anticipated measures of defence, by arming and raising minutemen, and taking all practicable means to make an effectual resistance. The people sympathized with the sufferings of the Bostonians, and the citizens of Williamsburg assembled, and unanimously resolved to subscribe money for their aid. The news of the battle of Lexington reached Virginia about this time. The proclamation of Dunmore had scarce made its appearance, when some persons privately entered the magazine and carried away a great number of arms and military equipments. New causes of irritation between the governor and the people were continually arising. When Patrick Henry marched down to make reprisals for the gunpowder, Dunmore dispatched a messenger to the Fowey manof-war, anchored off Yorktown, for aid. A detachment of 40 marines and sailors was sent to Williamsburg, where they remained about 10 days. Previous to their landing at Yorktown, Capt. Montague sent a letter from on board the Fowey to Col. Thomas Nelson, threatening to fire upon the town if the troops were molested or attacked,—a message which still further increased the indignation of the people. On the 1st of June the governor convened the Assembly, and addressed them in a speech. With this commenced a political correspondence between him and the House of Burgesses, which was, on the part of the latter, a clear and forcible defence of the rights of the colonies. On the 8th of June, the governor, with his family, fled on board the Fowey, off Yorktown, from ill-grounded apprehensions of his safety at Williamsburg. Several communications passed between him and the Assembly, relative to public business generally, the late disturbances respecting the removal of the gunpowder, and the governor's proclamation and course of conduct. Dunmore "refused, upon invitation of the Assembly, to return to his palace or to sign bills of the utmost importance to the colony, and refused to perform this branch of duty, unless the Assembly would come and hold their meetings under the guns of his ship at Yorktown. In this emergency, the governor was declared to have abdicated, and the president of the council appointed to act in his place. His lordship, on the termination of the intercourse between himself and the Assembly, which was towards the close of June, sailed down the river." Thus ended the royal government in Virginia. The Assembly now dissolved, and, pursuant to agreement, the delegates, on the 17th of July, met in convention at Richmond, to organize a provincial form of government and a plan of defence. The following illustrious characters composed the committee of safety:-Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, James Mercer, Carter Braxton, William Cabell, and John Tabb. The convention made arrangements to raise troops for defence, and the general committee met at Hanover Town, in Hanover county, on business connected with the military establishment, and then adjourned to Williamsburg about the last of September. Previously, the committee of safety recommended to the district committees to direct the contractors in each district to provide, among other things, a stand of colors, bearing on one side the name of the district, on the other, " Virginia for Constitutional Liberty." 66 In October, by Dunmore's orders, a party of men, under cover of their men-of-war, landed at Norfolk, and forcibly carried on board their vessels the press and types of a newspaper imbued with the patriotic principles of the day. Shortly after, Dunmore marched to Kempsville, in Princess Anne, destroyed some fire-arms deposited there, and took prisoner Capt. Matthews, of the minute-men. About this time an attack was made on Hampton, by some vessels commanded by Capt. Squires, who had threatened to burn the town. The enemy were beaten off with loss, while not a single Virginian was killed. In the mean time, numbers of armed people from the upper country were arriving at Williamsburg. Dunmore, hearing that the 2d Virginia Regiment and the Culpeper Battalion had been ordered to Norfolk, directed the Kingfisher and three large tenders to move up to Burwell's Ferry, to prevent their crossing the James. These vessels, on their arrival, finding an American skipper at the landing, commenced firing upon her, and in a peremptory tone ordered her to come alongside the Kingfisher. Some Virginian riflemen, on the bank, directed her master not to obey the order. Upon this the man-of-war commenced a brisk fire upon the vessel, but without effect. Twice the Kingfisher sent a large boat full of men to take possession, and twice they were beaten off by the unerring aim of the riflemen. Foiled in this attempt, the enemy the next day attempted to land a boat filled with armed men at Jamestown. They were again repulsed by some rifle sentinels on the shore. In this month (November) Dunmore, with a superior force, surprised about 200 militia of Princess Anne, on their march to join the troops. Their colonel, with several others, was made prisoner. Under date of November 7th, Dunmore issued his proclamation, in