Thomas Nelson -- "Point of No Return"
The First Continental Congress, meeting in September 1774,
adopted a non-intercourse agreement similar to that passed by Virginia’s Burgesses. It called for the establishment of
association enforcement committees in the counties of the respective
colonies. The Congress adjourned in
October. It would reconvene in the
spring of 1775 because of Britain’s
failure to redress their grievances.
Delegates from the counties of Virginia
met in Richmond March 20, 1775, to decide upon what
policy Virginia should now take in its
relations with Great Britain.
At the convention Patrick Henry introduced a resolution that
called for the immediate raising of a “well regulated militia” to defend the
colony. The proposed resolution caused a stormy
debate. Many of the moderate members considered
the measure premature and dangerous. Friends
in London had
sent favorable reports about British intentions. Henry’s supporters argued that the hope of a
favorable change in British policy was delusive. Virginia
must defend herself against whatever dangers might arise.
Richard Henry Lee delivered an eloquent speech in defense of
the resolution. Thomas Nelson then rose,
for the first time as a burgess to take an active part in a serious debate. Edmund Randolph later wrote that Nelson
“convulsed the moderate by an ardent exclamation, in which he called God to
witness, that if any British troops should be landed within” his county, “he
would wait no orders, and would obey none, which should forbid him to summon
his militia and repel the invaders at the water edge.” Randolph
recalled that Nelson’s temper, “though it was sanguine, and had been manifested
in less scenes of opposition, seemed to be more than ordinarily excited. His example told those, who were happy in
ease and wealth, that to shrink was to be dishonoured” (Sanderson 287-288). Soon afterward Patrick Henry delivered his
famous “give me liberty, or give me death” speech, and the Convention adopted
the resolution with a majority of five votes.
The business of the Convention turned to the election of
delegates to the Second Continental Congress.
The delegates to the First Congress were reelected. Falling short, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas
Nelson were eighth and ninth in the balloting with 18 and 16 votes respectively.
Governor Dunmore had been watching the activities of these
leading men of the colony with great concern.
Now the Richmond Convention delegates had voted to defend the colony. “Between three and four o’clock on the morning of April 21,
Captain Collins of the armed British schooner Magdalene carried out the governor’s order to remove the entire
powder supply of the colony from Williamsburg and place it on board his vessel
anchored at Burwell’s Ferry on the James River” (Evans 46). The seizure caused an immediate and violent
reaction throughout the counties. “One
thousand men poured into Fredericksburg,
six hundred of them ‘good riflemen’ attired in hunting shirts with tomahawks in
their belts. … In Hanover County Patrick Henry was also
raising an independent company. Several
patriotic leaders, including Peyton Randolph and George Washington, prevailed
upon the Fredericksburg and Albemarle companies to disperse; but Henry, after
haranguing his volunteers at Newcastle on May 2, began a march on Williamsburg”
(Evans 46).
Dunmore “sent his wife and children on board an
English-bound schooner in the York River, placed cannon in the Palace yard,
armed his servants, and asked for a detachment of marines from the man-of-war Fowey, anchored at Yorktown” (Evans
46). Before daybreak May 4, the Fowey’s Captain Montague and a party of
marines roused Thomas Nelson’s aged uncle, Secretary Nelson, from his bed. Montague warned that if they were molested by
any of the townspeople the ship would fire upon the town. The ultimatum enraged the inhabitants of the
surrounding countryside. Not only was
the threat of bombarding the town considered barbaric. The person who would suffer most from such a
bombardment would be Thomas Nelson, who had assumed the responsibility of
meeting Henry and his troops (fifteen miles outside Williamsburg) to prevent harm
to Dunmore from occurring.
Although most of the colonists did not know it then, the
time for peaceful conciliation with Great Britain had passed. Anger and the desire for reprisal had
dislodged reason. The contentious events
of the past ten years had pushed many colonists to a willingness to bear arms
against the soldiers of their mother country.
On April 26, Virginia had received the
news that Massachusetts militiamen had fired
upon British soldiers in route to Boston from Concord. Massachusetts’s
military governor General Thomas Gage had sent an army of 700 redcoats to Concord to seize stored
munitions and gunpowder. America
had reached a point of no return. She
would take a little while yet to realize it.
The crisis of the confiscated powder was settled soon after
Montague’s ultimatum. Several Virginia patriots –
Nelson included -- bought the seized gunpowder for 320 pounds. The ship Fowey
remained off Yorktown. On June 6, Dunmore and his family went
aboard, never to set foot in the colony again.
On June 17 British soldiers and Massachusetts militiamen clashed in the
Battle of Bunker Hill.
On July 17, the representatives of the counties of Virginia met for the
third time during the course of a year.
They passed an ordinance that called for the raising of three regiments
of regular troops, to be commanded by a colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major
appointed by the general convention.
Patrick Henry, Thomas Nelson, Hugh Mercer, and William Woodford were
looked upon as candidates for commander-in-chief of the regiments and colonel
of the first regiment. Henry openly
solicited the appointment. Mercer, born
in Scotland,
had some degree of military experience.
Nelson acknowledged Mercer’s abilities, said he would not oppose
Mercer’s appointment, and declared that he hoped he would not be voted
for. Woodford also supported Mercer.
Seeing that Mercer would be his chief adversary, Henry
sought to undermine his qualifications, instilling in the minds of many the
thought that Virginia
had to be sure loyal patriots commanded her forces. On the first ballot Mercer received 41 votes,
Henry 40, Nelson 8 and Woodford 1. Henry
won a run-off election by a small majority.
Nelson was appointed lieutenant colonel of the second regiment. Woodford was appointed the major of the third
regiment.
The Convention then turned its attention to the election of delegates
to the next session of the Second Continental Congress. Of the seven delegates who had been
previously elected, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison,
Edmund Pendleton, and Richard Bland were considered eligible for another
term. George Washington had been appointed
commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
Patrick Henry, as head of Virginia’s
forces, was also considered ineligible.
Pendleton asked to be excused from serving due to ill health. Three positions were open for new delegates. They were filled by Thomas Jefferson, Nelson,
and George Wythe. Bland later declined
his appointment because of infirmities of age and was replaced by Francis
Lightfoot Lee. After Nelson had been
appointed, he declined the command of the second Virginia regiment. Woodford was appointed his replacement.
One of the most dramatic periods in American history was
rapidly approaching. Thomas Nelson, wealthy
merchant and country gentleman, steadfast opponent of British economic and
political authoritarianism from its inception, would be an active participant
in Virginia’s
struggle to attain independence. “Yet
the course he chose to follow was not an easy one. He felt close to the mother country for many
reasons. He had spent eight years of his
life there, and he had many friends and several relatives who still lived in England. Furthermore, the patriotic cause by no means
had the full support of all Americans … Nelson’s wife’s brother, John Randolph
Grymes, left Virginia because of his sympathy for the British position. Both Thomas and Lucy Nelson were related to
the Randolphs, and they saw that family torn apart when John Randolph, the
attorney general, left Virginia with Dunmore, while his son, Edmund, remained a
firm patriot” (Evans 49, 50). For
Nelson, the loss of natural and constitutional rights mattered above all else!
Works Cited:
Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown:
Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975. Print.
Sanderson, John. Biography of the Signers to the Declaration
of Independence. Second Edition. Philadelphia,
William Brown and Charles Peters, 1828. V. Print.
