Virginia Vignettes

The continuous presence of British ships in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast encouraged a number of residents from the Eastern Shore and Norfolk areas to remain steadfast loyalists throughout the war. Some were merchants who had much to gain financially by trading with Britain; others were smugglers who made handsome profits by [...]

The document that Thomas Jefferson wrote represented the journey that the American colonies and Virginia had taken since 1765. The center section of the Declaration lists eighteen major abuses and a number of minor ones by king and Parliament and is based primarily on the notion that the traditional rights of Englishmen had been violated. Americans were [...]

Virginians assumed a prominent role in the First Continental Congress, which assembled at Philadelphia in September 1774. Peyton Randolph acted as the presiding officer; and Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Richard Henry Lee all played their familiar roles. Washington worked diligently behind the scenes while Henry argued openly for the most radical stance with his usual inflammatory [...]

The war effort and its repercussions demanded much of Virginia women. Many sent husbands off to war and assumed some if not all of the duties of running their family plantation, farm, or business. Homespun clothes became a mark of patriotism, and by 1777 Virginia women and their slaves were making much of the clothing used by [...]