captain Henry
Collins, with the assistance of some marines and sailors, who had been
concealed at the palace, secretly carried off, in his lordship's little
wagon, all the powder it would conveniently carry -- about sixteen
and a half barrels -- to the Magdalene armed schooner, stationed under
his command at Burwell's Ferry on James River, about six miles from
Williamsburg. It was carried down to the Fowey man-of-war
(commanded by Captain Montague), who received it and sailed with it
to Yorktown.
When intelligence of this event was noised in Williamsburg, there
was great excitement, and the militia rushed to arms and could, with
difficulty, be restrained by Peyton Randolph, the speaker, and Robert
Carter Nicholas, the treasurer, from rushing to the palace, and
seizing the person of the governor. The common hall assembled, drew
up an address, and waited upon the governor in a body. Their address
was presented to him by Peyton Randolph, the recorder of the city,
and contained a hot remonstrance against his ill-advised action. To
this Dunmore returned a verbal answer, excusing his conduct by a
reported insurrection of slaves in Surry County, and pledging his
honor that, whenever the powder was needed, it should be forthcoming.
This reply, though not satisfactory, quieted the citizens, and was
regarded as a promise to return the powder shortly.
The news of the removal of the powder spread in a very short time
throughout the colony, and soon more than six hundred cavalry
assembled at Fredericksburg, but, before marching to Williamsburg,
they sent thither Mann Page, Jr., Esq., to enquire whether the
gunpowder had been replaced in the magazine. He arrived in Williams-
burg on the morning of April 27, after a ride of twenty-four hours,
and left in the evening with a letter from Peyton Randolph, in
behalf of the
___________________________________________________________________
(23) Afterwards Attorney-General of Kentucky.
Page 45.
corporation, advising against any violent proceedings. Next day Mr.
Randolph set out for the congress, and reached the house of Edmund
Pendleton in Caroline County, from which, on Saturday, the 29th, he
joined with his host in sending a second letter of similar import to
Fredericksburg. The same advice was given by Washington in a letter
to James Mercer, with the result that, after a long and animated
discussion, the committee of 102 deputies, appointed by the troops,
consented, by a majority of one only, not to go to Williamsburg.
When Dunmore heard of this assembling of troops, he grew very wrathy
and sent word to the mayor of Williamsburg, Dr. William Pastuer,(24)
"that, if any injury was offered to himself or the officers who
acted under his directions, he would proclaim liberty to the slaves
and reduce Williamsburg to ashes."
The excitement was much increased by the news which arrived from
Boston of the battle of Lexington, fought on April 19, the day before
the removal of the powder. The messenger reached Williamsburg on
the night of Friday, April 28, and on the next day after, Alexander
Purdie published an extra of his Gazette, which was excitedly read
on the streets. Its closing words were: "The sword is now drawn,
and God knows when it will be sheathed."
On May 2, the council met at the palace, and discussed the
situation. John Page, the youngest member, boldly advised the
governor to give up the powder and arms, as necessary to restore the
public tranquillity. Dunmore, enraged, struck the table with his
fist, exclaiming: "Mr. Page, I am astonished at you." The other
councillors, President William Nelson, John Camm (president of the
college), Ralph Wormeley, Richard Corbin, Gawin Corbin and William
Byrd remained silent. The
__________________________________________________________________
(24) Dr. William Pasteur was the son of a surgeon, Dr. Jean
Pasteur, who, in 1700, came to Virginia from England in the Huguenot
colony of that year. Dr. William Pasteur married Elizabeth Stith,
daughter of William Stith, president of the college. He died in
1795, leaving his estate to his sister, Anne Craig, wife of Thomas
Craig, and to his neice, Anne Smith, wife of Granville Smith. At
this time Dr. Pasteur was partner with Dr. John Minson Galt in the
practice of medicine and surgery.
Page 46.
result of the meeting was the issuance of a proclamation by the
governor, assuring the public that he meant no harm and promising to
return the powder "as soon as the present ferment should subside."
The same day the committee of Hanover County met at New Castle, and,
urged by Patrick Henry, authorized him to proceed to Williamsburg
with a company of troops and demand the return of the powder. Captain
Henry set out at once, and was re-inforced on the way by companies
from Charles City,(25), New Kent and King William. Ensign Parke
Goodall, with sixteen men, was detached to "Laneville," on the
Mattapony, the seat of Richard Corbin, the king's deputy-receiver-
general, to demand the estimated value of the powder; but the king's
money was kept then in Williamsburg, and it was learned that Colonel
Corbin was in that place. Captain Henry, in the meantime, with the
main body, continued his march to Williamsburg, and the news of his
approach caused great excitement. Lady Dunmore and her children
precipitately fled to the protection of the Fowey man-of-war at
Yorktown, while Lord Dunmore, planted cannon at the palace, armed his
negro servants, and ordered up a detachment of marines from the ships.
Henry, with 150 men, reached Doncastle's ordinary in New Kent, sixteen
miles from Williamsburg, on the evening of May 3, and late that night,
Colonel Carter Braxton, who lived at "Elsing Green," on the Pamunkey,
arrived in town from Henry's camp. The alternatives presented by
him were the restoration of the gun-powder or its value paid down; and,
the latter being acceded to by Dunmore, Colonel Braxton returned with
a bill of exchange for L320 from Richard Corbin, the receiver-general,
and delivered it to Henry in his camp at sunrise of May 4. At ten
o'clock on the same day, a detachment of forty sailors and marines
from the Fowey, under Captain Stretch, arrived at the palace by way
of the governor's park.
