The Fabulous History Of The Dismal Swamp Company Part 7

Elizabeth called James Parke Farley her "Friend & Husband." If he stayed at the Land of Eden, so would she. But aside from the presence of her husband and daughters-she was pregnant with her third-she found it a lonely life. James spent much of his time, first, driving squatters off the land "after some difficulty," then dividing many of the 25,800 acres into farms and plantations for tenants. He kept old William Byrd's favorite tract, Saura Town, for himself, placing upon it not only tobacco but also cattle, sheep, and swine. His new purchases included pewter spoons, spirits of turpentine, nails for tobacco hogsheads, and sheep shears. True, he also bought rich brocade, silk garters, and chocolate. A few luxuries did not turn Elizabeth's mind from the difference between life at Westover, which a European guest called "worthy of Paris," and living near her neighbor by the ford of the Dan, "a plain back wood's planter, with a large family...a hospitable, but uncultivated mind, and rude manners." For her husband's welfare and for the security of Francis Farley's property she remained at Belview, watching the eastward road along the Dan and the northward road to Petersburg, hoping to see a wagon or a horseman carrying letters.

With Francis Farley, Samuel Gist took alarm at the "Unhappy differences" between American colonists ready to defy the British government and a ministry determined to force them to submit. a.s.sociations, closing of ports-no doubt fighting would come next-threw business out "of its usual Channel." Gist meant to get as much tobacco as possible from Virginia to London as fast as he could. To his vessels the Planter Planter and the and the Elizabeth Elizabeth he added the he added the Mary Mary and the and the Westover Westover. He kept all four busy.

As the Planter Planter, with her cargo of indentured servants and manufactured goods, dropped down the Thames with the tide in the first week of February 1774, the Elizabeth Elizabeth was already at sea. She arrived in the James River in the first week of March, under the command of Captain Alexander Leitch. In her were European goods for Phripp, Taylor & Company of Norfolk and "a steddy young lad" from Bristol, Samuel Sellick. Phripp, Taylor & Company had asked Gist to find an apprentice to work in their store. He sent them his kinsman, Sellick, with the usual indentures. Captain Leitch apparently had orders from Gist to return to London quickly. The was already at sea. She arrived in the James River in the first week of March, under the command of Captain Alexander Leitch. In her were European goods for Phripp, Taylor & Company of Norfolk and "a steddy young lad" from Bristol, Samuel Sellick. Phripp, Taylor & Company had asked Gist to find an apprentice to work in their store. He sent them his kinsman, Sellick, with the usual indentures. Captain Leitch apparently had orders from Gist to return to London quickly. The Elizabeth Elizabeth moored in the Thames six months and ten days after she began her voyage to Virginia. moored in the Thames six months and ten days after she began her voyage to Virginia.

While the Elizabeth Elizabeth rode at anchor in the James and the rode at anchor in the James and the Planter Planter remained in the Rappahannock, Gist and his colleagues at Lloyd's moved into their new rooms in the Royal Exchange. For two years a committee of underwriters had tried to find accommodations better than the cramped quarters in Pope's Head Alley. After the British Herring Fishery Society moved out of the Exchange, vacating two large, lofty upstairs rooms looking out on the Bank of England and Threadneedle Street, John Julius Angerstein, acting for the committee, leased them for twenty-one years. On the first weekend in March, underwriters, brokers, s.h.i.+p captains, admiralty attorneys, merchants, waiters, messenger boys, and newspaper readers moved themselves, their papers, and their tea, coffee, and snacks across Cornhill and into the rooms above the East Country Walk on 'Change. remained in the Rappahannock, Gist and his colleagues at Lloyd's moved into their new rooms in the Royal Exchange. For two years a committee of underwriters had tried to find accommodations better than the cramped quarters in Pope's Head Alley. After the British Herring Fishery Society moved out of the Exchange, vacating two large, lofty upstairs rooms looking out on the Bank of England and Threadneedle Street, John Julius Angerstein, acting for the committee, leased them for twenty-one years. On the first weekend in March, underwriters, brokers, s.h.i.+p captains, admiralty attorneys, merchants, waiters, messenger boys, and newspaper readers moved themselves, their papers, and their tea, coffee, and snacks across Cornhill and into the rooms above the East Country Walk on 'Change.

In the inner room, about 1,000 square feet under a 20-foot ceiling, each underwriter claimed his corner of a table in a four-man booth, where he sat every afternoon, awaiting policies. In the past five years the number of subscribers had more than doubled. On a bookstand in the wide pa.s.sageway between the public room and the subscribers' room lay a folio volume bound in green vellum. In it clerks wrote reports of arrival or loss of vessels in all seas. Old Thomas Fielding and young Thomas Tayler, masters of Lloyd's, oversaw the waiters, the serving of food and drink, and admittance to the rooms. At the height of business, between three and five o'clock, the rooms were almost always full, and the busy crowd, many smoking, kept up Lloyd's reputation for "pestiferous Air," "much worse" than the smoke hanging over London.

Moving to the Royal Exchange, underwriters acquired new neighbors. One was an organization they helped by large contributions. The Marine Society, which was eighteen years old but newly chartered in 1772, prided itself on rescuing boys who were "vagabonds," "distressed orphans," or "untoward servants," and turning them into seamen. The kingdom held too many boys "hardened in iniquity," "too volatile" and "too bold." Founders of the Marine Society said: "The more abandoned the common people become, the more attention should be shewn to salutary police," salutary police," by which they meant good policy. In the three years before the society won its charter it had indentured more than 1,100 boys to merchant vessels and the Royal Navy. Since its beginning it had sent almost 12,000 to sea, "chiefly of the overflowing of these vast cities." Beyond the joint contribution of the men at Lloyd's, underwriters served as governors and members of the committee of the Marine Society. Anthony Bacon was a committeeman and a governor. The society received contributions from Lord Clive, conqueror of large parts of India, from the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa, and from many other merchants. Thus it continued its effort to rescue the indigent and redeem the vicious, teaching "the rising generation to defend their Country, and promote her Commerce" by going to sea. by which they meant good policy. In the three years before the society won its charter it had indentured more than 1,100 boys to merchant vessels and the Royal Navy. Since its beginning it had sent almost 12,000 to sea, "chiefly of the overflowing of these vast cities." Beyond the joint contribution of the men at Lloyd's, underwriters served as governors and members of the committee of the Marine Society. Anthony Bacon was a committeeman and a governor. The society received contributions from Lord Clive, conqueror of large parts of India, from the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa, and from many other merchants. Thus it continued its effort to rescue the indigent and redeem the vicious, teaching "the rising generation to defend their Country, and promote her Commerce" by going to sea.

