_THE LEEDSTOWN RESOLUTIONS_

The town of Leeds on the banks of the Rappahannock River was a thriving center of trade and shipping in colonial days. Here the big ships lay at anchor while their holds were filled with tobacco for the London market.

Here the returning ships unloaded the English luxuries that were so dear to the hearts of the Northern Neck planter-families.

Leeds had been incorporated in 1742. When ten or twelve years later the English visitor, George Fisher, spent a night at "Leids Town" he was well pleased with the fine furnishings he found in the ordinary. There were other ordinaries in the village, comfortable homes with gardens and Leeds Church.

George Washington often visited Leedstown. With his wife he dined there in 1759. He spent the night there in 1763. Many times he crossed the nearby ferry as he traveled between Mount Vernon and Williamsburg.

On a winter's day in 1766 there was unusual activity at Leeds. The excitement came about because Thomas Ludwell Lee had written to his brother Richard Henry Lee as follows: "We propose to be in Leedstown in the afternoon of the 27th inst., Feb. 1766, where we expect to meet those who will come from your way. This would be a fine opportunity to effect the scheme of an association, and I should be glad if you would think of a plan."

It is easy to visualize the arrival of the planters in their coaches and on horseback--to hear the rattle of wheels, the thud of hoofs, the creaking of saddle-leather and the excited voices speaking with a London accent.

The "plan" that Richard Henry Lee had thought of and prepared in manuscript form and had brought to Leedstown that day could probably have hanged him, and the one hundred and fourteen others who signed it, if it had fallen into the wrong hands. But the Northern Neck was a remote fortress and its inhabitants were bold when their freedom was threatened.

Among those who signed Lee's document were six Lees, five Washingtons, and Spence Monroe, father of President James Monroe. The text of The Leedstown Resolutions follows:

"Rouzed by Danger and alarmed at Attempts foreign & domestic to reduce the People of this Country to a State of abject and detestable slavery by destroying that free and happy constitution of Government under which they have hitherto lived,--We who subscribe this Paper, have Associated, & do bind ourselves to each other, to God, and to our Country, by the Firmest Tyes that Religion & Virtue can frame, most sacredly and punctually to stand by, and with our Lives & Fortunes to support, maintain and defend each other, in the Observation and Execution of these following Articles.

"First, we declare all due Allegiance and Obedience to our lawful Sovereign George the Third King of Great Britain. And we determine to the utmost of our Power to preserve the Laws, the Peace and good Order of this Colony as far as is consistent with the Preservation of our Constitutional Rights and Liberty.

"2.dly As we know it to be the Birthright Privilege of every British Subject (and of the People of Virginia as being such) founded on Reason, Law and Compact, That he cannot be legally tryed but by his Peers, and that he cannot be taxed but by Consent of a Parliament in which he is represented by Persons chosen by the People and who themselves pay a part of the Tax they impose on others--If therefore any Person or Persons shall attempt by any Action or Proceeding to deprive this Colony of those fundamental Rights we will immediately regard him or them as the most dangerous Enemy of the Community and we will go to any Extremity not only to prevent the Success of such Attempts but to Stigmatize and punish the Offender.

"3.dly As the Stamp Act does absolutely direct the Property of the People to be taken from them without their Consent express'd by their Representatives, and as in many cases it deprives the British American Subject of his Right to Trial by Jury; we do determine at every hazard and paying no Regard to Danger or to Death; we will exert every Faculty to prevent the Execution of the said Stamp Act in any instance whatsoever within this Colony--And every abandoned Wretch who shall be so lost to Virtue and publick Good, as wickedly to contribute to the introduction or fixture of the Stamp Act in this Colony, by using Stampt Paper, or by any other Means; we will with the utmost Expedition convince all such Profligates, that immediate danger and disgrace shall attend their prostitute Purpose.

"4.thly That the last Article may most surely and effectually be execut'd, we engage to each other, that whenever it shall be known to any of this Association that any Person is so conducting himself as to favor the Introduction of the Stamp Act, that immediate Notice shall be given to as many of the Association as possible, and that every Individual so inform'd shall with expedition repair to a place of meeting to be appointed as near the Scene of Action as may be.

"5.thly Each Associator shall do his true endeavor to obtain as many Signers to this Association as he possibly can.

"6.thly If any attempt shall be made upon the Liberty or Property of any Associator for any Action or Thing to be done in Consequence of this Agreement, we do most solemnly bind ourselves by the sacred Engagements above enter'd into, at the utmost risk of our Lives and Fortunes to restore such Associate to his Liberty, and to protect him in the enjoyment of his Property.

"In Testimony of the good Faith with which we resolve to execute this Association, we have this 27 day of February 1766 in Virginia put our hands & Seals hereto

Richard Henry Lee Will Robinson Lewis Willis Thomas Lud. Lee Samuel Washington Charles Washington Moore Fauntleroy Francis Lightfoot Lee Thomas Jones Rodham Kenner Spencer Mottsom Ball Richard Mitchell Joseph Murdock Rich'd Parker Spence Monroe John Watts Robert Lovell John Blagge Charles Weeks William Booth Geo: Tuberville Alvin Moxley Wm. Flood John Ballantine Jun.

