Enclosure: Chronology of Jefferson’s Actions during the British Invasion of Virginia in 1780-1781, 21 June 1805
Enclosure: Chronology of Jefferson’s Actions during the British Invasion of Virginia in 1780-1781
[on or before 21 June 1805]
| Richmond. 1780. Dec. 31. at 8. A.M. the Governor recieves the first intelligence that 27. sail of ships had entered Chesapeak bay, & were in the morning of the 29th. just below Willoughby’s point [the Southern cape of James river] their destination unknown. | |
| 1781. Jan. 2. | at 10. A.M. information recieved that they had entered James river, their advance being at Warrasqueak bay. orders were immediately given for calling in the militia, ¼ from some, & ½ from other counties. the members of the legislature, which rises this day, are the bearers of the orders to their respective counties. the Governor directs the removal of the Records into the country, and the transportation of the military stores from Richmond to Westham [on the river 7. miles above] there to be carried across the river. |
| Jan. 3. | at 8. P.M. the enemy are said to be a little below Jamestown; convenient for landing if Williamsburg is their object. |
| 4. | at 5. A.M. information is recieved that they had passed Kennon’s & Hood’s the evening before with a strong Easterly wind, which determines their object to be either Petersburg or Richmond. the Governor now calls in the whole militia from the adjacent counties. |
| At 5. P.M. information that at 2. P.M. they were landed & drawn up at Westover [on the North side of the river & 25. miles below Richmond] and consequently Richmond their destination. orders are now given to discontinue waggoning the military stores from Richmond to Westham, & to throw them across the river directly at Richmond. | |
| The Governor having attended to this till an hour & a half in the night then rode up to the foundery [1. mile below Westham] ordered Capts. Boush & Irish, & mr Hylton to continue all night waggoning to Westham the arms & stores still at the Foundery, to be thrown across the river at Westham, then proceeded to Westham to urge the pressing the transportation there across the river, and thence went to Tuckahoe [8. miles above & on the same side of the river] to see after his family which he had sent that far in the course of the day. he arrived there at 1. aclock in the night. | |
| Jan. 5. | Early in the morning he carried his family across the river there, and sending them to Fine creek [8. miles higher up] went himself to Britton’s on the S. side of the river. [opposite to Westham] finding the arms &c in a heap near the shore, & exposed to be destroyed by cannon from the North bank, he had them removed under cover of a point of land near by. he proceeded to Manchester [opposite to Richmond].1 the enemy had arrived at Richmond at 1. P.M. having found that nearly the whole arms had been got there from Richmond, he set out for Chetwood’s to meet with Baron Steuben, who had appointed that place as a rendezvous & Head quarters; but not finding him there, & understanding he would be at Colo. Fleming’s [6. miles above Britton’s] he proceeded thither. the enemy had now a detachment at Westham, and sent a deputation from the city of Richmond to the Governor, at Colo. Fleming’s, to propose terms for ransoming the safety of the city, which terms he rejected. |
| Jan. 6. | The Governor returned to Britton’s, had measures taken, more effectually to secure the books & papers there. the enemy having burnt some houses & stores, left Richmond, after 24. hours stay there, & encamped at Four mile creek [8. or 10. miles below] & the Governor went to look to his family at Fine creek. |
| Jan. 7. | He returned to Britton’s to see further to the arms there, exposed on the ground to heavy rains which had fallen the night before, & then proceeded to Manchester, & lodged there. the enemy encamped at Westover. |
| Jan. 8. | At half after 7. A.M. he crossed over to Richmond, & resumed his residence there. the enemy are still retained in their encampment at Westover by an Easterly wind. Colo. John Nicholas has now 300. militia at the Forest [6. miles off from Westover] Genl. Nelson 200. at Charles city, Courthouse [8. miles below Westover] Gibson 1000. and Baron Steuben 800. on the South side the river. |
| Jan. 9. | The enemy are still encamped at Westover. |
| Jan. 10. | At 1. P.M. they embark: & the wind having shifted a little to the North of the West, & pretty fresh, they fall down the river. Baron Steuben2 marches for Hood’s where their passage may be checked. he reaches Bland’s mills in the evening, within 9. miles of Hood’s. |