In Lloyd's new rooms a conspicuous sign in large gilt letters stated a unanimous resolution of the subscribers: "as the common Method of insuring Lives upon Speculation, and without any particular Interest, was contrary to the Laws of Humanity, and subversive of the Rules of Society, such Practices should be ever held in the utmost Abhorrence by the subscribers." The sign was not effective. In October an underwriter sitting not far from it subscribed a line of 200 on a policy insuring the life of Frederick the Great for one year, charging a premium of 16. Such scenes happened often, though business at Lloyd's overwhelmingly dealt with marine insurance. Compiling A Complete Digest of the Theory, Laws, and Practice of Insurance A Complete Digest of the Theory, Laws, and Practice of Insurance a few years later, John Weskett found Lloyd's messy. The air was bad; frequent "mutually hurtful Altercations" broke out. Tradesmen, shopkeepers, all sorts of inexperienced and credulous people wandered in from the street to get rich as underwriters, only to be duped out of their money. Underwriters otherwise reputable wrote " a few years later, John Weskett found Lloyd's messy. The air was bad; frequent "mutually hurtful Altercations" broke out. Tradesmen, shopkeepers, all sorts of inexperienced and credulous people wandered in from the street to get rich as underwriters, only to be duped out of their money. Underwriters otherwise reputable wrote "GAMING POLICIES." If Weskett had posted a sign in the public room of Lloyd's, he said, it would have warned of "the great and constant Danger of DECEPTION." DECEPTION." Brokers and merchants obtaining policies often used "Insinuation, Plausibility, and Brokers and merchants obtaining policies often used "Insinuation, Plausibility, and artful artful Diversification" in describing their vessels and voyages to underwriters. Some underwriters drafted "loose, hasty" policies, while others wrote in a "crafty Manner." Weskett was appalled to find almost every day "no less than 4 or 5 Diversification" in describing their vessels and voyages to underwriters. Some underwriters drafted "loose, hasty" policies, while others wrote in a "crafty Manner." Weskett was appalled to find almost every day "no less than 4 or 5 Attornies Attornies at at LLOYD'S LLOYD'S Coffee-House! What a Coffee-House! What a Degradation" Degradation"-merchants and underwriters ought not to sue one another so often.

The disorder and duplicity came with the openness to all and the volatile scale of transactions making Lloyd's the leading insurer of risks at sea. A merchant underwriter later explained: "the facility given at Lloyd's Coffeehouse, in effecting Insurances on risks of an inferior description, brings to it the Insurances of a better description." A broker said: "As long as I can find good names and facility in the Room I think it is more pleasing to all parties to stay there." By four o'clock, noise in the rooms rose to a busy hum of many voices. A person unable to overhear a conversation still could watch the "calculating features" of the brokers and underwriters as they agreed on policies. Samuel Gist, about to turn fifty, was one of the underwriters known as "the old standards," men who "always remain in their places, and whenever they can get their Premium they will write." He prospered.

Captain Leitch moored Gist's s.h.i.+p Elizabeth Elizabeth in the Thames during the last week of June. Gist was irritated that John Mayo had s.h.i.+pped him 128 barrels of flour. He wrote: "had you s.h.i.+p'd Tobacco this Year it would have answered very well for you." He discharged the in the Thames during the last week of June. Gist was irritated that John Mayo had s.h.i.+pped him 128 barrels of flour. He wrote: "had you s.h.i.+p'd Tobacco this Year it would have answered very well for you." He discharged the Elizabeth Elizabeth's cargo and loaded her with goods in less than four weeks. As the volume of his tobacco and other freight in London grew, Gist concluded that carmen working at waterside charged too much: 1s. 2d., for carting a half-ton hogshead a half mile up Tower Hill to a warehouse. Most carts held three hogsheads. Gist thought that one s.h.i.+lling per hogshead was "ample and sufficient." He and a few other merchants persuaded the Corporation of London to reduce the rate. In the Elizabeth Elizabeth, Gist sent more indentured servants: shoemakers, tailors, rope-makers, curriers, a housemaid, and a schoolmaster. Returning to Virginia, the Elizabeth Elizabeth bore Gist's orders to Mayo: "I hope it will suit you to give Capt. Leitch good a.s.sistance this voyage & as he will be late in the Season I should not like to have him detain'd." The pilot went ash.o.r.e at Deal on August 2, and Leitch sailed for Virginia. In September, the bore Gist's orders to Mayo: "I hope it will suit you to give Capt. Leitch good a.s.sistance this voyage & as he will be late in the Season I should not like to have him detain'd." The pilot went ash.o.r.e at Deal on August 2, and Leitch sailed for Virginia. In September, the Elizabeth Elizabeth, bound for the James River, and the Planter Planter, bound for London, were both at sea.

The servants on board the Elizabeth Elizabeth made an easier crossing than those who went to Virginia in the made an easier crossing than those who went to Virginia in the Planter Planter. The Elizabeth Elizabeth dropped anchor in Hampton Roads seven weeks after she sailed out of the Downs. Captain Leitch was in a hurry to sell the servants' indentures and obtain tobacco. Four weeks after he reached Virginia, he got married. Two weeks later, before he had unloaded his s.h.i.+p, he was dead. dropped anchor in Hampton Roads seven weeks after she sailed out of the Downs. Captain Leitch was in a hurry to sell the servants' indentures and obtain tobacco. Four weeks after he reached Virginia, he got married. Two weeks later, before he had unloaded his s.h.i.+p, he was dead.

Acting for Gist in Petersburg, John Tabb chose a new master for the Elizabeth Elizabeth, James Barron, brother of the captain of Tabb's s.h.i.+p Nancy Nancy. Barron was a thirty-four-year-old Virginian who had gone to sea as a boy; he had commanded s.h.i.+ps for more than ten years. From December until mid-February he and Gist's representatives tried to get tobacco. Virginians had made this more difficult by closing their courts as part of their defiance of Britain. The planters had grown "so saucy now they'll have their price or not pay their debts since they can't be compelled to do it." Even so, he managed to load the Elizabeth Elizabeth with 494 hogsheads and to sell all the servants' indentures. The rest of her hold he filled with barrel staves. He was cleared out of port for London on February 15, 1775. He did not yet know that Gist, having just dispatched his new s.h.i.+p with 494 hogsheads and to sell all the servants' indentures. The rest of her hold he filled with barrel staves. He was cleared out of port for London on February 15, 1775. He did not yet know that Gist, having just dispatched his new s.h.i.+p Mary Mary to Virginia, wished Barron and the to Virginia, wished Barron and the Elizabeth Elizabeth to return to Chesapeake Bay for one more cargo before exportation stopped on August 10. to return to Chesapeake Bay for one more cargo before exportation stopped on August 10.

High on the wall at the end of Lloyd's public room were two large dials. One was a clock; the other showed the direction from which the wind blew. Day after day in February the needle of the latter stood somewhere between southwest and south-southwest as a storm swept over the Channel and southern England, followed by weeks of hard wind. Even if newspapers had not told him, Gist would have known from the vane that the Mary Mary, with many other vessels, remained in the Downs. Twice Captain James Miller set sail and, with the Mary Mary close-hauled, tried beating into the Strait of Dover. Both times he and vessels with him put back into the Downs. The close-hauled, tried beating into the Strait of Dover. Both times he and vessels with him put back into the Downs. The Mary Mary did not sail for Virginia until four weeks after her departure from London. Gist could do nothing about the hogsheads she would miss. His only consolation was that eight or ten other vessels, owned by men with the same thought of a profitable voyage to Virginia, could not sail. did not sail for Virginia until four weeks after her departure from London. Gist could do nothing about the hogsheads she would miss. His only consolation was that eight or ten other vessels, owned by men with the same thought of a profitable voyage to Virginia, could not sail.

