J.J's Wild Ride
Jack Jouett’s Revolution Saving Ride
Swapt…Neigh…Whoa…Kerplunk.
After a bit, Jack realized that he was still alive; the blood coming down his cheeks seemed to have stopped and perhaps no bones were broken. ?????, he exclaimed, mostly to himself. Surprising and with satisfaction, he got a response. Neigh…Neigh. It was his bay mare Sally; she had remained with his master and was now trying to revive him.
Suddenly Jack felt quite cold and very wet. He realized that he was half laying in a stream hidden by the overgrown brush into which he had fallen, having been knocked of of Bonapart by the unseen branch of a large Live Oak tree. “Got to get out of here…Got to warn the Governor. . .”
Tbat was the last he remembered for a while. This time he woke up on a mossy strip of land next to the stream; Sally was still near by. “Wonder how I got here?”
I, the Squire, was one of those that Jack saved, that colonial night of third June, the Eighty-first year of the Lord’s Eighteenth Century. He told me and others the above and more about his ride north to warn us of the bending attack of the British Dragoon, led by the Green Dragon, Lieutenant Colonol Banastre Tarleton, like his Dragoon, the worst kind of eneeny to the Colonists—Amerians who had remained loyal to King George and who had entered several English—Colonial Battles and turned the tide for the British. The Dragoons were considered to be some of the best fighters in the world. They also used a deading battle cry to twart their opponents—Tarleton’s Quarter—or no quarter; we spare not the life of an opponent with their hands in the air.”
As I sit and watch Governor Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelso, Jr. , Richard Henry Lee, John Tyler’s father, American Brigadier General Edward Stevens, now an assemblyman and other colonial assemblymen, let alone Jack’s father, John, prioritetor of Charlotessette’s well-used Swan Tavern –still alive or free, because of Jack, I take note of the story he was telling so that others may know of his heroism.
*Note-I didn’t realize it back then, but Daniel Boone, the famous Daniel Boone who then was a legislator from Kentucky, was also in C’ville and he to left to escape the British.
Jack was in his usual place that Sunday evening, at the Cuckoo Tavern, in Louisa County, known to be a long thirty-five from Charlottesville. As usual, Jack had eaten more than his share of the hearty fare of the Cuckoo, and ‘sampled’ some new Colonial ale in great amounts. He thus took his Washingtonian height (around 6’4”) and 220 pound frame to a tree to refresh himself.
It wasn’t until mid-evening did Jack awake and it was dark enough that the two hundred fifty Dragoon’s in the road by the Cuckoo did not see him. Wide awake—these were British troops afar afield from where they likely would be, he crept through bushes to where he could hear Tarleton give the order to make all haste up Mountain Road on a ride of seventy miles in twenty-four. Jack knew something very important was afoot as he knew that an average horseman would ride at about a five mile per hour pace, but this was moving many, many men, seventy miles at that pace.
Jack had recently received a courier message from his father on his delight that many of his Colonial friends were again in Charlottesville as the Virginia General Assembly was now is session in Charlottesville, haven been driven from Richmond, that had become the capital of the new United States. He knew that Tarleton meant business and might likely kill as take them prisoner. It wasn’t just his stumbling onto the Dragons; it also was his horsemanship and unsurpassed knowledge of the back trails to C’ville that helped him realize that he might be the only one to save the Union.
Mountain Road was the main route to and from Charlotteville and Montecello. Tarleton had good intelligence to know that the Assembly was at Montecello as that was several miles south of Charlottesville, and closer to where Tarleton was now. Jack knew that he had to get around them and ahead of them, in time not only to warn the Assembly but time for them to move to safety. It would take several days for the French General marquis de LaFayette to arrive, but he too must be forewarned. Jack also knew that south of Mountain Road, was a lesser used road north and south, Three Notch’d Road (now Three Chopt Road). He had to get there and settled on an old logging road that he had hunted on, that went from the Courthouse, near the Tavern, and eventually joined Three Notch’d Road.
