Browse Items (8 total)

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  William Plume letter to Joseph North, 1780 November 4

  William Plume, Williamsburg, Virginia, letter to Joseph North, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 4, 1780. Plume writes briefly about the war including mentions of Cornwallis and the Leslie raid of Virginia. Plume notes that Leslie has failed in his primary goal and is opposed by a large number of American regular and militia forces commanded by Brigadier General Muhlenberg. The rest of Plume's letter concerns business and personal matters. Plume requests North procure some knives for him and discusses the high price of horses in Virginia. He also urges North to come to Virginia where he will find plentiful oysters, rum, cider, beer etc.

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  Siege of York & Glouster, Virginia

  Anonymous manuscript journal, by a member of the Light Infantry, chronicling the events of the Yorktown campaign from the arrival of George Washington in Williamsburg on September 14th and culminating with the British surrender on October 19th. The author describes the digging of parallels, artillery fire, the burning of the British warship Charon, a lackluster sortie by the British and their surrender. Also mentioned are Admiral de Grasse, Generals Lafayette, Muhlenberg, and Steuben as well as Colonel Alexander Scammell who died of his wounds in Williamsburg.
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  Michael Bowyer militia commission, 1775 November 11

  Militia commission issued by the Virginia Committee of Safety appointing Michael Bowyer a captain for Augusta County. The commission is signed by Edmund Pendleton, John Page, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Peter Carrington and Dudley Digges.
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  John Page letter to Richard Caswell, 1777 September 26

  Virginia Lt. Governor John Page writes to North Carolina Governor Richard Caswell concerning British naval operations in the region. The British had blocked Ocracoke Inlet and Page urges Caswell to send one of the galleys constructed at the joint expense of the two states to dislodge the British vessels blockading the inlet. Page notes he will have Champion Travis, a member of Virginia's Naval Board, work to get some of Virginia's galley fleet into action. Page also thanks Caswell for making part of the N.C. militia available during the British Army and Navy's move up the Chesapeake as they advanced to Philadelphia and discusses the outcome of the action between Washington and Howe at Brandywine on September 11, 1777.
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  John Page Jr. letter to Michael Bowyer, 1776 September 8

  John Page letter to Michael Bowyer informing Bowyer that he is to remain with his company at his current post in Staunton and that money will be sent as soon as possible.
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  George Weedon letter to William Phillips, 1781 April 12 : manuscript copy

  Retained copy of a letter of American Brigadier General George Weedon to British Major General William Phillips concerning prisoners of war. Weedon expresses his desire "to render the Circumstances of war as little afflicting as possible ..." He notes he is willing to exchange prisoners or grant paroles when exchanges aren't "Subject to my will."

  
  

  Phillips himself had been a prisoner of war. Captured at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, he was exchanged for the American general, Benjamin Lincoln, who was captured at Charleston in 1780. Shortly after rejoining the army, Phillips was sent to Virginia where he operated with the traitor, Benedict Arnold. He achieved a number of successes in the field before dying at Petersburg on May 13, 1781.

  
  

  Weedon was present at the Siege of Yorktown where he commanded American militia at Gloucester Point. He survived the war returning to Fredericksburg where he died in 1793.

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  George Weedon commission, 1776 February 13.

  Military commission signed by John Hancock appointing George Weedon Lieutenant Colonel in the 3rd Virginia Regiment. George Weedon (1734-1793) was a businessman, landholder and tavern keeper of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He served in George Washington’s Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. By the end of the war, Weedon had risen to the rank of Captain Lieutenant and had eight years of military experience under his belt. Following the war, Weedon ran his mother-in-law’s tavern and sold meat in partnership with Washington’s brother Charles. While not taking a leading political role in the controversy with Great Britain, Weedon was active in the patriot cause. In December, 1774, he was made a captain in the Spotsylvania Independent Company under Colonels Hugh Mercer and Alexander Spotswood. With the outbreak of war in 1775, Weedon put his tavern up for lease in anticipation of active service. The Virginia Convention which met in Richmond in July, 1775 created two regiments under Patrick Henry and William Woodford but decided against a third which was to be commanded by Hugh Mercer with Weedon as his second in command. The Virginia Convention of December, 1775 added several more regiments including the Third which was designated for Continental service. George Weedon was in Williamsburg, Virginia when he received this commission on March 5th, 1776. With Mercer’s promotion to brigadier general, Congress promoted Weedon to colonel. Weedon was involved in the Virginia campaign against Governor Dunmore including the action at Gwynn’s Island. Following Dunmore’s exit from Virginia, Weedon went north to serve in the Continental Army under Washington. In February, 1777, Congress elected Weedon to the rank of brigadier general. While in Fredericksburg on furlough from the American encampment at Valley Forge, Weedon learned that a board of officers had decided to reinstate William Woodford’s seniority over Weedon. Though both brigadier generals, Weedon originally was granted seniority over Woodford because the latter had resigned his colonelcy for a time. With this reversal in seniority, Weedon sought his release from active service. Weedon remained on the sidelines until British forces under Arnold and Phillips brought the threat of invasion home to Virginia in 1780. He was active in raising, equipping and leading militia against British forces. At the siege of Yorktown, Weedon commanded American forces at Gloucester Point opposite the main British force under Cornwallis.
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  Alexander Spotswood letter to Edmund Pendleton, 1775 November 16

  Alexander Spotswood writes from Surry County to Edmund Pendleton concerning the dispatch of William Woodford's troops to the defense of Southside Virginia. Spotswood also discusses John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, and loyalist sentiment in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va. Spotswood expresses his belief that more is to be feared from the loyalists of those places than from Lord Dunmore writing "... I woud Rather burn the Towns of Norfolk, Gosport,& portsmouth, than hurt a hair of his Lordsh-ip's head ..."