Captain Barron moored the Elizabeth Elizabeth in the Thames at the end of March. He learned that in a few weeks Gist was dispatching him to Virginia with unusual orders to John Tabb. For ten years Gist had warned his representatives not to buy tobacco for cash, except as a last resort. Now, as a result of Americans' nonimportation a.s.sociation, he could not s.h.i.+p goods. He told Tabb to buy as much tobacco as possible. Gist also used another 300-ton s.h.i.+p, the in the Thames at the end of March. He learned that in a few weeks Gist was dispatching him to Virginia with unusual orders to John Tabb. For ten years Gist had warned his representatives not to buy tobacco for cash, except as a last resort. Now, as a result of Americans' nonimportation a.s.sociation, he could not s.h.i.+p goods. He told Tabb to buy as much tobacco as possible. Gist also used another 300-ton s.h.i.+p, the Liberty Liberty, belonging to Thomas Bennett, one of the governors of the Marine Society. Under the command of Captain William Outram, who had orders to return with tobacco, she had sailed from the Downs in ballast two weeks before Barron and the Elizabeth Elizabeth arrived. Captain John Stevens with the arrived. Captain John Stevens with the Westover Westover also could bring a cargo from Virginia. All these captains-Miller, Barron, Outram, Stevens-must make haste. Soldiers were boarding troop transports bound for America. The navy was stationing more men-of-war in American waters. Anthony Bacon had contracts to furnish coal and provisions to the army in North America. Gist wrote: "if these Unnatural differences were once propperly settled I should hope Tobacco would again fetch a very good Price." If they were not settled, tobacco would bring an even higher price. No Virginian need hesitate to sell tobacco to Gist. He explained that he obeyed the nonimportation a.s.sociation which took effect on November 1, 1774. His vessels arriving in Virginia after that date did not bring British merchandise. He complied so strictly, he said, that he had not even sent clothes and boots for the slaves on his Virginia plantations. He wished only to collect debts and buy tobacco. In the last week of April 1775, Captain Barron and the also could bring a cargo from Virginia. All these captains-Miller, Barron, Outram, Stevens-must make haste. Soldiers were boarding troop transports bound for America. The navy was stationing more men-of-war in American waters. Anthony Bacon had contracts to furnish coal and provisions to the army in North America. Gist wrote: "if these Unnatural differences were once propperly settled I should hope Tobacco would again fetch a very good Price." If they were not settled, tobacco would bring an even higher price. No Virginian need hesitate to sell tobacco to Gist. He explained that he obeyed the nonimportation a.s.sociation which took effect on November 1, 1774. His vessels arriving in Virginia after that date did not bring British merchandise. He complied so strictly, he said, that he had not even sent clothes and boots for the slaves on his Virginia plantations. He wished only to collect debts and buy tobacco. In the last week of April 1775, Captain Barron and the Elizabeth Elizabeth sailed for Virginia. sailed for Virginia.

Late in 1774, Dr. Thomas Walker's son-in-law, Joseph Hornsby, hoped to do as Samuel Gist had done nine years earlier: move back to England. In the past five years Joseph and his wife, Mildred, had made Dr. Walker a grandfather of two girls, Hannah and Mildred. Joseph planned to take Dr. Walker's daughter and granddaughters far from Castle Hill and Williamsburg. Joseph's brother, William, already was in England.

Joseph Hornsby prospered. His uncle had died in May 1772, leaving the bulk of a "large Fortune" to him. He inherited houses, lots, and a well-stocked store in Williamsburg, with slaves and livestock. He had become a justice of the peace and a vestryman of Bruton Parish. He was thirty-four years old. For two years he had worked to collect debts owed to his uncle's estate. William Byrd owed him more than 4,000; Speaker Robinson's estate still owed more than 850. But Byrd and many other debtors remained unmoved by requests or by threats "to commence Suits without Respect to Persons." The European goods in Hornsby's store at the time he announced his imminent departure were worth, he said, 1,200 sterling. He offered to sell them and his land in the country "very cheap," expecting to leave in the middle of February 1775.

Joseph Hornsby did not go to England. Nor did he sell his store or his plantation. In the spring his brother returned from London. On June 17, Dr. Walker gave Joseph one-half of a share in the Dismal Swamp Company.

Lord Dunmore was "a jolly, hearty companion, hospitable & polite at his own table." But after spending a few days with him a young British officer concluded that, as a governor, Dunmore was "the most unfit, the most trifling and the most uncalculated person living." Dunmore thought about himself so much that he often failed to notice what others were doing. In 1774 he looked forward to a long, lucrative stay in Virginia.

From the start he showed no interest in enforcing the Crown's proclamation against settlement in the west. He sought friends among Dr. Walker's friends: William Preston, William Christian, George Was.h.i.+ngton, men who owned tens of thousands of acres beyond the mountains and coveted more. Dunmore shared their alarm at the prospect of a large grant to the Pennsylvanians and Londoners led by Samuel Wharton and Thomas Walpole, trying to found a new colony, Vandalia, between the mountains and the Ohio River. Early in the spring he transmitted to the Earl of Dartmouth a remonstrance against creating Vandalia, signed by more than 150 residents of the west. Dunmore was eager to make grants, which brought him fees, and he did not wish land to be removed from his jurisdiction.

Dunmore encouraged settlers near the forks of the Ohio River to a.s.sert Virginia's claim to the region. They defied Pennsylvania, re-establis.h.i.+ng a fort from which the army had withdrawn and calling it Fort Dunmore. In the spring, with the governor's approval, William Preston's surveyors worked on both sides of the Kentucky River. They went down the Ohio more than 50 miles beyond the mouth of the Kentucky. At the same time, William Byrd, Patrick Henry, William Christian, and others collaborated in a plan to buy land from the Cherokees along the Clinch, Holston, and Powell rivers, west of the latest Cherokee line, drawn in 1771. In Philadelphia, Henry told a backer of Vandalia: "Ld Dunmore is your greatest friend, what he is doing will forever hereafter, secure the peace of your colony, by driving the Indians to an amazing distance from you."

During the summer and early autumn Dunmore waged war on Shawnees in the Ohio Valley. Murders of Indians by western whites had provoked reprisals. George Was.h.i.+ngton warned of "a confederacy of the Western, & Southern Indians," saying: "a general war is inevitable." Others, however, believed that "the Indians have been the most barbarously treated, & that his Lords.h.i.+p ought to have had justice done them for some late murders committed upon them under a cloak of friends.h.i.+p." Though some Shawnees tried to form an alliance among tribes, Cherokees, Ohio Valley Iroquois, and most Shawnees, as well as others, wanted peace. Dunmore and his men in the west sought war to drive the Shawnees north of the Ohio and to a.s.sert their own claims and Virginia's right to the western lands. As Dunmore left Williamsburg to lead this campaign, the Earl of Dartmouth, in his office in Whitehall, was writing to him: "while these Compacts with the Indians remain in full force and The King's Sacred Word stands pledged for the observance of them, every attempt on the part of the King's Subjects to acquire t.i.tle to and take possession of Lands beyond the Line fixed by His Majesty's authority & every encouragement given to such an attempt, can be considered in no other light than that of a gross Indignity and Dishonour to the Crown, and of an Act of equal Inhumanity and Injustice to the Indians." After the governor reached Fort Dunmore and tried to awe emissaries from the Delawares, the Wyandots, and the Iroquois, a Delaware man, seeing him, asked: "What old litle man is that yonder playing like a boy?"

