History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia Part 57

[660:B] _S. Lit. Messenger_, August, 1858.

[661:A] To be found in Life of Richard Henry Lee, i. 119.

[661:B] See Randall's Jefferson, i., and a review of his opinions on this subject, by Mr. Grigsby, in _Richmond Enquirer_ of January 15th, 1858.

[662:A] The motto of his arms was: "Haud incautus futuri."

[663:A] Burk's Hist. of Va., iv.

CHAPTER XC.

1776.

Dunmore on Gwynn's Island--Driven thence by General Lewis-- Dunmore retires from Virginia--Affairs at Boston--Canada invaded--Howe evacuates Boston--Battles of Long Island and White Plains--Fort Was.h.i.+ngton captured--Was.h.i.+ngton retreats-- Enemy defeated at Trenton and Princeton--Death of Mercer.

DUNMORE, pressed for provisions, burnt his entrenchments, near the smouldering ruins of Norfolk, and sought refuge on board of his fleet.

General Charles Lee devised energetic means for curbing the disaffected in the lower country; and his orders were carried into effect by Colonel Woodford, whose vigor was tempered with humanity. Dunmore with his fleet left Hampton Roads about the first of June, and entrenched himself with five hundred men, including many runaway negroes, on Gwynn's Island, in the Chesapeake, to the east of Matthews County, and separated from it by a strait.[664:A]

In the evening of July the eighth, General Andrew Lewis, with Colonel Adam Stephen, reached the camp before Gwynn's Island, and during the night a battery was erected. Next morning the enemy's fleet lying within range, the embrasures were unmasked, and a fire opened upon the Dunmore.

This s.h.i.+p, after firing a few guns, cut her cables and retreated, towed off by boats, two batteries playing on her. She was damaged, her cabin shattered, and some men killed. Lord Dunmore himself was wounded in the leg by a splinter, and had his china-ware smashed about him, and exclaimed, as was reported: "Good G.o.d, that ever I should come to this!"

The other vessels did not escape with impunity, and all retired in confusion to a safe distance. The guns of the batteries were now turned upon the enemy's camp, the shot crossing each other in the centre of it, and the troops were dislodged. On the next morning Lewis, with the aid of some canoes, captured two small armed vessels, and some of his men landing on the island, the look-outs ran exclaiming, "the s.h.i.+rt-men are coming!" a panic seized Dunmore's men, so that they precipitately evacuated the island, (before two hundred and fifty of the Provincials could be landed on the island,) and the boats of the fleet, consisting of eighty sail, took them on board. They left valuable stores behind, and burnt some vessels. The inhabitants reported that Dunmore had recently received a re-enforcement of one hundred and fifty tories from Maryland, and some cattle. Part of these last fell into Lewis's hands. A detachment was sent to protect the people on the Potomac. Numerous half-covered graves on the island gave proof of the fatality of the place, and the bodies of negroes were found lying unburied. The small-pox was left as a legacy to the island. Among the graves was one neatly done up with turf, which was supposed to cover the remains of Lord Gosport, who had recently died. Ovens, newly erected, and a windmill commenced, made it evident that Lord Dunmore had contemplated a longer stay there. It was reported that he was sick. The negroes, horses, cattle, and furniture of Mr. John Grymes, a tory, fell into possession of the Provincials. Major Byrd, who was sick, upon their approach was conveyed to Cherry Point in a cart, and embarked there.

Dunmore shortly afterwards, despatching the remnant of his followers to Florida and the West Indies, retired to the North, and thence returned to England, where he continued to exhibit himself an untiring opponent of America. He entertained hospitably in London the Virginia refugee loyalists Randolph, Grymes, Brockenbrough, Beverley, Wormley, Corbin, and others. Lord Dunmore was appointed (1786) Governor of Bermuda, and died in 1809.

On the 3d of July, 1775, Was.h.i.+ngton had a.s.sumed the command of the American army, encamped near Boston, and had made his headquarters at Cambridge. His first business was to organize, equip, and discipline his force. The British army, blocked up on the land side, remained inactive in Boston, finding itself, although strongly re-enforced, gradually hemmed in and besieged.

