Our First “Forward Thinkers” Were Those Courageous Virginians Willing to Sacrifice for Freedom
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Local historian Pat Hannum
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As we commence the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, here’s a feature we introduce in this issue. In our view, among the first real Forward Thinkers in America were the men and women, slave and free, who had to make life and death decisions.” Do we join the Patriot cause, risking our lives, families and perhaps fortunes? Or do we take the seemingly safer path and remain loyal to the Crown?” Clearly those who signed on with the rebellious militias envisioned a time when they might control their own fates but through a democratic system yet to be created and by men in their own and other colonies they did not yet know.
So with the help of experts on that critical period, we will profile some Forward Thinkers of 1775-1781, all from our region, some you’ve heard of, some you have not. Our principal resource will be Patrick Hannum, who served for 45 years in the Department of Defense, 29 as a Marine Assault Amphibious Vehicle Officer and 16 as a civilian professor at the Joint Forces Staff College, National Defense University. “I love learning about the American Revolution and sharing what I know,” says Hannum, who is active in the Norfolk Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Foundation and the City of Virginia Beach 250 Committee, one of several in the area that are planning and staging programs, including a reenactment of the pivotal Skirmish at Kemps Landing in November, 1775.
Hannum is in awe of our ancestors who took up arms against King George III. “These Revolutionary War ‘Forward Thinkers’ were highly motivated for liberty and demonstrated great leadership,” he says. “They knew full well the British had the most powerful military in the world, but they believed in the promise of a new nation.”
Many of our best-known patriots were young. Thomas Jefferson was 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Patrick Henry 39 when he told Lord Dunmore to “give me liberty or give me death.” James Madison was 25 in 1776, Billy Flora, a free black man considered a hero of the pivotal Battle of Great Bridge, which took place 250 years ago this coming December, was 19. You will meet Flora and others, like Thomas Matthews of Norfolk, who rose through the ranks of both the army and the Virginia legislature to become its first speaker in Richmond.
If you are a closet Ken Burns or Pat Hannum, eager to share your knowledge of eastern Virginians (some could be your own ancestors) who took the plunge in 1775-1781 to make us free, email pshaw111355@gmail. com. Given that the slogan for our state’s 250 commemoration is “America: Made in Virginia,” there’s no better time to tell that history.