| Jan. 11. | At 8. A.M. the wind due West & strong they make good their retreat. |
| During this period time & place have been minutely cited, in order that those who think there was any remissness in the movements of the Governor, may lay their finger on the point, and say when & where it was. hereafter less detail will suffice. | |
| Soon after this, General Phillips having joined Arnold with a reinforcement of 2000. men, they advanced again up to Petersburg, & about the last of April to Manchester. the Governor had remained constantly in and about Richmond, exerting all his powers for collecting militia, and providing such means for the defence of the state as it’s exhausted resources admitted. never assuming a guard, & with3 only the river between him & the enemy, his lodgings were frequently within 4. 5. or 6. miles of them. | |
| M. de la Fayette, about this time, arrived at Richmond with some continental troops, with which, & the militia collected, he continued to occupy that place, and the North bank of the river, while Phillips & Arnold held Manchester & the South bank. but Lord Cornwallis, about the middle of May joining them with the main Southern army, M. de la Fayette was obliged to retire. the enemy crossed the river, & advanced up into the country about 50. miles, & within 30. miles of Charlottesville, at which place the legislature being to meet in June, the Governor proceeded to his seat at Monticello, 2. or 3. miles from it. his office was now near expiring, the country under invasion by a powerful army, no services but military of any avail, unprepared by his line of life and education for the command of armies, he believed it right not to stand in the way of talents better fitted than his own to the cicumstances under which the country was placed. he therefore himself proposed to his friends in the legislature, that Genl. Nelson, who commanded the militia of the state, should be appointed Governor, as he was sensible that the union of the civil & military power in the same hands at this time, would greatly facilitate military measures.4 this appointment accordingly took place on the 12th. of June 1801. | |
June 23 |
This was the state of things, when, his office having actually expired, & no successor not yet in place,5 Colo. Tarleton, with his regiment of horse, was detached by Ld. Cornwallis to surprise mr Jefferson6 (whom they thought still in office) & the legislature now sitting in Charlottesville. the Speakers of the two houses, & some other members of the legislature were lodging with mr Jefferson at Monticello. Tarleton, early in the morning, when within 10. miles of that place, detached a company of horse to secure him & his guests, & proceeded himself rapidly with his main body to Charlottesville, where he hoped to find the legislature unapprised of his movement. notice of it however had been brought, both to Monticello & Charlottesville, about sunrise. the Speakers, with their Colleagues, returned to Charlottesville, and with the other members of the legislature, had barely time, to get out of his way. mr Jefferson sent off his family, to secure them from danger, and was himself still at Monticello making arrangements for his own departure, when a Lieutt. Hudson arrived there at half speed, & informed him the enemy were then ascending the hill of Monticello. he departed immediately, & knowing that he would be pursued if he took the high road, he plunged into the woods of the adjoining mountain, where being at once safe, he proceeded to overtake his family. this is the famous adventure of Carter’s mountain which has been so often resounded through the slanderous chronicles of federalism. but they have taken care never to detail the facts, lest these should shew that this favorite charge amounted to nothing more than that he did not remain in his house, & there singly fight a whole troop of horse, or suffer himself to be taken prisoner. having accompanied his family one day’s journey, he returned to Monticello. Tarleton had retired after 18. hours stay in Charlottesville. mr Jefferson then rejoined his family, and proceeded with them to an estate he had in Bedford, about 80. miles S.W. where, riding in his farm sometime after, he was thrown from his horse, & disabled from riding on horse back for a considerable time. but mr Turner finds it more convenient to give him this fall in his retreat before Tarleton, which had happened some weeks before, as a proof that he withdrew from a troop of horse with a precipitancy which Don Quixot would not have practised.7 |
