Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (75 page)

“M
ILD
LAWS
,
A
PEOPLE
”
PTJ,
V, 113.

RISKING
THE
WRATH
O
F
THE
PEOPLE
McDonnell,
Politics of War,
452.

THIRTEEN
·
REDCOATS AT MONTICELLO

“
S
UCH
TERROR
AND
CONFU
SION
”
JHT,
I, 358–59.

RETREATED
FRO
M
R
ICHMOND
McDonnell,
Politics of War,
462–63.

THE
DEA
TH
OF
YET
ANOTHER
CH
ILD
MB,
I, 508.

J
EFFERSON
CHOS
E
TO
STAY
Scharff,
Women Jefferson Loved,
139.

T
HERE
W
ERE
RIOTS
OVER
A
DRA
FT
McDonnell,
Politics of War,
453–61.

REDUCED
TO
ASK
ING
G
EORGE
W
ASHINGTON
PTJ,
VI, 32–33.

HIS
“
LONG
DECLARED
”
Ibid., 33.

“
THE
LABORS
OF
”
Ibid.

H
E
SPENT
S
ATURDAY
, J
UNE
2, 1781
Ibid., 78.

ELECT
T
HOMAS
N
ELSON
, J
R
.
Hayes,
Road to Monticello,
231.

FOR
A
“
UNION
OF
”
Ibid.

C
ORNWAL
LIS
HAD
ORDERED
T
ARLE
TON
Ibid.

R
IDING
FAST
,
THE
B
RITISH
DRAGOONS
Virginius Dabney, “Jouett Outrides Tarleton, and Saves Jefferson from Capture,”
Scribner's Magazine,
June 1928, 690.

I
T
WAS
LATE
Ibid., 691.

A
GIANT
OF
A
V
IRGINI
A
MILITIAMAN
Ibid.

“
THE
B
EST
AND
FLEETEST
OF
FOOT
”
Ibid.

CRASHED
THROUG
H
THE
WILDERNESS
Ibid.

H
IS
FACE
WAS
“
CRUELLY
LASHED
”
Ibid., 691–92.

BROKE
THEIR
MARCH
AT
A
PLANTATIO
N
Ibid., 692.

FOR
ABOUT
THREE
H
OURS
Ibid.

TO
SET
FIRE
TO
A
WAGON
TRAIN
Ibid. “Tarleton says in his account of the expedition that he burned the wagons with their contents, instead of taking them with him, in order that no time might be lost,” wrote Dabney. “He adds: ‘Soon after daybreak some of the principal gentlemen of Virginia who had fled to the borders of the mountains for security, were taken out of their beds.… In the neighborhood of Doctor [Thomas] Walker's a member of the Continental Congress was made prisoner, and the British light troops, after a halt of half an hour to refresh the horses, moved on toward Charlottesville.' ” (Ibid.)

J
OUETT
ARRIVED
AT
M
ONTICELLO
Ibid. “The raiders were still many miles away,” wrote Dabney. “Jack gave the alarm to the governor.… He then spurred his all-but-exhausted mount to Charlottesville, two miles farther on, and warned the legislature. He had beaten the British by about three hours. Paul Revere's fifteen-mile jaunt over fairly good roads in the moonlight seems almost nothing by comparison.” (Ibid.)

C
OOLLY
, J
EFFERSON
ORDERED
BREAKFAST
Ibid.

P
ATTY
AND
THE
TWO
CHI
LDREN
Kranish,
Flight from Monticello,
279.

HIDING
SILV
ER
IN
ANTICIPATION
Bear,
Jefferson at Monticello,
8. See also Kranish,
Flight from Monticello,
284.

“I
N
PREPARING
FOR
FLIGHT
”
PTJ,
VI, 84.

TO
A
NEIGHBORING
PEAK
Dabney, “Jouett Outrides Tarleton,” 693.

TOO
K
HIS
SPYGLASS
Ibid.

L
OOK
ING
OUT
AT
C
HARLOTTES
VILLE
Ibid.

H
E
TURNED
TO
GO
Ibid.

HIS
SWORD
CANE
Ibid.

A
S
HE
RETRIEVED
IT
,
H
IS
CURIOSITY
Ibid.

HE
SAW
THE
B
RITISH
Ibid.

MOUNTED
HIS
BEST
HORSE
Kranish,
Flight from Monticello,
283.

T
HE
REDCOATS
ARRIVED
Ibid., 284.

O
NE
COCKED
A
PISTOL
Ibid.

“F
IRE
AWAY
,
THEN
”
Ibid.

