Virginia in the American Revolution
Numerous Virginians played key roles in the Revolution, including George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson.
Patrick Henry opposed the Stamp Act in the Burgesses with a famous speech advising George III that "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell..." and the king "may profit by their example."
This document would set one of the basic political principles of the Revolution by stating that Virginia was a part of the British Empire, not the Kingdom of Great Britain, so it only owed allegiance to the Crown, not Parliament.
Following the closure of the port in Boston and several other offenses, the Burgesses approved June 1, 1774 as a day of "Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer" in a show of solidarity with Massachusetts.
On April 20, 1775, a day after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Dunmore ordered royal marines to remove the gunpowder from the Williamsburg magazine to a British ship.
Carter Braxton negotiated a resolution to the Gunpowder Incident by transferring royal funds as payment for the powder.
On November 7, Dunmore issued a proclamation declaring Virginia was in a state of rebellion and that any slave fighting for the British would be freed.
After the Battle of Great Bridge, little military conflict took place on Virginia soil for the first part of the American Revolutionary War.
Charlottesville served as a prison camp for the Convention Army, Hessian and British soldiers captured at Saratoga.
In October, the legislature appointed Jefferson, Edmund Pendleton, and George Wythe to adopt the existing body of Virginia law to the new constitution.
The British brought the war back to coastal Virginia in May 1779 when Admiral George Collier landed troops at Hampton Roads and used Portsmouth (after destroying the naval yard) as a base of attack.
The British abandoned the plan when reinforcements from General Henry Clinton failed to arrive to support Collier.
Jefferson fled the capital city and called out militia under Colonel Sampson Mathews to harass Arnold's forces.
The state's defenses, led by General Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron von Steuben, put up resistance in the April 1781 Battle of Blandford, but was forced to retreat.
The expedition to Point of Fork forced Steuben to retreat further while Tarleton's mission captured only seven legislators and some officers.
Cornwallis received orders to move his troops to Yorktown and begin construction of fortifications and a naval yard.
The plan hinged on French reinforcements of 3,200 troops and a large naval force under the Admiral de Grasse.
On September 5, Admiral de Grasse defeated a fleet of the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Virginia Capes.
The defeat ensured French dominance of the waters around Yorktown, thereby preventing Cornwallis from receiving troops or supplies and removing the possibility of evacuation.
As a result of the defeat, the king lost control of Parliament and the new British government offered peace in April 1782.