Dunmore's October campaign was brief; his western volunteers suffered few casualties. They behaved, he conceded, with "Shocking inhumanity," and they "impressed an Idea of the power of the White People, upon the minds of the Indians." Shawnee leaders got peace-most had been trying to keep peace all year-by agreeing to withdraw from the region south of the Ohio. Returning to Williamsburg, Dunmore found the Earl of Dartmouth's reprimand awaiting him. He was pained. He wrote a report of his campaign, a.s.suring Dartmouth that he had not "acted only in conjunction with a parcel of Land Jobbers." His real motive, he said, was "Duty to His Majesty, and Zeal for his Service and interest."

Richard Henderson of North Carolina and his a.s.sociates threatened Virginians' designs on the west from another flank with a scheme to buy 20,000,000 acres from the Cherokees-all the land west of the Kentucky River, south of the Ohio River, and north of the c.u.mberland River, with a broad stretch of land south of the c.u.mberland. They called it Transylvania. Its eastern boundary was the western boundary of the land Wharton and Walpole called Vandalia. Henderson invited Patrick Henry to become a partner in Transylvania, but Virginia speculators said that Vandalia and most of Transylvania had always been Virginia and must remain so. Dunmore had his eye not only on land North Carolinians were trying to acquire but also on rich tracts along the Mississippi River. He issued a proclamation calling Henderson's purchase a "Pretence," ordering that anyone acting on it be "immediately fined and imprisoned." Henderson ignored him.

Dunmore's letter to the Earl of Dartmouth justifying his campaign against the Shawnees also condemned Virginians. He said that royal government had broken down in the colony. Local officials enforced resistance, not loyalty. He recommended that the Royal Navy blockade Chesapeake Bay. Earlier in December, Virginians learned that the ministry had ordered an end to private s.h.i.+pments of arms and ammunition to the colonies. Throughout America people already had begun to arm themselves. Newspapers published instructions for producing ingredients of gunpowder at home. In Fredericksburg, George Was.h.i.+ngton's brother-in-law and partner, Fielding Lewis, commanded the Spotsylvania County militia. He was unanimously elected chairman of the Spotsylvania County Committee in December. With some of his colleagues, he visited his fellow merchants to make sure of their compliance with the nonimportation a.s.sociation and he led a committee for purchasing gunpowder, lead, and gun flints. He owned an 80-ton vessel, the f.a.n.n.y f.a.n.n.y, and a 90-ton vessel, the Fredericksburg; Fredericksburg; many such vessels sailed from the mainland colonies to the West Indies for munitions. many such vessels sailed from the mainland colonies to the West Indies for munitions.

A few weeks after he became chairman, Lewis wrote to Anthony Bacon, manufacturer of artillery for the British government, acknowledging that he owed a large sum. Bacon put it at 2,448 7s. Lewis promised to pay, though his debts, he said, exceeded 5,000. As a beginning, he would s.h.i.+p flour. Upon receiving this letter, Bacon gave power of attorney to a man about to leave London for Virginia, authorizing him to collect from Lewis.

One source of these large debts was Lewis's new house. He was fifty years old, and his wife was forty-one. The youngest of their many children was three. They left the house on Princess Anne Street, overlooking the Rappahannock River near his brick warehouse, and moved to a hilltop plantation east of town, called Millbrook. There he had built an imposing two-story brick house with four chimneys. Spare and almost unadorned on the outside, it was rich and ornate within. Its drawing room, looking out on Fredericksburg through recessed windows, stood comparison with rooms at Westover or Rosewell: a rectangle covering 500 square feet, with ceiling and mantelpiece displaying the best stucco-duro decorative plasterwork in Virginia, more of which appeared elsewhere in the house. The painter and plasterer were still at work in the spring of 1775, so the Lewises had not yet moved their mahogany bedstead and table or their Windsor chairs into their new home.

On the second day of spring, three months after Fielding Lewis had begun collecting munitions, the Virginia Convention in Richmond resolved that the colony should be "immediately put into a posture of Defence." The delegates appointed a committee to arm and train a sufficient number of men. Four weeks later, Lord Dunmore, obeying instructions from the Earl of Dartmouth, removed gunpowder from the colonial government's magazine in Williamsburg and put it on board a Royal Navy vessel in the James River. When news of this reached Fredericksburg, Lewis wrote to George Was.h.i.+ngton: "it seems we must submitt or dispute the matter Sword in hand, every person I think that has any regard for Liberty must prefer the latter." Lewis expected Was.h.i.+ngton to help him get more gunpowder for Fredericksburg when Was.h.i.+ngton went to Philadelphia to attend the meeting of the Continental Congress. In many parts of Virginia word of Dunmore's action led people to a.s.semble and talk of marching on Williamsburg.

A week after Dunmore seized the gunpowder, an express rider pa.s.sed through Fredericksburg from the north with news that fighting had begun after British soldiers marched out of Boston to confiscate arms and ammunition. The next day, Sat.u.r.day, April 29, about six hundred armed men gathered in Fredericksburg, ready to go to Williamsburg and force Dunmore to surrender the gunpowder. Speaker Randolph wished to forestall violence. His message from Williamsburg reached Fredericksburg on Sat.u.r.day and persuaded the armed men to go home and wait. Other militiamen were marching around in other parts of Virginia. Lord Dunmore threatened to arm slaves and wreak devastation.

During the first week of June the General a.s.sembly remained in session. Virginians' military display appeared among the burgesses and in the capitol. Men wearing fringed hunting s.h.i.+rts, the uniform of liberty, pa.s.sed the marble statue of the ever graceful Lord Botetourt. The burgesses said they often had heard Botetourt declare "that the business of a Governor of Virginia was much easier than he could have conceived, as he found that the government almost executed itself." Dunmore, Dartmouth, Lord North, and the king had not learned that happy lesson.

For a week the burgesses, Dunmore, and people in the streets of Williamsburg vied for control of the powder magazine. John Pinkney, setting type for Thursday's edition of his Virginia Gazette Virginia Gazette, due to appear on June 8, added a newly acquired excerpt from the letter Dunmore had written to Dartmouth the past December-the pa.s.sage in which Dunmore called for a naval blockade. At two o'clock Thursday morning Dunmore left the governor's palace with his family and his aide. They went on board a Royal Navy schooner, then transferred to HMS Fowey Fowey in the York River. Six days later, in Philadelphia, Congress voted to begin raising a Continental Army. The next day delegates unanimously chose George Was.h.i.+ngton as its commander in chief. A report to the British on Virginians who might remain loyal to the Crown said of Fielding Lewis: "has abilities & Influence, but I suppose will follow the Fortunes of his Brother in law." in the York River. Six days later, in Philadelphia, Congress voted to begin raising a Continental Army. The next day delegates unanimously chose George Was.h.i.+ngton as its commander in chief. A report to the British on Virginians who might remain loyal to the Crown said of Fielding Lewis: "has abilities & Influence, but I suppose will follow the Fortunes of his Brother in law."

