Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, Virginia

Largely ignored by scholars, Thomas Nelson Jr. of Yorktown, Virginia, was among the patriots who dared all when he signed the Declaration of Independence. He was well known to the wealthy and powerful of the era as a member of the Virginia gentry which held vast political and economic sway within the colony. Nelson filled many roles in his short fifty years of life—merchant, legislator, patriot, soldier, governor, slaveholder, and flawed founder.

Born on December 26, 1738, Thomas Nelson was the eldest son of William Nelson, a wealthy second-generation Virginian, merchant, and landowner. To separate himself from his famous uncle with the same name, it is believed Thomas added the “junior.” Educated in England, he studied at Christ College, Cambridge,[1] returned to Yorktown in 1762, and was immediately elected to the Virginia colonial legislature, the House of Burgesses. He was appointed a member of the York County Court, and colonel of the militia. His marriage resulted in a large family with eleven children. Upon the death of his father in 1772, he inherited the heavily indebted family business.

There is little evidence that Nelson was a prominent member of House of Burgesses for most of the fifteen years he was a delegate. Much of his work was routine, often mundane, such as being ordered, along with George Washington, “to bring in a Bill for laying a Tax upon Dogs.”[2] On May 6, 1774, he was assigned to the Committee on Religion, along with more than twenty others, to consider “all matters and things relating to Religion and Morality.”[3]

As tensions with England grew over taxation, specifically with the 1765 implementation of the Stamp Act, the House of Burgesses became an important body in shaping America’s movement towards independence. For example, on May 29, 1765, Patrick Henry, a new member, introduced five controversial resolutions criticizing British policy, supported by Thomas Nelson. As viewed by some of his contemporaries, Henry’s speech criticizing King George III was scandalous and radical, as were some of his proposed resolutions. Specifically, the fifth proposed resolution, which was rejected, included the statement that only the general assembly had the exclusive right to tax and that no other individual or body could do so without “destroy[ing] British as well as American Freedom.”[4]

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In response to the Boston Tea Party, in 1774 the British Parliament passed the “Coercive Acts” designed to punish Massachusetts by closing the port of Boston, replacing the elected colonial government with one appointed by the crown, and giving the governor the authority to move a trial outside the province. These acts became known in America as the “Intolerable Acts.” As news spread to Virginia, the House of Burgesses on May 24, 1774, passed a bill for a day of prayer and fasting among the many routine measures of the day. The bill read:

This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension of the great dangers, to be derived to british America, from the hostile Invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on the first Day of June next, to be stopped by an Armed force, deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be set apart, by the Members of this House, as a day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition, for averting the heavy Calamity which threatens destructions to our Civil Rights, and the Evils of civil War; to give us one heart and one Mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American Rights; and that the Minds of his Majesty and his Parliament, may be inspired from above with Widom, Moderation, and Justice, to remove from the loyal People of America all cause of danger, from a continued pursuit of Measures, pregnant with their ruin.[5]

In response, on May 26, 1774, the royal governor dissolved the assembly.

With the Burgesses dissolved, its members assembled the next day in Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg to form an association “to consider the need to name delegates to meet in a general congress” and to condemn the British actions as “his Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects.”[6] Eighty-nine members signed this document, including Nelson. They agreed to meet again in Williamsburg in August 1774 without royal government oversight. Nelson began emerging as a prominent Virginia patriot shaped in part by the views of his father. Most likely, William shared his opinion that the conduct of the ministry was “mean, uncandid and destructive of trade” and “petitions and remonstrances mean nothing with those who are determined to push matters to extremity, in order to establish and support their despotic plan of power.”[7]

Meeting in general convention at Williamsburg—the First Virginia Convention, August 1—August 6, 1774—the delegates agreed to stop imports of goods from England after November 1, 1774, and unless their grievances were addressed by August 10 of the following year, to stop exports to England.[8] Nelson’s position was for Great Britain to “feel the effects of their mistakes and arbitrary Policy.”[9] Additionally, delegates to the Continental Congress were chosen. As tensions increased, so did the Nelson’s businesses decline.