| the facts here stated most particularly, with date of time & place, are taken from notes made by the writer hereof, for his own satisfaction8 at the time: the others are from memory but so well recollected that he is satisfied there is no material fact mistated. should any person undertake to contradict any particular on evidence which may at all merit the public respect, the writer will take the trouble (tho’ not at all in the best situation for it) to produce the proofs in support of it. he finds indeed that of the persons whom he recollects to have been present on these occasions, few have survived the intermediate lapse of four & twenty years. yet he trusts that some, as well as himself, are yet among the living; and he is positively certain that no man can falsify any material fact here stated. he well remembers indeed that there were then, as there are at all times, some who blamed every thing done contrary to their own opinion, altho’ their opinions were formed on a very partial knowledge of facts. the censures which have been hazarded by such men as mr Turner, are nothing but revivals of these half informed opinions. mr George Nicholas, then a very young man, but always a very honest one, was prompted by these persons to bring specific charges against mr Jefferson. the heads of these in writing were communicated thro’ a mutual friend to mr Jefferson, who committed to writing also the heads of justification on each of them. I well remember9 this paper, & believe the original of it still exists, and tho’ framed when every real fact was fresh in the knolege of every one, this fabricated flight from Richmond was not among the charges stated in this paper, nor any charge against mr Jefferson for not fighting singly the troop of horse. mr Nicholas candidly relinquished further proceeding. the House of Representatives of Virginia pronounced an honorable sentence of entire approbation of mr Jefferson’s conduct, and so much the more honorable as themselves had been witnesses to it. And mr George Nicholas took a conspicuous occasion afterwards, of his own free will, & when the matter was entirely at rest, to retract publicly the erroneous opinions he had been led into on that occasion, & to make just reparations by a candid acknolegement of them. |
MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 150:26239-41); undated; entirely in TJ’s hand, including brackets in text. Described as MS (2) of Document I of Notes and Documents Relating to the British Invasions in 1781, [31 Dec. 1780 to 26 July 1816]; see Vol. 4:258-68.
12th. of June 1801: that is, 1781.
notice of it however: up to this point, TJ’s manuscript was substantively identical to one he prepared, probably in 1796, in response to the widely circulated first Federalist criticisms of his conduct as wartime governor. The remainder of the manuscript is more clearly a response to the account attributed to Thomas Turner, who claimed that TJ’s “flight” from Monticello “was effected with such hurried abruptness, as to produce a fall from his horse, and a dislocation of the shoulder.” According to Turner, TJ proceeded despite the injury to Poplar Forest, where he resigned his office. Because part of the earlier manuscript was based on notes that TJ entered “on scraps of paper taken out of my pocket at the moment,” the Editors printed it, along with a third version dating from 1816 and some supporting documents, at 31 Dec. 1780 (Boston Repertory, 31 May; Vol. 4:256-78).
TJ also expanded on a brief passage he added to his first account that incorporated some comments by George Nicholas in a 1798 pamphlet. Having been the politician who brought specific charges against TJ as part of the inquiry of the Virginia House of Delegates into his conduct as governor, Nicholas announced that he no longer held an “unfavourable opinion” of TJ’s “political conduct” and considered him “one of the most virtuous, as well as one of the ablest, of the American patriots” (Nicholas, A Letter from George Nicholas, of Kentucky, to His Friend, in Virginia [Lexington, Ky., 1798], 28; Vol. 4:268n; Vol. 6:105-9).
1. Preceding bracketed comment interlined.
2. TJ here canceled “[arrives].”
3. TJ here canceled “nothing.”
4. Following sentence interlined.
5. Preceding four words interlined in place of “yet approved.”
6. Preceding two words interlined in place of “the Governor.”
7. TJ heavily canceled a sentence at the beginning of the next paragraph.
8. Preceding seven words interlined in place of “himself.”
9. TJ here canceled three words.