Filters:
Start Year: 1828
End Year: 1972
People: John Marshall
Topic: Gunpowder Incident
Location: Dyme Greece

Gunpowder Incident

Years: 1775 - 1775

The Gunpowder Incident (or Gunpowder Affair) is a conflict early in the American Revolutionary War between Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, and militia led by Patrick Henry.

On April 20, 1775, one day after the Battles of Lexington and Concord (and well before news of that event reaches Virginia), Lord Dunmore orders the removal of the gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg, Virginia to a Royal Navy ship.

This action sparks local unrest, and militia companies begin mustering throughout the colony.

Patrick Henry leads a small militia force toward Williamsburg to force return of the gunpowder to the colony's control.

The matter is resolved without conflict when a payment of £330 is made to Henry.

Dunmore, fearing for his personal safety, later retreats to a naval vessel, ending royal control of the colony.

“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward...This is not a philosophical or political argument—any oculist will tell you this is true. The wider the span, the longer the continuity, the greater is the sense of duty in individual men and women, each contributing their brief life's work to the preservation..."

― Winston S. Churchill, Speech (March 2, 1944)