Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/101

 COLONIAL 1>RESIDEXTS AXD GOXERXORS

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act Lord Dunniorc tl is solved the assembly. The effect of the action of Virginia was to demoralize the court of enquiry, and in their report they conceded that the commander of the Gaspee. in detaining vessels indiscrimi- nately, had exceeded the bounds of his duty, and no arrests were made. This affair not turning out to the satisfaction of the British government, another attempt was made to enforce the ta.x on tea in America by remov- ing the tax in I^igland. This occasioned the affair of the "tea party," which occurred in Boston on December 16, 1773, when a band of men disguised as Indians boarded the ships sent to Boston by the East India Company and threw the tea overboard. Parliament in resentment. ])assed an act to close the Port of Boston, on June i. 1774 — a measure which in- volved the innoceiU with the guilty. A'irginia again showed her leadership, and was first of all of the colonies to declare her sympathy with Massachusetts. Dunmore jirorogued the assembly May 27. 1774. and thereupon the bur- gesses, meeting in the Raleigh tavern, adopted resolutions calling for an annual congress and non-intercourse. Accordingly, on September 5. 1774, the first general congress met in Phila- delphia and recommended a general continental plan of non-intercourse, and committees everywhere to see it enforced. About this time a war with the Shawnees on the Ohio broke out, and Andrew Lewis won the great battle of Point Pleasant. Dunmore gained applause from the Virginians for his willingness to head the troops, but he was afterwards charged, without much reason, with being the real author of the Indian war. The British gov- ernment now placed the trade with most of the colonies under a boycott, and orders were sent over to the governors to seize all the

anuuunition and arms accessible to the colo- nists.

Governor ( iage in Massachusetts sent troops to destroy the ammunition at Concord, and on the march thither thc^y became engaged April i»j. 1775. wiih the Massachusetts militia at Le.vington. where the first blood was shed. In X'irginia. by order of Governor Dunmore, the powder was removed from the magazine in Williamsburg on April 20. This created great alarm, and an armed body of men under Patrick Henry marched down to Williams- burg. They were quieted by the governor giv- ing a bill of exchange for the value of the powder. Succeeding this. Dunmore called a meeting of the assembly to submit the overture known as Lord North's "Olive Branch." But before any answer could be returned from the assembly. Dunmore, fearing that he might be seized and detained as a hostage, fled from the palace to the protection of a l)ritish man- of-war in York river. Dunmore took up his head(|uarters near Norfolk, which was burned in the civil war that now began. Dunmore I)roclaimed freedom tt) all negroes and serv- ants who would join his standard, and carried on a predatory maritime warfare, but after suffering various reverses at (Jreat Bridge, Hampton and Gwynn's Island, he dismissed his ships, joined the British naval force in New York, and towards the end of the year 1776 sailed away to England. His furniture and books in the i)alace were confiscated by the State and sold at public outcry. He had been elected in January, 1776. to the house of lords, and on his return to England took his seat and served till 1784. In 1787 he was appointed governor of Barbadoes. and served till 1796. He died at Ramsgate, England, in May. 1809. He was a man of