which he proclaimed martial law, declared all capable of bearing arms who did not resort to his majesty's standard traitors, and offered freedom to all slaves "appertaining to rebels" who would join his majesty's troops. On this Dunmore had staked his best hopes. Had he had a formidable force at hand to execute his threats, some apprehensions might have been excited. But as it was, it only harmonized public opinion, increased public irritation, and engendered a burning detestation of the means to which their late governor unblushingly stooped to awe them into submission. His lordship set up his standard in Norfolk and Princess Anne, issued orders to the militia captains to raise a body of troops to oppose the colonial army, prescribed, and, in some cases, extorted an oath of allegiance. A multitude of motley partisans flocking to his standard, he designed to destroy the provisions collected at Suffolk for the Virginia troops. To prevent this, Col. Woodford, on the 20th of November, detached 215 light troops, under Col. Scott and Major Marshall, to that place, and on the 25th arrived there with the main body of the Virginia troops. About this time evidence was brought to light of a diabolical scheme, matured by Dunmore, against that colony of which he pretended to be a friend. This was a cooperation of the various Indian tribes with the tories on the frontiers. John Connelly, a Pennsylvanian, an artful, enterprising man, was the projector of the intrigue. In July he nearly matured the plan with the governor. Ample rewards were offered to the militia captains inclined to the royal cause, and willing to act under Connelly. To connect its extensive ramifications, he was dispatched to General Gage, at Boston, and returned about the 15th of October, with instructions from the latter. These invested him with the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of a regiment of loyalists, to be raised on the frontier. Fort Pitt was to be the rendezvous of all the forces to act under him, among which were several companies of the Royal Irish, then at Fort Gage, in the Illinois country. From thence they would march through Virginia, and join Dunmore on the 20th of April at Alexandria, where an army was to land under the cannon of ships-of-war and possess themselves of the town. For a time, fortune favored this formidable plot, in the prosecution of which Connelly often travelled long distances in various directions. Suspicions were at length aroused: an emissary of the governor's was arrested, upon whom were found papers partly disclosing the plot. These led to the arrestation of Connelly. He, with two confederates, Allen Cameron and Dr. John Smyth, both Scotchmen, were taken near Hagerstown, Maryland, on their way to Detroit. Upon searching their baggage, a general plan of the whole scheme was found, with large sums of money, and a letter from Dunmore to one of the Indian chiefs. "Thus was a plot, originally contrived with profound and amazing secrecy, and in its subsequent stages managed with consummate skill, brought by patriotic vigilance to an untimely issue." The only avenue from Suffolk to Norfolk-to which place he was destined-by which Col. Woodford could march, was by the Great Bridge, about 12 miles from the latter. The enemy were posted there in a stockade fort, on his arrival with the Virginian troops. Woodford constructed a breastwork within cannon-shot of the fort. On the 9th of December, Capt. Fordyce, at the head of a party of British grenadiers, in attempting to storm the breastwork, was repulsed by a most destructive and bloody fire. After this, Dunmore, with most of his followers, took refuge on board his vessels. The Virginians marched into Norfolk, and annoyed the enemy by firing into their vessels. In retaliation, Dunmore cannonaded the town, and on the night of the 1st of January, 1776, landed a party, who, under cover of their cannon, set fire to the houses on the river which had sheltered the provincials. The committee of safety ordered Col. Robert Howe to destroy the remainder of the town, to prevent the British from making it a permanent post. Norfolk, then the most populous town in Virginia, contained near 6,000 inhabitants. Colonels Woodford and Stevens assisted Col. Howe in the command at Norfolk. Besides the two regiments already raised, the Convention resolved to raise seven more. Six of these were placed on the continental establishment, to whose officers Congress granted commissions, in order, beginning with Col. Henry, of the 1st, and ending with Col. Buckner, of the 6th Regiment.