Leedstown, and the Lees of Virginia
Westmoreland County, Virginia
Leeds Church, also known as Brays Church. In 1857, Bishop Meade wrote (Vol. II, p. 164): "This church stood on the Rappahannock, at the outskirts of the place called Leeds. It was of brick. Its ruins are yet to be seen, apparently hanging on the bank of the river. It has undergone many changes in late years since it was deserted as a house of worship, having been used as a tavern, a stable, or a barn, and having been altered to suit the different purposes it has applied to.”
"Leeds was once a place of note in this part of Virginia. It was, doubtless, named by the Fairfaxes or Washingtons after the town of Leeds, in Yorkshire, near which both of their ancestral families lived. This, in Virginia, was a place of much trade in tobacco and other things. Its shipping was very considerable at one time.
When Captain John Smith and his party first explored the Rappahannock River, Leedstown was an Indian town of much consequence, the home of King Passassaek of the Rappahannock tribe. These Rappahannock attacked Captain Smith's party, and Richard Featherstone was killed. He was buried on the south side of the Rappahannock River, near the water edge, a few miles below Leedstown. This was the first death and burial of a white man in this section.
Leedstown was settled in 1683 and named after Leeds in England. From the very beginning, the white settlers were constantly attacked by the Indians, with the result that a military spirit grew among the people. Some military leaders against the Indians have familiar names: Captain John Lee, Captain John Washington, Captain George Mnsoii, and Captain Brent. It was the terrible retaliation upon the Indians by Captains Mason and Brent that brought on the general uprising that finally resulted in "Bacon's Rebellion."
In 1764, when the British Parliament passed the odious Stamp Act, it was violently opposed by the people of Leedstown. The justices of Westmoreland County promptly notified the Assembly that they would not act after November 1765 because "from that period, the Acts for establishing stamps in America commences, which Act will impose on us the necessity of either not conforming to its direction, or, by so doing, to become instruments in the destruction of the most essential rights and liberties of our country."
In fact, in 1766, more than ten years before the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Ludwell Lee, who was born at Stratford but then living in Stafford County, was dispatched by a boy to his brother, Richard Henry Lee (also born at Stratford, and then living at Chantilly, an adjoining estate). This letter read:
"We propose to be in Leedstown in the afternoon of the 27th inst., where we expect to meet those coming from your way. It is proposed that all who have swords or pistols and those who choose a firelock will ride with them. This will be a fine opportunity to effect the scheme of an association, and I would be glad if you would think of a plan."
On the day specified, on all the roads leading to Leedstown, our patriotic fathers rode into that ancient village. On that day, they formed an association, and one hundred and fifteen of them solemnly bound themselves in the following agreement:
"We who subscribe to this paper have associated and do bind ourselves to each other, to God. and to our country, by the firmest ties that religion and virtue can frame most sacredly and punctually to stand by, and with our lives and our fortunes, to support, maintain and defend each other in the observance and execution of specific Articles, among which we find this —
"As the Stamp Act does direct the property of the people to be taken from them without their consent, expressed by their representation, and, as in many cases, it deprives the British American subject of his right of trial by jury, we do determine, at every hazard, and paying no regard to danger or death, we will exert every faculty to prevent the execution of said Stamp Act in any instance whatsoever with this Colony, and every abandoned wretch who shall be so lost to virtue and public good as wickedly to contribute to the introduction or fixture of the Stamp Act in this Colony, by using stamp paper, or by any other means, we Avill. with the utmost expedition, convince all such propagates that immediate Sanger and disgrace shall attend their profligate purpose. This paper, adopted February 37, 1766, is known in history as the "Westmoreland Resolution" and is probably the first public and open resistance to the Mother Country.
The above paper was written by Richard Henry Leo, the one who, ten years later, wrote and introduced in the Continental Congress, on June 7, 1777, that famous motion, "Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This Westmoreland resolution was also signed by four Washingtons, brothers of the one who, ten years later, was chosen Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and, later, the first President of these United States. And the one who sent the letter, calling for this meeting, became the guiding spirit in Virginia's famous Committee of Safety."
“Why should a suitable monument not be erected here to commemorate the great event and let the world know that proper credit may be given to this ancient hamlet and the patriotic citizens of this county?—F. W. Alexander, in Colonial Beach Record, January 24, 1910.
We give the full text below of the famous Articles (sometimes called resolutions) of "the Association in Westmoreland." They were prepared and offered by Richard Henry Lee at Leedstown, Va., February 27, 1766 (Judge Richard Parker presiding), and passed by the patriots of Westmoreland, one hundred and fifteen in number. They are taken from The Virginia Historical Register and Literary Advertiser, edited by William Maxwell, Vol. II (1849), pages 14-18.”
The original manuscript was found among the papers of the late Major Henry Lee, the eldest son of General Henry Lee, by Matilda Lee of Stratford, who was Consul-General to Algiers during Jackson's administration.
Source: 1653- I912 Westmoreland County, Virginia, PARTS I AND 11 (1912). A Short Chapter and Bright Day in Its History Addresses Delivered by Lawrence Washington, Esq., Rev, Randolph Harrison McKim, D. D., LL. D, and Rev. George Wm. Heale, D. D., at Montross, Va., May 3, 1910.
Westmoreland County Records Online
