Patrick Henry changed sides!

After seeing Jefferson's country retreat, I went to pay our respects to Patrick Henry at Red Hill, the house where he died. They have a library of memorabilia, which I admit is for the more dedicated Henry fan, which I count myself very much now. Including his amethyst wine glass that I really would have liked.

First thing on the wall I read was a letter from Henry to his daughter:

The affair of the British debts in federal court plagues me much. 

Yes, having been our lawyer in the 1760s, and having written Alexander's letter of introduction in 1785, in 1792 Henry then turned his great legal brain to fighting our very justified claims for compensation for people who still owed us money from the 1770s - including one Mr Thomas Jefferson. After all we did for you Patrick! There are some more quotes which I need to dig out for my talk.

The other thing I hadn't appreciated was that he was working for us in the 1760s after he had been give speech against the stamp tax which was in 1765. It included this line - which was very racy in the 1760s - 10 years before the Declaration of Independence - so it really was ahead of its time.

"Caesar had his Brutus; Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it!"


Here's Patrick giving that speech - you can tell from this quite how shocking it was. Gasps all around: They have this painting at Red Hill, including the notes and sketches for it. Somebody pointed out that there was no way he was wearing these type of clothes having seen the sketch, but that was ignored. 

 His house is a reconstruction on the site of where his house was. Beautiful countryside around it, although on the way there it was very different from last weekend. Definitely not hunting country.

 Here's Patrick - died in 1799 having taken a large dose of mercury to clear a stomach blockage.

And here's his view - not a bad one. He used to stand there apparently and oversee his plantation workers.

Right - better get to the library - more to follow later - including finding the Donald houses!