The early days of our Republic are usually believed to be a time of unity, development, and stability. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The new nation was deeply in debt because of the Revolutionary War, and economically unstable with nearly worthless currency. The country was politically volatile, and rife with division. There was a very good chance that the country would collapse and fail. The Panic of 1796-97 was an economic blow, but it demonstrated that national economies are interrelated and the USA was becoming a major player.
Empire in North America 1783
The great powers of the eighteenth century were expecting and working for American failure. Great Britain believed they lost the Revolutionary War only because of French intervention and did not honor our sovereignty. Spain was actively working both overtly and clandestinely against the US. Both these monarchies possessions bordered the new nation, and both were openly hostile. Despite all these negatives, the country persevered, eventually overcame internal problems and fought new wars to establish a rightful place in the world.
Political stability is impossible without economic stability and security. The Panic of 1796-97 was just one economic crisis to confront the young nation but it involved the British economy and had long lasting effects. An earlier crisis, The Panic of 1792 had been caused when former Congressman William Duer raised large sums of money to invest in risky ventures. He defaulted on his debts and many common people’s savings were wiped out. This caused riots and moved Congress to talk about bankruptcy laws although they took no action. Despite the harm to many, the ramifications were not international.
Duer and others tried to recover losses in many ways, but one of the most common methods was “land speculation.” The New World had lots of land and speculation was common even in Colonial times. Most of the Royal Governors had made considerable income through land speculation. This source of fast profits came to a crashing, although temporary, end in 1796 when a series of events caused the land speculation bubble to burst.
Robert Morris
The key to land speculation was to sell land-secured stock of American companies to European investors. The biggest US investment group was created by Boston merchant James Greenleaf and Philadelphia financiers Robert Morris (financier of the Revolution) and John Nicholson. In addition to western frontier land, they had acquired 40 percent of the building lots in the new US capital of Washington, DC. They were initially depending on Dutch investors, but the French invasion of the Netherlands ended that plan.
To recover from this setback the big US investors formed the North American Land Company to consolidate their holdings. The company was set up to use the power of their vast holdings to entice European investors to buy stock.
Sufficient sales did not materialize, however. European investors were becoming wary of American land schemes because of unclear titles and the poor quality of some of the land. To overcome this, Morris and Nicholson began to issue their own notes, which creditors quickly accepted because of Morris’ immense personal wealth. These notes did not solve the problem and began depreciating rapidly as the financial situation worsened. Continuing war in Europe was constricting international credit. Soon, the position of the North American Land Company and others like it became untenable.
James Wilson
Large scale business failures began to plague the Eastern US port cities by late 1796. Those land speculators with less wealth than Morris now found themselves in Debtor Prison. James Wilson (Signed Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and was Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court) was sentenced and after his release spent the rest of his life on the run evading creditors. The Morris and Nicholson notes which totaled $10,000,000.00 also failed and were trading at only one-eighth of their face value.
In 1797 the British Parliament added fuel to the financial wildfire in America by passing the Bank Restriction Act. This act, which halted gold and silver payments, was enacted in response to the drain of coin and bullion caused by the Napoleonic Wars and panicked withdrawals by depositors. The disruption of access to British specie unraveled the Atlantic credit fabric and the American “house of paper” collapsed completely. Many more prominent men including Robert Morris were sentenced to Debtor Prison.
The Panic of 1796-97 resulted in a severe economic crash in American port cities. The land speculators certainly suffered financial disaster but so did the merchants and workers who depended on income from international trade. The effects of the crash were being felt until at least 1800. Luckily, the rural areas were not impacted as much because they had not yet developed a credit economy.
More financial crises would arise during our history, but the Panic of 1796-97 revealed for the first time the international interconnection of the American economy. The infant American economy was subject to the ups and downs of the economies of Europe and eventually the entire world. This also demonstrated that the rest of the world would be affected by the American economy that was growing rapidly and would eventually be the strongest in the world.
The other important side effect of this crises was that congress was forced to finally face the stupidity of Debtor Prisons. These prisons were relics of British law which had been held over from Colonial days. I believe Congress faced it mainly because so many prominent men had been sent to Debtor Prison, which meant it could happen to them. As a first baby-step to eliminating Debtor Prisons, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Act of 1800.
Many in Congress believed the Bankruptcy Act encouraged risky investments and they carried the day in 1803 when the act was not renewed. To Congress’ credit, they have wrestled with the complex subject of bankruptcy and debt into modern times by passing a series of mostly improving laws. The subject is complicated and bankruptcy laws will probably continue to be “tweaked” far into the future.
Moving West-Manifest Destiny
Although the Panic of 1796-97 was a financial blow to the new United States, the country recovered easier than Europe where constant war and rigid monarch-ruled, class-based societies stifled flexibility. The US was expanding west at an amazing and unrelenting pace which fueled the economy. Common men would make, lose, and remake fortunes. Many people could and would become rich through hard work and vision. Freedom encourages initiative and risk-taking. I believe the most important result of the expanding American economy was the slow but persistent development of a prosperous middle class, something that is still unique among nations.
The founders of the United States of America created a form of government unlike anything seen before or since. The government recognizes that the individual has the God-given right to fail, and to try again and again. The founders somehow set up something entirely new that is still working today. The more I learn about them and the results of their labor, the more amazed and the more thankful I become.
Elbridge Gerry was a wealthy Massachusetts merchant who was involved in early revolutionary politics. He was closely associated with radicals John and Sam Adams and he was an eager signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention but refused to sign the Constitution. Gerry served in many political positions during his life, and the political practice of “gerrymandering” is named after him. Despite this dubious honor, Elbridge Gerry and others pushed the colonies to revolution and then built our country. He was a patriot and an American hero.
Elbridge Gerry was born on 17 July 1744 in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He was one of 12 children of Thomas and Elizabeth Gerry. His father was a wealthy merchant. Little is known about his early life. He entered Harvard College in 1758. When he graduated in 1762, he entered the family business and became a member of a social group that was becoming more political because of Britain’s increasingly heavy-handed imperial policy.
In 1765, Elbridge was advocating evading the Stamp Act. By 1770 he was serving in local political positions and later helped Sam Adams set up committees of correspondence. He became closely allied with John and Sam Adams making up a Bay Colony troika advocating for separation from the Crown.
Gerry became more militantly anti-British as the British increased their efforts to politically control the colonies and enlarged their military presence to enforce political control. He was, however, equally opposed to popular democracy. After mobs destroyed a hospital he had helped establish, he called it “savage mobility” and withdrew from politics.
When the port of Boston was closed by the British in June 1774, Gerry re-entered the political fray as Marblehead became the port of entry for donations from other colonies. He organized the relief effort and tried to prevent profiteering. He was also a leader in the Provincial Congress. He worked with John Hancock to collect military stores and was nearly captured on 18 April 1775 by British soldiers who were EnRoute to Concord.
John Adams
On 25 January 1776 Gerry was sent to the Continental Congress where he was an early advocate of independence. During the debates John Adams wrote, “If every Man here was Gerry, the Liberties of America would be safe against the Gates of Earth and Hell.” Gerry eagerly signed the Declaration of Independence and later the Articles of Confederation. He considered the national government under the Articles to be “the finishing stroke of our independence.”
In Congress Gerry was a voice for fiscal responsibility, but also took some controversial positions. He was a member of the “Conway Cabal” supporting General Thomas Conway to replace George Washington as Commander of the Continental Army. He opposed the French alliance and in response to a diplomatic spat he supported Arthur Lee against Benjamin Franklin. He believed Franklin had been “corrupted” by his stay in France.
In February 1781, Gerry resigned from Congress in a huff. He charged that his “personal privilege” and “states’ rights” had been infringed upon. He believed in limited government and was concerned about what he saw as a congressional movement to concentrate power in the new government.
Gerry resumed his congressional seat in 1783 and became active in peace negotiations with Britain. Peace was achieved that same year by the Treaty of Paris. After the war Gerry campaigned to abolish the standing army and the Order of Cincinnati which he believed were threats to a republican government. He opposed a strong Federal government but reversed himself after “Shays’ Rebellion” which convinced him the country was on the verge of anarchy.
Ann Thompson
In September 1785 Gerry again left Congress and the next year married Ann Thompson, the daughter of a wealthy New York merchant. His best man was James Monroe. Ann was 20 years his junior and gave birth to ten children between 1787 and 1801, which seriously compromised her health. In 1787 Gerry bought a large confiscated Tory estate in Cambridge known as Elmwood. This was the Gerry family home for the rest of his life.
Gerry was a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention where he played a leading role. He continued to advocate for limited government and state’s rights. He was a strong proponent of individual liberty by placing checks on government power. He supported the idea that the Senate composition should not be based on population.
Because of his fear of “excessive democracy” Gerry advocated for limits on voting privileges. He believed the people could be easily misled and could not be trusted to select national officials. Conversely, he was fearful of aristocracy demanding annual elections and an enumeration of government powers. He especially wanted a bill of rights.
Since the proposed constitution did not include a bill of rights and strengthened the central government, Gerry and two others (George Mason and Edmund Randolph) refused to sign the constitution.
In Gerry’s home state of Massachusetts, the ratification convention was dominated by Federalists. Although invited to that body, Gerry was not allowed to speak, and he left after a shouting match with the convention chair. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution by a vote of 187 to 168. Gerry was nominated for governor in 1788 but was easily defeated by John Hancock.
Gerry came to accept the Constitution because so many states proposed amending it and he was elected to the first US House of Representatives. Some of our rights are in the Bill of Rights because of Gerry. He was instrumental in inserting the right to “freedom of assembly” in the First Amendment and was the chief architect of the Fourth Amendment protection against “search and seizure.” He was also successful in limiting federal government control of state militias.
Later Alexander Hamilton presented the House with several financial proposals that were vigorously supported by Gerry because they strengthened the economy of the nation. Gerry was often on the floor of the House to oppose “aristocratic and monarchical” tendencies that he saw as a threat to republican ideals or that limited individual or state liberties.
Gerry did not run for re-election in 1792. He returned home to help raise his children and care for his wife who was feeling the effects of giving birth to many children in a short time. He did serve as a presidential elector for John Adams in the 1796 election. Gerry maintained good relations with both President Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson.
President Adams appointed Gerry to a diplomatic mission to Republican France in 1797. Tensions had risen between the two nations after the Jay Treaty of 1796 between the US and Britain. The French saw this as an Anglo-American alliance and the French were seizing American merchant ships. Gerry joined Charles Pinckney and John Marshall in France in October.
The delegation met with the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand briefly when Gerry arrived. A few days later three French agents (designated “X,” “Y” and “Z” in publications which resulted in the incident being called the XYZ Affair). The French agents demanded substantial bribes before negotiations could continue. The Americans refused to pay, and negotiations halted.
Talleyrand agreed to meet with Gerry but not the other two American delegates. All three then prepared to leave France, but Talleyrand threatened war if Gerry left. The other two left in April 1798. Gerry remained but refused to negotiate and left in August. The naval Quasi-War (1798-1800) followed.
Gerry was accused by Federalists of supporting the French and causing the breakdown of the talks. Adams and Jefferson supported him, but his reputation was severely damaged. Adams claimed Gerry had opened the door that led to the successful Franco-American Convention of 1800. Personal vindication came later when his correspondence with Talleyrand was published. Because of the Federalist attack on him, Gerry joined the Democratic-Republican party in 1800. Previously he had opposed all political parties.
