ked the assembly in the council chamber, people, he changed his views and urgently addressed them as follows: " Mr. Speaker entreated the ministry to repeal the ofenand gentlemen of the house of burgesses, I sive taxes. Such a promise was held out to have heard of your resolves and augur ill of him; but finding himself deceived by a pertheir effects. You have made it my duty to fidious ministry, he demanded his recall and dissolve you and you are dissolved according- died shortly after of a bilious fever exacerbaly." An unpleasant communication could ted by chagrin and disappointment. He was not have been more gracefully worded. The a patron of learning and the arts, giving out burgesses immediately repaired in a body to of his own purse silver and gold medals as a private house and unanimously adopted a prizes to the students of William and Mary non-importation agreement, draughted by College. The assembly erected a statue in George Mason and presented by George his honor which is still standing. His death Washington. [9th of May, 1769.] The king was deeply lamented by the colony. The in his speech to parliament re-echoed their administration devolved upon William Neldetermination to enforce the laws in every son, president of the Council. The assempart of his dominions. May 13th of the bly met [18th of July, 1771.] A project same month, the earl of Hillsborough, Sec- was now agitated by some of the Virginia retary of State for the colonies, wrote to Bot-clergy to introduce an American episcopate. etourt, assuring him that it was not the in- The movement was headed by Rev. John tention of his majesty's ministers to propose Camm. But the assembly having expressed any further taxes upon America and that its disapprobation of the measure and being they intended to propose a repeal of the du- urged but by few and resisted by some of ties on glass, paper and paints, upon the the clergy, it fell to the ground. The scheme ground that those duties had been imposed had been entertained for more than a huncontrary to the true principles of commerce. dred years before and it was at one time proBotetourt convening the assembly, commu- posed to make Dr. Swift bishop of Virginia, nicated these assurances, adding: "it is my with power to ordain priests and deacons for firm opinion that the plan I have stated to all the colonies and to parcel them out into you will certainly take place and that it will deaneries, parishes, chapels, &c., and to renever be departed from and so determined commend and present thereto. † [May, am I to abide by it, that I will be content to 1771,] a great fresh occurred in Virginia. be declared infamous, if I do not to the last The James river in three days rose twenty hour of my life, at all times, in all places and feet higher than ever known before. The upon all occasions, exert every power with low grounds were everywhere inundated, which I am or ever shall be legally invested standing crops destroyed, corn, fences, chatin order to obtain and maintain for the con- tels, merchandise, cattle and houses carried tinent of America, that satisfaction which I off and ships forced from their moorings. have been authorized to promise this day by Many of the inhabitants, master and slave, the confidential servant of our gracious sov-in endeavoring to save property, or to esereign, who to my certain knowledge rates cape from danger, were drowned. Houses his honor so high, that he would rather part were seen drifting down the current, and with his crown than preserve it by deceit." people clinging to them uttering fruitless The house answered this address in warm cries for succor. Fertile fields were covered terms of loyal gratitude and confidence. The with a thick deposite of sand. Islands were estimable Botetourt died, [15th of October, torn to pieces, bars accumulated, the chan1770,] in his 53rd year and after an admin-nel diverted and the face of Nature altered.‡ istration of two years. Promoted to the peerage, [1764,] he had succeeded Amherst as Governor-in-chief, [1768,] and was the first since Lord Culpepper who condescended to come to the colony. On his arrival he designed to reduce the Virginians to submission, either by persuasion or by force; but when he became better acquainted with the * In front of the College of William and Mary. Swift writing to Wm. Hunter in 1708-9 says: "So that all my hopes now terminate in my bishoprick of Virginia." See Swift's works, vol. 12, p. 110. Scot's (Edinburgh) Mag, for July 1771, and Va. Gazette for May 1771. At Turkey Island, (which however as not an island.) on the James River, the original seat of the Virginia Randolphs, there is a monument bearing the following inscription: "The foundations of this pillar The number of