On this day 250 years ago in Dumfries, Virginia, the Prince William County Independent Company commanded by Captain William Grayson adopted the following resolutions:

Resolved that the Motto of this Company shall be, Aut liber, aut nullus.

Resolved unanimously that Thomas Blackburn, Richard Graham and Philip Richard Francis Lee Gentlemen, do wait upon Collonel George Washington, and request of him to take the command of this Company as their Field Officer, and that he will be pleas’d to direct the fashion of their uniform; That they also acquaint him with the Motto of the Company which is to be fixed on their Colours.

The Latin motto of the Company translates to “either liberty or death”.

Grayson would later become a Colonel in the Continental Army and then one of Virginia’s first United States Senators. Lee would become a Captain in the Continental Army. Blackburn became a Colonel in the Prince William Militia and also served as a Delegate in the Virginia Convention.

Source: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mgw/mgw4/033/033_0337_0338.pdf