The affair of the powder being settled, Captain Henry
_____________________________________________________________________
(25) According to a MS. letter of President John Tyler to the New
England Historical and Genealogical Society, the Charles City Company
was commanded by his father, John Tyler, Sr.
Page 47.
wrote a letter to the treasurer, Robert Carter Nicholas, offering to
remove the treasury of the colony to a safer place or to send a guard
for its protection. But Nicholas returned the answer that "the minds
of the people of Williamsburg were perfectly quiet, and that there was
now no necessity for the proposed guard." Indeed, more than one
hundred of the citizens of Williamsburg patrolled the streets and
guarded the treasury in the night. Upon this, Captain Henry and his
men broke up camp and returned to the respective homes.
Two days later, May 6, the governor, relieved of apprehensions,
issued a proclamation denouncing the outrages of "a certain Patrick
Henry, of Hanover County, and a number of his deluded followers," and
calling upon the people to "vindicate the constitutional authority
of the government." The reply was not long in forthcoming; for
addresses and resolutions approving his conduct poured in upon Mr.
Henry from all parts of the colony; he was honored with an escort to
the Potomac River composed of young gentlemen from Hanover, King
William and Caroline counties, and had to repeatedly stop on the
way to receive addresses of thanks and applause.
About this time Dunmore received orders from Lord North and Lord
Dartmouth, at the head of the British government, to submit the
propositions called "The Olive Branch," and he issued, on May 12, a
summons for a meeting of the assembly. The troops from the Fowey,
called by the people of Williamsburg in derision, "Montagues boiled
crabs," were sent back to the river, Landy Dunmore and her children
returned to the palace, and the council published an address, in
which they expressed "their detestation and abhorrence of the
licentious and ungovernable spirit that had gone forth and misled
the once happy people of this country." The council now shared the
public odium with Dunmore, and were severely criticized in the
newspapers.
In contrast with the unpopularity of Dunmore were the honors
extended to Peyton Randolph. After his return to Philadelphia he
was against elected president by the continental
Page 48.
congress, but when, soon after, the news arrived that the house of
burgesses was to meet, he resigned and set out for Virginia. At
Ruffin's Ferry, on the Pamunkey, he was met by a detachment of cavalry
from Williamsburg, all in uniform, who formed an escort. Two miles
from Williamsburg they were joined by a company of infantry, and at
Williamsburg itself, where they arrived at sunset, they were welcomed
with cheers and the ringing of bells. "There were illuminations
in the evening, and the volunteers, with many other respectable
gentlemen, assembled at the Raleigh, spent an hour or two in harmony
and cheerfulness, and drank several patriotic toasts."
The house of burgesses organized on June 1, by the re-election of
Randolph as speaker, but hardly had they addressed themselves to the
business of the session, before an incident occurred, which had no
small effect in increasing the public irritation. On Saturday night,
the third of June, a few over-zealous young men broke into the
magazine for the purpose of getting arms. A cord, communicating with
two spring guns, had been so placed that the arms could not be ap-
proached without touching it. One of the guns went off and wounded
three of the intruders -- one of them, a popular young man, named
Beverley Dickson, quite seriously. While the conduct of the young
men was not openly approved by the people of Williamsburg, the
contrivance resorted to for the protection of the arms was deemed
wicked and malicious. Dunmore's unpopularity was increased by the
publication at this time of his letter to Lord Dartmouth, representing
the condition of hte colony as one of open rebellion -- a statement
perfectly true, but one which the colonists were not yet prepared
to admit.(26)
Before proceeding to consider Lord North's proposals, the house
appointed a committee to inspect the magazine and enquire into the
stores belonging there; and James Innis, captain of the Williamsburg
volunteers, was required to place and maintain a guard for its
defence. Dunmore thought it best to
_________________________________________________________________
(26) For two years the operations of the royal government were
suspended in nearly all the colonies, and yet they professed to be
loyal to King George.
Page 49.
repeat his reasons in a message to the house for removing the powder,
and promised that "as soon as he saw things in a state of security,
he would certainly replace it." But difficulties thickened. Rumors
spreading that the mariners and soldiers belonging to the British
ship Fowey, were to be again introduced into the town, the people
assembled in the streets with arms in their hands, and were with
difficulty convinced that the report had no foundation. In this
situation of affairs some news that now arrived from the north proved
too much for Dunmore's nerves. An express from General Gage, at
Boston, acquainted him of his intention to publish a proclamation
proscribing Samuel Adams and John Hancock; and, fearing that he might
be seized and detained as a hostage, Dunmore suddenly, about two
o'clock in the morning of June 8, withdrew from the palace with his
family, his secretary, Captain Edward Foy, and some of his domestics;
and went on board of the Fowey man-of-war.
