Charlottesville's most dramatic Revolutionary War moment came on June 4, 1781, when British cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton nearly captured Thomas Jefferson and the entire Virginia legislature. The legislature had fled Richmond after Arnold's raid and reconvened in Charlottesville, believing the Blue Ridge foothills to be safe from British reach. Tarleton's lightning raid proved them wrong and sent the government fleeing once more, this time over the mountains.
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HISTORICAL VOICE
The Ride Nobody Remembers
Jack Jouett was at Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County on the night of June 3, 1781, when he saw a column of British cavalry halt for a rest. Tarleton's green-jacketed dragoons were unmistakable, and Jouet...
MODERN VOICE
The Mountain and Its Contradictions
Visitors come to Monticello expecting the home of a founding father, and they find that, but they also find a plantation where over 600 people were enslaved over the course of Jefferson's lifetime. Th...