By CW4 (ret) Alexander F. Barnes
Thomas Nelson Jr., from Yorktown, Virginia, was a statesman, farmer, and soldier. He served in the Virginia General Assembly for several terms. He also represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Nelson was elected Virginia’s governor in 1781, replacing Thomas Jefferson. That year, while serving as a Brigadier General, he commanded the Virginia Militia units, the spiritual forefathers of the Virginia National Guard, in the Battle of Yorktown. Some 3,700 officers and enlisted men served with the Virginia Militia during the siege and were responsible for manning part of the siege lines. Previous units of the Virginia Militia had been “continentalized” and served as part of Washington’s Continental Army. Unfortunately, most of these units had been serving under General Benjamin Lincoln and were trapped and captured in 1780 by the British in the disastrous Battle of Charleston.
In 1781, however, the situation had changed and now it was a British army that was trapped. Nelson sent out the word for Virginia’s militia units to pick up their weapons, gather some food, and assemble near Richmond. As they arrived, they received directions to join the combined. American Continental Army troops, led by General George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette, and French Army troops, led by Comte de Rochambeau, moving down the Peninsula towards Yorktown. The British force, under Lord Charles Cornwallis, was now blockaded from the sea by the French Fleet and unable to leave the Peninsula because of Washinton’s Army.
(Courtesy of the National Park Service)
With the impending siege and battle going to take place in Virginia, Nelson was responsible for directing the state’s efforts to supply food and military supplies to both the American and French armies. The Virginia militia units remained organized by their home counties and performed a number of combat support and combat service support tasks such as building fortifications, distributing rations, and even herding cattle to the encampments. They were also used to help build the sap and parallel trenches being dug to provide concealed and protected cover for the soldiers who would be assaulting Cornwallis’s defensive position. For Nelson, the siege was a particularly poignant affair since much of the battle was taking place on his land and his home was being used by Cornwallis as the British Headquarters. It is estimated that forty percent of the American forces at Yorktown were Virginia Militia troops.
(Courtesy of the Army Heritage and Education Center)
After the combined French and American assaults on the evening of October 14 on the key British defensive positions of Redoubt #9 and Redoubt # 10 were successful, it was obvious that the British had no choice but to surrender. Three days later, Cornwallis sent his representatives to General Washington to discuss the terms of surrender. With the conclusion of the siege the Virginia Militia served as provost marshal guards and led Cornwallis’s defeated army to prison camps. When this last duty was completed, most of the Militia were demobilized and returned to their homes. Although the war dragged on for two more years, the siege of Yorktown, beginning on 28 September 1781 and ending on 19 October 1781, effectively ended the fighting.
Nelson continued to serve Virginia as the governor until November 1781, when he returned to the Virginia General Assembly as a delegate. He never recovered financially from the damage to his house and property caused by the siege. He died at his son’s home in Hanover County in 1789 and is buried in the Grace Churchyard at Yorktown. It is believed that he was the last serving Governor of any state to lead his state’s soldiers into battle.
Units of the Virginia Militia were awarded Battle credit for: Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Charleston, Cowpens, Guilford Court House, and Yorktown; and Campaign credit for: Virginia 1775, Virginia 1776, Virginia 1781, South Carolina 1781, and North Carolina 1781.