DRANK
SO
ME
OF
J
EFFERSON
'
S
WIN
E
Ibid.

LEGEND
HAS
IT
Hayes,
Road to Monticello,
284.

ESPECIALLY
E
LK
H
ILL
MB,
I, 515–16. See also
PTJ,
VI, 224–25.

T
WENTY
-
THREE
OF
J
EFFE
RSON
'
S
SLAVES
I am grateful to Lucia Stanton for these figures. See also Stanton,
“Those Who Labor for My Happiness,”
132–33.

R
IDI
NG
AWAY
FROM
M
ONTICEL
LO
Ibid., 510.

AT
P
OPLAR
F
OREST
Joan L. Horn,
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest: A Private Place
(Forest, Va., 2002), 22.

EXPRESSED
ITS
GRATITUDE
Dabney, “Jouett Outrides Tarleton,” 694–95. “What would have been the fate of Jefferson, Henry, Lee, Harrison, and Nelson had they been taken captive by Tarleton?” wrote Dabney. “Some are of the opinion that Jefferson, at least, would have been tried in England as a traitor and hanged, but it is quite unlikely that such severe punishment would have been meted out to him. It is probably safe to assume, however, that these leaders in the revolutionary movement would have been treated as harshly as any civilian Americans who could have fallen into British hands. If the career of Jefferson alone had been cut short or substantially altered at this period of his life, the history of the United States would have been vastly changed. It is conceivable that, if he had been made prisoner, this country would have been deprived for all time of the services of the American who did most to burst the fetters which bound the souls of men 150 years ago, and to fix the principles upon which democracy in the Republic rests today. Nor should we forget that the capture of the author of the Declaration of Independence, three of its signers, and Patrick Henry would have been a severe blow to the struggling colonials.” (Ibid., 697.)

I
T
ALSO
P
ASSED
A
RESOLUTION
PTJ,
VI, 88–90.

“
R
ESOLVED
,
T
HAT
AT
T
HE
NEXT
SESSION
”
Ibid., 88.

“
CO
ULD
NOT
BE
INTENDED
”
Ibid., 105.

TIME
HAD
COME
FOR
A
“
DICTATOR
”
McDonnell,
Politics of War,
465.

NEEDED
TO
BE
“
ARM
ED
”
Ibid.

T
HE
MOTION
FAILE
D
Ibid.

A
CCOUNTS
OF
J
EFFER
SON
'
S
TERRIBLE
TIME
For a sympathetic view, see Evans, “Executive Leadership in Virginia,” 215–16. “In evaluating Thomas Jefferson's governorship, historians have more often than not focused on his last five months in office and especially on the few days in late December and early January 1781,” wrote Evans.

The result is that, in the popular mind, he is considered not to have been a very good chief executive. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is true, of course, that the governor did not respond as quickly as he should have on December 31 to the news that a “fleet of 27 sail” had been sighted at the mouth of the James River.… Invasion scares and raids during the past several years had made both the public and its leaders less alert than they should have been. But the demands on the state were now tremendous, and the governor did not want to take any action that would strain its resources unnecessarily.… Under the circumstances the conclusion must be that he did remarkably well. (Ibid., 215–18.)

THE
HOUSE
INQUIRY
WAS
SHORT
-
LIVED
McDonnell,
Politics of War,
465. Jefferson believed Patrick Henry, an emerging political rival, was the motivating force behind the censure. “The trifling body who moved this matter was below contempt; he was more an object of pity,” Jefferson said of George Nicholas. “His natural ill-temper was the tool worked by another hand. He was like the minnows which go in and out of the fundament of the whale. But the whale himself was discoverable enough by the turbulence of the water under which he moved.” (
PTJ,
VI, 143.)

“
NO
FOUNDATION
”
Ibid.

“
TAKEN
MY
FINAL
LEAVE
”
Ibid., 118.

“A
DES
IRE
TO
LEAVE
PUBLIC
OFFICE
”
Ibid.

THE
A
MERICANS
TRIUMPHED
AT
Y
ORKTOW
N
At Yorktown on October 17, 1781, a European soldier fighting with Cornwallis described the siege. “At daybreak the enemy bombardment resumed, more terribly strong than ever before,” he wrote. “They fired from all positions without let-up.… There was nothing to be seen but bombs and cannonballs raining down on our entire line.” (Black,
Crisis of Empire,
166.)

“T
HERE
WAS
TREMENDOUS
FIRING
”
Bear,
Jefferson at Monticello,
10–11.

“
L
ET
ME
DESCRIBE
TO
YOU
”
TDLTJ,
58–60
.