In the mean time, in pursuance of the Quebec act, a Canadian force having been marched into the colonies, and it being the manifest design of the enemy to bring down the savages upon the frontier, a detachment was sent to invade Canada. Marching under command of Montgomery, they crossed Lake Champlain, and laid siege to Fort St. Johns, the key to Canada, strengthened by Carleton, the ablest of the British generals, and strongly garrisoned. During this siege a detachment, penetrating further into the country, captured Fort Chamblee, between St. Johns and Montreal. Carleton, marching to the relief of St. Johns, was met and defeated. St. Johns, after a siege of forty-seven days, in a rigorous season, and in a low and wet ground, where the besiegers slept on piles of brush, covered over with weeds, to keep out of the water, surrendered. November the thirteenth Montreal capitulated to the gallant Irishman, General Montgomery. Arnold, accompanied by Morgan and Greene, rubbing through exposure, hards.h.i.+p, and privation, made his way into Canada by the Kennebec and Chaudiere Rivers, and was about to unite his forces with Montgomery's. At this time it appeared as if the whole of Canada would probably soon be reduced, and it was confidently expected that Canadian delegates would shortly appear in congress, and complete the union of fourteen colonies. This brilliant prospect was soon overcast; Montgomery fell in a daring but unsuccessful attack upon Quebec. Re-enforcements of American troops were sent to Canada, but owing to their insufficiency in number and in discipline, the rigor of the climate, and the energy of Carleton, the British commander, the expedition eventually proved fruitless in effecting a conquest; and it was found necessary to evacuate that country. While these reverses occurred by land, it was observed with satisfaction that the colonies abounded in materials and resources requisite for building up a naval force; and in some of the colonies vessels were arming. Richard Henry Lee, in a letter to Mrs. McCauley, of England, compared America on the sea, in that year, to "Hercules in his cradle." The American navy was indeed "nursed in the whirlwind and cradled in the storm."

The British army at Boston, admonished by the scenes of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker's Hill, and finding their position more and more restricted by Was.h.i.+ngton's lines of fortification, remained in gloomy inaction until March, 1776, when Sir William Howe, who had succeeded General Gage, evacuated that city, and sailed with the troops and many unhappy tory refugees to Halifax.

The American army proceeded to New York. Early in July, 1776, Sir William Howe with his army landed on Staten Island. The commander of the fleet was Lord Howe, brother of Sir William, and these two were const.i.tuted commissioners for restoring peace. In the battle of Long Island, which occurred on the twenty-seventh of August, the American army, inferior in number, and without cavalry, fought confusedly and badly, and was defeated with heavy loss, variously estimated. Among the prisoners was Major-General Sullivan. The enemy's loss was by no means inconsiderable. From the commencement of the battle on the morning of the twenty-seventh till the morning of the twenty-ninth, Was.h.i.+ngton never slept, and was almost incessantly on horseback. The disastrous result of this action cast a gloom over the cause of independence, elated disaffection, and damped the ardor of the American troops. The militia in large numbers quit the camp and went home; and Was.h.i.+ngton was obliged to confess his "want of confidence in the generality of the troops." He urged upon congress the necessity of a permanent army. On the fifteenth of September he was compelled to evacuate New York, with the loss of his heavy artillery and a large part of his stores, and General Howe took possession of the city.

In a skirmish on Haerlem Heights, a detachment of the third Virginia regiment, which had arrived on the preceding day, formed the advanced party in the attack, and Major Leitch, while intrepidly leading them on, fell mortally wounded.

