Baron Cameron Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax – Lord Fairfax, the only British peer residing in the thirteen colonies (since 1747), professed to be Loyalist during the Revolutionary War. But he also maintained a secret friendship with George Washington and provided quiet support for the Patriot cause. His ruse prevented threats, retribution, or hostility against him by either Tories or rebels. Yet, in the Virginia Act of 1779, the Commonwealth of Virginia seized title to all of his unsettled land (originally more than five million acres granted to his family by the British Crown in 1649). He was at his home, Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley, when Cornwallis surrendered the British Army at Yorktown (October 19, 1781) and still there, unmolested, when he died on December 7, 1881.

Nathanael Tracy – Wealthy merchant and ship owner; headed the Newburyport, Massachusetts secret Committee of Safety and Correspondence; aided the Arnold Expedition in preparing for deployment; assisted survivors and escapees from Quebec (1775–76). His merchant fleet totaled more than 100 vessels. Received first letter of marque issued by Congress (1776). His twenty-four cruisers captured 120 “prizes” but in 1777 he lost a privateer and more than ninety of his merchant ships to storms and the Royal Navy. Financially devastated by the war, he died in what some described to be “genteel poverty” on September 20, 1796.

Jemima, wife of Pvt. James Warner – She held her husband until he died of an unknown sickness after he dropped from the ranks marching to Quebec, unable to walk. She then picked up his rifle and caught up with the column. She made it to Quebec only to die from a ball fired from the city.

George Washington – Resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief on December 23, 1783. In 1789 he was coaxed from his beloved farm to serve as America’s first president. After much pleading, he agreed to serve a second term in 1793. Though he was again urged to continue in the presidency for a third term, he retired to Mount Vernon in early 1797. In the second week of December 1799, he contracted a severe illness. On his deathbed shortly before he passed, he told his doctor, James Craik, “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.” He died Saturday, December 14, 1799.

Isaac Zane – Raised a Quaker in Philadelphia, came to Virginia in early 1760s and acquired Marlboro Works and considerable real estate in the Shenandoah Valley. Member of the Frederick County Secret Committee of Safety. To the chagrin of some, he lived openly with his mistress, Elizabeth McFarland. Elected to the House of Burgesses in 1773. He later joined Thomas Jefferson on a Convention committee to develop their colony’s armed defense. He was appointed by Governor Jefferson as brigadier general in the Virginia Militia at the end of the war, he retired to his beloved Shenandoah Valley. He died at home August 10, 1795.

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS