“The one with the Scottish accent, on Captain Morgan’s right, is Militia Major Angus McDonald. He first fought the British Crown in Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 at about your age. He came here to Virginia a year later when the Stuart and McDonald clans lost to King George II. If memory serves me right, Angus McDonald was an officer with Colonel Washington on the Forbes expedition to capture Fort Duquesne in ’58 and was Daniel Morgan’s commanding officer last summer during Lord Dunmore’s expedition against the Shawnee out west on the Ohio.

“Captain James Wood, the youngest of the three, is the only one who was born here in Virginia. His father was a surveyor for Lord Fairfax and helped Jost Hite found Fredericktown, which we now call Winchester. Young James is also a veteran of Lord Dunmore’s war against the Shawnee and served under Major McDonald. Captain Wood is a member of the House of Burgesses and is part of our Secret Committee of Safety. He’s also the only member of our group who owns no slaves.”

Rev. Thruston completed his descriptions of the men I met briefly inside while we waited on the porch for three of Captain Morgan’s Negro slaves to push one of his heavy freight wagons up to the front of the store. On the back of the wagon was a half-barrel and stacks of wooden and tin cups. It must have been taken from an icehouse, for the barrel was coated with condensation from the moist air.

When the wagon was in place, the Captain leapt from the porch onto the wagon. Towering over everyone, he bellowed, “Friends, neighbors, and fellow Patriots, gather ’round for I have news . . .”

There was an immediate hush as the throng pulled closer to the wagon. He began with a brief preamble: “You have been invited here this morning because you are Patriots. Your loyalty to our country and our people is unquestioned. Everyone here has been ‘vouched for’ by me and the men you see behind me. I have fought beside many of you in battles against our enemies. You have likely noticed some of our neighbors are not here. That is because their loyalty is not certain and we cannot risk having Tory spies betray us.

“We asked you here because we are all in great danger. Last Wednesday, British Regulars murdered fifty-five of our countrymen and wounded forty-one more in an unprovoked attack on two towns in Massachusetts Bay Province. Five of our countrymen from this act of war are still missing.1 The Redcoats were on a mission to seize gunpowder and weapons from the local militia and capture two Patriot leaders.2 One of those killed in the defense of our liberty was the oldest brother of this young man—”