labor, Gower arranged his
transfer as royal governor
of Virginia. Virginia was
then the richest colony in
North America, and his
position would secure
him even greater income,
security, and prestige. His
New York replacement
was William Tryon.
Murray arrived at the
capital of Williamsburg in
September 1771 and gen-
erally made a favorable
impression upon the local
landed gentry, including
George Washington. As
before, he gravitated to-
ward speculation and
sought to ally himself
with colonial land inter-
ests. However, Virginia at
this time was becoming
embroiled in larger impe-
rial issues owing to the
British policy of in-
creased taxation and restrictions upon west-
ward migration. In his capacity as governor,
Murray was remiss in his official duties, for he
failed to correctly gauge this delicate political
situation. Consequently, the few official re-
ports he filed for the government either ig-
nored or underestimated the rising tide of re-
sentment. Conditions were also exacerbated
by his sometimes arbitrary behavior toward
the House of Burgesses, the colonial legisla-
ture. In 1773, he dissolved it after it proposed
forming committees of correspondence to co-
ordinate political affairs with other colonies.
In July 1774, he again summarily dismissed it
after a vote of sympathy for Boston, then
closed it by force following the notorious
Boston Tea Party. Resistance to British impe-
rial policy was gaining momentum, but Murray
nonetheless expressed other priorities. In an
attempt to draw colonial attention away from
affairs of state, he began focusing upon what
he and his political allies coveted most—land.
In an attempt to keep
peace with Native Ameri-
cans living beyond the
Appalachian Mountains,
British policy culminated
in the Proclamation of
1763, which severely in-
fringed the westward mo-
bility of many Americans.
However, in 1774 Murray
chose to stretch this
policy to meet his own in-
terests when he enforced
Virginia’s claims to Pitts-
burgh and most of west-
ern Pennsylvania. Mur-
ray’s agents in the region,
abetted by gangs of law-
less whites, then began il-
legal surveys and the in-
discriminate killing of
Indians throughout the
region. Despite dire war-
nings from the Shawnee
chief, Cornstalk, the
bandits continued depre-
dations and even killed Mingo Chief Logan’s
family. The result was a brief but victorious
Indian conflict—Lord Dunmore’s War—which
secured land and opened Kentucky to white
settlement. This was the last colonial conflict
of American history.
Murray was hailed as a hero following the
conclusion of his war, and he returned to af-
fairs of state. Unfortunately, the tempo of con-
frontation with the political establishment of
Virginia had increased in his absence. While
the governor was campaigning, activists at
Williamsburg convened the first Virginia con-
vention, where they placed an embargo upon
English goods, recruited volunteer militia
companies for defense, and picked a Virginia
delegation to attend the first Continental Con-
gress in Virginia. Murray, still convinced that
the majority of colonials were loyal to the
Crown, began a series of arbitrary measures
to constrain rebellious activities. On April 21,
1775, he ordered the Royal Marines to seizeMURRAY, JOHN
John Murray
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation