Travels in Virginia in Revolutionary Times

In Short

Edited by A. J. Morrison, Travels in Virginia in Revolutionary Times compiles vivid, first-person historical accounts from a diverse group of observers traveling through Virginia between 1769 and 1802. From loyalist soldiers and British prisoners to French officers, German physicians, itinerant preachers, and literary tourists, these chroniclers record a crucial period of transformation. They detail daily plantation life, expanding towns, shifting trade routes, and the rugged frontier. The collection endures as an essential historic mosaic, capturing the landscape, social customs, economic habits, and human complexities of Virginia as it evolved from a proud British colony into the powerhouse of a young nation.

The Story

The book traces the narrative arc of Virginia's revolutionary era through sequential historical perspectives, beginning before the outbreak of open hostilities. Initial accounts reveal a calm, prosperous colony where tobacco agriculture and plantation routines define daily life. Readers meet early travelers who note the astonishing fertility of the James River lowlands, the specific routines of planters who rise early to ride their fields and drink morning juleps, and the push toward the western frontiers beyond the mountains. As political tensions escalate, peaceful memoranda give way to accounts of armed conflict and military maneuvering across the commonwealth.

During the War of Independence, the narrative shifts to the unique perspectives of military captives and allied forces. Lieutenant Thomas Anburey provides an intimate look at the Convention Army—British troops surrendered at Saratoga—as they are marched to Charlottesville. He depicts how officers erect habitations in the woods, clearing six miles of forest and inadvertently creating a bustling mini-town before being ordered north, leaving behind swarms of domesticated cats that turn feral in the woods. Concurrently, French military officers and chaplains like the Abbé Robin and the Marquis of Chastellux record their movements alongside American forces. They describe the devastation left by British raids, the march toward the siege of Yorktown, and the social refinement found in Williamsburg, where military leadership meets academic and philosophical life at the College of William and Mary.

Following the war, the narrative documents a society rebuilding, expanding, and grappling with political independence. European visitors like the Hessian surgeon Dr. Johann David Schoepf inspect the nascent state's natural resources and infrastructure. He visits tobacco warehouses in Fredericksburg, crude coal diggings near Richmond, and the busy assembly at Formicola’s tavern, where soldiers, judges, and politicians gather by the fire to swap anecdotes. Moving into the late 1780s and 1790s, itinerant ministers like Dr. Coke recount hazardous cross-country travels, swollen river crossings, and warm receptions in humble wilderness cabins.

In the post-Revolutionary decade, observers like Isaac Weld, Ferdinand Marie Bayard, and the Duke de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt document rapid commercial growth and territorial expansion. They detail the rising trade of Norfolk, the bustling merchant shops of Winchester, and the thousands of emigrants passing through mountain gaps toward Kentucky and Tennessee. Visitors pay homage to Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, examining his innovative crop rotations and Scottish threshing machines. The volume closes at the turn of the nineteenth century with accounts of solemn Native American rituals along the Occoquan, completing a multi-layered historical portrait of a changing land.

How It Unfolds

Colonial life and frontier ambitions Captain Smyth travels through coastal towns, documenting agricultural yields and plantation routines, before venturing across rugged mountain passes to visit Richard Henderson's frontier settlement on the Kentucky River.

Life in the Convention Army Lieutenant Thomas Anburey details the captivity of Burgoyne's surrendered troops in Charlottesville, where officers build a woodland settlement, interact with local planters, and eventually leave behind cleared lands and abandoned cats.

Allied forces and post-siege Virginia The Abbé Robin and the Marquis of Chastellux observe the march of French troops, detailing the aftermath of British plunder, the landscape surrounding Yorktown, and intellectual discussions with local leaders and university professors in Williamsburg.

Post-war recovery and natural resources Dr. Johann David Schoepf surveys the economic landscape, visiting ironworks, powder mills, newly discovered coal beds, and crowded taverns filled with politicians and veterans in the newly designated capital of Richmond.

Wayside perils and wilderness preaching Dr. Coke braves frozen trails and treacherous river Thaws, describing a near-fatal sweep down a flooded stream that leaves him dried by a fire in a local family's cabin.

Scientific inquiry and domestic routine Captain Ferdinand Marie Bayard and Isaac Weld observe local manufacturing in Winchester, the bustling horse races of Petersburg, and the intellectual solitude of Thomas Jefferson managing his estate at Monticello.

Frontier trails and ancient monuments Later travelers observe streams of migrants moving through Staunton toward Kentucky, ending with vivid descriptions of an Indian war-dance and ceremony around a ancestral burial cairn on the Occoquan River.

The People

• Captain Smyth, an early loyalist traveler, wants to explore the uncharted western boundaries of Virginia; despite rugged terrain and hundreds of miles of wilderness, he successfully reaches Henderson’s remote settlement before journeying down the Ohio.
• Lieutenant Thomas Anburey, an officer in Burgoyne's surrendered army, seeks to maintain order and comfort for his men during captivity; despite isolation in the Charlottesville woods, he turns camp life into a thriving temporary community before being marched north.
• The Marquis of Chastellux, a cultured French officer and philosopher, desires to understand the social and political underpinnings of the American republic; traveling with a modest retinue, he engages Virginia’s leaders in deep dialogue and earns an honorary degree from William and Mary.
• Dr. Johann David Schoepf, a inquisitive Hessian surgeon, aims to catalog the geology, botany, and commercial prospects of post-war Virginia; overcoming crowded accommodations and rough roads, he meticulously records the state's emerging industries.
• Dr. Coke, an enthusiastic Methodist preacher, seeks to spread his faith across the rural backwoods; despite severe weather and a harrowing sweep down a flooded river, he perseveres with gratitude for the hospitality of local inhabitants.
• Thomas Jefferson, a statesman and agricultural innovator, seeks to create an efficient, self-sustaining estate at Monticello while hosting international guests; despite political demands, he remains devoted to testing new farming machinery and hosting travelers with quiet hospitality.

In Its Own Voice

"The produce of an acre in the culture of tobacco, in the best land, is about 1,660 pounds weight; on the worst about 500 pounds weight."

Captain Smyth notes the specific agricultural output of Virginia's primary cash crop during his early travels.

"Every evening there came generals, colonels, captains, senators, delegates, judges, doctors, clerks and gentlemen of every weight and calibre to sit around the fire, drink, smoke, sing and swap anecdotes."

Dr. Johann David Schoepf describes the lively, democratic atmosphere inside Formicola's tavern in Richmond.

"Having ended his oration, the Indian struck his war-club with fury against the ground, and the whole party obeyed the signal by joining in a war-dance..."

A late-century traveler witnesses a solemn ceremony and ritual dance performed around an ancient burial cairn on the banks of the Occoquan.

What It's Really About

Beneath its travel logs, the book examines how geography, land use, and physical environment shape human culture and political institutions. It contrasts the refined, tobacco-dependent tidewater aristocracy with the democratic, rugged individualism of the western frontier. The text explores the transition from colonial dependency to national self-reliance, documenting how war alters physical landscapes and social structures. Through foreign perspectives, the volume continually asks whether this diverse, sprawling commonwealth—bound by slave labor, rapidly exhausting its soil, yet full of natural wealth and political ambition—can successfully anchor a new republic. It is fundamentally an inquiry into the character of a state in mid-transformation.

Why Read It Today

This collection appeals to readers who delight in primary sources, historical geography, and unvarnished first-person narratives. Rather than offering a single retrospective narrative, it grants direct access to the past through the voices of people who lived it. Readers feel the physical reality of eighteenth-century travel: the bump of carriage wheels over abominable roads, the chill of swollen rivers, the smoke of tavern fires, and the expansive views from mountain passes.

The book does present specific reading challenges. Because it consists of extracted journal entries and letters from multiple authors, the prose style shifts abruptly from technical agricultural surveys to philosophical musings. Readers will encounter period terminology, obsolete place names, and matter-of-fact descriptions of institutionally entrenched slavery and land exploitation that reflect the period's attitudes. Yet, for those fascinated by early American history, Travels in Virginia in Revolutionary Times provides an authentic, highly detailed portrait of a nation coming into being, capturing both the grandeur and the raw reality of the early American landscape.