As Was.h.i.+ngton headed for the outskirts of Boston, his partners in the Dismal Swamp Company took advantage of the gathering in Williamsburg to hold a meeting. After ten years, the company had Dismal Plantation, a drainage ditch to Lake Drummond, and about fifty slaves. Forty of these were "good working hands," able to grow corn, tend livestock, cut s.h.i.+ngles, and dig ditches. The plantation held about thirty head of cattle, fed by grazing in the swamp. Its stock of sheep and hogs was "not worth mentioning." John Was.h.i.+ngton, resident overseer, made the best of the company's failure to drain large stretches of the swamp. The slaves grew rice-seven tons, "equal in Quality to that of South Carolina." South Carolina." Unable to find a buyer in Virginia, Was.h.i.+ngton s.h.i.+pped fifty-five casks to Antigua, where people were building reserves of rice and beans. Unable to find a buyer in Virginia, Was.h.i.+ngton s.h.i.+pped fifty-five casks to Antigua, where people were building reserves of rice and beans.

At the meeting, Dr. Walker conveyed half of his share to Joseph Hornsby. As the number of owners of half-shares and quarter-shares grew, voting became c.u.mbersome, with each full share casting one vote. The members thereupon changed all shares to quarter-shares, with each quarter-share casting one vote. An owner of an original full share, such as George Was.h.i.+ngton, Fielding Lewis, Francis Farley, or Secretary Nelson, would now cast four votes. Dr. Walker and his son-in-law each cast two votes. And David Jameson cast one vote for himself and three for Samuel Gist. Any member was free to sell some or all of his quarter-shares. John Was.h.i.+ngton, having lived on the outskirts of the Dismal Swamp for almost ten years, responded to Britain's attack on American liberty by entering the Virginia forces at the age of thirty-five. He "left the affairs of the Compa[ny] in a good deal of confusion." The partners employed Henry Ridd.i.c.k, whose land adjoined Dismal Plantation, to superintend its affairs in the swamp. Thomas Walker and David Jameson had the partners' appointment to act as "Trustees," conducting the company's business. Since the partners who met in Williamsburg were surrounded by people predicting an imminent invasion by the Royal Navy and Army, they adjourned without making new plans for improving the Dismal Swamp.

Taking the Elizabeth Elizabeth down the Thames on a clear, hot day, the last Friday in April, Captain James Barron conveyed letters and recent newspapers. His latest issue was dated Thursday, April 27, 1775. Articles and correspondence borne by vessels sailing since the first week of January dealt with a series of meetings held by London merchants trading with North America. Some opposed the ministry's policy; others thought first about debts of colonists, who would be even less likely to pay if war began. They proposed to pet.i.tion Parliament. But Lord North also had supporters, who promised, through the Earl of Dartmouth, to make sure that merchants met "not with any View to disturb the operations of His Majesty's Ministers but to take the head from a factious party." Two of the ministry's friends were Anthony Bacon and Samuel Gist. down the Thames on a clear, hot day, the last Friday in April, Captain James Barron conveyed letters and recent newspapers. His latest issue was dated Thursday, April 27, 1775. Articles and correspondence borne by vessels sailing since the first week of January dealt with a series of meetings held by London merchants trading with North America. Some opposed the ministry's policy; others thought first about debts of colonists, who would be even less likely to pay if war began. They proposed to pet.i.tion Parliament. But Lord North also had supporters, who promised, through the Earl of Dartmouth, to make sure that merchants met "not with any View to disturb the operations of His Majesty's Ministers but to take the head from a factious party." Two of the ministry's friends were Anthony Bacon and Samuel Gist.

At the first meeting, on January 4, 1775, Bacon suggested that they do nothing while the king and Parliament considered a pet.i.tion from the Continental Congress. Bacon's proposal was obviously "a Ministerial manoeuvre" and was rejected. But the committee appointed to draft a pet.i.tion was also a ministerial maneuver, loaded with supporters of coercion, such as Gist and four colleagues from Lloyd's: Frederick Pigou, Jr., William Neate, William Greenwood, and John Nutt.

Gist did not attend many of the committee's evening meetings, but when he took part, he showed "the most rancorous malignity agt. America & the people there, that you can possibly conceive." He opposed putting any words into the pet.i.tion suggesting that merchants thought America oppressed or injured. He "always endeavor'd to get the most servile ideas introduced to flatter administration & implore their gracious protection." Lord North's merchant friends were Americans'"inveterate enemies," William Lee warned, "none more so than Mr. Saml. Gist." In its final form the pet.i.tion described possible damage to Britain's trade and asked the House of Commons to give "most serious Consideration" to this subject and apply "healing Remedies." The House voted to refer the pet.i.tion to what Edmund Burke called a "committee of oblivion."

Before the Elizabeth Elizabeth sailed, Gist wrote instructions to William Anderson. Reconciliation had not turned out the way Anderson expected. Instead of inviting his daughter and son-in-law to London to live in comfort, Gist had summoned a kinsman of his late stepsons, Thomas Smith, who had served as Gist's "collector." Gist treated his son-in-law as his resident representative for his Virginia holdings. In April 1775 he instructed Anderson to purchase a tract of about 550 acres adjoining his land in Hanover County. Anderson paid 1,600 of his own money for it. Gist also expected Anderson to find cargoes of tobacco for the sailed, Gist wrote instructions to William Anderson. Reconciliation had not turned out the way Anderson expected. Instead of inviting his daughter and son-in-law to London to live in comfort, Gist had summoned a kinsman of his late stepsons, Thomas Smith, who had served as Gist's "collector." Gist treated his son-in-law as his resident representative for his Virginia holdings. In April 1775 he instructed Anderson to purchase a tract of about 550 acres adjoining his land in Hanover County. Anderson paid 1,600 of his own money for it. Gist also expected Anderson to find cargoes of tobacco for the Mary Mary, the Liberty Liberty, and the Elizabeth Elizabeth.

Captain James Miller anch.o.r.ed the Mary Mary in the York River just as residents of York Town learned of fighting outside Boston. The in the York River just as residents of York Town learned of fighting outside Boston. The Elizabeth Elizabeth was leaving London. A week later, Captain William Outram anch.o.r.ed the was leaving London. A week later, Captain William Outram anch.o.r.ed the Liberty Liberty in the York. On the same day, the in the York. On the same day, the Virginia Gazette Virginia Gazette published an anonymous letter informing the public that John Wilkinson, part owner of the published an anonymous letter informing the public that John Wilkinson, part owner of the Mary Mary, had leased two of his s.h.i.+ps to the British government to transport troops to Boston. The man who had sent the Mary Mary-everyone knew he was Samuel Gist-"must have known of Mr. Wilkinson's crime." Gist had made himself "an accessory to the guilt," and the Mary Mary ought to be sent back to London in ballast. ought to be sent back to London in ballast.