William Lee Thomas Chilton Richard Buckner Will Chilton Joseph Peirce John Williams Jn. Blackwell Winder S. Kenner Wm. Bronaugh Will Peirce John Berryman Jn. Dickson John Browne Edward Sanford Charles Chilton Lau. Washington W. Roane Jr.

William Sydnor John Monroe William Cocke William Grayson Wm. Brockenbrough Sam Selden Daniel McCarty Jer Rush Edwd. Ransdell Townshend Dade Laur. Washington John Ashton W. Brent Francis Foushee John Smith Jr.

Will Balle Thomas Barnes Jos. Blackwell Reuben Meriwether Edw. Mountjoy Thomas Mountjoy William Mountjoy John Mountjoy Gilbt. Campbell Jos. Lane Richard Lee Daniel Tebbs Fran. Thornton Jun.

Peter Rust Jun.

John Lee Jun.

Fran Waring John Upshaw Merriwether Smith Thomas Roane James Edmondson James Webb John Edmondson James Banks Smith Young Thomas Logan Jo. Milliken Rich Hodges James Upshaw James Booker A. Montague Richard Jeffries John Suggett Jn. L. Woodcock Robert Wormeley Carter John Beale Jun.

John Newton Will B--le Jun.

Chs. Mortimer John Edmondson Charles Beale Peter Grant Thomson Mason Jon. Beckwith James Samford John Belfield W. Smith John Aug. Washington Thomas Belfield Edgecomb Suggett Henry Francks John Bland Jun.

Jas. Emerson John Richards Thos. Jett Thomas Douglas Max. Robinson John Orr Ebenezer Fisher Hancock Eustace."

Text and names have been copied from a photostatic copy of the original manuscript by Florienette Matter Knight, Organizing Regent, Leedstown Resolutions Chapter, N.S.D.A.R. The original manuscript, handwritten by Richard Henry Lee, is in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.

_FITHIAN_

On an October day in the year 1773 a man on horseback rode down through Westmoreland County until he came to the entrance of a plantation known as Nomini Hall. The avenue leading to the great house was bordered with poplar trees, through which the white stuccoed house appeared "romantic"

and "truly elegant."

Philip Vickers Fithian, lately graduated from Princeton, had been seven days on the road since he had left New Jersey. He had ridden two hundred and sixty miles and crossed a number of ferries.

Fithian was not sure that he was doing the right thing in coming to Virginia. His friends had tried to persuade him not to go to that "wicked colony" where he would be sure to fall in with evil companions and become a drunkard or a gambler. If his parents had lived Fithian would probably have stayed in the North, but they had recently passed away, and the salary as a plantation tutor was good. With a last prayer to the Lord that he would be strong enough to stick to his upright way of life, Fithian set off on his journey to the Northern Neck of Virginia.

Nomini Hall was the seat of one of King Carter's grandsons, Robert Carter, III. His holdings, amounting to seventy thousand acres, were scattered over a number of counties. He owned more than five hundred slaves and employed numerous white overseers, clerks, stewards, craftsmen and artisans. Tobacco was still the main crop of the plantation, but its profits were now waning and Councillor Carter sought other money crops to supplement this chief product. Carter also manufactured supplies for the use of his plantations and for his neighbors' needs. He operated grain mills, textile factories, salt works and bakeries.

Nomini Hall was laid off in the usual formal English style, with four dependencies--one equally distant from each corner of the manor. These were the large dependencies--there were many others, probably as many as thirty. In the square thus formed by the four buildings there was a bowling green, and gardens interspersed with oyster-shell walks.

In one of the large dependencies, Fithian was established. Here he and the Carter boys slept upstairs over the schoolroom. The five Carter girls who were to be his pupils--"all dressed in white"--slept in the great house. Fithian liked his room in the schoolhouse--"a neat chamber, a large Fire, Books, & Candle & my Liberty to stay in this room or to sit at the great house." In the household he held a delicate position--equi-distant between the master and his eldest son.

There was never a dull moment at Nomini Hall. There was the music teacher--and the traveling dancing teacher who followed a plan of rotation between the plantations. He spent about a week at each place, which ended with a small informal dance. The big balls were splendid affairs, lasting for days and nights. There was a continual procession of chariots, drawn by four or six horses, with coachman, and postillions, and attended by horseback riders, moving back and forth between Nomini Hall and its neighboring plantations. The Carters often dined and danced with the Lees at Stratford and Chantilly, the Washingtons at Bushfield, the Tubervilles at Hickory Hill, and with the Tayloes at Mount Airy, about twelve miles distant. Christenings, birthdays, house-warmings--anything served as an excuse for a celebration among these Northern Neckers! In no part of Virginia were there more great planters than in the Northern Neck.

