Browse Items (215 total)

The Fry-Jefferson map was first published in 1753. It was, at the time, the most comprehensive map of 18th century Virginia. Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson were two of the most successful surveyors in the Virginia colony. They collaborated and…

Located in the Accomack County court records from 1758 is this advertisement for a fugitive enslaved person named Will. Prominent Richmond County planter Landon Carter placed the ad. Carter enslaved hundreds of adults and children on his plantation.…

During the 1760s, many Americans came to believe that the British government was imposing unfair taxes on goods coming into the colonies. Parliament levied its first direct tax on the colonists in 1764 to help pay for the costs of fighting the Seven…

This portrait of Mary Willing Byrd (1740–1814) was painted early in the 1770s by artist Matthew Pratt. Born in Philadelphia, she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and a god-daughter of Benjamin Franklin. In 1761 she married William Byrd…

In May 1773 the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, granting the British East India Company a monopoly on importing tea. Intended in part to discourage colonists from buying smuggled tea on which they paid no taxes, the act implicitly acknowledged…

The Sons of Liberty threw hundreds of tea chests into Boston harbor in December 1773 to protest the passage of the Townshend Acts, which taxed a number of goods, including tea. The next year, Parliament responded to this destruction of about $1.7…

John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore, was the last royal governor of Virginia. Assuming office in September 1771, he won support during what became known as Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774. Ostensibly to protect white settlers in the Ohio Valley region…

Patrick Henry (1736–1799) could be considered Virginia’s most outspoken revolutionary. Born in Hanover County, Henry studied law on his own and was admitted to the bar in 1760. In 1763, he spoke out against the action of the king's Privy Council,…

In March 1775, the American colonies appeared to be on a path to war with Britain. Tensions increased over British treatment of Bostonians after Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (also known as the Intolerable Acts) in 1774. In Virginia, Governor…

The Battle of Great Bridge, fought in December 1775, was Virginia’s first large-scale battle in the American Revolution. The Virginia militia fought against British regular troops and Loyalist militia that included a unit of Black soldiers. The…