On this day 250 years ago, the “Freeholders and other inhabitants” of Loudoun County, Virginia, met at the court house in Leesburg to “consider the most effectual method to preserve the rights and liberties of N. America, and relieve our brethren of Boston, suffering under the most oppressive and tyrannical Act of the British Parliament.” The meeting was chaired by Francis Peyton, who perhaps drafted the document containing the seven “Loudoun Resolves” adopted in the meeting. They included:
Resolved, That the Act of the British Parliament . . . is utterly repugnant to the fundamental laws of justice, in punishing persons without even the form of a trial [and] a despotic exertion of unconstitutional power . . . calculated to enslave a free and loyal people.
Resolved, That the enforcing of the . . . act of Parliament by [the British military threatens] civil war, and that we will, with our lives and fortunes, assist and support our suffering brethren of Boston . . . until a redress of all our grievances shall be procured, and our common liberties established on a permanent foundation.
The following men signed the Loudoun Resolves and no doubt most served in the Loudoun County militia during the Revolution. This weekend Loudoun County will celebrate their contributions to American Independence:
- Francis Peyton – elected at this meeting to represent Loudoun at the Williamsburg meeting to adopt Virginia’s response to the Intolerable Acts and subsequently served in the Virginia legislature
- Thomson Mason – also elected as representative to the Williamsburg meeting, and subsequently served in the Virginia legislature
- Leven Powell – served as an officer in the Continental Army
- William Ellzey – member of Loudoun Committee of Correspondence
- John Thornton – member of Loudoun Committee of Correspondence
- George Johnston – member of Loudoun Committee of Correspondence
- Samuel Levi – member of Loudoun Committee of Correspondence
- John Morton
- Thomas Ray
- Thomas Drake
- William Booram
- Benj. Isaac Humphrey
- Samuel Mills
- Joshua Singleton
- Jonathan Drake
- Matthew Rust
- Thomas Williams
- James Noland
- Samuel Peugh
- William Nornail
- Thomas Luttrell
- James Brair
- Poins Awsley
- John Kendrick
- Edward O’Neal
Sources: https://lfportal.loudoun.gov/LFPortalInternet/0/edoc/600561/Loudoun%20Resolves%20Flyer%202024.pdf
https://www.visitloudoun.org/event/250th-anniversary-of-the-loudoun-resolves/46634/
Cecere, Michael, In This Time of Extreme Danger, Northern Virginia in the American Revolution at pp. 18-19
On This Day In The Revolution 