FROM LORD DUNMORE, TO GENERAL HOWE, "As I have ever entertained hopes that an accommodation might have taken place be- "I must inform you, that with our little corps tween Great Britain and this colony, without I think we have done wonders. We have taken being compelled by my duty to do this most and destroyed above fourscore pieces of orddisagreeable, but now absolutely necessary nance, and by landing in different parts of the duty, rendered so by a body of men, unlawfully country, we keep them in continual hot water; assembled, firing on his majesty's tenders, and but as captain Leslie tells me he means to give the formation of an army, and an army now you particulars enough, I shall say no more on on its march to attack his majesty's troops, that subject. Among the prisoners, we have and destroy the well disposed subjects of this taken one Oliver Porter, and Deane, two colony. To defeat such treasonable purposes, natives of Boston, bringing in gunpowder to and that all such traitors, and their abettors North Carolina. The latter was sent from may be brought to justice, and that the peace | Boston to influence the minds of the people, in and good order of this colony may be again which he has been but too successful. He restored, which the ordinary course of the civil was taken from on board a schooner going law is unable to effect, I have thought fit to from this place to the Western Islands, to issue this my proclamation, hereby declaring bring powder to this colony; and the others that, until the aforesaid good purposes can be have carried arms against his majesty in this obtained, I do, in virtue of the power and author- province. I have sent them more with a view ity to me given, by his majesty, determine to of intimidating others than to punish them, as execute martial law, and cause the same to be they expect here that, so sure as they are sent executed throughout this colony; and to the to Boston, they are to be hanged. Robinson end that peace and good order may the sooner is a delegate of our convention. Matthews be restored, I do require every person capable was a captain of their minute-men. Perhaps of bearing arms to resort to his majesty's they may be of some use to you, in exchanging standard, or be looked upon as traitors them for good men. The sloop not sailing so to his majesty's crown and government, and soon as I expected, I have to inform you that, thereby become liable to the penalty the law on the 14th inst, I had information that a inflicts upon such offences; such as for- party of about a hundred of the North Carolina feiture of life, confiscation of lands, etc., etc. rebels had marched to the assistance of those And I do hereby further declare all indented in this colony, and were posted at a place called servants, negroes, or others (appertaining to the Great-Bridge, a very essential pass in the rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear country. I accordingly embarked our little arms, they joining his majesty's troops as soon corps in boats, in the night of the 14th, with as may be, for the more speedily reducing his between twenty and thirty volunteers from colony to a proper sense of their duty to his Norfolk. We landed within four miles of the majesty's crown and dignity. I do further bridge, and arrived there a little after daylight; order and require all his majesty's liege sub- but, to our great mortification, fonnd the birds jects, to retain their quit-rents or other taxes had flown the evening before. But hearing due, or that may become due in their own cus- that a body, between 2 and 300, of our rebels tody, till such a time may again be restored to were within about ten miles of us, we deterthis at present most unhappy country, or de- mined to beat up their quarters, and accordmanded of them for their former salutary pur-ingly proceeded about eight miles, when they recruiting business, victualling, clothing, etc. drawn on you for £5000 sterling, and have appointed a pay-master, who will keep exact accounts. I wish you would inform me, by the return of the sloop, what bounty money may be given to those who enlist. Having heard that 1000 chosen men belonging to the rebels, a great part of whom were riflemen, were on their march to attack us here, or to cut off our provisions, I determined to take possession of the pass at the Great-Bridge, which secures us the greatest part of two counties, to supply us with provisions. I accordingly ordered a stockade to be erected there, which was done in a few days; and I put an officer and 25 men to garrison it, with some volunteers and- who have defended it against all the efforts of the rebels for these eight days past. We have killed several of their men, and I make no doubt we shall now be able to maintain our ground there; but should we be obliged to abandon it, we have thrown up an intrenchment on the land side of Norfolk, which I hope they never will be able to force. Here we are contending, with only a very small part of a regiment, against the extensive colony of Virginia. If you could but spare me, for a few months, the 64th regiment now in the castle, and the remaining part of the 14th, I really believe we should reduce this colony to a proper sense of their duty." fired on our advanced guards from the woods: | posed. I have now, in order to carry on the on which I immediately ordered our people to rush upon them, and at the same time sent a party of the regulars, with the volunteers, to out-flank them. The enemy immediately fled on all quarters, and our people pursued them for a mile or more, killed a few, drove others to a creek, where they were drowned, and took nine prisoners, among whom is one of their colonels. We only