inhabitants drowned was es- | On the next day Dunmore dissolved the house. timated at not less than 150. Lord Dun- The eighty-nine burgesses repaired immedimore [1772] was transferred from the gov- ately to the Raleigh tavern and in the room ernment of New York to that of Virginia. called "the Apollo," * adopted resolutions [1770.] All the duties on articles imported against the use of tea and other East India into America, had been repealed, save that commodities and recommending the convenon tea. The American merchants refused ing of another congress. Further news beto import that herb from England. Conse- ing received from Boston some days after, quently a large stock of it was accumula- twenty-five burgesses, among whom was ted in the warehouses of the East India Washington, remained in Williamsburg,Company. The government now authori- held a meeting [May 29th] and issued a cirzed the company to ship it to America cular recommending a meeting of deputies free from any export duty. The light import in a convention to be held at Williamsburg, duty payable in America, being far less than [August 1st.] The convention met accordthat from which it was exempt in England, ingly. A new and more thorough non-imit was taken for granted that the tea would portation association was subscribed. Peysell more readily in the colony than before ton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George it had been made a source of revenue. The Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, tea-ships arrived in America; measures were Benjamin Harrison and Edmund Pendleton, taken to prevent the landing of the cargoes. were appointed delegates to Congress. The At Boston the tea was thrown overboard into session lasted only six days. the sea. Not a single chest was sold in Amer- [September 4th, 1774.] The old continenca for the benefit of the East India Company. tal congress met at Carpenter's Hall in PhilNot long after, the port of Boston was shut, adelphia. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was by act of Parliament, and a series of vigo- chosen president. Patrick Henry was the rous measures was enforced in order to re- first to break the silence of the assembly. duce the colony of Massachusetts Bay to His speech satisfied all, that he was the greatsubmission. [March, 1773.] The Virginia est orator, not only in Virginia, but in Ameassembly originated the system of commit- rica. He was "Shakspeare and Garrick comtees of correspondence between the le- bined." He was followed by Richard Henry gislatures of colonies. This scheme was Lee, in whom genius, learning, virtue and suggested by Richard Henry Lee. † The patriotism were happily united. Although committee appointed for Virginia were Peyton Randolph, Robert C. Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, the county of Westmoreland, where his inDudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary and Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Carr though young was an advocate second in eloquence only to Patrick Henry, and promised to become no less distinguished as a statesman, but died shortly after, greatly regretted. [May, 1774.] The assembly upon receiving intelligence of the occlusion of the port of Bosted, to Richard Bland, for 15 shillings. [1712.] This lot ton, set apart the 1st of June as a fast day. he had applied for the office of collector of the Stamp Duty, yet he became one of the earliest and most active opponents of it, and fluence was felt, claims the honor of having The Raleigh is upwards of 100 years old. There is a bust of Sir Walter Raleigh in front of the house. One of its apartments, "the Apollo," was the ball-room of the metropolis. It appears from the records of York county, that [August 2nd, 1708,] the Feoffees of Williamsburg sold lot No. 54, on which the Raleigh tavern was afterwards erec was owned by John Sarjanton, who sold it to Daniel Blewit for £25. [1715.] Thomas Jones appears to have been proprietor of it. [1742.] John Blair sold lot on North side of Duke of Gloucester street, for "Subscription Ordinary," to John Dixon, David Meade, Patrick Barclay, Alexander McKenzie and James Murray, for £250. [1749] McKenzie & Co, sold the Raleigh Tavern" to John Chiswell and George Gilmer for £700. [1763.] John Robinson & Co., executors of George Gilmer, sold the same to William + Wirt attributes the suggestion to Dabney Carr; others Trebell. [1767.] Trebell sold the Raleigh tavern and 20 to Mr. Jefferson. Lee appears, however, to have first con-acres of land to Anthony Hay. [1771.] John Greenhow & ceived the plan in Virginia, and Samuel Adams as early in Co., executors of Hay, for £2,000, sold the tavern and 20 Massachusetts. and a half acres of land to James Southall. was