nhappy creatures that liberty which they have been in
some measure instrumental in securing for us."

Nevertheless, although white Virginians recognized the contradiction
between that liberty which they enjoyed and the slavery which existed
around them, they did not see a means whereby the ideal that all men were
created equal could become a practical reality. Unlike later generations,
however, the Revolutionary generation made no attempt to justify slavery
or to accept its extension. In 1778 Virginia became the first state to
prohibit the importation of slaves, and in 1782 passed a liberal
manumission law permitting masters to free their slaves without special
legislative act. Many took advantage of this law. Virginia also
determined that there should be no slavery in the western lands ceded to
the federal government. Jefferson saw to it that a prohibition against
slavery was written into the federal Land Ordinance of 1784 and the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Yet, what was earlier noted bears
repeating--the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence
were the beginning of a great governmental experiment, not the finished
product.

The British Move South, 1780-1781

The British shifted their armies southward in 1779, hoping to cut off the
lower southern states, break the morale of the rest of America, and force
a negotiated peace. Their principal hopes rested on exploiting loyalist
strength in the fiercely divided Carolinas where much of the fighting
since 1775 had been colonial against colonial, patriot against Tory. In
early 1780 General Henry Clinton sailed from New York with 8,000 troops,
outmaneuvered General Benjamin Lincoln, and captured Charleston. The
defeat was a severe blow to the Americans costing them their chief
southern seaport, several thousand Continentals and militiamen from the
Carolinas and Virginia, and Generals Lincoln and William Woodford.

Clinton sailed back to New York, leaving his troops with Lord Cornwallis.
The most daring of the British generals, Cornwallis decided to leave
Charleston and invade the Carolinas. With excellent support from Colonel
Banastre Tarleton, Lord Rawdon, and Major Patrick Ferguson he swept all
before him. Tarleton, the best cavalry officer in either army, and
Ferguson led partisan loyalist units. Tarleton's troopers, known as the
British Tory Legion, needed no introduction to Virginians. They had
slaughtered without quarter unarmed Virginians under Co