At the Second Virginia General Convention (March 20—March 27, 1775), Nelson supported Patrick Henry’s controversial resolution to prepare Virginia for war. As Henry’s proposal noted: “Resolved, therefore, That this colony be immediately put into a state of defence, and that [there] be a committee to prepare a plan for embodying, arming and disciplining such a number of men, as may be sufficient for that purpose.”[10] Reportedly, Nelson stated during the debate:

I am a merchant of York Town, but I am a Virginian first. Let my trade perish. I call God to witness if any British troops are landed in the County of York, of which I am lieutenant, I will wait for no orders, but will summon the militia and drive the invaders into the sea.[11]

During the Third Virginia Convention (July 17—August 26, 1775), Nelson served on a committee to raise two regiments of regulars with Nelson, Henry and William Woodford selected as general officers. On August 11, 1775, Nelson was selected as one of the Virginian delegates to the Continental Congress and proceeded to Philadelphia.

John Adams described Nelson as “a fat Man, like the late Coll. Lee of Marblehead. He is a Speaker, and alert and lively, for his Weight.”[12] A few days later, he wrote his wife Abigil about the changes in the Virginia delegation: “Messrs. Nelson, Wythe, and Lee, are chosen and are here in the Stead of the other three. Wythe and Lee are inoculated. You shall hear more about them. Altho they come in the Room of very good Men, We have lost nothing by the Change I believe.”[13]

Nelson, like Adams, was becoming impatient in settling the question on independence.[14] In a letter to John Page, his friend and future governor, Nelson wrote:

I wish I knew the sentiments of our people upon the grand points of confederation and foreign alliance, or in other words, of independence; for we cannot expect to form a connection with any foreign power, as long as we have a womanish hankering after Great Britain; and to be sure there is not in nature a greater absurdity, than to suppose we can have any affection for a people who are carrying on the most savage war against us.[15]

Frustrated, he wrote: “We are now carrying on a war and no war. They seize our property wherever they find it, either by land or sea; and we hesitate to retaliate, because we have a few friends in England who have ships”[16]

On February 23, 1776, Nelson departed Philadelphia to represent York in the Virginia assembly which was debating the question of independence. Based on an agreement with Patrick Henry, the leader of Virginia’s independence movement, Nelson introduced the resolution which called for Virginia to absolve all allegiance to the crown and for the immediate, clear and full “declaration of independency.”[17] With Virginia’s decision on independence agreed, Nelson returned to Philadelphia and on June 7 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the independence motion to the Continental Congress.

In addition to his work in congress on financing the war, Nelson was appointed as the committee member from Virginia “to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these colonies.”[18] Nelson took interest in the challenges facing the army, often writing to his friend John Page from neighboring Gloucester. On August 13, 1776, he wrote to Page, “I wish I could, by this Letter, confirm the report that prevail’d some weeks ago, of thousands of Men going into N. York daily, but alas! that like most others was not above half true.”[19]

In September 1776, Nelson took his leave of congress and returned to Virginia to sit in the assembly, only returning to Philadelphia in November to find it lacked sufficient representatives. In December the Congress adjourned to reassemble in Baltimore in January 1777. His focus as the Acting Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee was on paying for needed supplies and combating growing inflation.

Writing to Robert Morris about the situation, Nelson said,

When I could give satisfactory answers to Congress upon a requisition being made for a sum of Money I took the greatest pleasure in transacting the business of the Treasury Board, but of late we have been circumstanced that I had almost as live [sic] go to jail as go near the Treasury.[20]

Nelson recognized the need to create a well-armed, trained and supplied regular army. With news of Washington’s victory at Trenton, Nelson wrote to Thomas Jefferson from Baltimore on January 2, 1777,

Our affairs have had a black appearance for the two last months, but they say the Devil is not so black as he is painted. We have at last turn’d the Tables upon those Scoundrels by surprize, as you will see by the enclos’d paper . . . Could we but get a good Regular Army we should soon clear the Continent of these damn’d Invaders.[21]

That February he returned to Virginia again due to ill health and also closed his mercantile business due to the economic downturn. It would become a repeated pattern throughout his life for Nelson to leave his governmental position due to illness or for personal reasons, whether serving in the Continental Congress or the state assembly, but to remain active in political and military affairs as circumstances warranted.

