Tories, Treachery, Treason, and a Tree

Tories, Treachery, Treason, and a Tree. . The summer of 1780 found those Virginians seeking independence from the British Crown in a panic. The Revolutionary War was in its fifth year, the American economic situation was bleak, and Lord Cornwallis' British army was driving northward through the Carolinas with the intent of invading Virginia and rallying Tories (people loyal to the British cause) to aid against Patriot (those loyal to the American independence effort) forces., While Cornwallis advanced, it was learned from an American spy named John Wyatt that the Tories were forming a conspiracy to undermine the Patriot government of Virginia. Posing as a British officer, Wyatt learned that the conspiracy involved disruptive activities ranging from horse thievery to the sabotage of Virginia's lead and saltpeter mines. Other reports maintained that there was also a plan to attack the Patriot arsenal at New London - one of only four operating in Patriot hands during the war. With weaponry secured, the Tories then planned to march on Charlottesville to free British prisoners-of-war and overrun the new capital at Richmond., Wyatt also obtained a list of Tories involved in the plot and promptly forwarded the intelligence to Governor Thomas Jefferson and Patriot militia leaders such as Col. Charles Lynch (who made his home, "Green Level", on these grounds), Col. William Preston, Col. James Callaway, and Capt. Robert Adams, Jr. The Patriot militia quickly moved throughout southern and southwestern Virginia, arresting at least seventy-five men accused of colluding with the British., Acting on orders from Governor Jefferson, Col. Lynch tried the accused for treason underneath a black walnut tree that stood on this very site. Some were acquitted for a lack of evidence, some were sentenced to a short prison term, and others were sentenced to be flogged with "thirty-nine lashes, well laid on". According to tradition, the convicted would receive mercy if they would only cry out "Liberty forever!", The "Lynch's Law" trials, as they came to be called, were effective in extinguishing the Tory threat uncovered by John Wyatt. In October of 1782, Lynch and his associates were pre-emptively granted immunity from prosecution for acts that were "not strictly warranted by law"., As the eighteenth century gave way to the nineteenth century, irregular judicial proceedings and the resulting punishment became known simply as "lynching". It is important to note, however, that the context of the term used here in 1780 had no connection to the act of singling out African Americans for prosecution on the basis of race. Neither did the 1780 usage of the term apply to the purpose of inflicting murderous action against them or any other group., (caption) Illustration by Epps Perrow