The people of Williamsburg were very much surprised at this
denouement, and the council and house of burgesses tried to induce
Dunmore to return, but in vain. They, nevertheless, continued their
work on the bills of the session, and June 12 Thomas Jefferson, as
chairman of a committee, made a masterly report to the house in
answer to Lord North's so-called "Olive Branch." The burgesses
approved the conduct of the late war with the Indians, and provided
the means of defaying the cost; but the governor would not pass the
bill, because it imposed a specific duty of five pounds on the head,
about ten per cent on the value, of every slave imported from the
West Indies. The last exercise of the veto power by the king's
representative in Virginia was for the protection of the slave trade.
At length, having finished their legislation, they entreated him to
meet them at the capitol for the purpose of giving his formal consent,
as was usual, to the bills and resolves pased by the assembly. He
replied that he could not go to the capitol, but would be glad to see
them on board his majesty's ship in York River.
The burgesses voted this message "a high breach of the
Page 50.
rights and privileges of this house," and on Saturday, June 24, ad-
journed to meet October 12. On that day, 37 members only appearing,
which was not a sufficient number to proceed to business, they ad-
journed to the 7th of the succeeding March, 1776. On March 7, only
32 members appeared who adjourned to the first Monday in May. On
Monday, May 6, several members met, but did "neither proceed to
business nor adjourn, as a house of burgesses." And thus passed away
the last vestige of royal government in Virginia.
Six days previous to the adjournment of the assembly, in June, 1775,
George Washington had been elected by congress commander-in-chief of
the armies of the United Colonies, and after this time the clash of
arms took place of tumults and bickerings. Dunmore proclaimed freedom
to the negroes, and instituted a predatory maritime warfare, but after
suffering various reverses at Great Bridge, Hampton and Gwynn's Island,
he dismissed his ships, joined the British naval force in New York,
and towards the end of the year, 1776, sailed to England.
July 17, 1775, the third Revolutionary convention of Virginia met
at Richmond. Peyton Randolph, representing Williamsburg, was elected
president, and, as there was then no executive head, an ordinance was
passed, creating "a general committee of safety," to be composed of
Edmund Pendleton, of Caroline, George Mason, of Stafford, John Page,
of Gloucester, Richard Bland, of Prince George, Thomas Ludwell Lee, of
Stafford, Paul Carrington, of Charlotte, Dudley Digges, of Williams-
burg, William Cabell, of Amherst, Carter Braxton, of King William,
James Mercer, of Hampshire, and John Tabb, of Amelia. Peyton Randolph
was again elected to head the delegation to Congress, and several
important ordinances were passed for paying the expenses of the late
war with the Indians (L150,000), and for duly protecting the colony.
September 11, 1775, gentlemen representing Williamsburg and the
counties of Elizabeth City, York, Warwick, James City, Charles City
and New Kent, met in the city, and after electing Robert Carter
Nicholas, chairman of the meeting, organized a
Page 51.
battalion of the companies with the following officers: Champion
Travis, of Jamestown, colonel; Hugh Nelson, of Yorktown, lieutenant-
colonel; Samuel Harwood, of Charles City County, major; and as
captains, Robert Anderson, of Williamsburg; John Cary, of Elizabeth
City; Richard Cary, of Warwick; William Sheldon Sclater and William
Goosley, of York; John Walker, of James City; Furnea Southall and
John Tyler, of Charles City; and Thomas Massie and Andrew Anderson,
of New Kent. James Bray Johnson was appointed "commissary of musters."
Williamsburg was made, by the committee of safety, the rendezvous
for the troops of the colony, and Patrick Henry, the commander-in-
chief, who arrived September 20, selected the field back of the
college as the camping-ground.(27)
On Octber 22, 1775, died in Philadelphia, in the fifty-fourth year
of his age, the Honorable Peyton Randolph, who, during this life-time
was considered the foremost citizen in Virginia. Son of Sir John
Randolph, he was educated at his father's alma mater, William and
Mary College, and studied law at the Inner Temple in London. In
1748 he was appointed attorney-general of the colony and served till
1766, when he became speaker of the house of burgesses, continuing
to preside over that body until it expired. He stood at the head
of the Virginia delegation to congress, and was the first president
of that body. He was also president of the different Virginia con-
ventions till his death, provincial grand-master of Masons in Virginia,
and president of the Williamsburg factory. His remains were brought
from Philadelphia to Williamsburg by his nephew, Edmund Randolph, and,
November 21, were deposited in the family vault in the college chapel
in the presence of "the brotherhood of free Masons, both houses of the
assembly, a number of gentlemen, and the inhabitants of the city.'
The numerous notices in the paper of persons intending to leave
the colony show that the crisis had at last arrived. Many in the
colony, while opposed to the course of the British gov-
___________________________________________________________________
(27) Virginia Gazette.
Page 52.
ernment, were not disposed to favor independence and resistance.
Among these was the brother of Peyton Randolph, John Randolph, "his
majesty's" attorney-general, who deemed it dishonorable to take up
arms against a government under which he held office. He left the
colony and died in England, in 1784; but his body was carried back
to his native State and buried by the side of his brother, Peyton,
in the college chapel. He was the last of the colonial attorney-
generals, and his son, Edmund, a warm advocate of the American cause,
was first attorney-general of the new commonwealth of Virginia. Be-
sides John Randooph, two of the professors at the college left the
colony about this time, Rev. Thomas Gwatkin, who was chaplain to Lady
Dunmore, and Rev. Samuel Henley, celebrated afterwards in England as
the translator of Vatheck.
