VIRGINIANS LEARNING TO SHOOT BRITISH TROOPS
Rodney's duties took him to Philadelphia during the Continental
Congress. There he saw Washington, a delegate from Virginia and clad
in his uniform, for he knew war must come, and that warlike dress
proclaimed his belief more loudly than his voice. There also were the
Adamses, from Massachusetts, Samuel and John, the latter a wise,
shrewd organizer determined to have all the colonies, especially the
southern, committed to the revolution he saw approaching. In this
effort he used his influence, not for John Hancock of Massachusetts,
who coveted the place of commander-in-chief, but for George
Washington, who the day after the battle of Bunker Hill was chosen and
modestly accepted with the proviso that he should receive no pay for
his services. There, also, came Benjamin Franklin, just returned from
England and convinced nothing remained but war; and there, too, was
Jefferson, likewise certain the time had come for the colonies to
declare their independence of England.
Rodney's boyish prejudices were in favour of everything Jefferson did,
and he was impatient with those, and they were the greater number, who
wished to delay decisive action in the hope of conciliation. This
prejudice extended to the Quakers in their broad-brimmed hats, nearly
all of whom were opposed to war.
Boys are usually impatient, unable to work and wait and keep working,
as the wise men of that Congress were doing.
The boy had but part of two days in the city, which was the first he
had seen and consequently full of interest; so he did not call on
Lisbeth, indeed, had there been plenty of time he would have hesitated
in his rough dress of homespun to have presented himself before her
aristocratic friends.
The day he turned Nat's nose in the direction of Virginia a young man
rode alongside and said, "Why, this is an unexpected pleasure, if as I
suspect, you are on your way home."
He was Lawrence Enderwood. Rodney's reply was almost surly, as several
reasons for Enderwood's presence in Philadelphia flashed through his
mind.
"I'm not going directly home but by way of Williamsburg. I live in
Albemarle County."
"I, too, am riding by way of Williamsburg, and if you have no
objections to my company should be delighted to join you. It is a long
ride."
Rodney could offer no objections, indeed, as they went on, he found
his companion a very agreeable one, notwithstanding that in course of
the conversation it appeared that Lawrence had seen Lisbeth.
"She is very gay, seems to be absorbed in the gaieties and social life
so that she has little time for anything else." Somehow this remark of
Enderwood, spoken rather impatiently, afforded Rodney a little
comfort, though he hardly could have explained it.
On arriving at Williamsburg, they found the little town well filled,
for Governor Dunmore had convened the House of Burgesses to listen to
Lord North's plans for conciliation.
"'Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed by a kiss,'" quoted Rodney, and
Lawrence laughingly replied, "Patrick Henry has a way of saying things
so the people remember them."
"I'll wager they remember that and turn Lord North down with a slam."
"It's evident to me you are for war, Rodney."
"Aren't you?"
"Yes, er--I suppose I am, but it isn't pleasant to think of losing
one's estate if not his neck, all of which is possible. The business
men of Philadelphia are pretty long-headed, and most of them believe
England will win in the end and that the war will be most destructive
of property."
"Surely Washington and Jefferson have estates to lose."
"Oh, I reckon we're in for it, and my father says when there's
something to do, do it."
As was expected, the House of Burgesses would have nothing to do with
the kind of conciliation proposed. The people were restless and
Dunmore, fearing them, left his "palace" and went aboard a British
vessel and ordered that the bills be sent to him for signature. He was
politely informed that if he signed them he would have to return,
which he did not do. Then the Burgesses adjourned to October,
appointing a permanent committee to have charge of colonial affairs,
and that committee appointed Patrick Henry to command of the colonial
troops.
Rodney's visits to Charlottesville were brief and it seemed that his
absence worried his mother. The latter part of October he was sent to
Norfolk, where Dunmore proposed to establish his headquarters. As it
happened, he fell in with the troops which Colonel Woodford had been
ordered to lead to the relief of the village of Hampton, and was
present at the attack on the place and took part in the defence.
In this encounter the marksmanship of the Virginians decided the
matter, for, when the ships approached the town and commenced to
bombard it, the riflemen picked off the gunners and drove them from
their cannon and then, when they tried to work their sails so as to
escape, the Virginians shot them out of the rigging. Although the town
was damaged by the bombardment, the defenders escaped serious injury,
though the sensations of being under fire afforded many of the
defenders their first taste of war.
