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Gov. Patrick Henry letter to John Rogers(20 May 1779)

  • MS 1937.4
  • Microfilm: M-1561
  • 1 item

Concerns the transfer of prisoners from Illinois [County, VA] to Chesterfield [County, VA] Courthouse. Captain Thomas Upshaw is to collect the 26 prisoners and keep them in Chesterfield until further notice. The county lieutenant of Henrico is to supply guards.

On the morning of February 25, 1779, George Rogers Clark accepted the surrender of the British garrison at Vincennes and the prisoners were sent to Williamsburg for incarceration. General Clark sent twenty-seven of the most important prisoners under guard to Williamsburg on March 8. One of those prisoners was British Royal Governor of Detroit, Henry Hamilton, hated by the American frontiersman who named him “Hair-buyer” for employing Indians to terrorize frontier families. These men were so hated, that General Clark thought it possible that they would be killed by angry citizens on their way to Williamsburg.

As the party made it way westward, Governor Patrick Henry informed the “Officer of the Guard over prisoners from Illinois” that the twenty-six prisoners be transferred to Chesterfield Courthouse and placed “under a strong guard.” He further stated that any “Letters & papers” concerning the surrender be sent forward to Williamsburg as quickly as possible.

The prisoners reached Chesterfield County in June 1779 just as Thomas Jefferson took the office of governor, succeeding Patrick Henry. Lieutenant John Rogers commanded the guard who escorted the prisoners from the falls of the Ohio River as far as Williamsburg where he received Governor Jefferson’s orders to detain Hamilton in the jail.

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