Fithian observed everything and wrote it all down in his Journal. One of the first things that he noticed were the ladies with the white handkerchiefs: "Almost every Lady wears a red Cloak; and when they ride out they tye a white handkerchief over their Head and face, so that when I first came into Virginia, I was distress'd whenever I saw a Lady, for I thought she had the Tooth-Ache!"

Fithian walked often in the evenings in the garden with Mrs. Carter when she was giving a last look at the poultry or the growing things. He had a great admiration for the beauty and elegance of Mrs. Carter. With Councillor Carter he attended the county courts and the horse-races in Richmond County. Around the stables he watched the cock-fights. There was skating on the "Mill-pond," and when warm weather came, the "fish-feasts" and barbecues. The latter, he wrote, were just like the "fish-feasts" except that they had roast pig instead of fish.

Fithian did not approve of Sunday in Virginia--"A Sunday in Virginia don't seem to wear the same Dress as our Sundays to the Northward. By five o'clock on Saturday every face looks festive and cheerful.... It is a general custom on Sundays here, with Gentlemen to invite one another home to dine, after Church; and to consult about, determine their common business, either before or after Service.... It is not the custom for Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they came out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them into prayers.... They stay also after the Service is over, usually as long, or longer, than the Parson, was preaching."

Nomini Church stood on the banks of the River Nomini about six miles from the manor. The Carter family attended this church, traveling by both land and water. Councillor Carter had a boat built for the purpose "of carrying the young Ladies and others of the Family to Nominy Church.

It is a light neat Battoe elegantly painted & is rowed with four Oars."

On the way to church by boat, Fithian saw the river alive with people, in boats and canoes, fishing.

Whenever it was possible Fithian excused himself from the social gatherings and stayed in his room, writing in his Journal and working on his sermons, for he was to become a Presbyterian minister. He was happiest there alone because he could not fit in with these strange Northern Neckers. He felt a little sorry for himself because he was a somber "meagre" figure in his dark clothes among these gay people. His greatest handicap was that he had never learned to dance and--"blow high, blow low, Virginians will dance or die!" He wrote to a friend in the North: "Here we either strain on Horseback, from home to Church, or from house to house if we go out at all--or we walk alone into a dark meadow, or tall wood. But I love solitude, and these lonely recesses suit exactly the feeling of my mind."

In spite of his disapproval Fithian grew fond of the Northern Neck and its people. When he returned from a visit home he wrote: "I am much more pleased with the Face of the Country since my return than I have ever been before--It is indeed delightsome! How natural, how agreeable, how majestic the place seems! Supp'd on Crabs & an elegant dish of Strawberries & Cream!"

On Christmas morning Fithian was awakened by the guns being fired around the house. Then the boy who made the fire came in with a "Christmas Box," for a tip, and the other servants followed with their "Boxes."

Mrs. Carter sent him over some spermaceti candles--"large clear & very elegant." The holidays were a round of balls and parties, which Fithian excused himself from as much as possible. He was glad when they were over--"We had a large Pye cut to-day to signify the conclusion of the Holidays."

It was so cold in January that "a cart and three pair of oxen which every day bring in four loads of wood, Sundays excepted." In the manor and other houses there were twenty-eight "steady fires & most of them are very large." It grew so cold that the cart went for wood on Sunday also.

Mail was gotten infrequently from the post-office at Hobb's Hole, which was the name of present-day Tappahannock. Newspapers from the North and _The Virginia Gazette_ brought accounts of the Tea Party in Boston, and other rumblings in the colonies. These "Golden Days" in Virginia were not to last much longer--war was in the making.

Fithian left Nomini Hall late in 1774. He could no longer stay away from his Northern "dream-girl," the "fair Laura" of his Journal. He was married to her in October, 1775. He enlisted in the Revolutionary forces in 1776 as a chaplain, but his "meagre" body could not stand the life of the army. He died shortly after the battle of White Plains.

But Fithian had not lived in vain--his Journal was a legacy to posterity.

_THE SCHOOL IN THE WILDWOOD_

In colonial days a small school was conducted in the forest of Westmoreland County by a Scotch minister. His own sons were his pupils, and a few children who lived close enough to walk to school through the woodland lane which was cut for several straight miles through the woods and was known as the Parson's Road.

In 1755 the "Parson" had petitioned the Court of Westmoreland County to have a road from the "new Glebe opened to Round Hill Church." The petition was granted, for the Reverend Archibald Campbell was an influential man in the region.

Mr. Campbell came to Virginia from Scotland in October, 1741. The "new Glebe" was purchased, tradition says, from Thomas Marshall, "the surveyor," about 1753. The "Parson" moved to the "new Glebe" and lived there until his death in 1775. It was there that he conducted his school.

The "new Glebe" was situated on Mattox Creek, originally called Appamatox Creek after the Indians who had once lived there. This Glebe was located not far from the present village of Oak Grove.