Jack Jouett becomes the Paul Revere of the South

On this day in history, June 3, 1781, Jack Jouett becomes the "Paul Revere of the South" when he rides all night to warn Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson and the gathered rebel Virginia Assembly that the British were coming to capture them. Jouett was a captain in the Virginia militia, whose father was a Charlottesville innkeeper who supplied the rebel forces with food. Jack had three brothers who served in the war as well, one of whom died at the Battle of Brandywine.

British General Charles Cornwallis, charged with taking back the southern colonies for England, had been having a rough time conquering North and South Carolina. He finally decided Virginia was the key to holding the south and set about to conquer it, leading an invasion into the colony beginning in May, 1781.

Numerous successful raids from the coast had already been conducted into Virginia under the leadership of General William Phillips and the turn-coat, Benedict Arnold. One of these raids in January, 1781, burned the capital city of Richmond, forcing the rebel Assembly and Governor Thomas Jefferson to retreat further inland to Charlottesville, only a stone’s throw from Jefferson’s home, Monticello.

When Cornwallis invaded from the south in early May, he quickly learned the Assembly and the governor were in session in Charlottesville. He dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, head of the Loyalist British Legion, on horseback with 250 men to capture Jefferson and the Assembly.

During the evening of June 3rd, Jack Jouett observed the passing troops in the small town of Cuckoo, and correctly surmised that they were headed to Charlottesville. Since Virginia had seen little fighting until this time in the war, most of its soldiers were off in other parts of the colonies, leaving few soldiers to defend against Cornwallis’ invasion. Jefferson and the Assembly would easily be captured.

Jouett got on his horse and began a 40 mile trek through the night. He stayed on back roads since the British were using the main road and allegedly was injured by sticks and branches as he flew through the night. Some accounts say he carried scars from these injuries for the rest of his life.

Finally arriving at Monticello around daybreak, Jouett warned Jefferson and other legislators who were staying with him. Jefferson remarkably took his time, perhaps because his term as governor had expired the day before and Jouett rode on to warn the rest of the Assembly staying in his father’s inn, the Swan Tavern. Jefferson waited to leave Monticello until the British were actually riding up his front lawn, but he did manage to escape on horseback. Most of the Assembly members escaped as well, but seven were captured. The Assembly then reconvened in Staunton to continue its business.

Some historians believe Jack Jouett’s ride was even more important than Paul Revere’s because the entire leadership of Virginia’s rebel movement was in peril. Not only Jefferson, but Patrick Henry, Thomas Nelson Jr., Benjamin Harrison, Daniel Boone, Richard Henry Lee and Edmund Randolph were assembled in Charlottesville. Their capture could have turned the war in a whole different direction.

The following year, Jouett moved to Kentucky, which was then still part of Virginia. He married, raised cattle and lived there the rest of his life. He served as a legislator from his district in the Virginia Assembly and later on in Kentucky when it became a separate state. Jouett would also become the father of Matthew Harris Jouett, a famous painter, and the grandfather of James Edward Jouett, a Civil War Admiral.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com  

Jack Manning

President General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“We must be unanimous; there must be no pulling different ways; we must hang together.”
John Hancock

Martha Washington is born

On this day in history, June 2, 1731, Martha Washington is born at her father’s estate in New Kent, County, Virginia. Martha Dandridge was the firstborn child of wealthy planter John Dandridge. As a child, Martha received a basic education, which was unusual for girls in that era. She was married at the age of 18 to Daniel Parke Custis, an even wealthier planter than her father, who was 20 years older than she.

Martha and Daniel lived at Daniel’s plantation, which was ironically called The White House. They had four children over the next few years, two of whom live past toddlerhood. Unfortunately, Daniel died in 1757, when Martha was only 26, leaving her in charge of a vast network of plantations covering over 17,000 acres in 5 counties and 285 slaves. With the assistance of her late husband’s business manager, however, Martha learned the intricacies of planning, managing and harvesting the tobacco crop and selling it to London merchants.

Martha was also now responsible for her two children, John Parke Custis, known as Jacky, and Martha Parke Custis, known as Patsy, who were only 2 years and 1 year when their father died. Years later, Martha would be stricken with grief because both children would die young. Patsy died at the age of 17 from an epileptic seizure and Jacky died at the age of 21 from "camp fever" contracted at the Battle of Yorktown.