For years Gerry had tried to win the office of Governor of Massachusetts without success. His opponent had been Caleb Strong a very popular moderate Federalist. He was finally elected in 1810 when Strong did not run and re-elected in 1811. His campaigns were very partisan. He was accused of being a French supporter and he accused his opponent of being a “British Lover.”
His first term was fairly calm, but the second term was very controversial. His party controlled the legislature and Gerry purged the government of political foes. His party also “reformed” the court system by enlarging it and then “packing” the courts.
Gerry-mander (Gerrymander)
In 1812 Massachusetts drew-up new constitutionally mandated voting district boundaries. The new districts were highly partisan and designed to enhance his party’s strength. One district in Essex County was compared to a salamander by a Federalist newspaper political cartoon. They called it “Gerry-mander.” To this day drawing partisan districts is called “gerrymandering.”
Gerry lost the 1812 election because of the partisan investigations he had engaged in, the redistricting controversy and the impending War of 1812. He was beaten by his old nemesis Caleb Strong.
Gerry now had severe financial problems because his brother had mismanaged his business and Elbridge bailed him out. He needed an income, so he asked President James Madison for a federal position. Instead of a job, he was selected to be Madison’s vice-presidential running mate in the 1812 election.
Madison and Gerry easily won election and Gerry took the oath at Elmwood in March 1813. The new vice president’s, support of the War of 1812 became very partisan. He used it to accuse the Federalists of being pro-British.
Elbridge Gerry Grave Monument
On 23 November 1814, Gerry fell ill and died in his Washington, DC home. He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. He is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to be buried in the capital. His grave is marked with a memorial by John Frazee. The estate he left his wife was land-rich but cash-poor because he had paid his brother’s debts.
Elbridge Gerry was a complex man who is difficult to classify because of his political changes during his long political career. He is primarily remembered for signing the Declaration of Independence, for the use of his name in the word “gerrymander,” for his refusal to sign the Constitution, and for his role in the XYZ Affair, but the man was so much more.
There is no doubt that Gerry’s, and others’, stand on the Constitution resulted in the adoption of the Bill of Rights. He was always an outspoken champion of individual rights when there was still a lot of elitism in American politics. He opposed a standing army because he feared it could be used against the people. Gerry was initially against political parties but eventually joined one. Sadly, he became very partisan in his later years.
The fact is that Gerry, like most people was basically good, but certainly not perfect. He pushed for independence early, loved this country, and always worked to improve it. As far as I know there are no great monuments to Gerry, but he was a patriot and an American hero.
Lord Dunmore (born John Murray) was Royal Governor of Virginia before and for a brief time after the American Revolutionary War began. In 1774 Dunmore had organized a successful military campaign against a hostile Indian confederation in the frontier that some historians believe had a hidden agenda. They believe that Dunmore manipulated the Indians to begin raids so he could lead the Virginia militia to their defeat thereby reducing the number of Colonists available to oppose the British military. If that was his plan it failed miserably as the militia soundly defeated the Indians.
John Murray was a Scottish peer and the 4th Earl of Dunmore. He was an experienced British military officer, who served as Royal Governor of New York in 1770 and1771. He became Royal Governor of Virginia in 1771 and served until 1775. He was forced out of Virginia and after returning to England was eventually reassigned to be Royal Governor of the Bahamas 1787-1796.
Like most royal governors Dunmore used his position to enrich himself and to enjoy the social interaction with the occupying British upper echelon officers and the colonial elite class. His sons attended the College of William and Mary. His spouse, Lady Charlotte, was quite popular, but he was imperious and overbearing.
The royal governors were also expected to keep the peace in the colonies, and they had access to British military forces to do that. Dunmore also had the power to control the Virginia House of Burgesses and with revolution brewing he exercised that authority often.
The British had tried to control the American Indian tribes, but the Indians resisted because they did not appreciate being forced from their ancestral lands. The British made several treaties with the Indians, but whites persisted in settling in Indian land anyway. The Indians responded by conducting raids and killing the settlers, which resulted in British military retaliation. Both sides were brutal and vicious. (We know this pattern was continued when the new US Government was established.)
The 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, NY was between the British and the Iroquois Tribe. The Iroquois were forced to give up all their land east and south of the Ohio River. The problem was that other tribes in the area did not give up their land, which resulted in open warfare when white settlers started moving in. The Shawnee Tribe was actually trying to drive the British back to the east side of the Appalachian Mountains. They hoped that would permanently stop the white westward movement.
Shawnee Chief Cornstalk
To maximize their effective strength, the Indians formed a confederation of Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Delaware, Wyandot, and Mingo tribes. They were commanded by the great Shawnee War Chief, Cornstalk. Cornstalk was a born leader who generally favored conciliation but was an experienced and capable warrior who would fight to the death if necessary.
When Captain John Connolly, commander of Fort Pitt (formerly Fort Duquesne and present-day Pittsburg, PA) prepared to retaliate by attacking the Indians, Lord Dunmore offered assistance. Dunmore’s offer was not what it appeared to be. His real goal was to prevent Pennsylvania’s expansion into modern-day West Virginia and Kentucky. He intended to insert Virginia militia into the area to safely open it to white settlement. This would also allow him to enrich himself through land speculation.
Lord Dunmore requested and got authority from the House of Burgesses to conduct war against the Indian Confederation. He recruited about 2,500 Virginia Militia volunteers including nearly 1,000 from the Shenandoah Valley. The Valley men were rugged and tough frontiersmen who lived on the edge of civilization. They were much like the Indians and were known to be fierce and brutal warriors. They were very independent and undisciplined by military standards.
Dunmore was an experienced British military officer and planned a very good campaign. He would take about 1,700 troops to Fort Pitt where they would obtain boats and move down the Ohio River to the intersection with the Kanawha River. Militia General Andrew Lewis with about 800 valley men would move from Camp Union (present-day Lewisburg, WV) to the same point, but he would travel overland. This route was through some of the most rugged terrain in the frontier.
General Lewis was an experienced and courageous fighter who was always anxious to engage the enemy. He commanded three “regiments” commanded by Colonels Charles Lewis (his brother), William Fleming, and John Field.
Continental Army General Andrew Lewis
Interestingly, General Lewis’ small army produced seven Continental Army generals, several men who served with Colonel Clark in the struggle to capture Vincennes, the cadre of Daniel Morgan’s rifle regiment (one of the best Revolutionary units) and led the mountain men who defeated the Loyalists on King’s Mountain (the first American victory in the south). Five from this unit would become state governors.
General Lewis moved out of Camp Union on 6 September 1774 and after a demanding march arrived at the rendezvous site, known as Point Pleasant, on 6 October. Dunmore should have already occupied this site, but he was not there when Lewis arrived. Dunmore had become indecisive and was changing tactics by the day. By late September he had again decided to move to Point Pleasant.
Lewis was in the dark about Dunmore’s location, so he sent scouts to find him, and he began work on fortifications and securing his supplies. Chief Cornstalk was the one person who knew where everybody was because he had scouts shadowing all of them from the start. He recognized he could and should attack Lewis before the link-up with Dunmore and was organizing his attack.
Lewis believed the enemy to be far away and did not follow the most basic of military maxims: he did not post guards nor send out patrols. Unknown to Lewis, Cornstalk had crossed the Ohio on 10 October with nearly 1,000 warriors. He was encamped only 2 miles from Lewis and was preparing a dawn attack against the sleeping militia.
By an amazing stroke of luck, two of Lewis’ men were out for an early morning hunt for fresh meat. They ran into the main Indian force. One was killed but the other was able to alert the camp. Lewis believed the attackers were only scouts and moved a small force forward to confront them. They were met with a hail of gunfire and forced to retreat.
Lewis established a defensive line with his flanks anchored by the two rivers, which denied Cornstalk the option of easily flanking the Virginians. Flanking was known to be Cornstalk’s favorite battle tactic.
After several attacks and counterattacks, the fighting became hand-to-hand using clubs, tomahawks, knives, and bare hands. This fighting was savage and exhausting and could not be sustained indefinitely. About noon both sides occupied strong positions and the fighting became longer-range. To stand meant death.
Warriors Recovering Wounded
Lewis detached two companies to flank Cornstalk by moving up the Kanawha and wading/swimming the river. This flank attack shocked the Indians. Cornstalk mistakenly believed he was being attacked by Dunmore who he knew was moving toward Point Pleasant. Cornstalk reacted quickly and left enough warriors to continue the fight on two fronts while he moved his wounded back across the Ohio. He then effected a total withdrawal by dark. This was an amazing military operation to accomplish while under attack.
The lead elements of Dunmore’s force arrived about midnight and found the defenders were totally exhausted having fought a pitched battle for nearly 12 hours without rest. The only medical officer, Colonel Fleming had been mortally wounded and the wounded were suffering greatly.
The battle was a Colonial victory but at a high cost–about 20 percent casualties. Seventy-five were killed and about 140 wounded. Indian casualties were hard to determine but were high. They left 33 dead on the field and disposed of many bodies in the river. The Virginians placed 18 Indian scalps on a pole by the river.
General Lewis buried his dead, completed his fortifications, and cared for the wounded until 17 October. At that point he left a powerful force to guard the wounded and crossed the Ohio with the rest of his army. They intended to exact vengeance and were prepared for heavy fighting.
Before engaging the Indians, a messenger from Lord Dunmore arrived. The messenger carried orders for Lewis to halt his march because Dunmore was drawing up a new treaty with the Indians. Lewis’ troops were openly incensed by this turn of events.
Negotiations had begun because Chief Cornstalk had not been idle since the Point Pleasant battle. He tried to rally his followers with the message that the fight had to continue no matter the losses or they were “doomed.” He found no support from his allies and he knew the Shawnee could not win alone. He left the council saying, “Since you will not fight, I go and make peace.”
Cornstalk opened negotiations with Dunmore who was greatly impressed by him because he was such a good negotiator. Cornstalk promised to free all white prisoners, to not hunt south of the Ohio River, and to stop attacking boats on the river. Dunmore promised no more whites would enter what today is known as Kentucky, and no settlers would move north of the Ohio. Obviously, neither of them could guarantee these provisions and both probably knew the treaty would not last long
Lord Dunmore than met with Lewis’ troops to complement them on their victory, but Lewis had to guard the Governor because his men were threatening him. This meeting did not last long.
Lewis’ troops moved back to Point Pleasant arriving on 28 October and his army was disbanded on 4 November 1774. Governor Lord Dunmore claimed he had “saved” the frontier and gave little credit to Lewis and his troops. The Virginia House of Burgesses extravagantly praised Dunmore.
This was the time when separation from Britain was gaining traction, and many questioned Lord Dunmore’s motives on the frontier. Most correctly believed he expected to profit financially from his war, but many believed he was attempting to distract attention from the growing revolutionary movement. A few believed he had manipulated the Indians into war to get rid of as many potential revolutionary soldiers as possible.
These claims probably gave Dunmore too much credit for strategic thinking since he was not known to be a particularly deep thinker. Personally, I believe he delayed his link-up with Lewis at Point Pleasant so that Lewis would have to do the hard fighting. There is no evidence that he had other motives.
I do know that Cornstalk played Dunmore like a fiddle. Cornstalk knew where all the forces were at any given time, which allowed him to slow Dunmore’s advance towards Point Pleasant by beginning long-distant negotiations. This gave Cornstalk the time to destroy Lewis’ force and then turn 180 degrees to attack Dunmore. Alternatively, as actually happened, if he lost the battle with Lewis, he could still negotiate with Dunmore.
Cornstalk did think strategically and tactically, and was an accomplished diplomat. He had an excellent plan and kept at least one step ahead of Dunmore. Cornstalk nearly pulled off a great victory. Those two early morning hunters accidently tilted the battle in favor of the Virginians.