laid in the calamitous year 1771, when all the great VOL. XIII-74 led the way in organized opposition. As Gen'l Lewis, rendezvoused at Camp Union,* Patrick Henry was reckoned the Demosthe-(now Lewisburg,) and they consisted of two nes of America, so Richard Henry Lee was regiments, commanded by Colonel William acknowledged to be the Cicero. It was soon Fleming, of Botetourt, and Colonel Charles discovered, however, that while Henry tow- Lewis, of Augusta, and each containing ered supereminent in oratory,-yet in com- about four hundred men. At Camp Union position and in the routine of actual business, they were joined by an independent volunhe was surpassed by many. The congress teer company, under Col. John Field, of Culadjourned in October. Mr. Henry, on his pepper, a company from Bedford, under Col. return home, being asked "who was the Buford, and two companies from the Holstein greatest man in congress?" replied, "if you Settlement, (now Washington county,) under speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South Captains Evan Shelby and Harbert. These Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but if three latter companies were part of the forces you speak of solid information and sound to be led on by Col. Christian, who was to judgment, Colonel Washington is unques- join the troops at Point Pleasant, as soon as tionably the greatest man on that floor." his regiment should be completed. [SepDickinson of Pennsylvania composed the pe- tember 11th.] General Lewis, with eleven tition to the king and the address to the hundred men commenced his march. The inhabitants of Quebec; Jay, of New York, route lay through a wilderness. The division the address to the people of Great Britain, was piloted by Capt. Matthew Arbuckle. The and Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, the me- flour, ammunition and camp equipage, were morial to the inhabitants of the British colo- transported on pack-horses; bullocks were nies. driven in the rear of the little army. After It had long been a custom in Virginia to a march of nineteen days, during which they form independent companies for military dis- proceeded 160 miles, they reached Point cipline. Several of these now solicited Col. Pleasant, [Sept. 30th,] the angle formed by Washington to take command of them. He the junction of the great Kanawha, ("the consented. In the apprehension of war all river of woods,") with the beautiful Ohio. eyes involuntarily turned to him as the first military character in the colony. The ground of the encampment is high and strong, and commands an extensive and pic[April, 1774.] Some hostilities occurred turesque prospect. Dunmore failing to join between the Indians and the whites, on the Lewis here, he sent out runners towards Fort frontier of Virginia. On which side these Pitt, in quest of him. But before their reoutrages commenced, was a matter of dis- turn, an express from the governor reached pute. The whites, however, were probably Point Pleasant, [October 9th,] ordering Lewis the aggressors. An Indian war being appre- to march for the Chilicothe towns and there hended, Governor Dunmore appointed Gen- join him. Preparations were immediately eral Andrew Lewis, of Botetourt county, to made for crossing the Ohio, but on the mornthe command of the Southern division of the ing of the following day, Monday, [October forces, volunteer and militia, raised for the 10th, 1774,] two soldiers, starting from the occasion in Botetourt, Augusta and the ad- camp on a hunting excursion, proceeded up joining counties, East of the Blue Ridge; the bank of the Ohio. When they had gone while his lordship in person took command about two miles, they came upon a large of those levied in the Northern counties, body of Indians just rising from their enFrederick, Dunmore, (now Shenandoah,) and campment and who firing killed one of them; the adjacent counties. According to the the other escaping unhurt, running rapidly plan of the campaign, Lewis was to march back to the camp, reported that he had to Point Pleasant, (where the great Kanawha seen a body of the enemy covering four acres empties into the Ohio,) there to be joined by of ground as closely as they could stand by the Governor. About the 1st of September, the side of each other." It was the famous 1774, the troops placed under command of chief, Cornstalk, at the head of an army of Delawares, Mingoes, Cayugas, Wyandots and • See in Southern Lit. Messenger, vol. 8, p. 257, the Westmoreland Association, dated February 27, 1766, of which Richard Henry Lee is the first subscriber. * Col. Stewart, in his account of the Indian Wars, calls it Fort Savannah. Shawnees. But for the hunter's intelligence, | crossed the Ohio. The loss of the whites in they