The “Gunpowder Incident” in Williamsburg
As American militiamen swarmed around Boston in response to British General Gage’s raid on the military supplies in Concord, something similar was happening in Virginia.
In order to disable any potential resistance, Lord Dunmore, the colony’s royal governor, had ordered a small group of British marines to secretly take the gunpowder from the Williamsburg public arsenal (they called it a “magazine” in those days) and transfer it to one of the British warships stationed nearby. The operation took place during the night of April 20, 1775.
In the morning, when the people of Williamsburg found out what had happened, they were furious. Many of them were ready to march straight to the governor’s mansion (or “palace”) and demand that he return the gunpowder immediately — and if he refused, they were armed and ready to force him to comply.
But some of the local leaders — including Peyton Randolph, who had served as president of the First Continental Congress in 1774 — wanted to take a more peaceful approach. So, after they had managed to calm things down a bit, the city officials made a formal visit to Lord Dunmore, asking him why he had taken the powder, and requesting him to return it. They began:
We his Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council of the city of Williamsburg, in common hall assembled, humbly beg leave to represent to your Excellency, that the inhabitants of this city were this morning exceedingly alarmed, by a report that a large quantity of gunpowder was, in the preceding night, while they were sleeping in their beds, removed from the publick magazine in this city, and conveyed under an escort of marines on board one of his Majesty’s armed vessels…
Considering ourselves as guardians of the city, we therefore humbly desire to be informed by your Excellency upon what motives, and for what particular purpose, the powder has been carried off in such a manner, and we earnestly entreat your Excellency to order it to be immediately returned to the magazine.
Dunmore replied that the powder wasn’t safe in the magazine, so he had decided to move it to a warship, where it would be safer; and he had done this at night in order to keep from worrying anybody. He promised that if there were a slave rebellion or some other urgent need for the powder, he would return it. Dunmore’s excuses were rather thin, and most people saw through them; but they didn’t want violence, so they decided to let it pass for the time being.
The story was printed in local newspapers the next day, and the news quickly spread throughout the colony. Many Virginians reacted the same way the people of Williamsburg had initially reacted. By April 29, hundreds of militiamen were gathering in Fredericksburg, ready to march for Williamsburg and get the powder back. Peyton Randolph again intervened and convinced them to give Dunmore the benefit of the doubt and go back home.
But Patrick Henry wasn’t so easy to persuade. Only a month before, he had made his famous speech, “give me liberty, or give me death!” Now he was ready to show that he meant it. With the Hanover County militia at his back he marched toward Williamsburg. On May 4, when they were within several miles of Williamsburg, a compromise was reached: Dunmore paid £330 as a reimbursement for the gunpowder. Patrick Henry was satisfied, and the militia returned home. By this time, however, the people of Virginia had learned about the battles of Lexington and Concord, and though their own gunpowder dispute had been settled peacefully, they were moving closer and closer to war.
Sources
Purdie’s Virginia Gazette, April 21, 1775 (supplement), pages 3-4. http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/va-gazettes/VGSinglePage.cfm?issueIDNo=75.P.23&page=4&res=LO