Little attention was paid to the Dunmore-Cornstalk treaty. Settlers flooded into the Ohio River Valley, and into Kentucky. Indians retaliated and this was the beginning of the Indian wars that would occupy the US Military for more than 100 years. War, disease, and settlement were the Three Horsemen of the Indian Apocalypse.
Following his war, Lord Dunmore returned to Royal Governor duties. He was loyal to the Crown and bitterly opposed the revolutionary movement in Virginia. On 7 June 1775, he was forced to abandon Williamsburg and fled to the warship HMS Fowey in the harbor at Yorktown.
Dunmore tried to rule from the Fowey, but this was ineffective and impractical. By May 1776 he was forced to move to Gwynn’s Island. On 8 July Brigadier General Andrew Lewis commanded a force that opened a tremendous bombardment on Dunmore’s ships and camps, and on 6 August 1776 Dunmore sailed for England.
Chief Cornstalk kept his word and remained loyal to the Dunmore agreement. In the fall of 1777, he traveled to Point Pleasant to complain that Indian lands were being overrun by settlers, but for some reason he was immediately detained. On 9 November, a young white hunter was killed by an Indian and a mob broke down the cell door and killed Cornstalk and his companions. This was a tragic and inglorious end for a brilliant and courageous warrior chief that had been on a peace mission.
The ferocity, casualties, and results of the Revolutionary War overshadowed Dunmore’s War and the bitter Battle at Point Pleasant. It was, however, one of the many events that were inter-related and contributed to the peoples move toward rebellion and eventually to war and independence.
Point Pleasant Battlefield Monument
The Point Pleasant battlefield was neglected for nearly 70 years, but eventually the area was developed. The Tu-Endie-Wei Park (Shawnee for mingling of the waters) was established near the bridge that carries Route 35 across the Ohio River to Gallipolis, Ohio. The graves of the those killed there have been laid out in long rows beneath a bronze tablet recording their names. Nearby is Chief Cornstalk’s grave and a statue of a typical Virginia frontier rifleman. An 84-foot-tall granite shaft honoring all those who fought there towers over the site.
It is fitting that this park was established to honor all those who were engaged in brutal combat on that ground. Both sides are part of our heritage and contributed to our national development. This park rescued the memory of their bravery from the dustbin of history.
Most of us know the famous Patrick Henry quote “give me liberty or give me death” but know little about the man. He was known as the “Trumpet” and “Voice” of the American Revolution because of his fiery, passionate, and persuasive speaking style. Patrick Henry was the Winston Churchill of his time. He held national office for only a short time but was one of the great Revolutionary leaders. Patrick Henry was a complex and driven man who called for “rebellion” early and was a true patriot and hero.
Patrick Henry, the second of nine children, was born 29 May 1736 in Hanover County, Virginia on a plantation owned by his mother’s family. His father was a university educated immigrant from Scotland. Patrick was educated by his father and an uncle.
Religion was key to Patrick’s life. The religious revival, the “Great Awakening” reached Virginia when he was a child. His father and uncle were Anglican, but his mother often took him to hear Presbyterian preachers. He learned his oratorical style from “fire-breathing” preachers who taught him to reach people by speaking at their level and appealing to their hearts. He was uncomfortable with the Anglican Church being the established religion of Colonial Virginia and fought for religious liberty his entire life.
Sarah Shelton
At age 15, Henry ran a store for his father, but the business failed. He married Sarah Shelton, the daughter of a local innkeeper, in 1754. Sarah’s dowry included 300 acres of farmland where Henry tried growing tobacco. The land was already exhausted, so this endeavor also failed. Adding to their problems, fire destroyed their house in 1757. Henry then managed Hanover Tavern for his father-in-law and studied law securing his law license in 1760. Seventeen-year-old Thomas Jefferson stayed at this tavern en-route to the College of William and Mary and became friends with Henry.
Henry earned a reputation as a powerful and persuasive speaker with the 1763 “Parson’s Cause.” The Virginia House of Burgesses had passed an economic relief law that reduced the pay of church ministers. King George III overturned the law and five ministers sued for back pay. Only one (Reverend James Maury) won his case and on 1 December 1763, a hearing to establish damages began in Hanover County.
Maury’s counsel praised the clergy, but Henry responded with a one-hour speech that ignored the question of damages. He argued that the King’s action was illegal, that the King was a “tyrant” who did not deserve obedience, and that the clergy had proven themselves to be “enemies of the community” by opposing an act providing economic relief to the people. He was accused of treason against the Crown but continued without being challenged by the presiding judge. The judge was Colonel John Henry, Patrick’s father.
Patrick Henry urged the jury to make an example of Maury by awarding damages of “one farthing.” After only a few minutes, the jury awarded damages of “one penny.” Because of this victory, Henry’s popularity skyrocketed in backwoods Virginia. He added 164 clients in the year following the “Parson’s Cause.”
Henry’s next big trial involved voter fraud and he made an impassioned speech supporting the rights of voters. He lost the case, but his popularity again skyrocketed because he had eloquently defended the common man. He also met some influential people including Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, and George Wythe.
When a position became vacant, Patrick Henry rode his popularity to being elected Burgess for Louisa County in May 1765. He at once left for Williamsburg to join the session that had already begun. He joined just in time to consider a response to the hated Stamp Act.
Patrick Henry reacted to the Stamp Act by introducing the “Virginia Stamp Act Resolves.” He saw the Stamp Act to be a threat to Virginian’s rights. However, many in the House of Burgesses felt Henry also saw a chance to advance himself politically, and resistance to this “upstart” developed.
There are no transcriptions of Henry’s remarks, but we know that he spoke often. Thomas Jefferson, still a student, recalled the “splendor of Henry’s oratory.” According to one source he referred to killing the King and was again accused of treason. Unrepentant, he reportedly responded: “If this be treason, make the most of it!”
The Burgesses adopted five resolutions that were similar to petitions they had sent to London in 1764. On 31 May 1765, the Royal Governor blocked publication of the resolutions. A more radical version than was passed was published in newspapers and touted as the resolves of the Colony of Virginia. This radical version reached Britain by mid-August, the first colonial reaction to the act. The byproduct was that this radical version galvanized opposition to the Stamp Act. It also firmly established Patrick Henry as an uncompromising opponent of the Crown throughout the colonies.
The Royal Governor dissolved the House of Burgesses on 1 June 1765 hoping the radicals would be voted out, but it backfired, and conservatives lost instead. The Burgesses met again in November 1766 after the British Parliament had repealed the Stamp Act. Henry was active, but apparently more subdued during this session. His standing within the Burgesses improved and he served on some powerful committees.
During the late 1760s and early 1770s, Henry mostly concentrated on personal affairs. The Henry family moved to a new house in Louisa County in late 1765 and in 1769 they moved back to Hanover County. His law practice was strong and in 1769 he was admitted to practice before the General Court of Virginia in Williamsburg, a more prestigious venue.
Henry also speculated in frontier land in what is now West Virginia and Kentucky, and in the Ohio Valley. His profits allowed him to buy Scotchtown, a large plantation in Hanover County in 1771. He bought Scotchtown from John Payne, the father of Dolly Madison.
After the birth of their sixth child in 1771, Sarah began to exhibit symptoms of mental illness. The main reason for the move to Scotchtown was so Sarah could be near family.
By the early 1770’s, the American colonies were moving rapidly toward complete rebellion. Henry believed war with Britain was inevitable and would lead to independence. Beginning in 1773, Virginians had open conflicts with British officials including the Royal Governor Lord Dunmore.
When the British closed the port of Boston, Massachusetts some Burgesses, including Henry, met to draft a Virginia response. It was here that Henry and George Mason developed a friendship that lasted until Mason’s death in 1792.
Lord Dunmore dissolved the House of Burgesses to block the response. The Virginians then met in a tavern “in convention” to complete their work and called for a boycott of British goods. The ensuing “Five Virginia Conventions” would guide Virginia to independence as royal authority gradually came to an end.
Washington (center) Henry (R) and Pendleton on Road to Philadelphia
There was still a divide between Virginians who wanted independence and those who wanted to reach an accommodation, but the rebels were gaining ground every day. One major decision was to send a seven-man delegation to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Patrick Henry was one of the Virginia delegates. Henry, George Washington, and Edmund Pendleton travelled together to Philadelphia.
The Congressional session began on 5 September 1774. Delegates from other colonies had heard of Henry and knew him as the man who had taken the lead in Virginia’s resistance to the Crown. They were not disappointed because Henry spoke often and his eloquence, logic, and powers of persuasion were commented on by many. His presentations “electrified” the house. He did not win every debate but became an “especially influential member” of the body.
Henry believed that Congress should mobilize public opinion in favor of war. In this he found common cause with John and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts. A petition of grievances was drafted by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania in consultation with Henry and Richard Henry Lee and was passed on 26 October. Henry had departed Philadelphia, so Lee signed the resolution on his behalf. This petition was of course rejected by London.
Sarah Henry died in February 1775, which was a terrible emotional blow for Patrick. He could not abide anything that reminded him of her, which led to the sale of Scotchtown in 1777.
Henry was elected a Hanover County delegate to the Second Virginia Convention, which convened on 20 March 1775. This meeting was held in Richmond to protect it from Royal interference. The delegates discussed a petition from the Jamaica Colony, which included complaints against the Crown. It also stated that ultimate power belonged to the Crown.
Virginia had very strong ties to Britain and many favored the Jamaican document. Henry did not favor it. He offered amendments to raise a militia independent of royal authority, recognizing that war with Britain was inevitable. The moderates were incensed by Henry’s positions, but he strongly defended his amendments. This is when Patrick Henry made the famous speech that contained the seven words he is best known for.
Again, we have no contemporary text. The text was reconstructed from several sources 18 years after Henry’s death. That version has been challenged by some historians but is the most widely accepted. The last paragraph was:
“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
In conclusion Henry plunged a letter opener towards his chest. His stirring words and passion carried the day, and the convention adopted his amendments, but by a narrow margin. Many delegates were still worried about where resistance would lead, and few counties actually formed the proposed militia units.
On 21 April 1775, Lord Governor Dunmore had Royal Marines seize gunpowder from the Williamsburg magazine and move it to a British ship. The gunpowder belonged to the colonists and resulted in the short-lived “Gunpowder Incident.”
Henry was on his way to Philadelphia when he learned of the “incident.” He diverted to take command of a militia force that marched toward Williamsburg. He had sufficient troops to defeat Dunmore, but moderates intervened and convinced Henry to halt before reaching his target.
The moderates were frightened by Patrick Henry’s words and actions. They were fearful that his radicalism would result in war against Britain’s might and would put their “property” in jeopardy. However, many county committees officially approved of him and common men supported him. When Henry resumed his journey to Philadelphia, he was escorted to the Potomac River by militia who lined the shore and cheered as his ferry pulled away.
Henry arrived at the congress on 18 May 1775 and according to Jefferson, played only a supporting role. There is no complete record, but what there is seems to support Jefferson’s statement. This congress appointed George Washington to be commander of all the American forces and Henry supported this appointment. When the congressional session ended in August, Henry returned to Virginia. He would never again hold office outside Virginia.
The Third Virginia Convention commissioned Henry as colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment, and he took command in August 1775. He attracted many recruits, but Washington opposed the commission because he correctly believed Henry was more valuable in the political arena. Henry’s military position was manipulated by the moderates until in February 1776 he resigned his commission. His troops were outraged and considered leaving the army, but Henry defused the situation.
