Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian LegendsFoster, Sophie Lee
History
Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian Legends
Foster, Sophie Lee
Georgia -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783; Indians of North America; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Anecdotes
We are shown the home of George Wythe, the signer of the Declaration,
the teacher of Jefferson, Monroe and Marshall. Great teacher of greater
pupils! Inspirer of high thoughts and immortal deeds! One of the
students at William and Mary, Jefferson, wrote the declaration, three
were presidents, and another, John Marshall, was Chief Justice of the
United States. The headquarters of Washington, the site of the first
theater in America, 1732, the Ancient Palace green on the right hand of
which is the fictional home of Audrey, and several ancient colonial
homes are pointed out to us. If any vestige remains of the old Raleigh
tavern, whose "Apollo" room was famous as the gathering place of the
burgesses, who, after their dismissal in 1769 asked an agreement not to
use or import any article upon which a tax is laid--it was not shown to
us.
The old powder horn or powder magazine, a curious hexagonal building,
has been admirably restored and stands as a reminder of that dramatic
scene in Virginia history in 1775 when, after Lord Dunmore had removed
the powder from the magazine into one of the vessels in the James,
fearing an uprising of the colonists, Patrick Henry, with an armed
force from Hanover, stalked into the governor's presence and demanded
the return of the powder or its equivalent in money. Lord Dunmore,
looking into those dauntless eyes, beholds the dauntless soul of the
"Firebrand of the Revolution" behind them, and yields at once and pays
down £330 sterling. Patrick Henry, with splendid audacity, seizes a
pen and signs the receipt, "Patrick Henry, Jr." making himself alone
responsible for this act of high treason, and then, that there may be
no doubt as to his signature, he has it attested by two distinguished
gentlemen. What heroic daring! What impassioned love of liberty! While
Peyton, Randolph and Richard Henry Lee counsel caution, Patrick Henry
acts and becomes the inspired genius of the revolution, fusing the
disunited and hesitating colonies into a nation by the white heat of
his burning passion for freedom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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