On leaving Lawrence Enderwood, the previous summer, Rodney had
promised to pay him a visit at the first opportunity. Indeed, mutual
liking had resulted from their journey from Philadelphia. Here was the
opportunity, and young Allison accepted it.
He found Lawrence at home, managing the plantation in the absence of
his father in England. It was a delightful old place, having been in
the Enderwood family for four generations. The house reminded him of
"The Hall" and, being a privileged guest, he enjoyed all the luxuries
which the old Virginia plantation could afford. He rode after the
hounds, Nat acquitting himself so well that Lawrence offered a round
sum for him.
"I'd sell my shirt from my back before I would that horse," Rodney
replied.
There was good shooting, and Allison excelled his host. His training
with the Indians stood him in good stead. He made a bow and arrows for
Lawrence's younger brother, such as Ahneota, himself, would have
approved, and when it came time for him to depart he was sorry to
leave.
"There'll be ructions over Norfolk way and I'm going to ride over with
you," said Lawrence, the morning Rodney was making preparations for
leaving.
"That's good news and makes it less hard for me to go away."
They set out about eight in the morning. The sunshine was brilliant
and the air cool and invigorating. Here and there in the landscape
were faint bits of green untouched by the frost. As they rode along
they learned that the people were almost in a panic, fearing
Dunmore's marauders, who had been pillaging and burning in the county
below.
"That man is only arousing the people and accomplishing no good," said
Lawrence. "He declares he will rule the colony and at the same time
induces the negroes to revolt. That very act drives every Virginian,
not under British protection, into the ranks of the so-called rebels.
They realize that, while the negroes won't do any effective fighting,
they may, in a fury of resentment, cause great damage and imperil the
lives of hundreds of families."
"I think the poor governors England has sent over here have had much
to do with the colonies' rebelling. Hark! I hear horses at the
gallop."
As he spoke, nearly a dozen mounted men, several of them in British
uniforms, came around the corner about sixty rods behind them.
"Dunmore's marauders!" exclaimed Lawrence. "Let's get out of here."
Their horses had both speed and "bottom" and besides were fresh, so
that the chances were in favour of the young Virginians. The troopers
behind spurred after them, however, and evidently were determined on
their capture.
As Lawrence and Rodney approached a plantation near the road, they saw
flames leap up from the hay ricks, and the next instant two mounted
men rode out on the main highway.
"Those are Britishers, sent ahead," exclaimed Lawrence.
"There's nothing for us but to go ahead," said Rodney, passing one of
his two pistols over to Lawrence.
"I'm with you to the finish," replied the latter, his face very grim
and determined.
"Halt!" cried one of the marauders, who waved a sword as if to enforce
his authority.
"Get out of the way. We are on our own business!" cried Rodney.
The second marauder lifted his pistol, but Rodney anticipated him with
a quick shot which brought the man's arm down, while the pistol
clattered to the road.
"That's a lucky shot," thought the boy.
His companion was not so lucky; he had fired and missed his opponent,
who rode forward with drawn sword evidently resolved on cutting him
down.
Rodney seized his pistol by the barrel and hurled it straight for the
trooper's head and hit the mark squarely, the man pitching out of his
saddle like a log! Not in vain had been those hours the boy had spent
with Conrad learning to throw the tomahawk.
"I'll buy you the finest pistols in Norfolk if we ever get there,"
said Lawrence, thus expressing the gratitude he felt.
Having distanced their pursuers, the remainder of their journey was
without incident; but from report of conditions in Norfolk, where
Dunmore had seized Mr. Holt's printing press and was enforcing martial
law so far as he could, they decided it was not a safe place for them
to visit and turned aside to join the volunteers they heard were
approaching under command of Colonel Woodford, who had done such good
service at Hampton.
Dunmore also had heard of the approach of the Culpeper men, and
resolved to keep them at a distance from Norfolk.
Knowing that they would have to cross what was known as Great Bridge,
about nine miles from Norfolk, he forwarded troops under Captains
Fordyce and Leslie to check the Virginians at the bridge.
