Not knowing what had happened the day before in Lexington and Concord, MA, on April 20, 1775, Williamsburg, VA was the site of the infamous Gunpowder Incident…
The incident that pushed Governor Murray to action may have been Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, delivered on March 23, 1775. All the soldiers in Virginia had been sent to Massachusetts after the powder alarm (Royal Governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, confiscated the colonials’ supply of gunpowder in Charlestown) but there were still several Royal Navy ships in the area. Governor Murray secretly brought 20 marines on shore on April 19 and ordered them to confiscate the gunpowder in Williamsburg the following night.
The Powder Magazine in Williamsburg still stands today.
On the evening of April 20th, the marines began removing the gunpowder, but local citizens noticed and sounded the alarm. Peyton Randolph, the Speaker of the House of Burgesses and first President of the Continental Congress, had to persuade the gathering crowd not to burn the governor’s mansion down. The local council demanded the return of the powder, explaining it was their property and not the property of the royal government. Murray said he took it because he didn’t think it was safe where it was located because of rumors of a slave uprising. The crowd then began to disperse.
Over the next month, there were various marches, including threats on both sides, with Murray actually threatening to burn Williamsburg! The government was finally convinced to pay £330 for the confiscated gunpowder, via a landowner, but that was effectively the end of British rule in Virginia. Murray actually left for good in 1776, after moving aboard ship ‘in fear for his and his family’.
And things went downhill in a hurry…
When they come for OUR guns, will we rise up to stop them?
And we have moved full circle, omly the names have changed. Instead of Murray we have Biden playing the part of Anti-American and sucking up to a foreign country, namely China.As Murray was a traitor to the Virginians so Biden is to the entire country.
To paraphrase Patrick Henry: “Caesar had his Brutus – Charles the First, his Cromwell – and Biden may profit by their example.”
I enjoy your column – check it daily. Please continue with the Revolution, the succinct articles are very good.
K. T. McFarland once said: “Americans are slow to anger, but once they do get angry, they are impossible to stop.”
I fear some of our “betters” do not understand that. They think violence can be dialed up and down depending on how they fan the rhetoric. They don’t realize even after 1/6 that for conservatives it is more binary, off until on and then God help them.
“And things went downhill in a hurry…” well, that depends upon ones’ perspective.
All- Thanks for the comments. Vater- Very true… sigh
I’m an “avid” follower of Civil War Battles. But…
The War for Independence from Britain applies more aptly today.
Thanks for this. I’ll get my head outta my butt.