Captain Miller, in danger of facing Gist with no tobacco, put a reb.u.t.tal in the Gazette Gazette. He said that Gist was "innocent." Wilkinson owned a small share of the Mary; Mary; Gist was princ.i.p.al owner and sole manager. Gist recently had "proved himself a zealous friend to American liberty" by serving on a merchants' committee to pet.i.tion the House of Commons. Captain Miller a.s.sured his readers that Gist would do whatever "will conduce the most to promote the glorious cause in which they are embarked." Gist's s.h.i.+p was allowed to remain in the York, but William Anderson found in June that "he cannot get the Mary loaded." He asked John Tabb to send hogsheads from Petersburg which Tabb had been saving for the Gist was princ.i.p.al owner and sole manager. Gist recently had "proved himself a zealous friend to American liberty" by serving on a merchants' committee to pet.i.tion the House of Commons. Captain Miller a.s.sured his readers that Gist would do whatever "will conduce the most to promote the glorious cause in which they are embarked." Gist's s.h.i.+p was allowed to remain in the York, but William Anderson found in June that "he cannot get the Mary loaded." He asked John Tabb to send hogsheads from Petersburg which Tabb had been saving for the Elizabeth Elizabeth.

Captain Barron and the Elizabeth Elizabeth made a swift pa.s.sage. Less than four weeks after sailing from the Downs, she was about 330 miles north of Bermuda. There Captain Barron hailed a schooner. Her master told him that she was out of Marblehead, Ma.s.sachusetts, and he had news. A battle had been fought between British regulars and the provincial militia, with small loss to the Americans. It had been b.l.o.o.d.y for the regulars. The made a swift pa.s.sage. Less than four weeks after sailing from the Downs, she was about 330 miles north of Bermuda. There Captain Barron hailed a schooner. Her master told him that she was out of Marblehead, Ma.s.sachusetts, and he had news. A battle had been fought between British regulars and the provincial militia, with small loss to the Americans. It had been b.l.o.o.d.y for the regulars. The Elizabeth Elizabeth resumed her voyage westward. resumed her voyage westward.

As the Elizabeth Elizabeth approached Cape Charles and Cape Henry, the House of Burgesses convened in Williamsburg. Lord Dunmore and the burgesses began their squabble. After Dunmore fled to HMS approached Cape Charles and Cape Henry, the House of Burgesses convened in Williamsburg. Lord Dunmore and the burgesses began their squabble. After Dunmore fled to HMS Fowey Fowey in the York, near the in the York, near the Mary Mary and the and the Liberty Liberty, the burgesses voted to reject the North ministry's latest overture. It was a measure of coercion poorly disguised as conciliation, offering to forgo parliamentary taxation if the colonies agreed to pay the cost of the Crown's government and army in America. The House referred the offer to the Continental Congress. Virginians believed that Lord Dunmore had summoned a naval force which would arrive soon. Rumors spread, describing a plot among slaves in Norfolk, who had gathered gunpowder and "implements of war," planning "to rise and murder the white people in the night."

The Elizabeth Elizabeth arrived in the James River on June 14 after a voyage of forty-seven days. Fewer than ninety days remained before the ban on exportation would take effect. William Anderson and John Tabb hurried to find a cargo. The burgesses met to adjourn. Young men broke into the governor's palace to seize a large stock of muskets and pistols. Lady Dunmore and her children sailed for England in a Royal Navy schooner. The arrived in the James River on June 14 after a voyage of forty-seven days. Fewer than ninety days remained before the ban on exportation would take effect. William Anderson and John Tabb hurried to find a cargo. The burgesses met to adjourn. Young men broke into the governor's palace to seize a large stock of muskets and pistols. Lady Dunmore and her children sailed for England in a Royal Navy schooner. The Liberty Liberty sailed for London, soon followed by the sailed for London, soon followed by the Mary Mary. The Elizabeth Elizabeth was Samuel Gist's last hope for making the most of the coming shortage of tobacco. was Samuel Gist's last hope for making the most of the coming shortage of tobacco.

Gist grew more eager. He wrote to Tabb: "for any Purcha.s.s you make on my acct I will pay your Bills no matter how soon they are drawn, how Large the Sum, or how low the Ex[chang]e." Tobacco filled warehouses on Tower Hill. Before the year ended, London merchants had imported almost 44,000 hogsheads-more than 44,000,000 pounds. Gist's colleagues at Lloyd's, James Dunlop and John Wilson, as well as eight other firms, brought in more than he did. Still, he was the tenth-largest importer in the City, with 1,434 hogsheads. Between the January meeting of the merchants and Christmas he acquired almost 1,500,000 pounds of tobacco. For the Elizabeth Elizabeth's voyage in the summer he doubled the usual value of each hogshead as he insured them at Lloyd's. Sir Robert Herries, a buying agent for the Farmers-General of France, was speculating in tobacco privately, too. Learning that the French might drop him, he had to buy a great deal of tobacco on short notice at a higher price. Gist sold him some, but Gist intended to leave hogsheads brought by the Elizabeth Elizabeth in his warehouse, waiting for prices to rise still higher. in his warehouse, waiting for prices to rise still higher.

John Tabb and William Anderson had difficulty getting tobacco for the Elizabeth Elizabeth. As Gist had foreseen, the exchange rate was low: 100 sterling bought only 115 in Virginia currency, and tobacco prices were rising. Knowing they could not fill the hold with hogsheads, they also bought barrel staves, deerskins, and ginseng. During those weeks militia companies camped outside Williamsburg. Some men moved into the capitol and the governor's palace. When HMS Mercury Mercury stood up the York River in the second week of July, militiamen paraded along the bank in case she was the van of an invading fleet. A convention met in Richmond to create a new government for Virginia, a.s.suming sovereign powers, establis.h.i.+ng an armed force, regulating trade, and printing money. It authorized construction of a factory to make small arms in Fredericksburg, under the superintendence of Fielding Lewis and Charles d.i.c.k. stood up the York River in the second week of July, militiamen paraded along the bank in case she was the van of an invading fleet. A convention met in Richmond to create a new government for Virginia, a.s.suming sovereign powers, establis.h.i.+ng an armed force, regulating trade, and printing money. It authorized construction of a factory to make small arms in Fredericksburg, under the superintendence of Fielding Lewis and Charles d.i.c.k.

By Monday, August 14, Tabb and Anderson had loaded the Elizabeth Elizabeth with 463 hogsheads of tobacco and 13,000 staves. She was ready to sail, weeks before the deadline. The James River Naval Office cleared her out of port, and she dropped downriver. After she pa.s.sed the capes, before she stood out to sea, it was time for the pilot to leave her. Captain James Barron announced that he was going, too-leaving the with 463 hogsheads of tobacco and 13,000 staves. She was ready to sail, weeks before the deadline. The James River Naval Office cleared her out of port, and she dropped downriver. After she pa.s.sed the capes, before she stood out to sea, it was time for the pilot to leave her. Captain James Barron announced that he was going, too-leaving the Elizabeth Elizabeth and quitting the employ of Samuel Gist. Virginia would need a navy as well as an army for Americans' fight against the British government, a force to capture or sink vessels of the Royal Navy and of British merchants. Barron chose to serve Virginia. He turned the and quitting the employ of Samuel Gist. Virginia would need a navy as well as an army for Americans' fight against the British government, a force to capture or sink vessels of the Royal Navy and of British merchants. Barron chose to serve Virginia. He turned the Elizabeth Elizabeth over to the first mate and departed. The mate and the twelve seamen he now commanded sailed for London with the last of Gist's tobacco. over to the first mate and departed. The mate and the twelve seamen he now commanded sailed for London with the last of Gist's tobacco.