Henry was ineligible to serve in the Fourth Virginia Convention, but he was elected to the Fifth Convention in April 1776. Most delegates favored independence but were divided on how to declare it and on timing. Henry introduced a resolution declaring Virginia independent and urging Congress to declare all colonies free. When he spoke, clergyman Edmund Randolph, said that Patrick Henry “was in an element for which he was born.” The final resolution passed on 15 May 1776. It declared Virginia’s independence and instructed their congressional delegates to press for American independence. This was very effectively carried out by delegates Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson.
The Virginia convention then went to work drafting a state constitution and many momentous decisions were made. George Mason drafted a “Declaration of Rights” which was used by Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence and by authors of many other state constitutions. At the request of James Madison, Henry proposed changing Mason’s call for religious tolerance to full freedom of worship, but the Anglicans defeated it. Madison reworked the proposal and it passed later.
Despite the early reluctance of many to cut their close ties with Britain, Virginia became an American political leader. Virginia produced many national leaders at all levels and later became known as the “State of Presidents.”
Henry was elected the first governor of Virginia, but this was originally a figurehead position with virtually no power. He was sworn in on 5 July 1776 but became ill and recuperated at Scotchtown. He returned to Williamsburg in September. He tried to aid Washington’s army by recruiting troops and supplies with limited success. Virginians were willing to serve in local militias, but many balked at being deployed outside the state.
When the British forced Washington to retreat from Philadelphia, the Virginia legislature granted Henry temporary expanded powers. Thomas Jefferson believed Henry was trying to become a dictator and was still upset by this decision and angry with Henry years later.
Dorothea Dandridge
Henry was reelected to another term as governor being sworn in on 2 July 1777. On 9 October he married Dorothea Dandridge, daughter of Nathaniel West Dandridge who was an uncle of Martha Washington. Henry had six children from his first marriage and would add eleven more with Dorothea. Two of the eleven died young. After selling Scotchtown in 1777 the Henry family moved to Leatherwood Plantation in Henry County. This county was named after Patrick.
During Valley Forge, Henry sent cattle and other food to help the army. However, his most important action was that he had received a letter about the “Conway Cabal,” a plot to remove General Washington from command. Henry forwarded the letter to Washington. Being tipped off, Washington was able to thwart the conspiracy, and he felt gratitude to Henry for the rest of his life.
Henry sent an expedition commanded by George Rogers Clark to the western frontier in December 1777 to secure Virginia’s claim to that vast area. Clark captured the main British and French settlement and remained north of the Ohio River until the end of Henry’s term. This expedition was touted by Henry as successful, but in reality, it achieved little.
On 29 May 1778 Henry was elected to a third term as governor. In December he petitioned the Continental Congress for naval forces to protect the Chesapeake Bay, but Congress did not act. On 8 May 1779, a British fleet entered the bay and landed troops in Virginia. They captured Portsmouth and Suffolk, destroying critical supplies. The British withdrew on 24 May.
Being legally limited to three consecutive terms Henry left office in June 1779 and was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. Henry and his family returned to Leatherwood Plantation where he devoted himself to local affairs. He refused to be a delegate to Congress again but was elected to the Virgina House of Delegates. Illness soon caused him to return to Leatherwood, but while in Richmond (the new capital of Virginia) he had temporarily defeated a plan to revalue Continental currency and raise taxes.
At home, Henry became involved in recruiting volunteers to defeat bands of Loyalists who were conducting raids in the frontier. Henry did not command the troops but rode with them. They succeeded in suppressing the Loyalists and disbanded in September 1780.
In 1781 the war moved into Virginia. The American traitor, Benedict Arnold led a British force that captured Richmond forcing the government to abandon the city. Arnold soon withdrew to Portsmouth and Lord Cornwallis’ army entered Virginia from North Carolina. General Washington was near New York City, so Henry began recruiting defenders. In March he helped draft an angry complaint to Congress demanding help which did not come. In May, British forces under Colonel Banastre Tarleton raided Charlottesville, nearly capturing the Virginia government.
Governor Jefferson had taken refuge at his farm. His term had expired but the legislature could not meet to hold an election. Virginia was without a governor for ten days, which caused a call for an inquiry into Jefferson’s conduct. Henry was one who got the inquiry resolution passed. Jefferson held a grudge about this even after Henry’s death.
The Revolutionary War essentially ended with the American victory at Yorktown, Virginia on 19 October 1781. Peace brought many changes. Henry sponsored legislation to reform Virginia’s currency and to adjust payments for contracts still outstanding from periods of high inflation. Jefferson and others wanted to reopen settled contracts, but because of his influence, Henry was able defeat this effort.
In May 1783, Henry successfully proposed legislation to repeal the trade embargo against Britain. He also proposed, against strong opposition, that Loyalists be allowed to return to Virginia. During the debate Henry said: “shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, be frightened of its whelps?” An amended version of his bill passed in November.
Patrick Henry and James Madison cooperated on several issues but differed on state support of Virginia’s Protestant churches. Madison, like Jefferson, wanted a separation of church and state that meant no public financing. Henry believed that all Christian churches should receive public funds. Washington and Lee also supported such a plan. The General Assembly did not act on Henry’s bill, because on 17 November 1784, he was again elected governor.
Madison got Henry’s bill postponed and eventually defeated. Madison then proposed Jefferson’s “Statute for Religious Freedom.” In 1786 the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill requiring separation of state and church.
Henry had a peaceful term as governor with some notable exceptions. Most militia units balked at serving outside Virginia, so he and the legislature tried to bring them under state control. This resulted in a near revolt in the counties and the laws were quickly repealed. He also proposed, and the legislature passed, a “Treason Act” forbidding the establishment of a rival government within Virginia.
Governor Henry worked to advance Virginia’s economic development through government action and his own investments. He supported a few bizarre schemes and devoted so much time to them that he failed to notify Virginia delegates of their appointment with Maryland to discuss navigation on the Potomac. Only two were able to attend. He did get delegates to the Annapolis Conference, which pushed for a Constitutional Convention.
Patrick Henry stepped down at the end of his term to devote time to his family and his law practice. He bought property in Prince Edward County, and enrolled his sons in Hampden-Sydney College, which he had helped found in 1775. He was elected to the House of Delegates in 1787 and served until the end of 1790. Governor Randolph offered to send Henry to the Constitutional Convention, but he declined.
Henry had always urged unity among the states and as late as the end of 1786, James Madison had hoped Henry would ally with him on a Constitution. However, Henry had become very suspicious of the intentions of the northern states. He felt congress failed to protect Virginia settlers in the Ohio Valley. He was particularly outraged by the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty which had granted exclusive navigation rights on the Mississippi River to Spain. That treaty was an exchange for commercial concessions that would have benefitted New England. Luckily, there were enough southern votes to block the treaty’s ratification. These and other events caused Virginians and other southerners to have little trust in the north.
When the Constitutional Convention adjourned in September 1787, its president, George Washington sent a copy of the new Constitution to Henry suggesting that he support ratification. Henry replied that he could not support the Constitution as written. George Mason and Edmund Randolph had been delegates to the convention and also opposed the Constitution. Madison, who became known as the “Father of the Constitution” was ill and could not attend to defend the document.
Patrick Henry opposed the Constitution because he believed it gave too much power to the federal government, particularly the President. He had not fought to free Virginia from King George to surrender power to another “despot.” He wanted a bill of rights to defend individual rights, and more protection for “state’s rights.”
Henry’s oratory dominated consideration of the new Constitution. According to one observer, Henry’s “personality blazed in all its power and glory.” He realized he was fighting a losing battle, however, and joined Mason proposing a bill of rights and other amendments to reduce federal power. Henry did not prevail, and Virginia ratified the Constitution on 26 June 1788, the 10th state to do so. Ratification was, however, accompanied by recommendations that a bill of rights and other amendments be adopted. The Virginia session was then adjourned.
Congress added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution and made some minor changes to the text. This did not allay Henry’s fear of a too-powerful government but once passed and ratified he worked to implement the Constitution.
When Henry returned to the House of Delegates, he successfully defeated Madison’s campaign to become a federal senator. (The Constitution originally had senators selected by state legislatures rather than by popular vote.). Henry served as a Virginia presidential elector voting for George Washington for President and John Adams for Vice President, who became the first executives of the United States.
He opposed the Funding Act of 1790 by which the federal government took over the debts of the states, much of which was a result of the Revolutionary War. The House of Delegates passed his resolution that declared it “exercised a power not granted to the general (federal) government.” This was the first of many decades of resolutions by southern legislatures defending states’ rights. The question of States’ rights was the major contributing factor leading to the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Patrick Henry left the House of Delegates after 1790 and like many of our founders found himself in debt. He began to speculate in land and returned to his law practice.
When the new federal court was opened in Virginia in 1790, British creditors filed over 100 cases seeking to recover claims from the Revolutionary War. Henry was part of the defense team in one case in 1791. His co-counsel included John Marshall who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1801. During this hearing Marshall prepared written pleadings and Henry did most of the oral presentations. Later Marshall called Henry “a great orator…..and much more a learned lawyer, a most accurate thinker and a profound reasoner.”
After an inconclusive ending the case was argued before another three-judge panel. Henry’s oral argument prompted Justice James Iredell to exclaim, “Gracious God! He is an orator indeed.” The British eventually won the case.
Despite having strained relations with several powerful people, including Washington and Jefferson, Henry was offered many important federal and state positions during the 1790’s. He was also encouraged to run for elected office, but he turned them all down often citing age and health. These refusals increased his popularity as he was, like Washington seen as “Cincinnatus” giving up power to return to his farm and plow.
Henry sold his Prince Edward County property in 1792 and purchased Long Island plantation in Campbell County. In 1794 he also purchased Red Hill Plantation in Charlotte County where they lived most of the year.
In early 1799, Washington convinced Henry to run for the Virginia legislature. He was elected and returned to Red Hill Plantation to await the next session. He never left Red Hill again dying of stomach cancer on 6 June 1799. He and his wife Dorothea (died 1831) are both buried at Red Hill.
USS Patrick Henry SSBN-599
Patrick Henry has been honored in many ways by his contemporaries, news media, government, and historians. Even modern political groups, both right and left, claim Henry, and he is often cited by them. In actuality, Henry did not write much of anything down so the details of most of his oratory are lost completely or have been reconstructed by those that heard him speak. This absence of basic material limits historians who know little of his actual words or reasoning.
No matter: what we do know is that his words explained the Revolution to ordinary people and inspired them to fight for liberty. He espoused a political belief that led away from the elitism of the eighteenth century to the nineteenth century populist politics of Andrew Jackson. Both sides in the Civil War claimed Henry as inspiration.
I don’t know anything about Henry’s reasoning, but I do know he was a patriot who contributed much to our Revolution and early development. His oratory was dynamic and stirring. He inspired most and irritated some. He never shrank from speaking the truth as he saw it, which was demonstrated by his unpopular opposition to the Constitution. He trusted the common men and women of our Republic and gave them a voice. My personal opinion is that Patrick Henry was the Winston Churchill of his day and was a true American hero.
Map of Northwest Territory Showing Present Day States
From the earliest colonial days Americans were restless and moving west. Some just wanted to see what was on “the other side of the mountain.” Many wanted land they could develop using their own sweat without government interference. Most wanted to be away from the more “crowded” east and the taxes and restrictions of government. Some of my family were original settlers of what is now Sevier County, Tennessee. In their letters they wrote that they had to get away from the “high taxes and crowds of Virginia. ”
The three great colonial monarchies, Britain, France, and Spain occupied early America and were bitter competitors. Poorer settlers often ventured into foreign governed areas in their quest for land and opportunity and were usually welcomed. All the powers were trying to develop their economies and build up population in an effort to dominate the continent. As the early settlers pushed west into Indian lands, the more they were attacked by the Indians who did not appreciate incursions into their tribal lands.