Once the logging was over, this road was seldom used by travelers and very unlikely to be known by the British. It thus was very overgrown in places with brush and the vines from the hated Katzu??? plant that was most places in Virginia. He also thought that it might cross and re-cross the South Anna Undaunted, Sally was quickly fed and the two galloped around the British, to the logging road. The moon was full and that spurred them both on.
Jouett made his way by memory and dead reckoning. He remembers crossing another river—the Rivanna—at the Village of Milton—exhausted, but knowing next up was to climb Monticello Mountain, a three mile climb. By the position of the moon, he reckoned that it was a couple of hours to dawn.
Jack first went to Monticello and awoke Jefferson to tell him of the impending danger. He was shocked that Jefferson appeared to have little concern for the real danger. He left Thomas to send his family off to shelter with friends at the nearby Blenheim Estate and to start his slaves packing up family silver, paintings and other valuables and moving them to safe hiding places on and off of the property. Jefferson did realize that Monticello might be burnt. After setting this all in motion, he went to his telescope trained on Charlottesville and watched Dragoon’s entering Charlottesville. Going down Mountain Road on Carter’s mountain to get over to Blenheim-not a wise choice, Jefferson actually was only minutes before the first loyalist Dragoons led by Loyalist Captain Kenneth McLeod.
Jack Jouett got to Charlottesville before any of the British arrived and went to Swain Tavern to warn his father and the Assembly men staying there. These brave, very important patriots assembled officially and made plans to meet in three days in Stanton, Virginia, forty miles to the west and protected by more mountains. Some of the warned took the time to have breakfast before they left and seven of them were arrested by Terleton in the process. Not getting the valued assemblymen, the Dragoons took to locating and louting Colonial stores, including one thousand firelock rifles, four hundred barrels of power and several hogshead of tobacco. Terleton knew that he had little time in the area before his nemesis or other American troops arrived so after a day in the area, they rode off to dismantle the camp they had set up south of town and left for parts unknown.
I overhead Jack several days later tell another tale of how he was in Charlottesville when the first Dragoon troops arrived and how he managed to fool the troop leaders when he was interrogated.
He also made it to Staunton where the convening Assembly awarded him an elegant sword and a pair of pistols as indication of the high velour and duty to the new Republic that he provided.
Swapt…Neigh…Whoa…Kerplunk.
After a bit, Jack realized that he was still alive; the blood coming down his cheeks seemed to have stopped and perhaps no bones were broken. ?????, he exclaimed, mostly to himself. Surprising and with satisfaction, he got a response. Neigh…Neigh. It was his bay mare Sally; she had remained with his master and was now trying to revive him.
Suddenly Jack felt quite cold and very wet. He realized that he was half laying in a stream hidden by the overgrown brush into which he had fallen, having been knocked of of Bonapart by the unseen branch of a large Live Oak tree. “Got to get out of here…Got to warn the Governor. . .”
Tbat was the last he remembered for a while. This time he woke up on a mossy strip of land next to the stream; Sally was still near by. “Wonder how I got here?”
I, the Squire, was one of those that Jack saved, that colonial night of third June, the Eighty-first year of the Lord’s Eighteenth Century. He told me and others the above and more about his ride north to warn us of the bending attack of the British Dragoon, led by the Green Dragon, Lieutenant Colonol Banastre Tarleton, like his Dragoon, the worst kind of eneeny to the Colonists—Amerians who had remained loyal to King George and who had entered several English—Colonial Battles and turned the tide for the British. The Dragoons were considered to be some of the best fighters in the world. They also used a deading battle cry to twart their opponents—Tarleton’s Quarter—or no quarter; we spare not the life of an opponent with their hands in the air.”
As I sit and watch Governor Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelso, Jr. , Richard Henry Lee, John Tyler’s father, American Brigadier General Edward Stevens, now an assemblyman and other colonial assemblymen, let alone Jack’s father, John, prioritetor of Charlotessette’s well-used Swan Tavern –still alive or free, because of Jack, I take note of the story he was telling so that others may know of his heroism.
*Note-I didn’t realize it back then, but Daniel Boone, the famous Daniel Boone who then was a legislator from Kentucky, was also in C’ville and he to left to escape the British.