In accordance with Was.h.i.+ngton's solicitation congress made arrangements to put the army on a better footing. To obviate the movements of the enemy he moved his forces up the Hudson River. On the twenty-fifth of October the battle of White Plains took place, warmly contested, with equal loss, and without decisive result. In November Fort Was.h.i.+ngton, on the Hudson, was stormed by the British, and the garrison, consisting of twenty-six hundred men, were made prisoners. Was.h.i.+ngton is said to have shed tears on occasion of this disaster. The enemy's loss was eight hundred. Early in December Was.h.i.+ngton, finding his army sadly reduced, retreated across Jersey. They were pursued by a British army, numerous, well-appointed, and victorious. At this conjuncture Major-General Lee was surprised and made prisoner--as is now believed--by collusion with the enemy.[668:A] The reanimated spirit of disaffection rendered the American cause still more hopeless. December the twentieth, Was.h.i.+ngton's army on the west bank of the Delaware, augmented by re-enforcements, amounted to seven thousand effectives; but in a few days all of them, except about fifteen hundred men, were to be discharged upon the expiration of the term of enlistment. Was.h.i.+ngton became convinced that some bold enterprise was necessary to rekindle the patriotic spirit, and listening to the advice of those about him, resolved to strike at the posts of the enemy, who had retired securely into winter quarters.

Crossing the Delaware, a few miles above Trenton, in a night of extreme cold, amid floating ice, he early on the morning of the twenty-six surprised there a body of Hessians, and made one thousand prisoners.

Lieutenant Monroe, afterwards president, was wounded in this affair.

Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor, of Virginia, aid of the commander-in-chief, carrying the intelligence of this success to congress, was presented with a horse caparisoned for service, and was recommended for promotion.

Near Princeton another corps was routed with heavy loss; but the joy of the Americans was mingled with grief for the loss of General Mercer.

Hugh Mercer, a native of Scotland, having been graduated in the medical profession, was present, in the capacity of a.s.sistant surgeon, at the battle of Flodden, on the side of the vanquished. Escaping, he came to America, and settled at Fredericksburg, in Virginia, where he married, and successfully pursued his profession. During the French and Indian war of 1755 he was a captain under Was.h.i.+ngton. In an engagement, being wounded in the wrist by a musket ball, separated from his comrades, and faint with loss of blood, he was closely pursued by the savage foe, whose war-whoop rang through the surrounding forests. Concealing himself in the hollow trunk of a giant tree, he narrowly escaped. After a journey of more than one hundred miles through an untrodden wilderness, and supporting life on roots and the body of a rattlesnake, he finally reached Fort c.u.mberland. For his gallant conduct the City of Philadelphia presented him an honorary medal. In 1775 he was in command of three regiments of minute-men, and in 1776 a colonel of the Virginia troops, and rendered important services in drilling and organizing the new levies. In quelling a mutiny in a company of riflemen called, ironically, "Gibson's Lambs," at Williamsburg, whom he disarmed, he displayed that intrepidity and decision for which he was so distinguished. During the same year, being made a brigadier-general in the continental army, he exhibited signal courage and energy throughout a disastrous campaign. On the 3d day of January, 1777, this excellent officer, leading the van of Was.h.i.+ngton's army, encountered, about sunrise, near Princeton, three British regiments, and while rallying his troops his horse was shot from under him, and he fell dangerously wounded, and died shortly afterwards in a small house near the scene of the encounter. He was attended by Major George Lewis, a nephew of General Was.h.i.+ngton, who had sent him to perform that duty, and by Dr.

Rush.

The death of General Mercer forms the subject of a picture long familiar to the students of the college of New Jersey. He lies buried in Christ Church, Philadelphia.

FOOTNOTES:

[664:A] There is a tradition that Pocahontas, in swimming across the Pyanketank, was near being drowned, and was rescued by one of the colonists, who received from her, or her father, this island as a reward.

[668:A] George H. Moore, Esq., librarian of the New York Historical Society, is preparing an interesting memoir on the subject of General Lee's treasonable conduct.

CHAPTER XCI.

1776.

Death of Richard Bland--Genealogy of the Blands--First a.s.sembly under new Government--Pet.i.tions against Church establishment-- Memorial of Hanover Presbytery--Rev. Caleb Wallace--Pet.i.tions in favor of Established Church--Proceedings of a.s.sembly--Alleged scheme of Dictator--Hampden Sidney--Virginia Navy.

