Thomas Nelson Jr.

The Virginian

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Do not love the world or anything in the world. . . . For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 JOHN 2:15-17, NIV

Some Patriots sacrificed fortunes for the cause, some offered their lives and their health in the military, and some risked their safety by signing the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Nelson Jr. did it all.

Nelson was born in 1738 in his father’s mansion in Yorktown, Virginia. Nelson’s grandfather, a merchant of great reputation, had settled in Yorktown in the early 1700s. As was common for the wealthy of that time, young Thomas was sent to a private school in London at age fourteen. He remained in England and went on to earn a degree at Cambridge. In 1761, at age twenty-two, he returned to Virginia.

Though he enjoyed his years of education in Europe, his time in England did not make him sympathetic to British tyranny in the colonies. He closely observed the restrictive actions of the British king and Parliament until 1774, when he decided to take a stand. He started by sending much-needed supplies to besieged Boston. He also helped start Yorktown’s own tea party, during which he personally threw chests of tea into the river, following the trend the Bostonians had started. Nelson was also elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, along with many other famous Patriots.

When the British dissolved the assembly in an attempt to further limit American freedom, Nelson joined a group of Patriots who held unauthorized legislative meetings. In one session Nelson was the bold one who proposed the treasonous legislation that authorized the formation of a state militia. An ardent supporter of bearing arms, Nelson offered these passionate words in one of his speeches:

I am a merchant of Yorktown, but I am a Virginian first. Let my trade perish. I call God to witness that if any British troops are landed in the County of York, of which I am Lieutenant, I will wait no orders, but will summon the militia and drive the invaders into the sea!

Nelson’s rhetoric earned him an appointment as colonel in the Virginia military. He resigned his commission a year later due to a new directive: his appointment to the Second Continental Congress, replacing the famous Patrick Henry. Nelson served as an outspoken supporter of the Declaration of Independence, voting for it in Congress and then signing it.

A year after the Declaration was signed, Nelson became ill and seemed to lose his memory from the sickness. At the urging of his friends and colleagues, Nelson withdrew from Congress, despite his unwillingness to leave his post. He went back to Yorktown, but he didn’t remain inactive for long. Soon the British fleet was just off the Virginia coast, and the state chose him to command the Virginia militia in its defense. The fleet ended up invading Philadelphia instead of Virginia, so newly appointed Brigadier General Nelson personally raised money (much of it from his own pocket) to form a volunteer corps. Under his command, the volunteer troops went to Philadelphia to aid General Washington, though they never saw action before returning to Virginia.

As it turned out, the expedition aided Nelson’s health—so much so that by 1779 he seemed fully recovered and able to serve his country as a delegate again, sitting on several committees in the Continental Congress. Unfortunately, while serving in Congress, his ailment returned and he began struggling with his memory again. Once more he resigned and returned home to recover.

As his health improved and as Virginia became the central theater for war, Nelson was called back to military action. British forces had marched from the south and ravaged lower Virginia, and the state was also facing attacks on the coast from a small British flotilla. As if it weren’t enough to serve as the head of the Virginia forces, General Nelson was asked to step into another significant role. Thomas Jefferson’s term as governor had just expired as the British campaign swept into Virginia, and Nelson was elected by popular vote to take Jefferson’s place. Somehow he was able to continue commanding the state militia while simultaneously running the government.

Through personal devotion and his own financial contributions, Nelson was able to keep his troops together, and they fought heroically at the Siege of Yorktown. Accounts of what happened at that battle vary somewhat, but what is known is that General Nelson and his troops served with distinction. In fact, General Washington made honorable mention of them in a letter:

The magnitude of the acquisition will be ample compensation for the difficulties and dangers which they met with so much firmness and patriotism.

One story from the Siege of Yorktown highlights just how committed Nelson was to the cause. Nelson is said to have noticed that his home, the Nelson House, had not been shelled—probably out of respect for him. He also understood that General Cornwallis, the commander of the British troops, had turned Nelson’s home into their central command. Some accounts say that Nelson entreated General Washington to shell the house; others say he went to the Marquis de Lafayette, requesting that the French bombard it. Still another account says that, as commander of the Virginia militia, Nelson personally ordered it shelled by his own men. Whatever the case, this Patriot was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the good of the greater cause.

A month after the American victory over Cornwallis at Yorktown, Governor Nelson took ill again. This time it was serious enough that he resigned from serving as governor and commander of the militia. He never recovered and was no longer able to participate in public life. Thomas Nelson Jr. passed away in January 1789 and was buried at the Grace Episcopal Church in Yorktown, directly across the street from his ancestral home.

Nelson unselfishly dedicated his life and his health to the American cause. One of his fellow officers, Colonel James Innes, wrote these words in memory of Nelson:

As a man, a citizen, a legislator, and a patriot, he exhibited a conduct untarnished and undebased by sordid or selfish interest, and strongly marked with the genuine characteristics of true religion, sound benevolence, and liberal policy. Entertaining the most ardent love for civil and religious liberty, he was among the first of that glorious band of patriots whose exertions dashed and defeated the machinations of British tyranny, and gave United America freedom and independent empire.