The fourth Virginia convention met in Richmond, December 1, 1775,
and organized by electing Edmund Pendleton as president. The repre-
sentative from Williamsburg was Joseph Prentis, in the place of George
Wythe, who was absent as a delegate to the general congress. After one
day, the convention adjourned to Willliamsburg, where it assembled
December 4, and remained in session till January 20, 1776. It issued
a declaration, replying to the manifestoes of Lord Dunmore, and de-
fending the Colony -- an able paper, which was reported by the
treasurer, Robert Carter Nicholas, and is believed to have been prepared
by him.
May 6, 1770, convened at the capitol in Williamsburg the fifth and
most important of all the revolutionary conventions of Virginia. Con-
gress had pursued the policy of waging a defensive war against Great
Britain, and Wythe said in October, 1775, that "it was from a reverence
for this congress that the convention of Virginia neglected to arrest
Lord Dunmore." Nor was it till December, 1775, that congress gave its
sanction to waging an offensive war upon him, and ordered some assist-
ance to the Virginians. Even after that time, they attempted to keep
open the door of reconciliation; and the measures adopted by congress
and the other colonies up to the meeting of the Virginia convention
were limited to the continuance of the "present disputes."
Page 53.
In no other colony was a finer spirit displayed than in Virginia. In
the different counties the candidates for the convention were required
to pledge themselves for independence. The earliest county probably to
act was Cumberland, whose committee, on April 22, in resolutions
drafted by Carter Henry Harrison, used the following language:(28)
"We, therefore, your constituents, instruct you to declare for an in-
dependency; that you solemnly abjure any allegiance to his Brittannick
majesty and bid him good night forever, that you promote in our con-
vention an instruction to our delegates now sitting in continental
congress to do the same."
Accordingly, the convention, on May 15, adopted resolutions drawn by
the chairman, Edmund Pendleton, offered by Thomas Nelson, and advocated
by Patrick Henry, instructing the Virginia delegates in congress to
propose to that "respectable body" to declare the United Colonies "free
and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to our dependence
upon the crown or parliament of Great Britain." A second resolution
provided for a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan
of government for the colony, and by this resolution Virginia was pro-
claimed independent long before congress acted. In consequence, the
greatest joy prevailed in Williamsburg. The troops were drawn out and
paraded before the Brigadier-General Andrew Lewis in Waller's grove,
at the east end of the town, near the theatre. Toasts were drunk, and
each of them was accompanied by a discharge of artillery. The bells
were rung, and "the British flag was immediately struck on the capitol
and a continental hoisted in its room."(29)
On June 12, the convention adopted a declaration of rights, and on
June 29, a State constitution, by which it was declared that "the
government of this country, as formerly exercised under the crown of
Great Britain, is totally dissolved." The declaration of rights was
the work of George Mason, and the body of the Virginia constitution
was substantially his,
______________________________________________________________________
(28) William and Mary Coll. Quart., II. 253.
(29) Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, I., 299; Lee, Lee of Virginia,
170; Virginia Gazette.
Page 54.
though the beautiful preamble proceeded from the pen of Thomas Jefferson.
Immediately after the adoption of the plan of government, the convention
elected Patrick Henry first governor of the commonwealth. The last act
of the convention, on July 5, when it adjourned, was to adopt a State
seal, and the inscription, devised by George Wythe, has often been ad-
mired for its appropriateness and classic beauty.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee moved in congress, in obedience to
the instructions of Virginia, the resolutions for independence, but it
appearing in the course of the debates that the colonies of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina were
not yet ready for them, it was thought prudent to wait awhile and to
postpone the final decision to July 1; but that this might occasion as
little delay as possible, a committee, with Thomas Jefferson at the
head, was appointed, June 11 to prepare a Declaration of Independence.
The adoption of these great measures, on July 1, and July 4, respectively,
consummated the work which Virginia had begun. Her fearlessness was
hailed with joy by the people throughout America, and glowing tributes
to the patriotism of the Old Dominion were paid in the private cor-
respondence and the public journals of the day. She was the recognized
leader in this, the last, as she had been in the first act of the
Revolution; and thus is vindicated for Williamsburg, as the scene in
which these important proceedings were nursed into maturity, the title
of "The Cradle of the Revolution."
The estate of Lord Dunmore, called "Porto Bello," and his library
and effects at the palace were siezed by the Virginia authorities and
exposed to public auction. A younger daughter of Dunmore, named
Virginia, born during her father's residence in the colony, had been
formally adopted by the general assembly with provision for her life
support. After the Revolution she reminded the State assembly of its
spontaneously assumed obligations, and later in life, in the eighteenth
century, she petitioned the United States congress, by mediation, or
by its own act, to secure her some provision, being infirm and in
indigent circumstances; but her prayers were unheeded.
Page 55.