ON the 26th day of October, 1776, died Richard Bland, at Williamsburg, aged sixty-six. He was in attendance as a member of the house of delegates at its first session, and was struck with apoplexy while walking in the streets. His intellectual calibre was capacious, his education finished, his habits of application indefatigable. Thoroughly versed in the charters, laws, and history of the colony, he was styled the "Virginia Antiquary." He was a political character of the first rank, a profound logician, and as a writer perhaps unsurpa.s.sed in the colony.

His letter to the clergy, published in 1760, and his enquiry into the rights of the colonies, are monuments of his patriotism, his learning, and the vigor of his understanding. He was an ungraceful speaker. It is said that he was p.r.o.nounced by Mr. Jefferson to be "the wisest man south of the James River." He resided at Jordan's Point, on the James, in Prince George. His portrait and that of his wife were mutilated by the bayonets of British soldiers during the revolutionary war.[670:A] His wife had died in 1758, aged forty-six years.

The Blands of Virginia derive their name from Bland, a place in or near Lonsdale, in Westmoreland, or c.u.mberland, England. William de Bland flourished in the reign of Edward the Third, and did good service in the wars which that king carried on in France, in company of John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond. Thomas de Bland obtained a pardon from Richard the Second, for killing his antagonist in a duel, by the intercession of his friend the Duke of Guyenne and Lancaster. The coat of arms of Bland is quartered by the family of Wansford, of Kirklington, in the County of York, afterwards Lord Viscount Castle-Comer, in the kingdom of Ireland; and the family of Thistlewait, of Thistlewait, bear the arms of Bland for their paternal coat as descended from the ancient family of Bland.

Edward Bland, of Burfield, died in the reign of Edward the Fourth; from him was descended Adam Bland, who lived in the reign of Edward the Sixth. John Bland was free of the "Grocers and Merchants Adventurers Company." Thomas Bland, receiver of the rents for Yorks.h.i.+re in the time of Charles the First, married, secondly, Katherine, sister of Sir Richard Sandys, of Northbourne, in Kent. Giles Bland, collector of the customs for James River, owing to a quarrel with Sir William Berkley, became a partisan of Bacon, and was executed during the rebellion.

Edward Bland, a merchant in Spain, (1643,) afterwards removed to Virginia, where he lived at Kimages, in Charles City County. Robert Bland was rector of Weyborough-magna, with the chapel of Sale appendant, in the County of Ess.e.x. Richard Bland, of the company of "Framework Knitters," was Lord of the manor of Preston Hall, and Lord Mayor of Preston. Theodorick Bland was some time a merchant at Luars in Spain, but came over to Virginia in the year 1654. He settled at Westover, on James River, where he died April 23d, 1671, aged forty-one, and was buried in the chancel of the church which he built, and gave, together with ten acres of land, a court-house and prison, for the county and parish. His tombstone is to be found in Westover churchyard, lying between those of two of his friends; the church has disappeared long ago. This Theodorick Bland was one of the king's council for Virginia, and was both in fortune and understanding inferior to no person of his time in the country. He married the daughter of Richard Bennet, Esq., sometime governor of the colony. Richard Bland, born at Berkley, son of this Theodorick Bland, married, first, Mary, daughter of Colonel Thomas Swan; secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel William Randolph, of Turkey Island, on James River. Mary Bland, eldest daughter of Richard Bland, gentleman, of Jordans, born 1704, married Colonel Henry Lee, of Westmoreland. Elizabeth, second daughter of said Richard Bland, married Colonel William Beverley, of Ess.e.x County. Theodorick Bland, Sr., of Cawsons, in Prince George, was clerk of that county and member of the house of burgesses. He married Frances Boiling. The children of that union were Theodorick Bland, Jr., and four daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, Anna, and Jenny. Theodorick Bland, Sr., married, secondly, a widow Yates. Theodorick Bland, Jr., was a colonel of a regiment of horse during the revolutionary war, a member of congress, and of the convention of Virginia that ratified the Const.i.tution of the United States. Patsy, daughter of Theodorick Bland, Sr., married Colonel John Banister, of Battersea, near Petersburg, member of the convention of 1776, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry during the war of Revolution, and member of congress. Frances, another daughter of Theodorick Bland, Sr., married John Randolph, of Matoax, and these were the parents of John Randolph, of Roanoke, the orator, who was born at Cawsons, in Prince George County, the residence of Theodorick Bland, Sr. The mother of John Randolph, of Roanoke, married, secondly, St. George Tucker, judge of the court of appeals of Virginia, and subsequently district judge of the federal court.