The French and Indian War (1754-1763) pitted the French against the British in a struggle for colonial dominance. It was a brutal and bloody conflict. Both sides used their regular forces allied with militia units and Indian warriors. The militia and Indians generally did not follow the European rules of “civilized” warfare.
This war resulted in a British victory, which made them the major power on the continent. The French gave up all lands east of the Mississippi River and French Canada to Britain. The other major power, Spain, traded Florida for Cuba and gained control of Louisiana from the French. French presence in North America was essentially eliminated. However, France got revenge by becoming American allies during the successful American Revolutionary War.
Sorry about quality
When the Revolutionary War ended in a British defeat the details of surrender were hammered out in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The British ceded claim to all their North American territories except Canada to the new nation, which at the time was being governed by the Articles of Confederation.
The Confederation Congress had wisely established federal control of westward expansion, and most of the “landed states” had turned over the land from their western boundaries to the Mississippi River to Congress. In 1787 Congress set up the first post-colonial territory, the Northwest Territory (officially known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio). This territory included most of the former British colonial territory west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The congressional ordinance established the territory, defined its boundaries, its form of government, and administrative structure. It defined the bodies of government, set up the legal basis of land ownership, provided for abolition and transfer of state territorial claims, made rules for admission of new states, established public education, recognized and codified “natural rights,” prohibited slavery, and defined the land rights and applicability of laws to Indians.
The Northwest Territory was more than 260,000 square miles which was about one-third of the land area of the United States at the time. It was mostly a wilderness inhabited by about 45,000 Native Americans, a few French settlements, a few British forts, and American settlers who had ignored the British ban on colonial settlements west of the Appalachians. This arbitrary ban had angered Americans and was one of the contributing factors leading to the Revolutionary War. The territory consisted of all land “west of Pennsylvania, north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes.”
The Thomas Jefferson sponsored Land Ordinance of 1785 had set up a standard surveying system to be used for westward expansion based on the use of Townships (36 square miles), Sections (1 Square mile) and quarter sections (160 acres). This system is still in use today. The ordinance also established ownership procedures and rules. On 7 August 1789, the new United States Congress affirmed the Northwest Territory Ordinance with minor modifications.
One revolutionary feature of the Land Ordinance of 1787 set aside land in each township for “the maintenance of public schools within the said township.” This was the first-time government had made establishment of public education a priority. Another was the first ever prohibition of slavery although the “Fugitive Slave Law” still applied. One provision that we all take for granted today was “fee simple ownership” by which ownership was in “perpetuity” with the owner having total control of his land.
Major General Arthur St. Clair by Charles W. Peale
The first governor of the territory was Major General Arthur St. Clair. He formally established the territorial government on 15 July 1788, which was a modified form of martial law. Executive and legislative functions were combined, and a supreme court was set up. This court was the first civil and criminal law in this pioneer country. County governments were organized as soon as the population was sufficient, and these assumed local administrative and judicial functions.
Since the territorial population of free males exceeded 5,000 in 1798, a legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Council was established as the government of the territory. However, the governor retained veto power. All the protocols for establishing new states were in place, and there was an increase of immigrants into the territory. The population of free white males in 1792 was under 8,000 but by 1800 had increased to more than 50,000.
There were two major problems facing the settlers and the United States Government. One was that the British had not withdrawn from their western and northern forts in the territory. They did not respect the US, believing they lost the Revolutionary War only because of French intervention. They believed they could hold back American westward expansion by maintaining a military barrier to immigration in the Northwest Territory. The British claimed they were not withdrawing because the Americans had not lived up to all the provisions of the 1783 Treaty of Paris. This was a thorn in the side of the US and was one of the many factors that led to the War of 1812.
The second problem was that the 45,000 Native Americans who lived in the territory were not overjoyed by the influx of white settlers. Supported by the British military, they conducted bloody raids against the new settlers, which required the Americans to retaliate in kind. An attempt to end the hostilities by treaty was botched and made matters worse. The “Northwest Indian War” escalated and a campaign led by General Josiah Harmer with 1,500 militia was defeated in October 1790.
General St. Clair then led a “punitive” campaign in March 1791. His force of two Regular Army Regiments and some militia advanced on Indian settlements near the headwaters of the Wabash River. On 4 November, the Americans were routed by an alliance of Miami and Shawnee tribes. More than 600 American soldiers and many women and children were killed with only about 50 Indians killed. Appropriately the battle became Known as “St. Clair’s Defeat” and is the greatest US Army defeat by Native Americans in US history. This defeat led President Washington to demand that St. Clair resign his military commission.
MG “Mad” Anthony Wayne
In June 1792, Secretary of War Major General Henry Knox and President Washington selected Major General “Mad” Anthony Wayne to avenge the American defeat and to finally establish US sovereignty over the frontier. Wayne was to muster a force of 5,120 professional soldiers, and he did it the right way. He recruited and trained his army in Pennsylvania and when fully prepared moved into the Northwest Territory in the fall of 1793. Wayne was joined by the Kentucky Militia commanded by Major General Charles Scott.
For the next ten months, the combined force marched north up the Great Miami and Maumee River valleys engaging the enemy and setting up a series of forts. Although fierce battles occurred around some of these forts, none of Wayne’s forts fell to the Indians.
The British military was actively supporting the Indian tribes in American territory, and in mid-1794 they established Fort Miamis near present day Toledo, Ohio. This was expected to halt Wayne’s advance on the illegal British stronghold at Detroit. The final battle of Wayne’s campaign occurred near this fort against the Indian Western Confederacy which was supported by a company of British soldiers. This battle, the “Battle of Fallen Timbers,” was a resounding American victory.
In the fall of 1794 Wayne’s army marched unopposed to the capital of the Miamis. Once there he built Fort Wayne, a defiant symbol of American sovereignty in the heart of Indian country. Even after these defeats, the British still did not entirely withdraw from the territory. The 1794 Jay’s Treaty was concluded to smooth relations with British traders and to agree for the British military to withdraw. The British did not honor the treaty and were not completely evicted from American soil until their defeat in the War of 1812. The 1814 Treaty of Ghent officially ended the War of 1812, and the British were finally forced to totally withdraw from American soil.
The 3 August 1795 Treaty of Greenville had secured relative peace on the western frontier opening large areas for safer settlement. The treaty ended the Northwest Indian War and was negotiated between the US Government and the Western Confederacy. It established a border between Indian lands and US land and set up payments for ceded Indian land.
Shawnee Chief Tecumseh
The treaty did not include all the Indian tribes. The Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, boycotted the agreement and organized a confederation to oppose white encroachment, which led to more war. In the end the treaty was violated by both sides, especially by the white settlers who continued to push Indians out of their ancestral land. This treaty was just one in a long series of treaties that resulted in Indians losing land.
Once relative peace was achieved, settlers flooded the territory and began establishing the settlements that would become the great cities of the Midwest. The push for admission of new states began as the population increased, and political groups became active.
On 4 July 1800, in preparation for Ohio statehood, Congress decreed formation of the Indiana Territory. This included most of the Northwest Territory west of Ohio Territory. Partisan politics came into play during this period, and Territory Governor St. Clair was removed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. He was removed due to his partisanship, arrogance, and opposition to plans for the admission of Ohio.
Once Ohio was admitted to the Union on 1 March 1803, the Northwest Territory was officially disbanded. Ohio was the 17th US state admitted to the Union. The earlier three admissions were Vermont on 4 March 1791, Kentucky on 1 June 1792, and Tennessee on 1 June 1796. The other states that the original Northwest Territory eventually formed were Indiana in 1816, Illinois in 1818, Michigan in 1837, and Wisconsin in 1848.
The 1803 Louisiana Purchase moved the American border west of the Mississippi River and the 1803–1806 Lewis and Clark exploration of that vast territory took Americans to the Pacific Ocean. More mountain men and adventurers moved west, closely followed by permanent settlers who were land hungry. The lessons learned in the Northwest Territory, and the survey system developed there led to the orderly development of territories and admission of states. Our country grew rapidly, and movement west exploded following the Civil War.
Unlike other countries, we are a nation of 50 sovereign states. Our Constitution extends the rights first expressed by our founders equally to all our citizens in every state. Our founders were amazing heroes.
Most have probably never heard of this hero, Presley Neville O’Bannon, but they certainly have heard of his most famous exploit. He was the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Officer who led the successful attack on Derne (or Derna), Tripoli (present day Libya). This attack is immortalized by the line “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps Hymn. His is a story of duty and heroism, but as often happens, he received little recognition from his military superiors or the US Government in general for reasons known only to them. Although it is the exception rather than the rule, we can find other examples of the same shabby treatment to heroes throughout our history, but O’Bannon is one of the earliest.
Presley, one of 13 children, was born in 1776 in Fauquier County, Virginia. His father, William O’Bannon was a Captain in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. His mother, Anne Neville, was a sister of Revolutionary War General John Neville. Presley was appointed Second Lieutenant in the young USMC on 18 January 1801 and served in domestic postings before going to sea in 1802. While in the Mediterranean, he was promoted to First Lieutenant on 15 October 1802. He returned to the US in 1803 and served at the Marine Barracks in Washington, DC until he was deployed to the Mediterranean again in May 1804. While serving on the USS Argus, he was selected for a “special mission”.
These were turbulent times in the Mediterranean and the newly formed United States was being humiliated by the Barbary States (Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli) by paying tribute to allow the USA to peacefully sail in the Mediterranean Sea. The Barbary rulers were satisfied with the arrangement except for the Pasha of Tripoli (Yusuf Karamanli) who demanded more money more often. To show his dissatisfaction with the US he had the flagstaff of the US Consulate cut down, which led the US to declare war on the Barbary States and to cease tribute payments.
This state of war resulted in the US sending additional Naval forces to the Mediterranean. One of these ships (USS Philadelphia) went aground on the coast of Tripoli during a storm. The crew was captured and imprisoned at Derne. A US offer of ransom and a bombardment of Tripoli failed to convince the Pasha to release the Americans.
General William Eaton
At this point, one man had the guts to propose taking direct action against the Pasha, and replacing him with his brother, Hamet. This man was William Eaton, a former Army Officer, who was the US “Naval Agent for the Barbary Regencies.”
The Jefferson Administration and Hamet agreed, so Eaton started the ball rolling by assembling his invading force in Egypt. His army was made up of about 500 mercenaries, soldiers of fortune, and O’Bannon’s detachment of seven Marines and two US Navy Midshipmen.
This army marched 600 miles through the brutal Libyan desert and reached Derne, Tripoli on 25 March 1805. After a demand to surrender was rebuffed, Eaton attacked the Derne defenses on 27 March with supporting fire from US Naval vessels. However, the defenders were well prepared and were successfully resisting the attack.
At this point Lt. O’Bannon, his seven marines, a few Greek mercenaries, and some artillery crewmen attacked across the battlefield under heavy musket fire and successfully breached the walls. After brutal hand-to-hand fighting, O’Bannon planted the US flag on the ramparts, which was the first time in history that our national banner was raised on foreign soil during war.
American Attack on Derne, TripoliO’Bannon planting colors Ramparts, Derne, Tripoli
The attackers repulsed several counterattacks and after a bayonet charge that drove the enemy from the field, Derne was secured on 28 May. The assault on Derne would eventually be remembered by the line in the Marine Corps Hymn “to the shores of Tripoli.”