Patrick Henry, the first governor of the commonwealth, resided in
the palace, and spent the whole of his term of three years in Williams-
burg. The convention fixed his salary at one thousand pounds per annum,
and ordered that a thousand pounds besides be expended in furnishing
his residence. Some of the "big wigs" of former times at first regarded
him as rather plain for the office, and made fun of his address and
country manners. But Patrick, as chief magistrate, showed them that he
could rise to any occasion, and he assumed a dignity of manner and
attire that quite astonished everybody. He dressed in a suit of fine
black clothes, and a cloak of scarlet adorned his shoulders, while his
wig was as big and as fine as any worn upon the streets of Williamsburg.
Virginia maintained her leadership throughout the war. Her arms
were employed in so many directions at once that she furnished her full
quota, and more than her quota of troops to the continental cause. The
other Southern States were allowed to recruit their regiments on her
soil, and the militia in each county, though uncounted as troops, was
kept in service throughout the war. She had the Indians on the border
to fight, and she was the only one of the States that kept up a public
navy. The service of her public ships was of much importance, as they
not only effectually prevented the incursions of bands of plundering
Tories on the bay, but were useful in making prizes of British merchant-
men and in exporting tobacco and other produce, and exchanging their
cargoes in the West Indies for arms and military stores. Smollett, in
his continuation of Hume's History of England, says that "by the export
of tobacco from the Chesapeake the credit of the colonies was chiefly,
if not wholly, supported," and "by the inland navigation of that bay,
large quantities of provision were conveyed to the middle colonies for
the subsistence of the American armies."
During the time Williamsburg continued to be the capital, which was
until 1780, the place was the resort of persons of great distinction.
August 2, 1777, "Lady Washington, the amiable consort of his excellency,
General Washington," came
Page 56.
to town from "Eltham," the seat of Burwell Bassett, Esq., in New Kent,
and "upon her arrival she was saluted with the firing of cannon and
small arms, and was safely conducted to Mrs. Dawson's in the city."
The city was in another stir, when the news of the surrender of
Burgoyne, at Saratoga, arrived. Patrick Henry issued from the council
chamber, on October 31, 1777, a ringing proclamation, appointing the
thirteenth day of the next month as a day of thanksgiving. February 22,
1779, "a very elegant entertainment was given at the Raleigh Tavern by
the inhabitants of Williamsburg, to celebrate the anniversary of the
birth of General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the army of
the United States, the saviour of his country, and the brave assister of
the rights and liberties of mankind." Not long after, there arrived as
prisoner in Williamsburg Henry Hamilton, known as "the scalp taker,"
late governor-general of Canada, captured by George Rogers Clarke at
Vincennes in the Northwest Territory. The people were much incensed
against him on account of his dealings with the savages, and he was put
in irons and kept in jail for some time.
Thomas Jefferson succeeded Henry as governor June 1, 1779, and re-
mained in Williamsburg till the last day of April, 1780, when he went to
Richmond, which had been selected as the seat of the new government, and
to which all the records and papers were now removed. One of Jefferson's
last acts in Williamsburg was to issue a proclamation, naming December
9, 1779, as a day of public and solemn thanksgiving. The last issue of
the Virginia Gazette published in Williamsburg by Dixon and Hunter, was
dated April 8, 1780, and the first issue in Richmond May 9, 1780.
During the remainder of the war the territory of Virginia was
scarcely ever free from an invading force, and Williamsburg was kept
in constant alarm.
In September, 1780, General Leslie landed in Virginia with 3,000 men,
intending to co-operate with Lord Cornwallis in the South, but not re-
ceiving news from him, he embarked his forces for Charleston, South
Carolina. The last of December Benedict Arnold arrived with another
British force and sailed
Page 57.
up James River, capturing Westover and Richmond. In March, 1781, Arnold
was joined by 2.000 additional troops under General Phillips, who took
command of the British forces at Portsmouth. Phillips moved up the
river, and one detachment landing at Burwell's Ferry, marched to
Williamsburg and encamped there two days (April 20-22, 1781). Williams-
burg contained no public supplies, but the State had a ship-yard on the
Chickahominy, and a squad of the enemy burnt at that place an unfinished
ship of 200 tons.
As the authorities had sent nearly all the guns out of the State to
the aid of the Northern and Southern armies, there were no means on hand
of arming any great number of the militia, and Phillips and Arnold had
an easy campaign. The gallant little navy of Virginia was destroyed,
and the prospect was gloomier still when Cornwallis, about May 20, 1781,
effected a junction with Phillips' troops at Petersburg. He harried and
devastated the country about Richmond, and then marched down to Williams-
burg, which he reached June 25. During the ten days of his stay he did
not improve in his conduct, if we may believe St. George Tucker, a
colonel in the Virginia militia, and a resident of the city:
"Pestilence and famine took root, and poverty brought up the rear." The
British plundered the houses and scattered the smallpox wherever they
went. Lord Cornwallis turned President Madison and his family out of
his house at the college, and forbade them to get water from their own
well, but happily the college building afforded them an asylum until
his lordship's departure.
Many of the inhabitants incurred great losses from the British,
especially in the matter of their slaves. Thus Dr. James McClurg,
professor of medicine in the college, lost "all his small servants but
two girls." "Poor Mr. Cocke was deserted by his favorite man Clem; and
Mrs. Cocke by the loss of her cook, and is obliged to have resource to
her neighbors to dress her dinner for her. They have but one little
boy -- who is smaller than Tom -- left to wait on them within doors."