Jack was in his usual place that Sunday evening, at the Cuckoo Tavern, in Louisa County, known to be a long thirty-five from Charlottesville. As usual, Jack had eaten more than his share of the hearty fare of the Cuckoo, and ‘sampled’ some new Colonial ale in great amounts. He thus took his Washingtonian height (around 6’4”) and 220 pound frame to a tree to refresh himself.
It wasn’t until mid-evening did Jack awake and it was dark enough that the two hundred fifty Dragoon’s in the road by the Cuckoo did not see him. Wide awake—these were British troops afar afield from where they likely would be, he crept through bushes to where he could hear Tarleton give the order to make all haste up Mountain Road on a ride of seventy miles in twenty-four. Jack knew something very important was afoot as he knew that an average horseman would ride at about a five mile per hour pace, but this was moving many, many men, seventy miles at that pace.
Jack had recently received a courier message from his father on his delight that many of his Colonial friends were again in Charlottesville as the Virginia General Assembly was now is session in Charlottesville, haven been driven from Richmond, that had become the capital of the new United States. He knew that Tarleton meant business and might likely kill as take them prisoner. It wasn’t just his stumbling onto the Dragons; it also was his horsemanship and unsurpassed knowledge of the back trails to C’ville that helped him realize that he might be the only one to save the Union.
Mountain Road was the main route to and from Charlotteville and Montecello. Tarleton had good intelligence to know that the Assembly was at Montecello as that was several miles south of Charlottesville, and closer to where Tarleton was now. Jack knew that he had to get around them and ahead of them, in time not only to warn the Assembly but time for them to move to safety. It would take several days for the French General marquis de LaFayette to arrive, but he too must be forewarned. Jack also knew that south of Mountain Road, was a lesser used road north and south, Three Notch’d Road (now Three Chopt Road). He had to get there and settled on an old logging road that he had hunted on, that went from the Courthouse, near the Tavern, and eventually joined Three Notch’d Road.
Once the logging was over, this road was seldom used by travelers and very unlikely to be known by the British. It thus was very overgrown in places with brush and the vines from the hated Katzu??? plant that was most places in Virginia. He also thought that it might cross and re-cross the South Anna Undaunted, Sally was quickly fed and the two galloped around the British, to the logging road. The moon was full and that spurred them both on.
Jouett made his way by memory and dead reckoning. He remembers crossing another river—the Rivanna—at the Village of Milton—exhausted, but knowing next up was to climb Monticello Mountain, a three mile climb. By the position of the moon, he reckoned that it was a couple of hours to dawn.
Jack first went to Monticello and awoke Jefferson to tell him of the impending danger. He was shocked that Jefferson appeared to have little concern for the real danger. He left Thomas to send his family off to shelter with friends at the nearby Blenheim Estate and to start his slaves packing up family silver, paintings and other valuables and moving them to safe hiding places on and off of the property. Jefferson did realize that Monticello might be burnt. After setting this all in motion, he went to his telescope trained on Charlottesville and watched Dragoon’s entering Charlottesville. Going down Mountain Road on Carter’s mountain to get over to Blenheim-not a wise choice, Jefferson actually was only minutes before the first loyalist Dragoons led by Loyalist Captain Kenneth McLeod.
Jack Jouett got to Charlottesville before any of the British arrived and went to Swain Tavern to warn his father and the Assembly men staying there. These brave, very important patriots assembled officially and made plans to meet in three days in Stanton, Virginia, forty miles to the west and protected by more mountains. Some of the warned took the time to have breakfast before they left and seven of them were arrested by Terleton in the process. Not getting the valued assemblymen, the Dragoons took to locating and louting Colonial stores, including one thousand firelock rifles, four hundred barrels of power and several hogshead of tobacco. Terleton knew that he had little time in the area before his nemesis or other American troops arrived so after a day in the area, they rode off to dismantle the camp they had set up south of town and left for parts unknown.
I overhead Jack several days later tell another tale of how he was in Charlottesville when the first Dragoon troops arrived and how he managed to fool the troop leaders when he was interrogated.
He also made it to Staunton where the convening Assembly awarded him an elegant sword and a pair of pistols as indication of the high velour and duty to the new Republic that he provided.