It appeared that a new treaty that would end the Barbary piracy and bring peace to the Mediterranean was on the horizon. However, this is where the duplicity of O’Bannon’s and Eaton’s superiors rears its ugly head as the US Government screws them and places them in greater danger. Not suspecting they were being sold out, they asked Consul General Tobias Lear for reinforcements because they were still fighting off counterattacks and were greatly outnumbered.
What they didn’t know was that Lear was negotiating a treaty with Yusuf, which was signed on 4 June 1805. Eaton and O’Bannon were informed by Commodore Samuel Barron, Commander of the US Naval Forces in the area, that their agreement with Hamet was nullified and that Yusuf was considered the rightful ruler.
The Americans were ordered to withdraw and board the USS Constellation under cover of darkness. Hamet’s Arab supporters realized they were being abandoned and rushed the last boarding boat with curses and threats. This had to be very humiliating for O’Bannon and Eaton who were already deeply disappointed by the situation.
To their surprise, Eaton and O’Bannon were given a hero’s welcome when they arrived in Philadelphia. Common people and local politicians admired their feats of bravery in service to the USA. O’Bannon was presented with a gold saddle and white satin cover for his horses. He had managed to return with two Arabian horses and Hamet had given him a jeweled Marmeluke sword in recognition of his bravery at Derne. Somehow the saddle, satin cover and sword were lost. My belief is that they were confiscated by the United States Government, which is the fate of outside gifts to those serving the USA.
O’Bannon rode home to Virginia on one of his Arabs, and in December 1805 he was honored by the Virginia General Assembly. They authorized the making of an ornate sword with a Marmeluke hilt with a depiction of him raising the flag at Derne. (This sword was finally completed and awarded to O’Bannon in 1812.) A modified design of this sword was adopted as the official USMC Officer’s dress sword in 1825. The sword was adopted by Marine Commandant, Archibald Henderson, in recognition of O’Bannon’s distinguished service and is still in use today.
Photo USMC Officer’s Dress Sword
O’Bannon certainly appreciated all the attention in Philadelphia and Virginia, but he rightfully expected a promotion, or at least a Brevet rank from the Marine Corps. This was not to be, so he resigned his commission in March 1807. Marine Commandant, Franklin Wharton, penned a very terse acceptance letter, making no mention of O’Bannon’s heroic service in the Barbary War.
After his resignation, O’Bannon briefly served in an artillery unit and a cavalry company, but by 1809 he was done with military service and returned to Virginia. He married Matilda Heard, granddaughter of Revolutionary War General David Morgan, in 1811. Following thier marriage, the couple sold off their Virginia property and moved to Kentucky where they had recently inherited property. O’Bannon became involved in local politics and served in both houses of the state legislature in1812 and from1824-1836.
Unfortunately, Matilda suffered from mental illness, which resulted in divorce and remarriage in 1832. By 1843 much of their property had been sold to cover expenses. Presley O’Bannon spent his remaining years living quietly in the company of close friends, and according to some, with lingering memories of his glory in the Barbary War. Matilda died in 1850.
O’Bannon Grave, Frankfort, KY
Presley died on 12 September 1850 in Pleasureville, Kentucky where his daughter and a nephew resided. He was buried with little fanfare in Henry County, Kentucky. There he lay with little notice until 1920 when a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution correctly felt that the “hero of Derne” deserved more recognition. They had his remains moved to the State Monument Grounds at the capital in Frankfort, Kentucky, and erected a monument in his memory. They also promoted him to “Captain” on the monument.
Presley Neville O’Bannon is another American who greatly contributed to our national identity, development, and heroic legends, but who was treated badly by his superiors. Finally, in the 20th century three US Navy war ships were named for O’Bannon, and O’Bannon Hall was located at the Marine Basic School in Quantico, Virginia. However, O’Bannon deserves to be much better known by the American public. We always need genuine heroes to admire and emulate.
When researching the American revolutionary era, reference is often made to the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. (The complete name of the document.) I realized that I knew little about this first attempt to establish an American government. About all I knew was the over-generalization that the articles were inadequate because they didn’t establish an effective central government. This isn’t much to know about such an important national document. Attempting to create a government unlike any other in the world, based on revolutionary principals sounds like a daunting task to me. And it was.
The effort to improve cooperation among the colonies actually began with the Albany Congress in 1754 when Benjamin Franklin proposed a collaboration to solve mutual problems. The colonies were still loyal to the Crown when the “Albany Plan” was adopted. However, the colonial relationship with the Crown began to rapidly deteriorate, and the “Albany Plan” became irrelevant.
Increasing colonial disobedience was met with British measures to regain control. This only increased resistance and resulted in armed clashes. Revolution was in the air and the common man’s support for it was increasing. Events were outpacing the politicians so in 1775 the Second Continental Congress became the Provisional Government.
The colonists needed to move from being “outlaws” to being a legitimate nation and they needed international recognition and foreign allies. Tom Paine’s “Common Sense” was demanding a formal declaration of American independence so the country could join the family of nations. He argued that all nations would be against the American struggle for independence without a declaration.
Richard Henry Lee-Alpha History
On 7 June 1776 Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress declaring the “colonies independent.” He also urged congress to resolve “to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances” and to prepare a plan of “confederation” for the newly independent states. Congress, to their credit, created three overlapping committees to draft the declaration, a model treaty, and articles of confederation.
The 4 July 1776 Declaration of Independence announced the nation’s entry into the international system and the model treaty had been designed to establish relations and commerce with other nations.
Congress had appointed a 13-man committee on 12 June 1776 to draft a constitution for a union of the states. The first draft was submitted on 12 July 1776, and long and contentious debates began. Congress was forced by British forces to abandon Philadelphia in the winter of 1776 and in the fall of 1777, but the committee doggedly continued their work and presented the final draft of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union on 15 November 1777.
Consensus on the final draft had been achieved by inserting language guaranteeing each state’s sovereignty, leaving western land claims to individual states, voting in congress would en bloc by state, and establishing a single legislative body with limited powers. Changes to the Articles could only be made with the agreement of all 13 states. (Right away it is clear that such a system would have problems.)
The Articles were sent to the states for ratification in late November 1777. Virginia was the first state to ratify on 16 December 1777, and 12 states had ratified by February 1779. Maryland was the lone holdout because they insisted that the landed states, such as Virginia and Massachusetts, cede their claims west of the Ohio River to the legislature. It took two years to get language that satisfied Maryland and they ratified on 2 February 1781. Congress had been using the Articles as its de facto frame for government but on 1 March 1781 the Articles were officially proclaimed as the law of the land.
The Articles of Confederation contain a preamble, thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signature section. The individual articles set the rules for current and future operations of the Confederation’s central government—the Congress. The document states that its provisions “shall be inviolably observed by every state” and that “the Union shall be perpetual.”
Under the Articles the states retained sovereignty over all government functions not specifically given to the national Congress. The Congress could make war and peace, negotiate diplomatic and commercial agreements with foreign governments, and resolve inter-state disputes. Sounds like the Congress had lots of power, but it had no power to tax nor power to compel the states to live up to their obligations.
Valley Forge Sentry, 1777-78, By andrewknezjr.com, Pinterest
This impotence was particularly visible by the state’s failure to support the army during the Revolutionary War. Even during the terrible winter at Valley Forge, the states did not step up to supply food, clothing, ammunition, arms, or pay. It was a miracle, and the generosity of Robert Morris, that allowed the army to survive and became effective.
Following the war, independence had been won, but the country was recovering from the long and costly war. The new nation was weak and fragile with no guarantee that it would survive. Although the Articles were imperfect, they did provide initial stability and organization.
Congress could not force the states to fund the Congressional promise to provide Continental soldiers and sailors with back pay, land grants, and life-time pensions. They hadn’t supported the military during the war and once the war ended, they felt no sense of urgency at all. During the war, General Henry Knox, who became the first Secretary of War under the Constitution, had openly blamed the weakness of the Articles for the lack of support for the military. Knox continued agitating for a constitutional convention until it finally happened.
Complicating the military situation under the Articles, was the fact that the army was small, poorly equipped, and barely able to protect frontier settlers from Native American attack. The small army was unable to respond to any national emergency, such as Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts. Each state had a militia, but they kept tight control of them. Eleven states even had their own navy.
Signing of Treaty of Paris 1783 by Benjamin West-British Delegation Refused to Pose
Foreign Policy was also a disaster, especially without a strong military to back it up. The 1783 “Treaty of Paris,” which ended the Revolutionary War, was not ratified for months because Congressmen attended when they felt like it, and congress could rarely raise a quorum. The American military could not even force the British to withdraw from frontier forts on US soil. The British claimed they were delaying withdrawal because the Americans had not lived up to all provisions of the treaty. This problem was finally resolved in 1795 by “Jay’s Treaty” after the Constitution was adopted.
In the Mediterranean Sea, the Barbary Pirates were collecting tribute from the US to permit safe passage of American vessels. The Barbary States acted with impunity because Congress failed to fund a Navy that could project power.
The 1786 “Jay-Gardoqui Treaty” was another humiliation. It ceded use of the Mississippi River to the Spanish for 25 years, which would strangle American commerce in the western frontier. Luckily, Congress never got around to ratifying this abomination.
Commerce was a big mess. Congress was denied any power to regulate trade or commerce, so each state set their own policies. This resulted in a hodge-podge of foreign and domestic agreements and restrictions. Also, the states and the Confederation had incurred large debts during the Revolutionary War. Some states paid but some did not. Federal assumption of all war debts became a major issue in the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention.
Congress could make decisions but lacked any enforcement powers and was denied the power of taxation. It could only “request” money from the states, and the states never fully complied. To compensate, Congress printed more money, so the money became worthless. George Washington wrote to John Jay (President of the Congress) “that a wagon load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon load of provisions.” In response, Congress requested $45 million from the states. Despite an impassioned plea from Jay, the states did not respond with any funds.
I have documented a litany of things that were wrong with the Articles, but it was an honest first attempt at establishing an entirely new and revolutionary concept of government. The new nation needed this shake-down period to figure out what worked and what didn’t. Two ordinances adopted under the Articles deserve mention because they worked well and had long-range positive impact on the country.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 established land surveying practices and land ownership provisions to be used in the frontier land of the west and northwest. The survey system was based on establishing Townships (36 square miles), Sections (one square mile), and Quarter Sections (160 acres), and was carried forward to later expansion beyond the Mississippi River. This survey system is still in use today.
Map of Northwest Territory Showing Present Day States
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was an agreement of the original states to give up their northwestern land claims. It organized the Northwest Territory and set up a territorial government. It also set up protocols for the admission of new states and established the precedent that the national government was sovereign in westward expansion. Although the Confederation Congress debated admission of new states, none were admitted.
Emergencies, such as Shays’ Rebellion and agitation by General Knox and other influential people resulted in the September 1786 Annapolis Convention which was attended by only five states. This convention did, however, call for a full Constitutional Convention.
It had become obvious to most people that the Articles were not the answer for the country, so when the “big guns” who had produced the Declaration of Independence became interested in a Constitutional Convention it was convened on 25 May 1787. It was also obvious that just tweaking the Articles would not be enough, so they got down to the arduous work of composing an entirely new document. Drafts were debated and edited and on 17 September 1787 (A surprisingly brief time.) the convention delegates signed the Constitution of the United States of America.