To add to the catalogue of mortification, the British constrained
Page 58.
all the inhabitants of the town to take paroles, and left behind them
swarms of flies, that for a long time made life almost "intolerable"
by their stings.
July 4, 1781, Cornwallis left Williamsburg and proceeded to Portsmouth
by way of Jamestown. On the way to the latter place he was attacked by
the Americans under Lafayette at the church on the Main, but the as-
sailants were driven back with considerable loss. Afterwards, Cornwallis,
under orders from Sir Henry Clinton at New York, transported his troops
from Portsmouth by water to Yorktown and threw up intrenchments. Here
he fell a victim to the strategy of General Washington and the combined
power of America and France. Lafayette, who commanded the American
troops in Virginia, watched him at a safe distance, and on September 6,
his army, reinforced by 3,000 men, under General St. Simon from the
French fleet under Count de Grasse, lay in small detachments encamped
on the road from Greenspring to the "half-way house," six miles from
Yorktown. General Washington's army was at the head of Chesapeake Bay,
preparing to move by water, and the commander-in-chief and General
Rochambeau were on the way by land, in advance of their troops.
September 15, Colonel St. George Tucker wrote as follows:
"I wrote to you yesterday that General Washington had not yet arrived.
About four o'clock in the afternoon his approach was announced. He had
passed our camp, which is now in the rear of the whole army, before we
had time to parade the militia. The French line had just time to form.
The Continentals had more leisure. He approached without any pomp or
parade, attended by only a few horsemen and his own servants. The Count
de Rochambeau and General Hand, with one or two more officers were with
him. I met him as I was endeavoring to get to camp from town, in order
to parade the brigade; but he had already passed it. To my great sur-
prise he recognized my features and spoke to me immediately by name.
General Nelson, the Marquis, etc., rode up immediately after. Never
was more joy painted in any countenance than theirs. The Marquis rode
up with precipitation, clasped the General in his arms, and embraced him
with an ardor not easily described. The whole army and all the town
were presently in motion. The General, at the request of the Marquis
de St. Simon, rode through the French lines. The troops were paraded
for the purpose, and cut a most splendid figure. He then visited the
Continental line. As he entered the camp the cannon from the Park of
Artillery
Page 59.
and from every brigade announced the happy event. His train by this
time was much increased; and men, women and children seemed to vie with
each other in demonstrations of joy and eagerness to see their beloved
countryman. His quarters are at Mr. Wythe's (George Wythe's) house.
Aunt Betty has the honor of the Count de Rochambeau to lodge at her
house. We are all alive and so sanguine in our hopes that nothing can
be conceived more different than the countenances of the same men at
this time and on the first of June. The troops which were to attend the
General are coming down the bay -- a part, if not all, being already
embarked at the Head of Elk. Cornwallis may now tremble for his fate,
for nothing but some extraordinary interposition of his guardian angels
seems capable of saving him and the whole army from captivity."
September 22, the army of General Washington arrived at Jamestown
and camped on the banks of the river. September 27 they marched through
the city of Williamsburg, and Dr. James Thacher, a surgeon gave this
account of his impressions of the place:
"This is (was) the capital of Virginia, but in other respects is of
little importance. It is situated on a level piece of land, at an
equal distance between two small rivers, one of which falls into York,
the other into James River. The city is one mile and a quarter in
length, and contains about two hundred and fifty houses. The main
street more than one hundred feet in width, and exactly one mile(30) in
length, at one of the extremities, and fronting the street, is the
Capitol, or State House, a handsome edifice, and at the other end is
the college, capable of accommodating three hundred students, but the
tumult of war has broken up the institution. The college is about one
hundred and thirty feet in length and forty in breadth, with two
handsome wings fifty by thirty.(31) Their library is said to consist
of about three thousand volumes. Near the centre of the city is a
large church, and not far from it the palace, the usual residence of
the Governor, which is a splendid building. This part of the State of
Virginia is celebrated for the excellent tobacco which it produces(32),
and this is their prinicpal staple commodity, though the culture of
cotton receives some attention."
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(30) The real length of the main street was seven-eights of a mile.
(31) The front of the college was 136 feet by 40 feet, and the wings
(chapel and hall) were 60 by 25 feet, outside measurement.
(32) After the Revolution, the culture of wheat was substituted for
that of tobacco in the neighborhood of Williamsburg.
Page 60.
After camping for the night three-quarters of a mile east of
Williamsburg (near Fort Magruder), the combined armies took up the
march, September 28, to Yorktown, and, on October 19, occurred the
surrender of the British army, the effect of which was to secure
American independence. Succeeding this, part of the American troops
were sent to reinforce General Greene in the south, and another and
larger part were returned to New York; but the French remained near
Williamsburg till the next summer, the headquarters of the Count de
Rochambeau being in the city, probably at the house known as the Peachy
house, then the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Bland Beverley, Colonel
St. George Tucker's wife's aunt.
On March 2, 1782, the degree of doctor of civil law was conferred by
the college on the French general, Count de Chastellux, who enjoyed
the honor of being one of the forty members of the French academy.