would have surprized the camp of the this battle, has been variously estimated at Provincials. General Lewis upon learning from 40 to 75 killed, and 140 wounded, a large the enemy's approach, lit his pipe and imme-proportion of the whole number of the troops diately sent forward the main body of his actually engaged, who did not exceed 550. army, a detachment of Augusta troops, under One hundred of Lewis' men, including his his brother, Col. Charles Lewis, and another best marksmen, were absent in the woods of Botetourt troops, under Col. Fleming. hunting and knew nothing of the battle until The General with the reserve, remained for it was all over. Among the killed were Col. the defence of the camp. The advanced Charles Lewis, Col. Field, who had served in corps formed in two lines, moved forward Braddock's war, Captains Buford, Morrow, about four hundred yards, when they met the Murray, Ward, Cundiff, Wilson and McClenenemy arrayed in the same order. The ac- achan; Lieuts. Allen, Goldsby and Dillon, tion commenced a little after sunrise, by a and several other subalterns. The loss of heavy firing from the Indians. The two ar- the savages was never ascertained. The bomies extended at right angles to the Ohio, dies of 33 slain were found, but many had through the woods to Crooked Creek, which been thrown into the Ohio during the action. empties into the great Kanawha a little above The number of the Indian army was not its mouth. In a short time, Col. Charles known, but it comprised the flower of the Lewis being mortally wounded* and Col. northern confederated tribes, led on by RedFleming severely, their troops gave way and hawk, a Delaware chief; Scoppathus, a Minretreated towards the camp until met by a go; Chiyawee, a Wyandot; Logan, a Cayuga, reinforcement under Col. Field, when they and Ellinipsico and his father Cornstalk, rallied and maintained their ground. The Shawnees. Cornstalk displayed great skill and engagement now became general and was courage; when one of his warriors evinced sustained with obstinate valor on both sides. a want of firmness in his action, he slew him The Provincials being thus hemmed in be- with one blow of his tomahawk, and during tween the two rivers, with the Indian line of the day his voice could be heard above the battle in front, General Lewis employed the din of arms, exclaiming in his native tongue, troops from the more Eastern parts of the" be strong, be strong." colony and who were less experienced in After the battle, General Lewis having buIndian fighting, in throwing up a breast-ried the dead of his own troops and made work of the boughs and trunks of trees across provision for the wounded, erected a small the angle made by the Kanawha and the fort at Point Pleasant and leaving a garrison Ohio. About 12 o'clock, the Indian fire be- there, marched to overtake Lord Dunmore, gan to slacken and the enemy slowly and re-who, with a thousand men, lay entrenched luctantly gave way, being driven back less near the Shawnee towns on the banks of the than two miles in six or seven hours. A des- Scioto. The Indians having sued to him for ultory fire was still kept up from behind peace, his lordship having determined to make trees, and the whites as they pressed on the a treaty with them, sent orders to Lewis retreating foe, were repeatedly ambuscaded. to halt, (or according to others,) to return to At length General Lewis detached three companies, commanded by Capt. Isaac Shelby, George Matthews and John Stuart, with orders to move secretly along the banks of the Kanawha and Crooked Creek, so as to gain the rear of the enemy. This manœuvre being successfully executed, the savages at o'clock, P. M. fled, and during the night re 4 Among the officers in the battle of Point Pleasant were several who afterwards became distinguished :-General terwards Secretary of War; General William Campbell, Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky and afthe hero of King's Mountain and Col. John Campbell, who distinguished himself at Long Island; Gen. Evan Shelby, who became an eminent citizen of Tennessee; Col. Wil liam Fleming, a revolutionary patriot; Gen. Andrew Moore, United States Senator from Virginia; Col. John Stewart of Greenbrier; General Tate of Washington County, Virginia; Col. William McKee of Kentucky; Col. John Steele, This gallant and estimable officer, when struck by the Governor of the Mississippi Territory; Col. Charles Camfatal ball, fell at the foot of a tree, when he was against his eron, of Bath; General Bazaleel Wells, of Ohio; and Genown wish carried to his tent by Capt. Morrow and a pri-eral George Matthews, who distinguished himself at Branvate and died in a few hours. His loss was deeply lamen-dywine, Germantown, and