The Cherokees, instigated by the English, having made b.l.o.o.d.y incursions on the Virginia frontier, Colonel Christian, with a body of troops, burnt their towns, and compelled them to sue for peace.

On the 7th day of October, 1776, the general a.s.sembly of Virginia met for the first time under the const.i.tution adopted in the preceding July.

The house of delegates was composed of the same members as those who const.i.tuted the convention which framed the const.i.tution, and who held over without an election, and thus became the house of delegates under the const.i.tution of their own making. The examples which probably guided them were, that of the convention of 1660, which, after calling Charles the Second to the throne, resolved itself into a house of commons; and that of the convention of 1688, which, after settling the crown on William and Mary, also resolved itself into a house of commons. The new senate, however, was elected by the people.[673:A] Edmund Pendleton was elected speaker of the house, and Archibald Cary speaker of the senate.

The new declaration of rights a.s.serted that "all men are equally ent.i.tled to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience;" yet it appeared that the a.s.sembly intended to continue the old church establishment. This and the circulation of pet.i.tions in behalf of episcopacy, as established by law, alarmed the dissenters, and they enquired what advantage then in this great point "shall we derive from being independent of Great Britain? And is it not as bad for our a.s.sembly to violate their own declaration of rights as for the British parliament to break our charter?" The Baptists accordingly circulated a counter-pet.i.tion, which was signed by ten thousand persons, chiefly freeholders. The presbytery of Hanover also presented a memorial to the same effect, pledging themselves that nothing in their power should be wanting to give success to the cause of the country. In the frontier counties, containing one-fifth of the inhabitants of Virginia, the dissenters, who const.i.tuted almost the entire population, were yet obliged to contribute to the support of the church as established, and a considerable portion of the inhabitants of the other parts of the colony labored under the same disadvantages. "Certain it is," say the memorialists, "that every argument for civil liberty gains additional strength when applied to liberty in the concerns of religion; and there is no argument in favor of establis.h.i.+ng the Christian religion but what may be pleaded with equal propriety for establis.h.i.+ng the tenets of Mohammed by those who believe the Alcoran; or, if this be not true, it is at least impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right of preference among the various sects that profess the Christian faith, without erecting a chair of infallibility which would lead us back to the church of Rome." Religious establishments (they contended) are injurious to the temporal interests of any community; and the more early settlement of Virginia, and her natural advantages, would have attracted hither mult.i.tudes of industrious and useful members of society, but they had either remained in their place of nativity, or preferred worse civil governments and a more barren soil, where they might enjoy the rights of conscience more fully. Nor did religion need the aid of an establishment; on the contrary, as her weapons are spiritual, Christianity would flourish in the greatest purity when left to her native excellence; and the duty which we owe our Creator can only be directed by reason and conviction.

This memorial was composed, in behalf of the presbytery, by the Rev.

Caleb Wallace, of Charlotte County, a graduate of Princeton. He was in attendance upon the a.s.sembly for six or eight weeks for the furthering of this object.[674:A]

The clergy of the established church presented pet.i.tions in favor of continuing the establishment, and they were re-enforced by the Methodists as a society in communion with the Church of England. It was urged that good faith to the clergy required that they should not be deprived of their livings, which belonged to them for life, or during good behaviour; that an ecclesiastical establishment was in itself a desirable inst.i.tution, it being for the benefit of the community that a body of Christian ministers should be thus supported; and that if all denominations were reduced to an equality, the contest for superiority among them would involve confusion, and probably civil commotion; and finally that a majority of the people of Virginia desired to have the church establishment maintained.

