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Enormous financial sacrifices were made by local leaders who helped direct and supply the war effort during the War for Independence. Date published: 5/17/2003 By Gwen Woolf Part 10 of a series Adapted from 'Fielding Lewis and the Washington Family'; Chapter 40: 'The Beginning of a Fateful Year' THE YEAR BEGAN unpromisingly. The British easily overran the James River, even occupying Richmond for a day and forcing the government to flee. An invasion of the Rappahannock River was feared. No one knew the enemy's intent, but Fredericksburg and Hunter's Works were sure to be a high priority. Gov. Thomas Jefferson placed George Weedon in charge of their defense. Over the next nine months, Gen. Weedon would assume (or be trapped in) the thankless role of provisioning and staffing not only the local militias but also the state troops on duty and the arriving Continentals under the Marquis de Lafayette. His most frustrating task was juggling the militia pool--no more than a fourth of a county's militia could be called up at one time. Once called for a tour of duty--whether it lasted three months or three days--that unit then went to the bottom of the rotation list. For this local defense crisis, Weedon activated 150 Stafford and 200 Spotsylvania militia; Caroline's militia was unready because of a shortage of muskets. Gov. Jefferson ordered 900 militia from the back counties to join Weedon in Fredericksburg, who posted 700 men between the town and the Potomac. The King George militia formed three companies after a report that British ships were seen in the Rappahannock, but their commander sent word that the delivery of promised rum was essential to their performance. In Fredericksburg, a "fatigue party" had been quickly set to making cartridges and bullets. Charles Dick, running the gun factory alone, wrote to Gov. Jefferson on Jan. 4 that "the Gentlemen of this town & even the Ladys have very spiritedly attended at the Gunnery and assisted to make up already above 20,000 Cartridges and Bullets, from which the Spots. Militia and from Caroline have been supplied, as also above 100 Good Guns from this Factory." Virginia's defense--3,700 men--was improvised around three locations: Williamsburg, Fredericksburg and Cabin Point on the James River above Jamestown.
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