In April 1777, Nelson returned to Congress but had a violent physical attack on May 2 forcing him to resign his seat—he was replaced by George Mason.[22] Returning home, he was again in the House of Delegates voting to retain Patrick Henry as governor for a second term. Anticipating an invasion of Virginia in the summer of 1777, Henry appointed Nelson to lead the poorly trained and equipped Virginia militia. Writing to Washington in August 1777, Nelson noted:

The Arrival of the British Fleet upon this Coast having made it necessary to call together a considerable Body of the Militia, in Number four thousand, the Governor & Council have honoured me with the Command of them with the Rank of Brigadier General; an Appointment that was unsolicited, unexpected, &, I wish I could say, it was not unmerited. I confess my Want of military Knowledge; but by Assiduity & Attention, I hope to make myself a Soldier.[23]

Washington replied on September 2, 1777:

The want of military experience you mention is no obstacle to you to serve your Country in the capacity in which you have undertaken. In our infant state of war, it cannot be expected, we should be perfect in the business of it . . . your zeal and assiduity will ample supply any deficiency . . . It is without a doubt a disagreeable task to Command Militia, but we must make the best of circumstances, and use the means we have. That they are ill armed too, is a matter of great concern, every attention should be paid to putting them upon as respectable footing as possible. It is of first importance.[24]

Washington further cautioned Nelson of the dangers of stationing large forces at Yorktown or Hampton which could be isolated, surrounded and destroyed by superior naval and ground forces—a lesson to be learned by British Gen. Charles Cornwallis in 1781.

By the end of September 1777, Washington wrote to Nelson that he assessed that the British had no intention of invading Virginia. He appreciated Nelson’s offer to assist him with his militia forces, but Washington wrote, “Were the season now fast approaching when the weather will be cold, I should perhaps request it. But as that is the case, and the Militia cannot be provided with the necessary cloathing & covering, I must decline it.”[25]

With the danger passed, Nelson returned to his duties in the assembly where his views would sometimes conflict with the majority. In October the legislature adopted a proposal offered by Thomas Jefferson where a debt owed to a British citizen could be dismissed if the funds were paid to the state. Nelson objected. He argued that debts were owed to individual British citizens, and that Jefferson’s proposal was unjust and penalized the innocent. Nelson pledged that whatever the resolution’s fate, “I will pay my debts, like any honest man.[26]

Throughout the war, Nelson and Washington corresponded on military issues. A repeated concern of both men was raising sufficient forces. On February 8, 1778, Washington wrote to Nelson, “Altho it is devoutly to be wished that Soldiers could engaged for three years, or the war, yet I am perswaded it would not be consistent with good policy to attempt it at this time—consequently, that the plan of drafting for twelve months only, is a wise measure.” He continued, “I should rejoice at it, or to hear of your being in Congress again, as I view with concern the departure of every Gentn. of independant spirit from the grand American Council.”[27]

Throughout 1778, Nelson and Washington lamented the difficulty of recruiting; Nelson wrote of “every Man being engaged in accumulating Money,” while Washington was “sorry to find such a backwardness in Virginia in the service of the Army.”[28]

In March 1778, Congress passed a proposal for each state, at their own expense, to raise a force of light cavalry. With Nelson’s support, including partially financing the effort, Virginia’s light cavalry reached Philadelphia in August. Given the redeployment of British forces back to New York, Congress recommended the cavalry return to Virginia. A congressional resolution passed on August 8 stated “That the thanks of Congress be returned to the hon. General Nelson and the officers and gentlemen under his command, for their brave, generous and patriotic efforts in the cause of their country.”[29]

By October 1778, Nelson was reelected to represent Virginia in the Continental Congress beginning in February 1779. Coincidentally, Washington, frustrated with congress, wrote to Benjamin Harrison on December 18, 1778, “Where is Mason, Wythe, Jefferson, Nicholas, Pendelton, Nelson.” Washington wrote to Nelson on March 15, 1779, about his return to congress: “I think there never was a time when cool & dispassionate reasoning—strict attention & application—great integrity—and (if it was in the nature of things, unerring) wisdom were more to be wished for than the present.”[30] Nelson responded:

I am happy that my taking a seat again in Congress meets with your approbation; and shall be still more happy, if by my advice or assistance, America shall be reliev’d from her present distresses; for in my opinion she has not, at any time, since the commencement of this War, been in so much danger as she is now, and principally from the state of our finances, which seem to me to be in strange confusion.[31]

Engaged in numerous congressional committees, including planning for the defense of the southern states, Nelson participated in over sixty votes over a two-month time. By April 1779 he was again ill, returning home just as the British raided Hampton Roads, seizing supplies and destroying the dockyard at Gosport.[32] Due to illness, Nelson resigned his congressional seat and remained in Virginia.