On 3 July 1788, New Hampshire ratified the Constitution becoming the ninth state to do so which officially established the new nation. By the end of July, 11 of the 13 states had ratified. On 13 September 1788, the Confederation Congress voted to implement the new Constitution and set the first Wednesday in February 1789 for the election of the first President of the United States. They also set the first Wednesday of March as the day the new government would take over and the Articles of Confederation would end. This was our first peaceful transfer of power, which even today is unique.
Our Constitution is the basis of our greatness and is the envy of the world. It established a government unlike anything before or since. It is a wonderful hybrid that combines the best parts of a centralized government and a confederation and puts the people in charge. “Of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Established “under God,” this democracy “will never perish from the earth.” (President Lincoln had a way with words.) We are a truly free people.
Thank God for our “imperfect” founders and those that followed!!!
Thomas Stone is another founding father that is little known but was essential to the development of his state and of the United States. Stone represented the Colony of Maryland, which initially opposed independence. He was elected to Congress in 1775 when Maryland public opinion was tilting towards independence, and he signed the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. He was also one of the authors of the Articles of Confederation. Stone was re-elected to Congress in1783 but resigned at the end of his term. He was elected to the 1787 Constitutional Convention but declined because of his wife’s failing health. Thomas Stone risked his all for independence. He was a patriot and an American Hero.
Thomas Stone was born in 1743 in Poynton Manor, Charles County, Maryland. He was the second son of the large family of David William and Elizabeth Hannah Stone. His father was a wealthy planter and a descendant of William Stone who was Governor of Maryland during the reign of Oliver Cromwell. Two of Thomas’ brothers also became active in politics: Michael served in the US Congress and John was a Colonel in the Continental Army and a future governor.
Thomas was a tall thin man who was well spoken, religious, and generous. He was very well educated and a member of the “planter class.” He was a quiet man and appeared distant to those who did not know him. His friends, however, said that he had a good sense of humor, was cheerful, familiar, and loyal.
Despite his family wealth Thomas never took it for granted and worked hard to become well educated. When he decided to pursue a legal career, he borrowed (and repaid) the money to finance his training. He studied law under Annapolis, Maryland attorney Thomas Johnson and was admitted to the Bar in 1764. He began his law career in Frederick, Maryland in 1765. Two years later he moved his practice to his home area of Charles County.
Portrait of Margaret Brown
In 1768 Thomas Stone married the love of his life, the beautiful Margaret Brown who was the youngest of Dr. Gustavus Brown’s 14 children. Dr. Brown Was a Scottish Lord with an Edinburgh education and extensive property holdings in Scotland and Maryland. He was very wealthy and provided an excellent education to all his children, including the girls (very unusual in those times).
According to those that knew them, Margaret and Thomas had a very close relationship and were quite happy. The union resulted in three children (two daughters, one son) who all lived to adulthood. Margaret came to the marriage with a dowry, which they used to purchase land near the tiny village of Port Tobacco in Charles County. (Port Tobacco is still tiny having only 13 residents in 2010.)
Habre de Venture, Maryland
In 1770 Thomas and Margaret began construction of a home that they named Habre de Venture. Before they could complete construction, Thomas’ father died, and five of Thomas’ younger siblings came to live with them. This doubling of the family called for a much larger house. The large Georgian-Style house they built still stands today in the Stone National Historic Site. Thomas also eventually expanded his plantation from 400 to about 1,300 acres.
Thomas Stone’s law practice was becoming more successful and more time consuming, so he brought in his brother Michael to develop the plantation while he concentrated on the law. By 1774 Thomas was also becoming involved in local politics and was appointed to the Charles County Committee of Correspondence.
Tensions with the British were running high in the north particularly in Boston, Massachusetts, and revolution was in the air. However, the people in Maryland were mostly against independence believing that negotiations were the answer. Their ties to England were quite strong and they did not want war with the “Mother Country.” Thomas Stone was a pacifist and a conservative, so he was comfortable with and shared the position of his fellow Marylanders.
In 1775, Thomas was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Maryland was so against independence that the legislature gave written instructions to their delegates that denied them the power to support independence without consultation with and approval of the Maryland legislature. In late 1775 and early 1776, opinions of the people in Maryland began tilting towards independence. This was spurred by growing resistance to the Crown’s new oppressive taxes, and especially by Tom Paine’s “Common Sense” which was published in January 1776. The change in public opinion caused the Maryland legislature to reluctantly weaken their tight restrictions on their congressional delegates.
Thomas Stone’s attitude also did a 360 and he became a strong proponent of independence. On 15 May 1776 he voted in favor of drafting a declaration of independence. He was now a true revolutionary and on 4 July 1776 he signed the Declaration of Independence becoming a “founding father.” Thomas Stone didn’t talk much during the debates, nor did he leave many writings, so we don’t know much about his reasoning that resulted in his changed opinions.
After declaring independence congress had to create a government unlike any that had ever existed. Thomas Stone was the Maryland delegate chosen for the Drafting Committee that was to create that government. His writing skills and law background made him a valuable member of that committee. Stone continued to serve until the Articles of Confederation were agreed to on 15 November 1777. The Articles turned out to be woefully inadequate in practice but were a reasonable first attempt.
During the 1776 congressional session, Margaret had joined Thomas in Philadelphia. Due to recent outbreaks of smallpox, Margaret opted to receive a smallpox vaccination which required the ingestion of mercury. Her care after the vaccination was botched and she developed serious mercury poisoning. Her health began to rapidly decline. After signing the Declaration, Thomas quickly took his beloved Margaret back to their home in Charles County.
Thomas Stone declined re-election to congress except for a short 1784 session in Annapolis. He did serve in the Maryland Senate from 1779 to 1785 where he guided the Articles of Confederation to acceptance by Maryland. This was no easy job because there was still powerful opposition. Maryland was the last state to ratify the Articles.
After his government service, Thomas’ legal practice began to increase significantly so he moved his family to Annapolis where he could spend more time with them. Unfortunately, Margaret’s health continued to decline so he eventually gave up his law practice. He gradually withdrew completely from public life so he could personally care for her. After fighting for more than ten years Margaret died in June 1787 at the age of 36.
Photo of Stone Cemetery, Habre de Venture, Maryland
Thomas Stone loved Margaret deeply and was so devastated and depressed by her death that his health began to deteriorate significantly. His doctor recommended that he take a sea voyage to get away from all the memories, so he planned a trip to England. He was in Alexandria, Virginia waiting to embark when he died on 5 October 1787. Thomas Stone was only 44 years old. He and Margaret are buried at Habre de Venture.
Thomas Stone is a little-known political figure but was important to the development of the state of Maryland and the United States. He signed the Declaration of Independence and was an important participant in the first efforts to establish a functioning government through the Articles of Confederation. Unfortunately, his contributions were cut short by an early death. Thomas Stone became a revolutionary and a patriot. He was a true American Hero.
General Henry Knox-By Gilbert Stuart, 1806 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Henry Knox was a self-educated artillery officer and military engineer who reached the rank of Major General during the Revolutionary War. He was the first Secretary of War. He established formal artillery training, two military arsenals, and oversaw the beginnings of today’s National Guard system. He laid the groundwork for army and navy military academies. Despite his personal idealism about Native American rights, Knox oversaw wars to remove them from their ancestral lands. After retirement he earned a reputation as a heartless landlord. Henry Knox was imperfect, but he was a true American patriot, and a self-made American hero.
Henry Knox was born on 25 July 1750 in Boston Massachusetts, the seventh of ten children of William Knox and Mary Campbell Knox who were Ulster-Scot immigrants. William Knox died in the West Indies in 1762. Since Henry was the eldest male at home, he left the Boston Latin School to support the family. He became a clerk in a bookstore, becoming an avid reader, particularly of military subjects.
About 1768, Knox joined a local artillery company called “The Train.” In 1770 he testified in the trial of British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, and in 1771 he opened his own bookstore, the London Book Store. His clientele consisted primarily of British officers and Tory ladies since he carried mostly British products. He established strong business ties with his British suppliers and developed personal relationships with his customers. He stocked and read books on military science and discussed military subjects with the officers who frequented his store.
The bookstore was successful, but profits plummeted after the Boston Port Bill and the boycott of British goods. I don’t think Knox was too worried about business at this point. He cofounded the Boston Grenadier Corps in 1772 and was a supporter of the “Sons of Liberty,” a group of anti-British agitators. It is not known if he took part in the 1773 Boston Tea Party, but he was involved in the lead-up to this act.
Nancy Flucker Knox
On 16 June 1774, Henry married Lucy Flucker despite the opposition of her parents who were Boston Loyalists. Her brother was in the British Army and the family tried to recruit Henry to the Loyalist cause. Henry and Lucy were devoted to each other for life despite long separations during his military days. However, she often visited him when he was in the field and they found enough time to have 13 children.
Henry and Lucy had to flee Boston in 1775 making Lucy essentially homeless until the British evacuated the city in 1776. Henry Knox joined the rebels besieging Boston, beginning his military career under the command of General Artemas Ward. He used his self-taught engineering skills to construct fortifications around Boston and he directed the rebel cannon fire during the June 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill.
George Washington arrived in July 1775 to take command of the Continental Army, and Knox began interacting with the officers organizing the army. He had no military commission, but Washington was impressed with his performance at Bunker Hill and his knowledge of engineering and artillery. Knox and Washington also developed a strong personal relationship that lasted a lifetime. One thing they had in common was stature. Both were much taller than the average for their times and both were powerfully built. They physically dominated any gathering.
While John Adams worked to get Knox a commission to command the artillery regiment, Washington was already seeking his advice. Washington was in dire need of more artillery and Knox suggested retrieving cannon from the recently captured forts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upstate New York. Despite the obvious hazards of such an expedition, Washington appointed Knox commander of artillery and gave him the job of moving the guns to Boston.
Ticonderoga was more than 300 miles away across the Berkshire Mountains. Knox and his party arrived on 5 December 1775 and organized the acquisition of guns, shot, powder and other supplies that had to be moved. The area was sparsely populated so finding drovers and draft animals was difficult.
The trek to Boston was arduous to say the least. They moved 60 tons of cannon and other armaments on ox-drawn sleds in bitter cold and deep snow, particularly in the mountains. Cannon sometimes broke through ice covered rivers, but they managed to save them all. They delivered 50 cannon to Washington’s headquarters on 27 January 1776. Historian Victor Brooks called this expedition “one of the most stupendous feats of logistics” of the entire war.
Cannon were now deployed to Dorchester Heights which commanded Boston Harbor and forced the British to withdraw from Boston. All British troops, ships, and supporters evacuated the city, including Lucy Knox’s parents who went to England and never returned.
With the siege of Boston broken Knox, now a colonel, supervised the improvement of defenses in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York City. Washington moved his forces to protect New York City and Knox re-joined the army there.
Knox was with the army throughout the New York and New Jersey Campaigns, including the loss of New York City when the British Fleet arrived with 30,000 troops. The Americans numbered about 18,000 with little experience and were forced to abandon the city. Knox’s artillery numbered about 520 men with about 120 cannon.
The Americans retreated across the Delaware River at Trenton, New Jersey on 8 December 1776, and seized all the boats along the river to keep the British from following. They were poorly clothed and poorly armed. Morale was in the tank, and Washington realized that he needed a victory to give his troops hope. This is when the Christmas Night “Crossing of the Delaware” operation was conceived.
Crossing the Delaware-By Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1851
Colonel Knox was in command of logistics for this operation and he again showed exceptional organizational and operational skills. Despite the river ice and bitter cold, he managed to transport 2,500 men, their horses, and artillery across the river without a single loss. Following the battle, Knox had to return the men, their horses and artillery, as well as 1,000 captives and captured supplies. This was all accomplished by the afternoon of 26 December.
