People

An enslaved man at Monticello whose later memoirs, dictated in the 1840s, provide a rare firsthand account of life on Jefferson's plantation and the events of the Revolution as experienced by enslaved people. His recollections of Tarleton's raid and the wartime disruption at Monticello are among the few accounts from an enslaved perspective.

The Virginia equivalent of Paul Revere, Jouett spotted Tarleton's cavalry at Cuckoo Tavern and rode approximately forty miles through the night to warn Jefferson at Monticello and the legislature at Charlottesville. His ride, through rough terrain in darkness, gave the government barely enough time to escape.

Narrowly escaped capture at Monticello on June 4, 1781, when Tarleton's cavalry raided Charlottesville. Jefferson left his mountaintop home minutes before British soldiers arrived. The incident, coming at the end of a difficult governorship, was used by his political enemies to question his courage and leadership.

Succeeded Jefferson as governor of Virginia in June 1781, just days after the Charlottesville raid. Nelson brought a more aggressive approach to wartime leadership, personally commanding Virginia militia at Yorktown and reportedly directing artillery fire at his own house, which Cornwallis was using as a headquarters.

Albemarle County planter and politician who served in the Virginia legislature and Continental Congress. Walker was present in Charlottesville during Tarleton's raid and was among those who escaped. His estate, Belvoir, was one of the prominent plantations in the Charlottesville area during the Revolution.

Aggressive British cavalry officer whose raid on Charlottesville nearly captured Jefferson and the Virginia legislature. Tarleton was known for the speed and brutality of his operations, and his name was feared throughout Virginia and the Carolinas. His raid on Charlottesville was one of the most daring cavalry operations of the war.

Jefferson's wife, who was in poor health during much of the Revolution and gave birth to a daughter just weeks before Tarleton's raid. She fled Monticello with her husband and children, enduring the physical hardship of wartime flight while already weakened. She died in September 1782, at age thirty-three.

The famous frontiersman was serving as a member of the Virginia legislature from Kentucky County when Tarleton raided Charlottesville. Boone was among the legislators who escaped capture. His presence in Charlottesville reflected the vast geographic reach of Virginia, which then extended to the Mississippi River.