had one man wounded, who is recovering. I immediately upon this issued the enclosed proclamation; which has had a wonderful effect, as there are no less than 300 who have taken and signed the enclosed oath. The blacks are also flocking from all quarters, which I hope will oblige the rebels to disperse, to take care of their families and property, and had I but a few more men here, I would immediately march to Williamsburg, my former place of residence, by which I should soon compel the whole colony to submit. We are in great want of small arms; and if two or three field pieces and their carriages could be spared, they would be of great service to us; also some cartridge paper, of which not | a sheet is to be got in this country, and all our cartridges are expended. Since the 19th of May last I have not received a single line from any one in administration, though I have wrote volumes to them, in each of which I have prayed to be instructed, but to no purpose. I am therefore determined to go on doing the best of my power for his majesty's service. I have accordingly ordered a regiment, called the Queen's own loyal regiment, of 500 men, to be raised immediately, consisting of a lieutenant-colonel commandant, major, and ten companies, each of which is to consist of one captain, two lieutenants, one ensign, and fifty privates, with non-commissioned officers in proportion. You may observe, by my proclamation, that I offer freedom to the blacks of all rebels that join me, in consequence of which there are between 2 and 300 already come in, and those I form into corps as fast as they come in, giving them white officers and noncommissioners in proportion. And from these two plans, I make no doubt of getting men enough to reduce this colony to a proper sense of their duty. My next distress will be the want of arms, accoutrements and money, all of which you may be able to relieve me from. The latter I am sure you can, as there are many merchants here who are ready to supply me, on my giving them bills on you, which you will have to withdraw, and give your own in their room. I hope this mode will be agreeable to you; it is the same that general Gage pro PROCEEDINGS IN THE CONVENTION OF VIRGINIA RE- WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA, January 25, 1776. Resolved, unanimously, that this convention do highly approve of col. Woodford's conduct, manifested, as well in the success of the troops under his command, as in the humane treatment of, and kind attention to, the unfortunate, though brave officers and soldiers, who were made prisoners in the late action near the Great Bridge, and that the president communicate to col. Woodford the sense of his country on this occasion. Whereas lord Dunmore, by his proclamation, dated on board the ship William, the 7th day' of November, 1775, hath presumed, in direct violation of the constitution, and the laws of this country, to declare martial law in force, and to be executed throughout this colony, whereby our lives, our liberty, and our property, are arbitrarily subjected to his power and di- | end, most evidently appears from the whole rection and whereas the said lord Dunmore, assuming powers which the king himself cannot exercise, to intimidate the good people of this colony into a compliance with his arbitrary will, hath declared those who do not immediately repair to his standard, and submit in all things to a government not warranted by the constitution, to be in actual rebellion, and thereby to have incurred the penalties inflicted by the laws for such offences; and hath offered freedom to the servants and slaves of those he is pleased to term rebels, arming them against their masters, and destroying the peace and happiness of his majesty's good and faithful subjects, whose property is rendered insecure, and whose lives are exposed to the dangers of a general insurrection. We, as guardians of the lives and liberty of the people, our constituents, conceived it to be indispensably our duty to protect them against every species of despotism, and to endeavor to remove those fears with which they are so justly alarmed. If it were possible the understandings of men could be so blinded, that every gleam of reason might be lost, the hope, his lordship says, he hath ever entertained of an accommodation | between Great Britain and this colony, might pass unnoticed; but truth, justice, and common sense, must ever prevail, when facts can be appealed to in their support. It is the peculiar happiness of this colony, that his lordship can be traced as the source of innumerable evils, and one of the principal causes of the misfortunes under which we now labor. A particular detail of his conduct, since his arrival in this colony, can be considered only as a repetition, it having been already fully published to the world by the proceedings of the general assembly, and a former convention; but the unremitting violence with which his lordship endeavors to involve this country in the most dreadful calamities, certainly affords new matter for the attention of the public, and will remove every imputation of ingratitude to his lordship, or of injustice to his character. His lordship is pleased to ascribe the unworthy steps he hath taken against this colony to a necessity arising from the conduct of its inhabitants, whom he hath considered in a rebellious state, but who know nothing of rebellion except the name. Ever zealous in support of tyranny, he hath broken the bonds of society, and trampled justice under his feet. Had his lordship been desirous of effecting an accommodation of these disputes, he hath had the most ample occasion of exerting both his interest and abilities; but that he never