Virginia’s Response to the Powder Incident
May 3 @ 10:00 am – 10:30 am
Virginia’s Response to the Powder Incident
Palace Circle, Saturday, May 3 at 10 am – FREE & Open to the Public
Join the Virginia Society Sons of the American Revolution and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of Virginia’s first organized act of resistance following the Dunmore Powder Incident—a pivotal step on the colony’s path toward independence.
News of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, reached Hanover Courthouse, Virginia, by April 28. Among those who heard it was Patrick Henry, preparing to travel to Philadelphia as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Recognizing the parallels between British troops seizing gunpowder in Massachusetts and Lord Dunmore’s removal of powder from Williamsburg’s Magazine just days earlier on April 21, Henry sounded the alarm.
His call to arms rallied 160 mounted militiamen, who set off toward Williamsburg on May 2, 1775, intent on either retrieving the powder or receiving compensation. By the evening of May 3, the group reached Doncastle’s Ordinary in James City County, where they encountered Carter Braxton, son-in-law of Virginia’s Receiver General, Richard Corbin. Braxton persuaded Henry to pause the march and, on May 4, returned with a promissory note for the powder. Satisfied, the militia disbanded and returned home, while Henry continued on to Philadelphia to take part in the Second Continental Congress.
FREE & Open to the public – MORE INFO