The a.s.sembly exempted dissenters from contributions for the support of the Church of England, and repealed all penal laws against any mode of wors.h.i.+p, leaving all denominations for the present to support their clergy by voluntary contributions, and reserving the consideration "of a general a.s.sessment for the support of religion" to a future session, so that the sense of the people on that subject might be, in the mean time, collected.[675:A] This matter was debated for a day or two in the house, and gave rise to some newspaper controversy. Religious freedom was gaining ground; but, although all penal statutes were repealed, the restrictions and penalties sanctioned by the common law remained.

In the struggle that preceded the Revolution more than two-thirds of the Virginia clergy of the established church and a portion of the lay members were loyalists. Of those clergymen who adhered to the patriotic side several were men of note, such as Jarratt, Madison, (afterwards the first bishop of Virginia,) Bracken, Muhlenburg, of the Valley of the Shenandoah, who accepted a colonel's commission, raised a regiment, and served throughout the war; and Thruston, who also became a colonel.

Congress having ordered the army to be augmented to eighty-eight battalions, to serve during the continuance of the war, a quota of fifteen battalions was a.s.signed to Virginia; and to complete them the a.s.sembly took measures to raise seven battalions in addition to those already embodied. Attention was bestowed upon the building up of a naval force, and men were transferred from the army to the marine service.

Infantry and cavalry, speedily raised and well officered, were sent to join General Was.h.i.+ngton, and measures were adopted for calling forth the resources of Virginia, and to strengthen her for the exigencies of war.

Courts of admiralty were established; entails abolished, the bill for this purpose being framed by Mr. Jefferson; treason was defined, and penalties denounced against such as should maintain and defend the authority of the king or parliament, or should excite sedition in the State; importation from Great Britain was prohibited; loyalist British factors were ordered to depart from the commonwealth under a statute of twenty-seventh year of Edward the Third.

Governor Henry, owing to the state of his health, retired, with the concurrence of the a.s.sembly, to the country. An effort made at this time by David Rogers, a member of the senate, and some other malecontents in West Augusta, to erect themselves into a separate state, proved abortive. Robert C. Nicholas, resigning the office of treasurer, received the thanks of the legislature for his faithful discharge of the duties of his office. He was succeeded by George Webb. The estate of Lord Dunmore was disposed of, and the proceeds appropriated to the payment of his debts.[676:A] Jefferson, Pendleton, Wythe, Mason, and Thomas Ludwell Lee were appointed a committee to revise the laws. By the resignation of Mr. Mason, and the indisposition of Mr. Lee, the duty eventually devolved upon the other three.

Congress, with a view of gaining the alliance of France, appointed three commissioners to that court: Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson declined the appointment, and it was then given to Dr. Arthur Lee.

Toward the close of this session of the Virginia a.s.sembly, when Was.h.i.+ngton was retreating through the Jerseys, and when the cause of independence seemed almost desperate, several of the members, it is said, meditated, in imitation of the Roman Republic, the appointment of a dictator. The tradition is, that such was the animosity engendered by this scheme, that they who espoused, and they who opposed it, walked on opposite sides of the street. Who they were that favored it, or where it was concocted, or how developed, does not appear. It is reported, indeed, that Patrick Henry was the person held in view as the dictator; but that he suggested the plan, or favored it, or consented to it, or was in any way privy to it, there is no evidence to prove, nor has it even been alleged. The tradition (resting on no testimony) relates, that Archibald Cary, a man of violent temper, and a life-long opponent of Henry, sent a message to the governor, (by his brother-in-law, Colonel Syme,) that on the day in which he should accept the dictators.h.i.+p he should fall by his dagger; and the Colonel has been compared to Brutus--as if the example was worthy of imitation, or as if a dictator appointed by a Virginia a.s.sembly can be justly compared to Julius Caesar at the head of his legions, usurping the government by his sword.