had in view any such salutary tenor of his conduct. The supposed design of the Canada bill having been to draw down upon us a merciless and savage enemy, the present manœuvres amongst the Roman Catholics in Ireland, and the schemes concerted with Doctor Connelly, and other vile instruments of tyranny, which have appeared by the examination of the said Connelly, justify the supposition, and most fully evince his lordship's inimical and cruel disposition towards us, and can best determine whether we have been wrong in preparing to resist, even by arms, that system of tyranny adopted by the ministry and parliament of Great Britain, of which he is become the rigid executioner in this colony. The many depredations committed also upon the inhabitants of this colony, by the tenders and other armed vessels employed by his lordship for such purposes; the pilfering and plundering the property of the people, and the actual seduction and seizure of their slaves, were truly alarming in their effects, and called aloud for justice and resistance. The persons of many of our peaceable brethren have been seized and dragged to confinement, contrary to the principles of liberty, and the constitution of our country: yet have we borne this injurious treatment with unexampled patience, unwilling to shed the blood of our fellow-subjects, who, prosecuting the measures of a British parliament, would sacrifice our lives and property to a relentless fury and unabating avarice. If a governor can be authorized, even by majesty itself, to annul the laws of the land, and to introduce the most execrable of all systems, the law martial; if, by his single fiat, he can strip us of our property, can give freedom to our servants and slaves, and arm them for our destruction, let us bid adieu to every thing valuable in life; let us at once bend our necks to the galling yoke, and hug the chains prepared for us and our latest posterity! It is with inexpressible concern we reflect upon the distressed situation of some of our unhappy countrymen, who had thought themselves too immediately within the power of lord Dunmore, and have been induced thereby to remain inactive. We lament the advantage he hath taken of their situation, and at present impute their inactivity, in the cause of freedom and the constitution, not to any defection or want of zeal, but to their defenceless state; and whilst we endeavor to afford them succor, and to support their rights, we expect they will contribute every thing in their deliverance: yet if any of our people, in violation of their faith plighted to this colony, and the duty they owe to society, shall be found in arms, or continue to give assistance to our enemies, we shall think ourselves justified, by the necessity we are under, in executing upon them the law of retaliation. Dunmore and the most active promoters of all his cruel and arbitrary persecutions of the good people of this colony, not only by violating the continental association, to which they had solemnly subscribed, in many the most flagrant instances; not merely by giving intelligence to our enemies and furnishing them with provisions, but by propagating, as well in Great Britain as in this colony, many of the most mischievous falsehoods, to the great prejudice and dishonor of this country: And moreover, many of these natives of Great Britain, instead of giving their assistance in suppressing insurrections, have contrary to all faith, solemnly rebellion, and some of them have daringly led those slaves in arms against our inhabitants; the committee having these things in full proof, and considering their alarming and dangerous tendency, do give it as their opinion, and it is accordingly resolved, that the former resolution in their favor ought from henceforth to be totally abrogated and rescinded; that none of the freemen, inhabitants of this country, wherever born, ought to exempted from any of the burthens or dangers to which the colony is exposed; but that, as good citizens, it is incumbent on them to use every exertion of their power and abilities in the common defence; and should any persons of ability decline or shrink from so necessary a duty to the com Impressed with a just and ardent zeal for the welfare and happiness of our countrymen, we trust they will, on their part, exert themselves in defence of our common cause, and | that we shall all acquit ourselves like freemen, being compelled by a disagreeable, but absolute necessity, of repelling force by force, to maintain our just rights and privileges, and we appeal to God, who is the Sovereign Disposer of all events, for the justice of our cause, trust-plighted in their petition, excited our slaves to ing to his unerring wisdom to direct our councils, and give success to our arms. Whereas lord Dunmore, by his proclamation, dated on board the ship William off Norfolk, the 7th day of November, 1775, hath offered freedom to such able bodied slaves as are willing to join him, and take up arms against the good people of this colony, giving thereby encouragement to a general insurrection, which may induce a necessity of inflicting the severest punishments upon those unhappy people already deluded by his base and insidious arts, and whereas, by an act of the general assembly now in force in this colony, it is enacted, that all negro, or other slaves, conspiring to rebel or make insurrection, shall suffer death, and be excluded all benefit of clergy—we think it pro-munity, that all such, except those who have per to declare, that all slaves who have been, or shall be, seduced by his lordship's proclamation, or other arts, to desert their master's service, and take up arms against the inhabitants of this colony, shall be