The British had thrown up earthworks at the Norfolk end of the bridge
when the Americans arrived. The latter built an entrenchment at their
end of the bridge. Lieutenant Travis with nearly one hundred men
occupied this, while Woodford, with the remainder of the Virginian
forces, was stationed at a church about four hundred yards distant,
when the British came across the bridge to make an attack. The British
fired as they approached, while their two field pieces in the rear
kept up a cannonade.
Travis ordered his men to withhold their fire until the enemy should
almost reach the entrenchments. Captain Fordyce took this to mean that
the Americans had deserted the breastworks and waved his hat in
anticipation of victory. Then the Americans, who had been lying down,
rose and poured a deadly fire into the ranks of the enemy, and Fordyce
was among the first to fall.
Captain Leslie now came to the support of Fordyce's men, and Colonel
Woodford led his men forward to support Travis, while Colonel Stevens
led a body of men, with whom were Enderwood and Allison, to attack the
British on the flank.
For a few minutes the skirmish was hot. The British fought doggedly,
as many believed what Dunmore had told them, that if captured the
Virginians would scalp them. Rodney received a light flesh wound, but
most of the Americans escaped uninjured, while several of the enemy
were killed.
All this seems very tame in the telling, but to those who took part in
the engagement it was most exciting and the Americans were jubilant,
for they had met the British troops and driven them!
For several days reinforcements poured in from the different parts of
Virginia, and five days later Colonel Woodford marched his men to
Norfolk.
Lord Dunmore decided he could not oppose him, so withdrew aboard his
ships.
"Here are the pistols," said Lawrence the next day, presenting Rodney
with a handsome pair with silver mounted handles.
"Thank you; they are beauties. I hope you bought a brace of them for
yourself as well. You are likely to need them."
The following day both left for their homes, parting the best of
friends and planning to meet again.
As for Dunmore, his career in America was drawing to a close, though
he was able to do more mischief.
Provisions getting scarce, and the riflemen in the city annoying the
British, he sent word that unless this firing was stopped and
provisions furnished he would burn the town. His threat was defied
and, on another ship joining Dunmore, he sent a force ashore to start
a conflagration. In this way much of the thriving town of nearly six
thousand inhabitants was burned; what buildings escaped were burned
later by the Americans to prevent their occupation by the British.
Later, Dunmore left and established barracks on Gwyn's Island in
Chesapeake Bay, whence he was driven the following July by that grim
old fighter, General Andrew Lewis, who had wanted to fight him out on
the Pickaway Plains, during the Indian war.
When Rodney reached Charlottesville he found his mother sick with
fever. Without hesitation he gave up his employment and remained to
care for her. For many months she was almost helpless.
The change from the excitement of his previous occupation to the
monotony of home--Angus had joined the army--sorely tried Rodney's
patience.
The previous summer Morgan had marched his riflemen to Boston and soon
it was reported that, under Benedict Arnold, he had gone by way of the
Kennebec River, to attack Quebec. Since then nothing had been learned
of him and his gallant men.
General Washington was trying to make an army out of the mob of
patriots he found awaiting him outside Boston, but as yet it did not
appear that any headway was being made toward dislodging the British
from the town.
Spring came and with it report of the evacuation of Boston; then news
of the defeat of the Americans in Canada. Morgan had been captured and
was a prisoner within the walls of Quebec. Later, tidings came of
Washington's march on New York.
May 6, 1776, one hundred and thirty of the representative men of the
Old Dominion, in convention assembled, declared that the king and
Parliament had disregarded the constitution of the colony, which
accordingly was free to exercise such independence as it might be able
to maintain. Nine days later they instructed the colony's delegates in
the Continental Congress to vote for independence, and the flag of
England fluttered down from the capitol building. By doing these
things every one of them exposed his neck to the British halter; but
they were virile men, who had arrived at the parting of the ways.
A few weeks later the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas
Jefferson, was proclaimed throughout the land amid great rejoicing.
Then the country settled down to its grim task. What a task it was!
Many times it seemed that the poor, thinly populated land might endure
no longer. England was a very powerful foe, feared throughout the
world. Not all Americans were patriots. Some were Tories on principle,
others for gain. Very many were selfish and not a few corrupt; but
enough so loved their country and independence as to endure and
struggle unto the glorious end.