Martha met and married George Washington in 1759. It is believed they knew each other for only a matter of weeks before he proposed and she accepted marriage. The two moved to Mount Vernon with Martha’s young children and began an idyllic life that by all accounts was loving and harmonious.

When the American Revolution broke out, Martha spent much of the next 8 years home alone at Mount Vernon, but she did travel to Washington’s encampments several times in the winters where she comforted her husband and entertained the officers and their wives. She was also known for rallying women, especially the wealthy, to give money to the Revolutionary cause and make supplies, such as blankets and clothing for the soldiers.

Toward the end of the Revolution, when young Jacky died, he left four children as well. Two of them ended up living permanently with George and Martha. Eleanor Parke Custis, called Nelly, was only 2 when her father died and George Washington Parke Custis, called Wash or Tub, was only 6 months. Since Martha’s children were all now dead and since George and Martha had no children of their own, they raised Nelly and Wash as their own.

Martha was a very private person and did not enjoy the public attention when her husband became President. She lived with him in New York and Philadelphia, where the capital was then located. She entertained guests and dignitaries with lavish dinner parties, but this was a duty to her and not necessarily an enjoyment.

After Washington’s presidency ended, Martha hoped to return to the quiet life at Mount Vernon, but a steady string of guests constantly arrived to visit her husband. When Washington passed away in 1799, Martha was grief stricken and was known to frequently say how much she missed him. When her own death neared less than 3 years later, Martha burned all the letters ever written between herself and her husband. Only two letters between them have survived. For this reason, very little is known about the personal relationship of the first President of the United States and his wife, and this is exactly how the very private Martha Washington intended it.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com  

Jack Manning

President General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"No power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent."
John Jay

The Boston Port Act takes effect

On this day in history, June 1, 1774, the Boston Port Act takes effect, closing down Boston Harbor from all shipping and trade in punishment for the Boston Tea Party. Boston citizens had thrown 42 tons of tea into the harbor in December of the previous year, as an act of protest against unjust taxation. The colonists had no representatives in Parliament and they believed it was unlawful to be taxed by a body in which they had no representation. The Boston Tea Party was the culmination of many years of protests and strife regarding taxation and representation.

Parliament was outraged at this act of defiance and set about bringing the rebellious Massachusetts back to order. A series of acts, known as the Coercive Acts in Britain, were passed in 1774, which shut down all self-government in Massachusetts, limited town meetings and moved the trials of government officials out of the colony. Other measures required all the colonies to provide housing for government troops, extended the boundaries of British Quebec and granted Catholic Quebec residents the right to practice their own religion, which was seen by the colonists as strengthening the heavily pro-British Quebec right next door.

The piece of the Coercive Acts, or, as they were called by the colonists, the Intolerable Acts, that caused more outrage in the colonies than any other, however, was the Boston Port Act. This act closed down the harbor to all trade permanently until the ruined tea was paid for, the lost customs revenues paid and order restored in Massachusetts. It placed armed warships in the harbor to enforce a blockade and filled Boston with troops to help patrol the wharfs.

The Boston Port Act placed heavy fines on violators. If anyone was caught trying to sneak through the blockade, the ships, cargo and any other property, such as horses or wagons used to transport the goods, were to be forfeited to the government and a fine of three times the value of the cargo was levied. Also, anyone caught trying to bribe officials into letting goods through and any officials involved in taking such bribes, were heavily fined.

The Boston Port Act, and the other parts of the Coercive Acts, were really the spark that lighted the American Revolution. Colonists across America were outraged. They realized that if Parliament was willing to do this to Boston, they could do it anywhere in the colonies. All of the colonies joined in a boycott of British goods and a plan was made to convene the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in September. The Congress was to plan a joint colonial response to the Coercive Acts and was the first joint action of the colonies against Great Britain.

The Boston Port Act did everything but bring Massachusetts back into submission. Instead, it united  the colonies in their resolve to protect their freedoms. The Continental Congress remonstrated with Great Britain to correct its grievances, but also recommended to all the colonies that they begin stockpiling weapons and ammunition in the event of war. This stockpiling led directly to British General Thomas Gage receiving instructions to capture the rebel supplies at Concord, Massachusetts, leading to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in April of 1775.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

It is the knowledge that all men have weaknesses and that many have vices that makes government necessary.
James Monroe