By Edward Spannaus
One of Royal Governor Dunmore’s moves in response to the Second Virginia Convention in March 1775, where Patrick Henry gave his dramatic speech in favor of preparing for war with Great Britain, was to order his naval forces to remove the gunpowder from the powder magazine at Williamsburg. This took place on the early morning of April 21, about four weeks after the convention had narrowly adopted Patrick Henry’s proposal to create an independent militia and place him in charge of the committee which was to prepare the colony’s defense.
The theft was soon discovered, and citizens quickly assembled demanding the return of the gunpowder. Independent military companies from a number of counties, including Loudoun, organized themselves to march on Williamsburg and seize Dunmore from the Governor’s Palace. Patrick Henry led the Hanover County militia marching toward Williamsburg; they were joined by others from central Virginia. Their goal was either to force the return of the gunpowder, or to secure compensation for the colony.
Meanwhile, news of the fighting at Lexington and Concord reached Virginia, further inspiring the Patriots and sending Dunmore into even more of a panic. Before reaching Williamsburg, Henry and his forces had obtained £330 in compensation for the gunpowder, and they thus halted their march and withdrew. Dunmore declared Henry an outlaw.[i]
A number of local committees (then known as the Committees of Public Safety, as directed by the First Continental Congress[ii]) adopted resolves (resolutions) denouncing Dunmore and supporting Patrick Henry. Among these was the Loudoun County Committee, which met at Leesburg on May 26, 1775.
The Resolves declare that taking into account Dunmore’s conduct regarding the gunpower, he has forfeited the confidence of the people of Virginia and can be considered “an enemy to America,” and that his excuses for his conduct are unsatisfactory and evasive. If taken literally, they would reflect great dishonor on the General Assembly, and would suggest that the representatives of the people are not competent judges of where arms and ammunition, intended for the defense of the colony, can be safely stored, or that the people can not be trusted with the means of their own defense.
Indeed, it continues, Dunmore is charging that the best men among us “are seducing their fellow subjects from their duty and allegiance.”
They then turned to the Loudoun County troops that were marching to Williamsburg, and says that the reason that they didn’t go any farther than Fredericksburg, was that they were requested to go home by Peyton Randolph (chair of the Second Virginia Convention when Henry spoke, as well as chair of the First and Second Continental Congresses), that the citizens of Williamburg were not in danger, and nor were the treasury and records of the colony. Randolph had added that three of the other delegates to the Continental Congress – “the only civil power we know of in this great struggle for liberty” – were of the same opinion.
The Committee declared that they completely approved of the conduct of their fellow countrymen – Captain Patrick Henry and the other volunteers who marched with him – in seeking reprisal for the trespass committed by Dunmore, and then avowed, in the most powerful statement: “we are determined to hazard [to put at risk] all the blessings of this life” rather than to allow any injury to Patrick and his men, or to their property.
Following is the full text[iii] of the Resolves of May 26, 1775:
At a meeting of the Committee of Loudoun County, held at Leesburg on Friday, May 26, 1775.
Present: Francis Peyton, Esquire, Josias Clapham, Thomas Lewis, Anthony Russell, John Thomas, George Johnson, Thomas Shore, James Lane, Jacob Reed, Leven Powell, William Smith, Robert Jamison, Hardage Lane, James Lane, and John Lewis, Gentlemen.
The Committee, taking into consideration the conduct of the Governour relative to the powder which was by his express orders, taken secretly out of the publick Magazine belonging to this Colony, in the night of the twentieth ult., and carried on board the Magdaline schooner.
Resolved, nemine contra dicente, that his Lordship, by this and other parts of his conduct which have lately transpired, has not only forfeited the confidence of the good people of this Colony, but that he may be justly esteemed an enemy to America; and that as well his excuse published in his Proclamation of the fourth instant, as his verbal answer to the address presented him on that occasion by the city of Williamsburgh, are unsatisfactory and evasive, and reflect, in our opinion, great dishonour on the General Assembly and inhabitants of this Colony, as from the latter a suspicion may be easily deduced, that the Representatives of the people are not competent judges of the place wherein arms and ammunition, intended for the defense of the Colony, may be safely lodges, and that the inhabitants (unlike other subjects) cannot, in prudence, be trusted with the means necessary for their protection from insurrections, or even invasions; so in the former a very heavy charge is exhibited against the best men among us of seducing their fellow subjects from their duty and allegiance; a charge, we are confident, not founded in reality, and which, we believe, is construed out of the discharge of their duty which every good man is under, to point out to his weaker countrymen, in the day of publick trial, the part they should act, and explain, on constitutional principles, the nature of their allegiance, the ground of which we fervently pray may never be removed, whose force we desire may never with reason be relaxed, but yet may be subservient to considerations of superior regard.
The Committee being informed by some of the officers who commanded the Troops of this County that marched on the above occasion, that the reason of their marching no farther than Fredericksburgh was, their having received repeated requests from the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esq., to return home, assuring them that the peaceable citizens of Wiiliamsburgh were under no apprehensions of danger, either in their persons or properties; that the publick treasury and records were perfectly safe, and that there was no necessity for their proceeding any further; three of the other Delegates appointed to the Continental Congress, the only civil power we know of in this great struggle for liberty, being of the same opinion.
Resolved, nemine contra dicente, That under such circumstances we approve the conduct of the said Officers and Troops.
Resolved, nemine contra dicente, That we cordially approve the conduct of our countrymen, Captain Patrick Henry, and the other volunteers of Hanover County, who marched under him, in making reprisals on the King’s property for the trespass committed as aforesaid, and that we are determined to hazard all the blessings of this life rather than suffer the smallest injury offered to their persons or estates, on this account, to pass unrewarded with its equal punishment.
Resolved, nemine contra dicente, That it be recommended to the Representatives of this County, as the opinion of this Committee, that they by no means agree to the reprisals, taken as aforesaid, being returned.
Ordered, that the clerk transmit immediately a copy of the preceding resolves to the Printers of the Virginia and Pennsylvania gazettes, to be published. By order of the Committee.
George Johnston, Clerk.
[i] This account is drawn largely from Revolutionary Virginia (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1975), Vol. III, pp. 3-4, 7-11, 87, 171-175; and also Virginius Dabney, Virginia: the New Dominion (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), pp.126-129.
[ii] After Dunmore dissolved the House of Burgesses on May 26, 1774, members of the House met the following day and issued a call for the First Virginia Convention to meet at the beginning of August. This fed into the First Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia in September, and adopted Articles of Association which included non-importation and non-exportation agreements. Each county, city, and town was urged to elect a committee to enforce the ban on trade with Great Britain. Pursuant to this, qualified voters in each Virginia county, including Loudoun County, elected a county committee. Loudoun’s committee, also known as the Committee on Safety, operated from 1774-1776. “The County Committees of 1774-’75 in Virginia,” William and Mary Quarterly, 5: 2 (Oct. 1896), pp. 94-106, and 5:4 (Apr. 1897), p. 255; Charles P. Poland, From Frontier to Suburbia (Marceline MO: Walsworth Publishing Co., 1976), p. 51.
[iii] The text can be found in Revolutionary Virginia, Vol. 3, p. 171-173; and also in James W. Head’s History of Loudoun County Virginia(1908), p. 130-131.