* Col. Patrick Henry resigned his commission, much to the regret of the regiment, and was thereupon chosen a member of the Convention from Hanover. The General Convention of Virginia met at the capital, May 6th, 1776, and appointed Edmund Pendleton, President, and John Tazewell, Clerk. Since the flight of Dunmore, the House of Burgesses had met twice, pursuant to adjournment, but on neither occasion was there a quorum. They now met on the same day with the Convention, but "did neither proceed to business, nor adjourn as a House of Burgesses." Considering their meeting as illegal, not in conformity with a summons from a governor, they unanimously dissolved themselves. "Thus was the tottering fabric of the royal government utterly demolished in Virginia; to substitute in its stead a structure of more elegant and more solid form, was now the task of the Convention." On the 15th of this month, the convention, after appealing to "the Searcher of hearts" for the sincerity of their former declarations in favor of peace and union with the mother country, adopted unanimously the following resolution: "That the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress, be instructed to propose to that respectable body, to declare the united colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence on the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this colony to such declaration, and whatever measures may be thought necessary by Congress for forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of the colonies, at such time, and in the manner that to them shall seem best: provided, that the power of forming governments for, and the regulations of the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the colonial legislatures." The convention appointed a committee to prepare a Declaration of Rights, and a Plan of Government, for the colony. The former was adopted on the 12th of June. On the 29th a constitution was unanimously adopted; "the first which was framed with a view to a permanent separation from Great Britain since those of South Carolina and New Hampshire, which alone preceded it, were to continue only until a reconciliation could be effected between the mother country and the colonies. This plan of government was proposed by the celebrated George Mason,† and had been adopted in committee before the arrival of one which Mr. Jefferson, then in Congress, had prepared. They however accepted Mr. Jefferson's preamble, which is nearly the same as the recital of wrongs in the Declaration of Independence."+ The following were appointed field-officers :-- Majors. The following appointments were made under the constitution: Patrick Henry, Esq., governor. John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Charles Carter of Shirley, and Benjamin Harrison of Brandon, counsellors of state. Thomas Whiting, John Hutchings, Champion Travis, Thomas Newton, jun., and George Webb, Esquires, commissioners of admiralty. Thomas Everard and James Cocke, Esquires, commissioners for settling accounts. Edmund Randolph, Esq., attorney-general. On the 5th of July the convention adjourned. Though the session was brief, it was an important one. Among other acts besides the formation of a government, they passed an ordinance for erecting salt works in the colony: for establishing a board of commissioners to superintend and direct the naval affairs of the colony: for raising six troops of horse: for arranging the counties into districts for electing senators, &c. They also resolved to expunge from the litany such parts as related to the king and royal family, and substituted, in the morning and evening service, such forms of expression as were better suited to the new state of affairs. The Declaration of Independence, so strongly recommended by the Virginia convention, was passed in Congress on the 4th of July, 1776; and, agreeably to an order of the privy council, it was proclaimed on the 25th of the same month at the capitol, the court-house, and the palace at Williamsburg, amidst the acclamations of the people, and the firing of cannon and musketry. The energetic measures that had been adopted by the Virginia troops in precluding the flotilla of Dunmore from obtaining supplies, had at last obliged them to burn the intrenchments they had erected near the ruins of Norfolk, and seek a refuge on board their ships, where disease and hunger pursued them. The presence of his lordship in the lower country had given countenance to the disaffected, who were there numerous. A vigorous course was ordered to be pursued towards them. Col. Woodford, stationed at Kemps' Landing, (now Kempsville, Princess Anne,) humanely executed these orders, which were intrusted to him by the committee of safety, through Maj. Gen. Chas. Lee. Dunmore, with his fleet, left Hampton Roads about the 1st of June, landed and erected fortifications on Gwynn's island, within the limits of what is now Matthew's county. On the 9th of July he was attacked by the Virginians, under Brig. Gen. Andrew Lewis, and forced to abandon the island. Shortly after, Dunmore dispatched the miserable remnant of his followers to Florida and the West Indies, and sailing himself to the north, forever left the shores of Virginia. The nefarious plot of Connelly was only part of an extensive scheme of operations, which the British had meditated in seeking an alliance with the savages. By their instigation the Indians were harassing the frontiers of the southern states to such a degree that a combination was formed to destroy their settlements |