“‘Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed by a kiss,’” quoted Rodney, and Lawrence laughingly replied, “Patrick Henry has a way of saying things so the people remember them.”
“I’ll wager they remember that and turn Lord North down with a slam.”
“It’s evident to me you are for war, Rodney.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Yes, er––I suppose I am, but it isn’t pleasant to think of losing one’s estate if not his neck, all of which is possible. The business men of Philadelphia are pretty long-headed, and most of them believe England will win in the end and that the war will be most destructive of property.”
“Surely Washington and Jefferson have estates to lose.”
“Oh, I reckon we’re in for it, and my father says when there’s something to do, do it.”
As was expected, the House of Burgesses would 186 have nothing to do with the kind of conciliation proposed. The people were restless and Dunmore, fearing them, left his “palace” and went aboard a British vessel and ordered that the bills be sent to him for signature. He was politely informed that if he signed them he would have to return, which he did not do. Then the Burgesses adjourned to October, appointing a permanent committee to have charge of colonial affairs, and that committee appointed Patrick Henry to command of the colonial troops.
Rodney’s visits to Charlottesville were brief and it seemed that his absence worried his mother. The latter part of October he was sent to Norfolk, where Dunmore proposed to establish his headquarters. As it happened, he fell in with the troops which Colonel Woodford had been ordered to lead to the relief of the village of Hampton, and was present at the attack on the place and took part in the defence.
In this encounter the marksmanship of the Virginians decided the matter, for, when the ships approached the town and commenced to bombard it, the riflemen picked off the gunners and drove them from their cannon and then, when they tried to work their sails so as to escape, the Virginians shot them out of the rigging. Although the town was damaged by the bombardment, the defenders escaped serious injury, though the sensations of being under fire afforded many of the defenders their first taste of war.