This spectacular operation improved morale considerably and provided them with some needed provisions. Henry Knox was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General for his performance. Washington was, however, in danger of losing his army due to expiring enlistments and the fact that the troops had not been paid. Washington wrote to his friend Robert Morris for help and he sent $50,000 which saved the army.
Washington was now confident enough to move into New Jersey by re-crossing the Delaware to draw the British into battle. Cornwallis followed and believed he had Washington trapped between the Delaware and Trenton, but Washington outsmarted him and moved towards Princeton. On 3 January 1777, the Americans attacked Cornwallis, but were driven back. Washington rallied his troops, counter-attacked, and won the Battle of Princeton. Knox and his artillery were key to this victory and earned him a commendation.
Once the army went into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, Knox was sent to raise an artillery battalion in Massachusetts and to establish an arsenal. He raised the unit and an arsenal was established at Springfield, which is now known as the Springfield Armory. About this time there was an effort to replace Knox with a qualified French volunteer, but Washington and his officers managed to block this. The French officer received a different appointment in the army but was killed in an accident later in the year.
In 1777 British General Sir William Howe moved his army of 15,000 by sea from New York City to Delaware. He then moved into Pennsylvania to capture Philadelphia, the American capital. Washington rapidly moved the Continental Army to set up blocking forces at Brandywine Creek. In September, Howe outgeneraled Washington and flanked the Americans. Frantic American repositioning saved the army from annihilation.
The British moved into Philadelphia, but the Continental Congress had already moved to York, Pennsylvania. Washington knew he had the strength for only one attempt to force the British out of Philadelphia before winter arrived. He chose to attack the British at Germantown in October.
Washington mounted a daring offensive that depended on stealthy movements, but his army was not trained well enough to successfully execute the plan. They were detected giving the British time to mount their defense. Despite repeated American assaults, heavy artillery fire, and heavy casualties the British could not be dislodged.
General Knox and his artillery were involved in both Brandywine and Germantown. They had a limited number of cannon that Knox deployed wisely for maximum benefit, but it was not enough to avoid the defeats.
The British in December 1777 dispatched 10,000 troops from Philadelphia in an effort to destroy Washington’s army. The Americans intercepted them and a ruse by Washington allowed them the time needed to establish an impregnable line near Whitemarsh. The British were unable to penetrate or flank the line, so they returned to Philadelphia to warm, comfortable winter quarters with lots of food. The Americans, battered, tired, hungry, and with inadequate supplies, wintered at Valley Forge.
Valley Forge 1777-Wisconsin State Journal
At Valley Forge, Knox organized and constructed forts to defend the encampment. The Americans erected 1,000 log huts to house 12,000 troops, but by February, death, disease, and desertions reduced that number to 6,000. However, the winter was not wasted because Prussian Officer Baron Friedrich Von Steuben arrived and trained the troops, turning them into an effective, disciplined army.
Knox was given leave from Valley Forge to visit his family in Massachusetts, but more importantly to try to speed supplies for the army from New England. The latter was not particularly successful, and Knox returned to Valley Forge. He assisted Von Steuben with the training, particularly of the artillery.
In February 1778, the Franco-American pact tilted the advantage in the war to the Americans, and in June the British were ordered to evacuate Philadelphia and to consolidate in New York. Washington moved to attack the British during their retreat and sent a third of his army ahead under the command of Major General Charles Lee to engage them. Lee botched the attack and the British counter-attacked, but Washington arrived in time to establish a strong defensive line at Monmouth, New Jersey. The British disengaged and continued their retreat. Washington again commended Knox for the artillery’s performance.
The army was generally inactive during the rest of 1778, and Knox set up artillery winter quarters at Pluckemin, New Jersey. There he established the Continental Army’s first artillery and officer training school. Through the summer of 1779 Knox trained more than 1,000 soldiers despite low morale and scarce supplies. Conditions were even worse during the winter of 1779-80.
The northern war was at a stalemate in 1780 and the war’s main action had moved into the south. Knox made many trips to the northern states in an effort to increase the flow of men and supplies to the army with only moderate success.
In 1781, Knox accompanied the army south, and participated in the siege of Yorktown, Virginia where he directed the placement and aiming of rebel artillery. He established a friendship with the French artillery commander, the Marquis de Chastellux. General Washington cited them both for their roles in the siege and recommended that Knox be promoted.
British Surrender at Yorktown 1781-Shutterstock-Painting Valley
Cornwallis surrendered on 19 October 1781, and soon afterward Knox was promoted to Major General—a well-deserved promotion. Knox was now the youngest major general in the army. In 1782 Knox and Congressman Gouverneur Morris were assigned to negotiate prisoner exchanges with the British but these initial negotiations failed.
In August 1782 Knox took command of West Point and a month later his nine-month-old son died which put him in a state of depression. Despite this he and Secretary of War Benjamin Lincoln started negotiations with the Confederation Congress about pensions and overdue compensation for the military. Sadly, Congress was unwilling to seriously address the problem
Knox drafted a paper about the possible ramifications of congressional inaction, which started some talking of mutiny. Luckily, this mutiny talk was squelched by General Washington and his senior officers. Knox and others became staunch proponents of a stronger national government because of the inability of the Confederation Congress to act on much of anything.
In the fall of 1783, Knox and his troops shadowed the British that were evacuating New York until they were FINALLY GONE. On 21 November, Knox led American troops into the liberated New York City.
Washington Farewell -Fraunces Tavern
On 4 December, the Continental officers assembled at Fraunces Tavern to take leave of their Commander, George Washington. Knox stood next to Washington, during Washington’s farewell address. When Washington resigned his commission on 23 December, Knox became the senior officer of the army.
The post of Secretary of War became available when Benjamin Lincoln resigned in November 1783, and Lincoln recommended Knox for the job. Even though congress had lots of warning about the resignation, they were again unwilling to act, and they did not want a peacetime army. They wanted to rely on militia. Knox saw this as a good time to resign his commission since he could see that nothing good was likely to be done.
Knox returned to Massachusetts and the family established a home in Dorchester. He also was appointed as the state’s official for disposing of confiscated Tory land. Using unethical rigging of the process he assembled a multi-million-acre empire in Maine (then part of Massachusetts), including land confiscated from his Tory in-laws.
Obese Henry Knox, Secretary of War
Congress finally appointed Knox as the Confederation’s second Secretary of War on 8 March 1785. Civilian life had been good to Knox and he was now of “immense girth” weighing about 300 pounds. His department was a mess because congress could not agree on much of anything and were still fearful of a “standing army.” Knox made many proposals, most of which were rejected or ignored.
The 1786 “Shays’ Rebellion” broke out in Massachusetts and the rebels threatened the Springfield Arsenal. Benjamin Lincoln had to raise a militia force to put down the rebellion, which highlighted the weakness of the military and the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation.
All the problems resulted in the Constitutional Convention that gave us our Constitution. When the convention started, Knox sent a draft to George Washington and encouraged him to attend the convention calling him “Father of His Country” — the first known use of this term. Washington chaired the convention and we became the United States of America.
Knox was touted as a candidate for vice president, but he chose not to run. Instead, Knox was appointed the first Secretary of War of the newly established republic during the administration of George Washington.
During his tenure as Secretary of War Knox implemented the Militia Act of 1792 setting up a force of 450,000 members; he established a second arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (Now West Virginia); he established the US Navy; coastal fortifications; and a standing army. He also suggested the establishment of military academies to train competent and motivated officers. However the Military Academy at West Point wasn’t established until in 1802 and the Naval Academy at Annapolis was finally established in 1845.
His tenure was unfortunately dominated by relations with Native American tribes. He was responsible for these relationships and his personal views favored the tribes. He believed the tribes owned the land they had inhabited for thousands of years and that this ownership should be recognized by the US Government.
Things did not work out the way Knox had hoped because virtually nobody agreed with him. The “Doctrine of Discovery” governed the taking of Native lands. The tribes did not take this laying down and the clash of cultures resulted in the “Cherokee-American Wars” and the “Northwest Indian War.”
The Northwest tribes were supported by the British who still occupied bases in violation of the “Treaty of Paris” which ended the Revolutionary War. The indian conflicts were not going good so in October 1790 Knox organized a campaign commanded by General Josiah Harmer into the Northwest Territory. This campaign failed. A second campaign led by Governor Arthur St. Clair resulted in the worst defeat the Army ever suffered because of a failure to adequately supply them. As a result Knox was widely accused of not protecting the frontier.
Knox wanted to close the problem before leaving office and organized an expedition led by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. This campaign was victorious at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers. This victory led to the Treaty of Greenville which forced the defeated tribes to cede land in the Ohio area. (We know that this was just the beginning of bloody wars and broken treaties for about another 100 years.) According to Knox’s writings, he accurately believed that Indian wars would continue indefinitely.
After nearly 20 years of service to our country, Knox tendered his resignation to President Washington on 28 December 1794. The President accepted the resignation with “regret.” Timothy Pickering was appointed to replace Knox and took office on 2 January 1795.
The Knox family built a magnificent mansion on their Maine property, which they named “Montpelier.” He speculated in many endeavors, but mostly in frontier land. His holdings reached from Maine to the Ohio Valley, although most of his property was in Maine. Knox always claimed to treat settlers on his Maine property fairly and humanely, but he used intermediaries to evict those who did not pay their rent or squatted on his land. He became so unpopular that settlers threatened to burn his mansion. Many of his speculations failed and he had to sell off land to cover his losses. Many of our founders lost huge sums in frontier land speculations.
Henry Knox Gravesite, Montpelier, Maine
Henry Knox died at home on 25 October 1806. He died three days after swallowing a chicken bone which lodged in his throat causing an infection. He was buried on his estate with full military honors. Lucy died in 1824. She had been forced to sell off more property to pay creditors of Henry’s insolvent estate. The couple had been blessed with 13 children, but only one survived to adulthood.
Henry Knox was a self-made man who devoted most of his adult life fighting for independence and serving his new country. He achieved fame and honors as a military leader, and as a member of the first presidential administration. He was a giant among giants. Washington was the Father of Our Country, but Knox was the Father of our Military. Unfortunately, he had to direct wars against Native American tribes despite his personal support of their right to their lands.
Knox was a contradiction in many ways. When he and Lucy were forced out of Boston in 1775, British troops were quartered in, and trashed their home, and looted his bookstore. However, despite financial hardships, he paid the last payment of 1,000 pounds to Longman Printers in London to cover the price of books that he never received. Payment was a matter of honor. After retirement, however, he was remembered as a grasping tyrant, and was the model for the character, Col. Pyncheon in Hawthorne’s “The House of Seven Gables”
Henry Knox, like all of us, was flawed, but he should not be rejected because of terrible behavior during his short later years. Those years do not diminish the fact that this man risked his life and his possessions to play a vital role in the war for independence and participated in the establishment and stabilization of the new government. The amazing thing is that he was self-educated with no formal military or organizational training. Henry Knox was a true patriot and an American hero
Most have probably never heard of this hero, Presley Neville O’Bannon, but they certainly have heard of his most famous exploit. He was the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Officer who led the successful attack on Derne (or Derna), Tripoli (present day Libya). This attack is immortalized by the line “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps Hymn. His is a story of duty and heroism, but as often happens, he received little recognition from his military superiors or the US Government in general for reasons known only to them. Although it is the exception rather than the rule, we can find other examples of the same shabby treatment to heroes throughout our history, but O’Bannon is one of the earliest. 
