The Governor had remained
constantly in and about Richmond, exerting all his powers for collecting
militia, and providing such means for the defence of the State as its
exhausted resources admitted. Never assuming a guard, and with only the
river between him and the enemy, his lodgings were frequently within
four, five, or six miles of them.
M. de la Fayette about this time arrived at Richmond with some
continental troops, with which, and the militia collected, he continued
to occupy that place, and the north bank of the river, while Phillips
and Arnold held Manchester and the south bank. But Lord Cornwallis,
about the middle of May, joining them with the main southern army, M.
de la Fayette was obliged to retire. The enemy crossed the river, and
advanced up into the country about fifty miles, and within thirty miles
of Charlottesville, at which place the legislature being to meet in
June, the Governor proceeded to his seat at Monticello, two or three
miles from it. His office was now near expiring, the country under
invasion by a powerful army, no services but military of any avail;
unprepared by his line of life and education for the command of armies,
he believed it right not to stand in the way of talents better fitted
than his own to the circumstances under which the country was placed.
He therefore himself proposed to his friends in the legislature, that
General Nelson, who commanded the militia of the State, should be
appointed Governor, as he was sensible that the union of the civil and
military power in the same hands, at this time, would greatly facilitate
military measures.
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