By May Nelson felt compelled to attend the assembly in Richmond. The challenges of funding the war and combating inflation were the primary issues. Based on a Continental Congress request, the assembly attempted to raise two million dollars to support the war effort. Many Virginians were unwilling to loan money to the state, but Nelson pledged his own assets as a guarantee that their money would be returned. When British Gen. Alexander Leslie arrived with 2,500 soldiers in October 1780, Jefferson, now governor, and with the approval of the general assembly, ordered the impressment of supplies for the militia. When the supplies were not forthcoming, Nelson reportedly paid for them. According to one of Nelson’s biographers, “Whenever a need arose for funds for the forces, as for his cavalry corps in 1778, Nelson demonstrated his devotion to the colonial cause by donating his own money.”[33]

As the British invasion of Virginia continued into 1781, Nelson was again appointed to command the militia, but the British advanced essentially unopposed. General von Steuben, the senior Continental Army commander sent to organize and train the militia, appointed Nelson to command all forces on the Virginia peninsula. Again, in February and April 1781, Nelson was sick and recovering.

On June 12 the assembly, now located in Staunton, elected Nelson governor as the state was being overrun. Washington, on receiving news of Nelson’s selection, wrote to his stepson, “He is an honest man, active, spirited and decided.”[34] Washington wrote to Nelson, “Among your numerous friends, none will be found when congratulations on your appointment to the Administration of the Affairs of Virginia, are offered with more cordiality & sincerity than mine.”[35] Illness struck again in August, although Nelson continued to communicate with Virginia’s congressional delegates and a host of others. A communique from Washington that month stirred Nelson into action.

Washington wrote about his plans to move to Virginia, emphasizing:

It is almost unnecessary to suggest that the greatest advantages will, in all human probability result, from the Vigor of our present exertions, or an evil proportionably great from the want of it—Supplies, will be the principle thing that is necessary; as I am in hopes, the Regular forces destined for the expedition in addition to the Troops with the Marquis De Lafayette, will be competent to the Object in View without any considerable aid from the Militia.[36]

While the Governor’s Council, chosen by the legislature, often advised and approved the actions of the governor, Nelson believed he had emergency powers, especially in impressing supplies “when persuasion failed.”[37]

To prevent competition between American and French officials in obtaining supplies, specifically food, Nelson organized distribution. One of the French General Rochambeau’s aides wrote in his private diary:

we experienced a great shortage of provisions which was not surprising in a region with no suppliers and where the British Army pillaged, ravaged and camped for some time. Mr. Nelson, the current governor of Virginia, used all his credit, all the means in his power to promptly provide for a shortage which increased hourly in proportion to the number of people who continued to arrive. We needed wagons and horses, Mr. Nelson procured some and even gave some of his own. In the end, he spared no care, no effort, no avenue and we saw him to do everything which can be expected of the most zealous patriot.[38]

Throughout September 1781, Nelson communicated with his neighboring governors of Maryland and North Carolina about the situation, pleading for their support.

Highlighting the importance of obtaining supplies, Nelson stated to his commissary general, “Disappointments will be attended with the most fatal consequences.”[39] One of Nelson’s challenges was the reluctance of farmers to accept depreciated paper money in lieu of hard money (specie) which was available from the French and British. On September 27, Nelson wrote to his lieutenant governor: “The People of the Country being obliged to receive Prices so inadequate to their property and service will undoubtedly decline serving the Public as far as it is in their power to avoid it. Must accept depreciated currency as Policy and necessity requires.”[40]

Determined to stay in the field and lead the three Virginia militia brigades, against the advice of his lieutenant governor who felt his place was in Richmond, Nelson wrote on September 21:

It is however impossible for me to quit the Army at this Time,—at least the bad Consequence which would result from it would not be compensated by any Good which might arise from my attending at the Council Board. The Wants of the Army which are many, & which require the most instant Attention.. It is my opinion that nothing should come into Competition with our Endeavours to give Success to the present Military Operations, because, if they fail, we shall have but the shadow of a Government, if even that, whereas if they succeed, the Hands of Government will be Stronger & it will be more respectable than ever.^[41]

As the forces converged against British troops at Yorktown, Nelson commanded the militia forces on the extreme allied right functioning as Lafayette’s reserve. During the battle, his ancestral home in Yorktown sustained substantial damage while his uncle’s house was destroyed. Folklore tells the story of Nelson offering his home as a target to Lafayette, even offering a reward to the cannoneers who hit it. Washington recognized the contribution of Nelson and his Virginians in the Yorktown campaign:

In gratitude which the General hopes never to be guilty of would be conspicuous in him was he to omit thanking in the warmest terms His Excellency Governor Nelson for the Aid he has derived from him and from the Militia under his Command to whose Activity Emulation and Courage much Applause is due—the Greatness of the Acquisition will be an ample Compensation for the Hardships and Hazards which they encountered with so much patriotism and firmness.[42]