After the Elizabeth Elizabeth rode safely at her mooring in the Thames and the hogsheads had been carted to a warehouse, Gist wrote to Barron. He said that Barron had been a good captain in every way-except in joining the rebel cause. Gist urged him to return to the duty he owed his sovereign, and a.s.sured him that if he did so, he would receive command of "a fine s.h.i.+p in the transport service." Gist's partner in the rode safely at her mooring in the Thames and the hogsheads had been carted to a warehouse, Gist wrote to Barron. He said that Barron had been a good captain in every way-except in joining the rebel cause. Gist urged him to return to the duty he owed his sovereign, and a.s.sured him that if he did so, he would receive command of "a fine s.h.i.+p in the transport service." Gist's partner in the Mary Mary, John Wilkinson, owned two, the Lion Lion and the and the Brilliant Brilliant. Before a letter from Gist could reach Barron, his militia company was active in Hampton Roads, capturing vessels. Members of the Virginia Convention praised "his diligence & abilities." The Committee of Safety empowered him to fit out three armed vessels, one of which he commanded, naming her the Liberty Liberty. The committee said: "We...have great Confidence in his Prudence and Valour."

Writing a private letter on board HMS Fowey Fowey, Lord Dunmore warned the Earl of Dartmouth against Secretary Nelson, who had succeeded his late brother as president of the Council. Nelson's holding the secretarys.h.i.+p, "by much the best office" in the colony, still rankled in the fugitive governor's mind. He also resented Nelson's caution. In recent months the secretary had "shown nothing but a care to avoid giving offense either way." William Byrd, on the other hand, struck Dunmore as a loyalist, "averse from the violent proceedings in the country."

Dunmore read Byrd correctly. The conflict between the British government and Americans pained him. By July he believed that war was unavoidable and that Americans were deluded in expecting to hold out against British power. He asked Sir Jeffery Amherst "to inform His Majesty & his servants...of my attachment to them." He despised the colonists'"frantick patriotism," pus.h.i.+ng them toward "inevitable ruin."

In April, Byrd's friend and Francis Farley's agent, Robert Munford, had agreed, deploring "the spirit for warfare" he saw in Virginians and their leaders. But Dunmore's seizure of the colony's gunpowder angered him, and, knowing he must choose a side, Munford joined the resistance.

Contrary to Francis Farley's a.s.surances that his son took no part in rebellion, James Parke Farley was elected to the North Carolina Provincial Convention as a delegate from Guilford County. Byrd could see that his son-in-law disagreed with him. Byrd's son, Thomas Taylor Byrd, was an officer in the British Army. Another son, Francis Otway Byrd, was an officer in the Royal Navy. Though their letters sounded dutiful and loving, his relations with them were not happy. He did not wish Otway to leave the navy, and he did not wish Thomas Taylor to get married to Susannah Randolph, daughter of Attorney General John Randolph and niece of Peyton Randolph. If either son defied him, Byrd's will said, such disobedience would reduce his bequest to one s.h.i.+lling. Thomas Taylor obeyed, but Otway did not. After his father helped him get a leave of absence from the navy, Otway joined the Virginia militia, then went to the camp outside Boston and entered the Continental Army.

William Byrd and his second wife were close. He admired her "Goodness of Heart." Mary Willing Byrd also had wide reading, a good memory, and a gift for telling stories. One of her favorite stories carried a lesson bearing on her effort to persuade her husband not to disinherit Otway. She told about the wedding of her sister, Dorothy. At the age of eighteen, Dorothy had eloped with Captain Walter Sterling, a thirty-five-year-old officer in the Royal Navy. To be married in church without her family's approval, the couple stood at the altar in disguise. Dorothy, daughter of one of Philadelphia's leading merchants, was dressed as a cook, wearing a checked ap.r.o.n; Captain Sterling wore the uniform of an able seaman and put a black patch over one eye. When her father, Charles Willing, learned of the wedding, the shock caused him to fall, striking the back of his head. He died the following year at the age of forty-five. Only after his death did she have a proper wedding. Though his last illness was a fever, the family blamed his death on his fall. He had never forgiven Dorothy. Nor did William Byrd heed his wife's urgings to change his will. He had known his father only briefly; his mother had checked him in nothing. He had spent and gambled away a fortune. He would teach his sons prudence and obedience.

Byrd wished to pay his many debts, but his gestures did little to reduce them. The closed courts thwarted attorneys such as Benjamin Waller, who reported to his British clients: "Things are in so dismal a Situation here, that there is no getting any Thing." The return of Byrd's protested bills of exchange had grown routine. He had "kept no regular books," and he now regretted his "inattention to accounts."

As the General a.s.sembly convened in Williamsburg on Thursday, June 1, to hear what Lord Dunmore would say about Lord North's conciliatory proposal, the Virginia Gazette Virginia Gazette published an attack on "the honourable W--m B-d, esquire." The author accused Byrd and his "abandoned faction" of plotting to alienate Virginians from the cause of liberty. The justice of this cause and the martial spirit of Americans attracted every virtuous man. Byrd was not virtuous. He had ruined himself with "the cursed thirst of lucre," and he was "publickly reputed a man of a very immoral character." The contrast between America's friends in Parliament and Byrd was as stark as the contrast between Cato and Caligula. Resentment of Byrd went back at least ten years to the days of Speaker Robinson's secret loans and John Chiswell's murder of Robert Routledge. Now Byrd would have to read and hear censure without trying to put a printer or anyone else in jail. published an attack on "the honourable W--m B-d, esquire." The author accused Byrd and his "abandoned faction" of plotting to alienate Virginians from the cause of liberty. The justice of this cause and the martial spirit of Americans attracted every virtuous man. Byrd was not virtuous. He had ruined himself with "the cursed thirst of lucre," and he was "publickly reputed a man of a very immoral character." The contrast between America's friends in Parliament and Byrd was as stark as the contrast between Cato and Caligula. Resentment of Byrd went back at least ten years to the days of Speaker Robinson's secret loans and John Chiswell's murder of Robert Routledge. Now Byrd would have to read and hear censure without trying to put a printer or anyone else in jail.

The following Wednesday, Byrd wrote to a friend in Philadelphia: "You will see by our Papers how much I am abused." Rumor said that he had written to Virginia officers who had served with him in the 1750s, conspiring to raise an armed force to support Lord North's government. Byrd denied the charge: "no thought of raising a single Man for that, or any other purpose, ever enter'd into my Head. Nor have I, in any Instance whatever, interfered in any Publick transaction, except in disaproving of Men in Arms trampling all Civil Authority under Foot." Even if Virginians believed Byrd, his not raising soldiers for resistance to Britain gave offense. He declined to offer his military experience to Virginia by commanding troops that the summer convention in Richmond voted to mobilize. The other colonel of a Virginia regiment in the 1750s now commanded the Continental Army.

