Washington, George, 1732-1799. The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources: Volume 3
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To JOHN, EARL DUNMORE 62
Mount Vernon, June 15, 1772.

[Note:John Murray, Earl Dunmore, was born in Scotland in 1732; died in England in 1809. He was descended on the female side from the royal Stuarts. Appointed Governor of Virginia in July, 1771, he later found the revolutionary movement in that colony beyond his power to control or his skill to conciliate. When hostilities broke out his method of warfare aroused intense bitterness. Martha Washington characterized him as "the cruel Dunmore." He was finally driven, in 1776, from the Chesapeake and went to New York City, going from there to England. In 1786 he was appointed Governor of the Bermudas. ]

    My Lord: The very obliging offer your Lordship was pleased to make me the day I left Williamsburg, in behalf of the

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Officers and Soldiers who (under Faith of Government) lay claim to 200,000 acres of Land, on the waters of Ohio (promis'd them by Proclamation in 1754) I did not embrace; because it is evident to me, who am in some degree acquainted with the situ ation of that Country, and the rapid progress that is making in the Settlem't of it, that delay at this time in the prosecution of our plan, wou'd amount to the loss of the Land, inasmuch as Emigrants are daily and hourly settling on the choice spots waiting a favourable opportunity to solicit legal Titles, on the ground of preoccupancy when the Office shall be open'd. I therefore hoped (and the Officers and Soldiers who have suffered in the cause of your Country still do hope) that tho' your Lordship was of opinion you cou'd at that time vest them with an absolute and bona fide, Grant of the Land, yet that you would permit them to take such steps (at their own ex pence and risk) as others do, to secure their quantity agreeably to Proclamation, there being no doubt of the powers of Government to issue it at the time it was done; especially too as their claim is prior to, and better founded, than any other, having a solemn Act of Government and the general voice of the Country in their favor.

    This is the light my Lord in which the matter appear'd to me, and in this light it is also consider'd by the Officers with whom I have lately had a meeting, Since which, the report gains ground, that a large tract of Country on the Ohio (including all the Land which this Government voted £2500 for the purchase and survey of, in short every foot of Land to the Westward of the Alleghany Mountains) is granted to a company of gentlemen in England, to be formed into a seperate Governmt. If this report is really well founded, there can be no

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doubt of your Lordship's having the earliest and most authentic accounts of it, as it so essentially interfere's with the interests and expectations of this Country. To request the favor of your Lordship to inform me whether this report be true, and if true, whether any attention has been, or probably will be paid, to the order of Council and Proclamation of 1754 may be presumptious; but as the Officers and Soldiers confide in me to transact this business for them, 63 and as it wou'd be a real advantage to them to know the truth of this report, and how it is likely to affect them, must be my apology for taking the liberty of ad dressing this request, in hopes that your Lordship will con descend to do me the honor of writing a line by the next post to Alex'a on this subject; which will be acknowledged as a very singular obligation conferred on My Lord, Your, etc. 64

[Note:Washington at a meeting of the officers of the First Virginia Regiment, held in Fredericksburg, Va., Aug. a, 1770, was appointed agent and attorney to prosecute their land claims. ]
[Note:Sparks prints this letter as dated 1771; the mistake is due to Bartholomew Dandridge wrongly dating his copy in Washington's "Letter Book." Lord Dunmore did not reach Virginia until early in 1772, and the assembly was dissolved June 10, 1772, thus allowing for the meeting to which Washington alludes in his opening sentence. The position of Dunmore in Virginia was not a little curious and in the absence of full information has not been interpreted by historians of the colony to his credit. He was transferred from New York to Virginia and became unpopular almost from the beginning of his rule (1772). Burk charges that he went on a "party of pleasure to the back settlements" and, meeting Dr. John Connolly, a man of "some taste, with an intimate knowledge of Indian affairs, a considerable knowledge of the world, and a lax morality," plotted with him to engage Pennsylvania and Virginia in a civil war about their territorial boundaries and to incite the Indians against the settlers. (See History of Virginia, vol. 3, P. 375, et seq. ) Dandridge asserts that "it was the general belief among the officers of our army, at the time, that the Earl of Dunmore, while at Wheeling, received advice from his government of the probability of the approaching war between England and the Colonies, and that afterwards, all his measures, with regard to the Indians, had for their ultimate object an alliance with these ferocious warriors for the aid of the mother country in their contest with us." (See Notes on the Wars West of the Allegany. ) Jacob, in his Life of Cresap, repeats what Burk wrote, and these charges are accepted, with some reserve, by Howison, in his History of Virginia, vol. 2, pp. 72, 73. Campbell believes the governor's proceedings were actuated "rather by motives of personal interest, than of political manoeuvre." (See History of Virginia, pp. 593, 594.) Brantz Mayer regards the charge as "not alto gather proved against the British earl." (See Logan & Cresap, p. 81.) The differences that arose between Virginia and Pennsylvania respecting the disputed territory and the curious performances of Connolly are described in Force's American Archives.

   Ford says: "By the Quebec Act of 1774 Great Britain, with a view of holding the Colonies in check, established the Roman Catholic religion in Canada, and enlarged its bounds so as to comprise all the territory northwest of the Ohio to the head of Lake Superior and the Mississippi. This attempt to extend the jurisdiction of Canada to the Ohio was especially offensive to Virginia. Richard Henry Lee, in Congress, denounced it as the worst of all the acta complained of. In Virginia, Dunmore's avarice getting the better of his loyalty, he espoused her claims to western lands, and became a partner in enormous purchases in southern Illinois. In 1773 Thomas and Cuthbert Bullett, his, agents, made surveys of lands at the falls of the Ohio, and a part of Louisville, Ky., and of towns opposite to Cincinnati, Ohio, are yet held under his warrant. ]

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