gow in
1693, was Governor from 1751 to 1758. He recommended the annexation
of the Ohio Valley and so secured that great territory to the United
States. To him is also due the credit of calling George Washington to
the service of his country. Dinwiddie county is named after him. John
Campbell, Earl of Loudon (1705-82), Governor (1756-58), does not
appear to have come to this colony. John Blair, Governor (1768), son
of Dr. Archibald Blair and nephew of Rev. James Blair, the Commissary.
Many of his descendants have distinguished themselves in the annals of
Virginia. John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, Governor (1771-75), was
previously Governor of New York. Patrick Henry (1736-99), Governor
(1776-79, 1784-86), was born in Hanover County, Virginia, of Scottish
parentage, his father being a native of Aberdeen, his grandmother a
cousin of William Robertson the historian. He became a lawyer in 1760
and in 1763 found his opportunity, when having been employed to plead
against an unpopular tax, his great eloquence seemed suddenly to
develop itself. This defence placed him at once in the front rank of
American orators, and in 1765 he entered the Virginia House of
Burgesses, immediately thereafter becoming leader in Virginia of the
political agitation which preceded the Declaration of Independence. On
the passage of the Stamp Act his voice was the first that rose in a
clear, bold call to resistance, and in May, 1773, he assisted in
procuring the passage of the resolution establishing a Committee of
Correspondence for intercourse with the other colonies. In the
Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia in 1774 he delivered a
fiery and eloquent speech worthy of so momentous a meeting. In 1776 he
carried the vote of the Virginia Convention for independence. He was
an able administrator, a wise and far-seeing legislator, but it is as
an orator that he will forever live in American history. William
Fleming (1729-95), surgeon, soldier, and statesman, Councillor and
Acting-Governor (1781), was born in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire.

NORTH CAROLINA. William Drummond, Governor of "Albemarle County
Colony" (i.e., North Carolina), was a native of Perthshire, a
strenuous upholder of the rights of the people, and ranks as one of
the earliest of American patriots. He took a prominent part in
"Bacon's Rebellion" in 1676, "an insurrection that was brought about
by the insolence and pig-headedness of Sir William Berkeley, then
Governor of Virgini