The Mystery of “The Alternative of Williams-burg”
byAccording to the Virginia Gazette between 400 and 500 merchants gathered in Williamsburg in early November 1774 and “voluntarily and generally signed” the Continental…
Virginia
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Captain Septimus Noel: Ordnance Fleet Commodore
byHistory occasionally provides a pleasant surprise by revealing the record of an ordinary person who, thrust into a unique role, performed extraordinary services for…
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Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life
byDaniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life by Albert Louis Zambone (Westholme Publishing, 2018) Few figures in the American Revolution contributed more towards victory over Great…
4
Take Them At Their Word: Virginia’s Opposition to the Townshend Duties
byThe other day I became indirectly embroiled in a disagreement about what belonged on a historic road sign that was to be posted to…
Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and Virginia Troops
byIf the headline of a January or February 1776 edition of any North American Tory newspaper read, “Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and…
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Religious Liberty in Virginia: How “Dissenters” Parlayed Oppression into Freedom
byVirginia’s role in helping to spearhead disestablishment and religious freedom has not received the treatment it deserves although it was, itself, a moving force…
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Battle of Gwynn’s Island: Lord Dunmore’s Last Stand in Virginia
byWith the Revolutionary War entering its second year in May of 1776, the focus of most Virginians was not on events to the north…
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Command and Control During the Yorktown Campaign
byThe definitions of joint command of land, maritime, air and other forces as practiced by the United States military today were unknown to those…
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Deserter a Day 2 (of 5)
byThe deserter advertisement presented today illustrates several important facets of the Continental Army. Looking at this list of thirteen deserters, we see: Men born…
3
How the Stamp Act did not Affect Virginia
byOn March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act was passed in the House of Commons by a vote of 205 to 49. The Act…
3
The First “No Taxation Without Representation” Crisis
by“No taxation without representation” was not a notion born in the American colonies in 1765 with the passage of the Stamp Act, or with…
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Virginia Looking Westward: From Lord Dunmore’s War through the Revolution
byTaxation without representation has been the traditionally accepted cause of the American Revolution. Such an understanding of the Revolution, while valid, does not give…
The Seizure of the Virginia Gazette, or Norfolk Intelligencer
byOn April 20, 1775, John Hunter Holt announced to the public his recent acquisition of the Norfolk newspaper, the Virginia Gazette or Norfolk Intellingencer….
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A Series of Unfortunate Events: Chichester Cheyne’s Revolutionary War, 1778-1783
byIn March 1778, George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the Continental army, was in winter quarters with his men at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Capt. James…
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George Mason: Author of Rights
byIn the spring of 1776, the Continental Congress recommended that each colony create a new government “under the authority of the people” [for] “the…
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Peter Muhlenberg: The Pastor Turned Soldier
byAmerica has many heroes from its War for Independence, but one who is rarely remembered is Virginia’s Maj. Gen. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg. If…
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George Baylor: Spirited, Willing and Wrong for the Job
byGeorge Baylor (1752-1784) was a young Virginia planter in 1775. He was a son of Col. John Baylor, who had been George Washington’s friend…
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A Tale of Two Cities: The Destruction of Falmouth and the Defense of Hampton
byDestruction of Falmouth (modern day Portland, Maine) On October 8, 1775, a British naval squadron of four ships, led by the lightly armed vessel Canceaux,…
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Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death”—Granddaddy of Revolution Mythologies
byI first encountered Patrick Henry in fifth grade. He was the patriot of “Give me liberty, or give me death!” fame—not to be confused…
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A Yorktown Footnote: The Last Days of Col. Alexander Scammell
byThe highest ranking Continental Army officer to be killed during the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 was Col. Alexander Scammell, 34-year old commander of…
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Prelude to Rebellion: Dunmore’s Raid on the Williamsburg Magazine
byApril in Virginia is regarded by many as the best month of the year. Sandwiched between the chilly bluster of March and the growing…
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A Posture of Defense: Virginia’s Journey from Nonimportation to Armed Resistance
byA month into the historic 1774 meeting of the 1st Continental Congress, delegates John Adams of Massachusetts and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia sparked…
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Reaction to the 1775 Gunpowder Episode by the Independent Company of Albemarle County
byThe Royal Governor’s April 21, 1775 removal from Williamsburg’s Powder Magazine of gunpowder essential to Virginia’s defense caused an immediate furor among Virginians as…
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Why Did George Washington Become a Revolutionary?
byIn 1758, just before returning home from the French and Indian War, George Washington ran for a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. Given…
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Billy Flora at the Battle of Great Bridge
byBilly Flora was cold. That was not surprising. He was crouched in the lee of a pile of shingles next to a burnt out…
The Rise of Virginia’s Independent Militia
byLike thousands of colonists in British North America, Virginians were alarmed in the summer of 1774 by news of Parliament’s harsh reaction to the…
George Washington Makes the Case for a Boycott
byThe news that many dreaded reached Virginia in May 1774. The British parliament, determined to punish the inhabitants of Boston for the destruction of…
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The Service of Colonel William Campbell of Virginia
byColonel William Campbell was the quintessential commander for the tough, independent-minded riflemen who formed the militia units from Campbell’s home in the mountains of…
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Captain Lee’s Genius
byCaptain Henry Lee III’s promotion to Major in April, 1778, capped a year of impressive service for the 22 year old cavalry officer from…
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Virginia on the Eve of Revolution
byParliament’s passage of the 1765 Stamp Act is rightly viewed by many as a key moment in the American Revolution. This new “internal” tax,…
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Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 1)
byGeorge Wythe was about the last person anybody would ever want to murder. At age 80, Wythe was an exceedingly kind and generous man…
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The Armchair General’s Proposals
byFor as long as there have been dispatches from the front, there have been armchair generals attempting to call the shots from afar. Some…
5
Washington’s Deviation to Virginia
byGeneral Washington received the disappointing news on August 14, 1781. Comte De Grasse’s powerful French fleet of nearly thirty warships was not sailing for…
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Grading British General Benedict Arnold
byPrior to September 1780, Benedict Arnold earned a great reputation among Patriots for his bold, brave actions at Quebec, Valcour and Saratoga. In return…
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Establishing the Tory Myth
byOur understanding of loyalists in the American Revolution is a relic of the eighteenth-century turn from what one might call “constitutional sense” to a…
Mrs. Byrd’s “Affair at Westover”
byIn traveling upriver on his raid to Richmond in early January 1781, General Benedict Arnold disembarked his army at Westover on the James River…
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Spring Break Road Trip – Day 4 (MD, VA)
byAfter an early morning drive-by of multiple Maryland monuments and historical sites, we focused our attention on Virginia. Whoever said doing Mount Vernon and…
2
Will the Real Lord Botetourt Please Stand?
byIn the center of the Botetourt Gallery at the Swem Library of William & Mary stands a curious statue, one that time and torment…
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Life in the Southern Colonies (part 3 of 3)
byTransportation in the eighteenth century was a major factor in the growth of economic activity in the colonial period. The most common transportation of…