With the surrender of the British, Nelson faced increased administrative and logistical burdens. Shortages of supplies continued, and now with the addition of providing for more than seven thousand British and Hessian prisoners, as well as assisting the French who would winter in Virginia, the problem became acute. Immediately after the battle, criticism of Nelson’s methods for requisitioning supplies and resources began. For example, the French Assistant Quarter Master Mathieu Dumas appeared before the Virginia assembly, later writing in his private diary:

But such were the spirit of the Virginians, even of the administration of this great state, that the virtuous and brave General Nelson who had been so helpful to us at the beginning of the siege, who gave us horses, his slaves, his wagons, who even commanded the militia, was denounced to the same assembly . . . For every excuse, the governor cited his exemplary conduct for every true patriot, the importance of the conquest and the necessity of neglecting nothing for the service on such an occasion. His excellent reasons were poorly rewarded.[43]

On November 20, 1781, Nelson resigned as governor, giving his declining health as the reason. Some questioned whether Nelson’s suffering popularity was the primary cause of his resignation.[44] To respond to charges of illegally impressing supplies, Nelson appealed to the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates: “I only request that I may be indulged with half hour, that I may lay before the house a candid statement of facts, and my reasons for adopting the measures which have given so much offence.”[45] No record exists of what was said during Nelson’s meeting on December 31, 1781. Nevertheless, after the meeting, the assembly passed an act to indemnify Nelson and to legalize the acts of his administration. In part it stated:

Whereas upon examination it appears, that previous to, and during the siege of York, Thomas Nelson, junior, esquire, late governor of this commonwealth, was compelled by the peculiar circumstances of the state and army, to perform many acts of government without the advice of the council of state, for the purpose of procuring subsistence and other necessaries for the allied army under the command of his excellency general Washington.[46]

In retirement, Nelson retained considerable resources, even though many of his accounts were in debt. His holdings included over 20,000 acres of land, livestock and an estimated four hundred enslaved people. He and his heirs attempted to obtain reimbursements for his financial support during the war, but lost records and receipts prevented payment even though the 1784 assembly recommended payment of ten thousand pounds.

In February 1782, General Rochambeau and his aide Baron von Closen visited “Offley Hoo”—Nelson’s modest estate in Hanover County. Von Clauen wrote about Nelson: “He is a man of great integrity, devoted to the cause of his compatriots and served his fatherland with zeal and disinteredness. Character of an upright man even at the cost of his fortune, which has been considerably reduced.”[47] While some of his focus was on business and family, in the fall of 1782 he returned to the house of delegates in poor health.

Remaining as a delegate to the assembly over the next five years, his health and business concerns often dictated his attendance. For example, he was selected to be part of the Virginia delegation to the May 1787 convention to revise the Articles of Confederation, but he declined the honor. On January 4, 1789, Nelson died and was buried at Grace Church, Yorktown.

While his Yorktown home remains as part of the National Park Service’s Colonial National Historical Park, other than his burial site, there are few reminders of Nelson’s contributions to the “cause.” Even the local community college which honored his service was renamed in 2021. Few histories of the American Revolution, the Virginia campaign or of the battle of Yorktown contain more than mention of his role as leader of the militia or as governor.

If Washington, Jefferson, and Adams were the leading men in the drama of the revolution, Nelson was surely one of the main character actors along with dozens of supporting men. A man of his time, and a southerner, he indeed profited by enslaving hundreds of others and never appeared to question its morality—a moral flaw. Plagued by physical ailments which appeared at critical times, he nevertheless served even to his own detriment. While his financial losses during the war are difficult to quantify, he selflessly pledged his assets when the occasion demanded. To paraphrase Thomas Paine, Nelson was no “sunshine patriot.”

Should we remember Thomas Nelson as a patriot, legislator, or slaveholder? Nelson was indeed flawed, but so were many of the other founders. In 1833, James Madison wrote a fitting epitaph:

My personal acquaintance with Genl. Nelson was limited to a few opportunities at an early stage of the Revolution. It was sufficient however to disclose to me his distinguished worth. He was excelled by no man in the generosity of his nature, in the nobleness of his sentiments, in the purity of his revolutionary principles, and in an exalted patriotism that ensured every service & sacrifice that his Country might need.[48]

A fitting tribute for all to emulate.

[1] Alumni – Thomas Nelson Jnr. (1738-1789), Christ College Cambridge, alumni.christs.cam.ac.uk/thomas-nelson-jr.