Byrd's life was crumbling. Around him at Westover lay a scene "most lovely, every thing in beautiful order." Acres of nearly perfect wheat stood ready to reap. The meadows and pleasure gardens, the terraces rising along the bank of the James, showed the careful work of more than seventy years. Scores of slaves tended crops, gardens, and livestock. In the pastures steers, horses, and sheep grazed. Near the house, one outbuilding was a nursery for plants that would later grow in the gardens. In the brick library, twenty-three black walnut cases held his father's great collection of books, to which he had added. The walls of the library and the house showed three portraits of his father, portraits of his father's n.o.ble friends in the days of Queen Anne, as well as portraits of Byrd and of each of his children. Sets of Hogarth prints ran along the walls, and in "poets corner" hung a picture of Pegasus and the Muses. Byrd had made Westover a reflection of his refinement. His son-in-law spoke of Byrd's "amenity of manners," while his neighbor at Mayc.o.x, David Meade, admired "the splendid dignified & highly polished Colo. Byrd of Westover." Byrd and his wife continued to entertain guests. Mary Byrd's "very n.o.ble bearing" and her seemingly effortless management of a house full of visitors made her a "most distinguished and charming" hostess. After patriots' censure and insults and threats began, she said: "many people who had been kindly treated at good good Mr. Byrds were the most violent." Mr. Byrds were the most violent."

David Meade saw that his friend William Byrd had forfeited the good opinion of patriots. Byrd's stand, his son said, "exposed him to the resentment of the Contrary Party, who it appears are so numerous as to deprive him and the few who are of the same sentiments of all hopes of making any head against them." Byrd defied those he called "the brave heroes in hunting s.h.i.+rts." If any such "valiant volunteers" tried to carry out their frequent threats to visit Westover and punish him, they would find him "prepared for their reception" and ready "to try their courage." But his encounter with two of their leaders, he said, "convinced me I had nothing to fear from their resolution." In the summer Byrd thought that people rebelled because they had been misled by designing men; they greatly overestimated their power to win a war with the British. "I flatter myself the time is not far off," he wrote at the end of July, "when I shall be able to convince the Virginians of their error, & bring them back to their loyalty & duty." Achieving that "blessed purpose" would be the happiest event of his life. Two months later he had concluded that the rebels did not want peace on advantageous terms. They sought "a change of government." He concluded that war, suffering, and ruin must fall upon the deluded Americans.

On board HMS William William in Chesapeake Bay, Lord Dunmore fulfilled a threat he had been making since spring. He signed a proclamation on November 7 and published it a week later, declaring martial law in Virginia, ordering every man able to bear arms to join him in putting down rebellion, and promising that all indentured servants and slaves in the service of rebels would be free if they fought for the king. This proclamation did for Byrd what Dunmore's seizure of the colony's gunpowder had done for Robert Munford, angering him and convincing him that he must join Americans' resistance to Britain. He offered himself to the Virginia Convention as commander of the new 3rd Virginia Regiment, but the delegates overwhelmingly rejected him in favor of Hugh Mercer. Byrd's friend Ralph Wormeley wrote: "Col: Byrd joined the popular party-he was not trusted-He lost every thing." Wormeley meant not that Byrd lost his property but that he lost the place among Virginians he had inherited from his father and his grandfather and had won for himself. in Chesapeake Bay, Lord Dunmore fulfilled a threat he had been making since spring. He signed a proclamation on November 7 and published it a week later, declaring martial law in Virginia, ordering every man able to bear arms to join him in putting down rebellion, and promising that all indentured servants and slaves in the service of rebels would be free if they fought for the king. This proclamation did for Byrd what Dunmore's seizure of the colony's gunpowder had done for Robert Munford, angering him and convincing him that he must join Americans' resistance to Britain. He offered himself to the Virginia Convention as commander of the new 3rd Virginia Regiment, but the delegates overwhelmingly rejected him in favor of Hugh Mercer. Byrd's friend Ralph Wormeley wrote: "Col: Byrd joined the popular party-he was not trusted-He lost every thing." Wormeley meant not that Byrd lost his property but that he lost the place among Virginians he had inherited from his father and his grandfather and had won for himself.

Lord Dunmore's schooners and his detachment of soldiers enabled him to use Norfolk as a base for raids along the sh.o.r.elines. Militiamen crossed the James and moved downriver. New soldiers from Virginia and, later, North Carolina arrived in Nansemond and Norfolk counties. Firing on Royal Navy vessels became routine. Scottish merchants prepared to leave Norfolk, packing their trade goods and household furniture, loading departing vessels or standing ready to go on short notice. Norfolk held many people opposed to the British. Dunmore said that "this little dirty Borough" had "Sedition and Rebellion" in "all Ranks of People." But the merchants had given it a reputation among other Virginians as a center of loyalty to Lord North and the king. Many people in the borough took alarm both at "the elopement of their Negroes" and at reports that rebels intended to burn the city.

Dunmore learned in mid-November that militiamen had gathered at Great Bridge ten miles from Norfolk in the northeastern reaches of the Dismal Swamp. This long, low wooden bridge on trestles and piers connected two parts of a causeway crossing a stretch of the swamp. At one end of the causeway a road led to Norfolk; at the other a road led toward North Carolina. The bridge was the most important link in the land approach to Norfolk. Using a map drawn by Thomas Macknight, Dunmore, accompanied by another partner in the Campania Company, James Parker, took his 109 British regulars and two dozen black and white volunteers up the south branch of the Elizabeth River to secure the bridge. The militiamen withdrew; he pursued them northeastward into Princess Anne County and dispersed them easily, killing a few.

Dunmore marched to Norfolk and issued his proclamation summoning men to aid the Crown. He would no longer have thought that the president of Virginia's Council, Secretary Nelson, was equivocal if he could have heard "the language of the President" in Williamsburg when Nelson learned of the proclamation. One planter said of Dunmore's action: "men of all ranks resent the pointing a dagger to their Throats thro the hands of their Slaves."

Dunmore put a small garrison in a fort at Great Bridge and began fortifying Norfolk. Parker and Macknight supervised construction of earthworks. Dunmore, naval officers, and the remaining Scots thought the British could hold Norfolk indefinitely. Merchants sent word to Britain that they were free to ignore the rebels' nonimportation a.s.sociation. One wrote to his brother: "be as Expeditious as possible and bring out as Many Goods in the Brig as She will hold. Now is the time to Strick a bold Strock depend upon it you will Never have such another to Make Money by dry Goods in this Country."

Much to the disgust of Virginians gathering near the British fort at Great Bridge, about 3,000 inhabitants of Nansemond, Norfolk, and Princess Anne counties and of the borough answered Dunmore's call. They swore loyalty to the king, though only a few hundred of them looked fit to bear arms. Many slaves joined the British. One of them, George, said when captured by Virginians that 400 blacks were with Dunmore in Norfolk. The governor armed black men in what he called "Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment." For white loyalists he organized "the Queen's Own Loyal Virginia Regiment."

The fort at Great Bridge held out against the Virginians. Learning that North Carolinians were coming with artillery, Dunmore decided, against the advice of army officers, to attack rebels' entrenchments on th