Guilford, and was a Governor of Georgia and an United States Senator from that State. ted. Point Pleasant. Lewis, however, suspecting | Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not the governor's good faith, and finding himself meat; if ever he came cold and naked and threatened by a superior force of Indians who he clothed him not. During the course of hovered in his rear, disregarding Dunmore's the last long and bloody war, Logan remainorder, advanced to within three miles of the ed idle in his cabin an advocate for peace. Governor's camp. His lordship, accompa- Such was my love for the whites that my nied by the Indian chief, White-Eyes, now countrymen pointed as they passed and said, visited the camp of Lewis and he (according Logan, is the friend of the white men.' I to some relations) with difficulty restrained had even thought to have lived with you but his men from killing the Governor and his for the injuries of one man. Col. Cresap Indian companion. General Lewis now, to the last Spring in cold blood and unprovoked his great chagrin, received orders to return murdered all the relations of Logan not even home with his division. This order was re- sparing my women and children. There luctantly obeyed. General Andrew Lewis runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of resided on the Roanoke, in the county of any living creature. This called on me for Botetourt. He was one of six sons of John revenge. I have sought it; I have killed Lewis, the early pioneer of Augusta county. many: I have fully glutted my vengeance. In Braddock's war, he was in a company, in For my country I rejoice at the beams of which were all his brothers, the eldest, Sam- peace. But do not harbor a thought that uel Lewis, being the captain of it. This mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt company displayed great courage at Brad- fear. He will not turn on his heel to save dock's defeat. Major Andrew Lewis was his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? made prisoner at Grant's defeat, where he Not one." * exhibited extraordinary prudence and courage. He was twice wounded at the capture of Fort Necessity and was subsequently a meritorious officer during the revolutionary war. Gen. Lewis was upwards of six feet high, of uncommon strength and agility, and of a form of exact symmetry. His countenance was stern and invincible, his deportment reserved and distant. He was a commissioner with Dr. Thomas Walker on behalf of Virginia, at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, in New York, [1768.] It was then that the governor of New York remarked of him, that "the earth seemed to tremble under him as he walked along." * Dunmore remaining, concluded a treaty t with the Indians. Upon this occasion Cornstalk, in a long speech, charged the whites. with having provoked the war. His tones of thunder resounded over a camp of twelve acres. Logan, the Cayuga chief, assented to the treaty, but still indignant at the murder of his family, refused to attend with the other chiefs at the camp. He sent his speech in a wampum-belt by an interpreter. "I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Howe's Historical Collections of Virginia, pp. 361, 366, 204, 205. Dr. Campbell's Memoir in Appendix. ↑ According to Col. A. Lewis of Montgomery, there was no treaty effected till the following Spring. CHAPTER XXXIII. 1774-1776. Suspicions entertained against Dunmore; Daniel Bʊone; Kentucky; Second Virginia Convention; Patrick Henry's Speech; Thomas Jefferson; Dunmore removes the Gunpowder from the Magazine; Disturbances at Williamsburg; Henry recovers compensation for the Powder; Mecklenburgh North Carolina Declaration of Independence. Further commotions at Williamsburg; Dunmore retires aboard the Fowey; Washington appointed Commander-in-Chief; Convention meets at Richmond; Dunmore's predatory war; Affair of the Great Bridge; Norfolk Burnt; Indignity offered Henry; He retires from the Army; Pendleton; Miscellaneous affairs; Dec Logan's family had indeed been massacred by a party of whites in retaliation for some Indian murders, but the charge against Cresap appears to have been unfounded. Mr. Jefferson gave implicit credit to the authenticity of this speech. See Appendix to Notes on Virginia. Doddridge, in Kercheval, is of the same opinion. Jacob, in the same work, insinuates that the speech was a counterfeit and insists that if genuine, it was false in its statements, and that Cresap was as humane as brave and had no hand in the death of Logan's family, and adds that in the original speech Cresap was not named. The first sentence of the speech in part, closely resembles a Scriptural expression in St. Matthew, c. 25, v. 35-36. Logan was a halfbreed. He died a sot. |