liable to such punishment as shall hereafter be directed by the convention. And to the end that all such, who have taken this unlawful and wicked step, may return in safety to their duty, and escape the punishment due to their crimes, we hereby promise pardon to them, they surrendering themselves to colonel William Woodford or any other commander of our troops, and not appearing in arms after the publication hereof. And we do further earnestly recommend it to all humane and benevolent persons in this colony, to explain and make known this our offer of mercy to those unfortunate people. taken up arms against our inhabitants, or shewn themselves to us, may be permitted, under a license of the committee of safety, to leave the country. OUTRAGES COMMITTED BY BRITISH TROOPS, 1776. place called Mulberry - island, in Warwick OATH And whereas, notwithstanding the favorable and kind dispositions shewn by the convention and the natives of this colony, and the extraordinary and unexampled indulgence by them held out to the natives of Great Britain, resid- EXTORTED FROM THE PEOPLE OF NORFOLK ing in this colony, (the Scotch who gave themselves this title in their petition) many of these have lately become strict adherents to the lord AND PRINCESS ANNE, BY LORD DUNMORE, 1776. "We the inhabitants of -being fully sen sible of the errors and guilt into which this | captivated, compelled to join in the murder and colony hath been misled, under color of seeking plunder of their relations and countrymen, and redress of grievances, and that a set of factious all former rapine and oppression of Americans men styling themselves committees, conven- declared legal and just. Fleets and armies tions, and congresses, have violently, and under are raised, and the aid of foreign troops envarious pretences, usurped the legislative and gaged to assist these destructive purposes. executive powers of government, and are there- The king's representative in this colony hath by endeavoring to overturn our most happy not only withheld all the powers of governconstitution, and have incurred the guilt of ment from operating for our safety, but, having actual rebellion against our most gracious sov- retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on ereign: We have therefore taken an oath ab- a practical and savage war against us, temptjuring their authority, and solemnly promising ing our slaves, by every artifice, to resort to in the presence of Almighty God, to bear faith him, and training and employing them against and true allegiance to his sacred majesty their masters. In this state of extreme danGeorge the third; and that we will, to the ut- ger, we have no alternative left but an abject most of our power and ability, support, main- submission to the will of those over-bearing tytain, and defend his crown and dignity, against | rants, or a total separation from the crown and all traitorous attempts and conspiracies what- government of Great Britain, uniting and exsoever. And whereas armed bodies of men erting the strength of all America for defence, are collected in various parts of this colony, and forming alliances with foreign powers for without any legal authority, we wish them to commerce and aid in war. Wherefore, appealbe informed, that however unwilling we should ing to the Searcher of hearts for the sincerity be to shed the blood of our countrymen, we of former declarations, expressing our desire to must, in discharge of our duty to God and the preserve the connection with that nation, and king, and in support of the constitution and that we are driven from that inclination by laws of our country, oppose their marching into their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of this county, where their coming can answer no self-preservation: good end, but, on the contrary, must expose us to the ravages and horrors of a civil war; and for that purpose, we are determined to take advantage of our happy situation, and will defend the passes into our country, and neighborhood to the last drop of our blood." INSTRUCTIONS OF THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION TO THEIR In the Virginia Convention-present 112 members. WILLIAMSBURG, Wednesday, May 15, 1796. Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the UNITED COLONIES, by the most decent representations and petitions to the king and parliament of Great Britain, to restore peace and security to America under the British government, and a re-union with that people upon just and liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have produced, from an imperious and vindictive administration, increased insult, oppression, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total destruction. By a late act, all these colonies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of the British crown, our properties subject to confiscation, our people, when Resolved, unan. 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 upon, the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought proper and necessary by the congress for forming foreign alliances, and A CONFEDERATION OF THE COLONIES, at such time, and in the manner, as to them shall seem best. Provided, that the power of forming government for, and the regulations of the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the respective colonial legislatures. Resolved, unan. That a committee be appointed to prepare A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, and such a plan of government as will be most likely to maintain peace and order in this colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty tc the people. Edmund PENDLETON, President. (A copy) JOHN TAZEWELL, Clerk of the Convention. |