The provisional articles of a treaty of peace were signed at Paris,
November 30, 1782, and in pursuance of a declaration of the continental
congress, April 11, 1783, Governor Benjamin Harrison issued his pro-
clamation for the cessation of hostilities within the State. He com-
municated his proclamation to the mayor of Williamsburg, and on May 1,
1783, American independence was duly celebrated in the city.
GOVERNOR BENJAMIN HARRISON TO THE MAYOR OF WILLIAMSBURG.
RICHMOND, APRIL 23D, 1783.
SIR - It gives me pleasure to have it in my power to congratulate
you on the important event of a general peace and American independ-
ence as announced in the inclosed proclamation of Congress, & I have
to request that you will cause the said proclamation, together with the
one issued by me for the strict observnace of it, publicly read in your
city. I am, sir, Your obedt Hble Servt,
Benj. Harrison.
(On the inside of this letter is written in another hand the "Order
of the Procession on the Great Day," as below.)
ORDER OF THE PROCESSION ON THE GREAT DAY, THURSDAY, MAY 1ST.
1st Two attendants, in front, supporting two staffs, decorated with
Ribbons, &c., &c.
2nd The Herald mounted on a Gelding neatly Caparisoned.
3d Two Attendants, as at first.
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4th Sargeant bearing the mace.
5th Mayor, Recorder, with Charter.
6th Clerk, Behind, carrying the Plan of the City.
7th Aldermen, two and two.
8th Common Council, in the same order.
9th The Citizens in the same order.
The Citizens to be convened on Thursday at 1 o'clock at the Court-
House by a Bell man.
After the convention of the citizens they are to make proclamation
at the C: House, after which the Bells at the Church, College & Capitol
are to ring in peal.
From the Ct House the Citizens are to proceed to the College, and
make proclamation at that place, from whence they are to proceed to
the Capitol and make proclamation there; and from thence Proceed to
the Raleigh & pass the rest of the Day.
IV. COLLEGE VILLAGE.
In 1779 the population of Williamsburg was about 2,000, but the
removal of the capital to Richmond was very detrimental, and the
population dwindled about one-third in sixteen years. Mr. Weld, in
his Travels, says that "the town (1795) contained about 1,200 people,
and the society in it is thought to be more attractive and more
genteel at the same time than any place of its size in America." The
city about that time was the residence of Rev. James Madison, president
of the college, the first to teach political economy at any American
college; of Dr. John Minson Galt, surgeon-general of the Unites States;
of Charles Bellini, the first American professor of modern languages;
of John Blair, associate judge of the Supreme Court of the United
States; of St. George Tucker, author of the first American text-book
on the law; of Dr. James McClurg, professor of medicine in the college,
trained in the best universities of Europe; of Robert Andrews, professor
of mathematics, who, with President Madison, laid out the boundary line
between Virginia and Pennsylvania; of Dr. William Carter, a learned
physician; of Robert Saunders, a distinguished lawyer; of Simeon Deane,
who brought to America from Paris, in 1778, a copy of the treaty of
alliance between France and the United States; and of some others of
cultivation and refinement. They lived comfortably and well,
Page 62.
but without any great elegance or luxury. They had neat gardens and a
good market, which furnished excellent meats and poultry, fish, crabs,
oysters, wild fowl, butter and vegetables.
In 1804 William Taylor Barry, afterwards postmaster-general, was a
student at the college and wrote an account of Williamsburg. He spoke
of the place as greatly decayed, and of the houses as of very indif-
ferent architecture. He brightened up, however, when he referred to
the site of the town and the main street, which were as "handsome" and
"elegant" as they well could be. The ladies, while "not overburdened
with learning, were gay, entertaining and extremely hospitable."
In 1824 the town was visited by the Marquis de Lafayette, who was
received with respect and enthusiasm. He landed at Yorktown, and the
statement is made that the outpouring of the country was so great that
the last carriage left Yorktown as the first entered Williamsburg,
twelve miles distant. He was entertained at the house Dr. Peachy,
and at the college received from the faculty the degree of doctor of
laws.
In 1841 the town was the residence of a president of the United
States, John Tyler, who lived at Bassett Hall. For sixty years after
the Revolution the country about Williamsburg went backward, and there
was much emigration southward and westward; but during the twenty
years immediately preceding the war between the States, the vicinity,
in common with all Tidewater Virginia, immensely improved, under the
new system of farming, introduced by the noted agriculturist, Edmund
Ruffin, a graduate of William and Mary College.
In 1859 a great calamity befell Williamsburg in the accidental
burning of the main college building, but the friends of the college
came to the rescue and soon restored it. Just at this time, Williams-
burg received a visit from William B. Rogers, the famous scientist
and formerly a professor in the college, who wrote as follows:
BOSTON, April 4, 1859.
Now, let me tell you something of my visit to Virginia, . . . . .
I went down the river on Saturday in a little steamer plying between
Richmond and the Chickahominy, which, as you know, approaches within
fourteen miles of Williamsburg, separating James City and New
Page 63.
Kent counties. A violent storm of wind prevented my landing at the
mouth of river, and I was taken up some miles to a point not far from
the residence of our old friend, Littleton Waller. At his pleasant
home I arrived a little before sundown, was welcomed with both hands
extended, by his wife, not previously known to me, and conducted up-
stairs, where I found Littleton basking in the warmth of a luxurious
wood fire, the very picture of philosophic and benevolent cheerfulness.