[2] John Pendelton Kennedy, Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1766-1769 (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1906), 289.

[3] John Pendelton Kennedy, Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1773 -1776 (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1905), 75.

[4] Patrick Henry, Five Resolutions on the Rights of the Virginia Colony, May 30,1765, encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/virginia-resolves-on-the-stamp-act-1765.

[5] Kennedy, Journals of the House of Burgesses 1773-1776, 124.

[6] “Association of Members of the Late House of Burgesses, May 27,1774,” founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0083.

[7] Nell Moore Lee, Patriot Above Profit: A Portrait of Thomas Nelson, Jr., Who Supported the American Revolution with Purse and Sword (Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988), 163.

[8] “The Virginia Association,” encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-virginia-association/.

[9] Charles E. Hatch Jr., The Nelson House and the Nelsons (Yorktown, Virginia: National Park Service, August 29, 1969), 30-31.

[10] The Second Virginia Convention was known for Henry’s “give me liberty or give me death” speech. Although not recorded, a biographer included a transcription of the speech in his 1817 biography of Henry. encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/patrick-henrys-give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death-speech-march-23-1775/.

[11] Lee, Patriot Above Profit, 240.

[12] “1775. Septr. 15. Fryday.,” founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0005-0003-0002.

[13] John Adams to Abigail Adams, September 17,1775, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0181.

[14] Lee, Patriot Above Profit, 278.

[15] R.W. Pomeroy, Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, Volume 2 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. Maxwell Printer, 1827) 277.

[16] Ibid., 278.

[17] Hatch, The Nelson House and the Nelsons, 37. Lee, Patriot Above Profit, 294.

[18] Emory Evans, Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1975), 58. Worthington Chauncey Ford, Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume V. 1776, June 5-October 8 (Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1906), 433.

[19] Paul H. Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates 1774-1779 (May 16—August 15, 1776) (Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1979), 676.

[20] Evans, Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, 62-63.

[21] Thomas Nelson to Thomas Jefferson, January 2,1777, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-02-02-0001.

[22] Multiple sources describe Nelson’s illnesses. Pomeroy, Biography of the Signers, 279; Evans, Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, 64; Lee, Patriot Above Profit, 337.

[23] Nelson, to George Washington, August 22, 1777, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-11-02-0042.

[24] Washington to Nelson, September 2, 1777, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0271.

[25] Washington to Nelson, September 27, 1777, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-11-02-0353.

[26] Pomeroy, Biography of the Signers, 282; Hatch, The Nelson House and the Nelsons, 31.

[27] Washington to Nelson, February 8, 1778, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-13-02-0397.

[28] Nelson, to Washington, June 30, 1778, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-15-02-0657. Washington to Nelson, July 22, 1778, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-16-02-0145.

[29] Worthington Chauncey Ford, Journals of the Continental Congress. Volume XI 1778 (May 2– September 1) (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1908), 766.

[30] Washington to Nelson, March 15, 1779, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-19-02-0485.

[31] Nelson to Washington, March 23,1779, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-19-02-0564.

[32] Worthington Chauncey Ford, Journals of the Continental Congress. Volume XII 1778 (September 2—December 31) (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1908), 245.

[33] Lee, Patriot Above Profit, 378.

[34] Washington to John Parke Custis, July 25, 1781, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06497.

[35] Washington to Nelson, August 7, 1781, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06621.

[36] Washington to Nelson, August 27, 1781, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06803.

[37] Hatch, The Nelson House and the Nelsons, 50.

[38] Norman Desmarais, ed., The Road to Yorktown: The French Campaign in the American Revolution 1780-1781 by Louis Francois Bertrand du Pont d’ Aubevoye (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2021), (E-book).

[39] Virginia Historical Society, Letters of Thomas Nelson, Jr. Governor of Virginia (Richmond, VA: Virginia Historical Society, 1874), 13.

[40] Ibid., 44—45.

[41] H.R. McIlwaine, ed., Official Letters of the Governor of the State of Virginia, Volume 3, The Letters of Thomas Nelson and Benjamin Harrison. (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1929), 65.

[42] General orders, October 20, 1781, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-07210.

[43] Desmarais, The Road to Yorktown.

[44] Evans, Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, 121.

[45] Pomeroy, Biography of the Signers, 300.

[46] William W. Hening, The Statutes at Large being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from the First Session of the Legislature, Volume X (Richmond: George Cochran, 1822), 178.

[47] Lee, Patriot Above Profit, 498.

[48] James Madison to Francis Page, November 7, 1833, founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-2861.