After visiting all quarters of the globe and sharing in the dangers of
the Mexican War, as a purser in the navy, he some years ago retired
from active life to his present country home, where he has made him-
self the model farmer of the neighborhood, and spends his time in doing
good to his neighbours. You can hardly imagine his happy surprise at
seeing me, and the affectionate inquiry he made about you and Robert.
With him and his lady friends I made a good collection at his fine marl
bank the next (Sunday) morning, and after dinner was driven in a buggy
to dear old Williamsburg. To my great delight I found all along the
road proofs of prosperous and improved agriculture. The old "Bunt-
ornery," as the negroes used to call the ruinous, charred inn, is now
replaced by a hamlet of neat white houses, and on all sides I saw
evidences of neatness and thrift. But sad was the sight when about
sundown I came in view of the college, as I approached by the road
leading past the president's house. Many of the old trees on the road-
side greeted me as familiar frends, but I missed the sharp, many win-
dowed roof of the college, and found, as I drew near, that although the
solid walls had for the most part, defied the assault of the fire, the
whole interior of the wings, as well as main structure, had been turned
to ashes.
I drove past, with a tearful eye, noting that the mossy coat of old
Botetourt was unscathed, that the dial kept its place, that the presi-
dent's house and our home, the Brafferton, had not been injured, and
that one of those noble live-oaks at the gate was dead. I drove slowly
down the quiet level street, at almost every step recognizing familiar
objects, and dwelling in dreamy sweet sadness on the past. As I drove
by the old church, whose steeple has never yet been painted, the organ
was sounding the closing services, and soon after, I reached Mrs. Vest's,
at the lower extremity of the street on the right hand. She and her
husband came to bid me the warmest and kindest Virginian welcomes.
The Visitors, including John Tyler, Governor Wise, William Harrison
of Brandon, Tayloe of Rappahannock, Tazewell Taylor, etc., asked me to
confer with them in regard to rebuilding the college. This has been
definitely resolved on, and will be commenced on forthwith. The old
foundations and the front wall will be retained, but, of course, a more
convenient interior has been planned. The insurance money, with what
has been and will be collected from friends, will, I believe, put
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the college in a better condition than before. I obtained in Williams-
burg some lithograph views of the college and surroundings taken by
Millington's son some years ago, one of which I reserve for you. Though
a poor specimen of art, it will be precious as reminding us of the home
of our dear father, and the spot where we first caught the inspiration
of science.
In 1861 the old capital was excited by the breaking out of war be-
tween the States of the American Union. If the patriotism of the State
was great in the war of the Revolution, it was far exceeded in the
effort to drive back the army of invasion from the North. The people
of Virginia were not disposed tamely to surrender to any power that
"freedom, independence and sovereignty," which they had so often
solemnly claimed and asserted for the commonwealth. The number of
troops contributed by the State to the war exceeded 180,000 men(33),
which was almost one-fifth of the entire white population, and far
greater than the proportion furnished by any other State, North or
South.
During the war the city contributed to the Southern army all its
boys over fifteen and men under sixty, and the college, all its
students and professors, inclusive of its president, Dr. Benjamin S.
Ewell, who was a colonel of infantry and later chief of General
Joseph E. Johnston's military staff. On the outskirts of the town was
fought the bloody battle of Williamsburg, and through its streets
passed the mighty armies of Generals Johnston and George B. McClellan.
The city was alternately in the hands of the Confederates and Federals,
and new experiences taught the people that pillaging, burning and
other excesses wsere not an accomplishment solely of British troops.
The main college building and several fine old houses in Williamsburg
and in the vicinity thereof, were destroyed by Federal soldiers, and
Corwallis' policy of takikng paroles of the inhabitants was not so
harsh as the policy of the Federal officers in imposing an oath of
allegiance upon all persons of either sex over sixteen years of age,
under penalty of being put outside of the lines -- into the woods it
might be. Probably the
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(33) William and Mary Coll. Quart., XIII., 141.
Page 65. [transcriber's note: typed verbatim]
most irreparable loss sustained was the destruction of the James City
County record books, which were sent to Richmond, at the beginning of
the war, for safekeeping, and perished in the fire which destroyed that
city in 1865.
Peace came at last, and Williamsburg, shattered by poverty and war,
took up again the burden of its destiny. But the Virginian, true to
his English descent, never yields to despair; on the old walls of
1694. In 1881 the centennial of the sur-
the town were repaired and the main college building rebuilt on the
old walls of 1694. In 1881 the centennial of the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis awakened new life as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad ran
its cars through the place for the first time, and transferred the
multitudes to Yorktown, thirteen miles away. In 1888 the college,
which had been closed for seven years, was revived under the patronage
of the State legislature. Then, in 1893 the bi-centennial year of
the college charter, congress, by an appropriation of money, made
amends to a consierable extent for the injuries inflicted by war, and
since that time Williamsburg has greatly improved. The "Ancient
Capital" has its face toward the future, while proudly conscious of
the past. It is often visited by travellers from Europe, and from
the North, who never fail to take away with them kind impressions of
the neighborhood, and love to repeat in letters to newspapers and other
periodicals the interesting stories of its ancient glory. The present
population is about 2,500.