I wanted to share the following article with you about the heroics of Jack Jouett and the saving of Thomas Jefferson and members of the Virginia Legislature in 1781.  This occurred at the end of the Revolutionary War.  General Charles Cornwallis brought his troops to Virginia from North Carolina, arriving August 1, 1781.  General George Washington rushed his army from New York to Yorktown, arriving September 29, 1781, for the monumental battle that gave us the title of the United States and stance of an independent nation.  This famous battle occurred September 28 through October 19. 

In early June of that same year Cornwallis wanted Thomas Jefferson arrested – as the Governor of Virginia he would be the perfect prize, as well as any other Virginia leaders that could be found.  With Cornwallis too near Virginia’s capital of Richmond, Jefferson moved to his estate at Monticello, near Charlottesville.  Other members of the Virginia legislature moved to Charlottesville to be able to conduct business for the Commonwealth and the budding nation.  What happened when the British decided to make a surprise attack and take valuable members hostage?  We all know the story of Paul Revere; this is a similar saga.  Even though I have know about this famous ride for several years I haven’t written anything about it. The other day I found the following in some old papers, written by Mrs. Clyde E. Purcell of Paducah, Kentucky.  Written in 1935, it is written in the vernacular of the day.  I think it possible a little literary license was taken in certain parts, but we get the gist of the true story, and what could have happened to our budding country if Jack Jouett had not made his remarkable ride.  And, after the war, Jouett moved to Mercer County, Kentucky!   

Jack Jouett’s Race

Horse racing and the name Kentucky are almost synonymous.  Yet the greatest horse race in any way connecting with the state of thoroughbreds is known only by a few who love the land of Ken-ten-tak-teh.

The names of Washington, Jefferson and LaFayette are familiar to all, but the name of the brave rider who helped to save the work of these patriots and the life of Thomas Jefferson is scarcely known beyond the bounds of our mother state, Virginia.

In the early part of the seventeenth century there came from France a Norman family by the name of Jouett.  As they were Huguenots, they had fled to the new world to avoid persecution.  Their coat-of-arms bearing three fleurs-de-lis and a bent cimeter shows the distinguished service on the field of battle; while the curry combs symbolic of the Grand Master of the Horse, tell they were allied by blood to the Royal House of France.

When the patriots of the thirteen colonies arose in the might of their manhood, defied the mother country and asserted their freedom, the Jouetts of Virginia were among the first to volunteer their services.  John Jouett, Sr., and his four sons were captains in the Continental Army.  The father and Captain John, Jr. (known as Captain Jack) were both signers of the Albemarle Declaration of Independence, whereby two hundred and two citizens of that Virginia county defied the King and  pledged allegiance to the cause of the colonists. 

Captain Jack was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, December 7, 1754, the son of Captain John Jouett and Mourning Harris Jouett.  At the time of our story, he was twenty-six years of age, six feet four inches tall and weighed two hundred and twenty pounds.

Captain Jack was noted for his quick thinking, tireless energy and undaunted courage.  He boasted two of the fleetest and best bottom fed horses in seven counties.

The first years of the Revolution saw fighting in New England and the Middle States, but the enemy failed to conquer there.  In 1778 they invaded the South and with success Cornwallis became elated.  These crushing blows to the colonists were made harder still by the treason of one of their most splendid, trusted officers, Benedict Arnold.

But victory was again the Americans at King’s Mountain and Cowpens.  Cornwallis, enraged at these reverses, fought harder still and after some success pushed on into Virginia, where Arnold had been plundering and ravaging the country.  Sending Arnold to another point Cornwallis then took command, hoping to crush the cause in the Old Dominion.

The Virginia legislature was in session almost constantly, trying to devise ways and means of caring for the soldiers and securing supplies.  Not only their resources, but their hopes were at the lowest ebb.

Cornwallis continued his ravaging and plundering, and rumors of his depredations caused the legislature to adjourn and change their place of meeting repeatedly.  Finally Jefferson retired to Monticello and the lawmakers met at Charlottesville.  It was then the British General conceived a strategic plan to capture by stealth the Governor and the state legislature and thereby deal a crushing blow not only to Virginia but to the entire American cause.

Truly he was trying to bag big game.  Jefferson was not only the Governor of Virginia, but also the author of the Declaration of Independence.  Richard Henry Lee, one of the signers, had introduced into the convention the resolution which led to the drafting of the Declaration.  Thomas Nelson, Jr., who also had signed the document, spent a large fortune in equipping soldiers for the Continental Army.  Benjamin Harrison, another signer, became the father of one President and grandfather of another.  Patrick Henry’s patriotic “liberty of death” was still echoing throughout the colonies.  All these and more were to be captured, perhaps sent to England in fetters, tried and convicted, and executed as traitors.

The shrewd, ruthless Colonel Banastre Tarleton was dispatched to carry out this nefarious scheme.  On June 3, 1781, he started on the secret mission with one hundred and eighty dragoons and seventy mounted infantry.  All went well for some miles.  They rushed wildly on then stopped to rest; burned a quantity of supplies intended for General Greene and hurried forward.  But when they reached Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County, Fate seemed to have taken a hand.  For some unknown reason Captain Jack Jouett was at the tavern that eventful night.

From the mists of that dim distant past two versions have arisen:  One says Jouett saw the raiders and guessed their objective.  Another, that he not only saw them but heard them discuss their plans for the following day.  It was then he planned to outwit and outride them.  He knew they would be forced to take the main road, but being familiar with the by-ways of Louisa and Albemarle counties he decided upon an old unused Indian trail.  Massive trees, heavy undergrowth, tangled vines, gulleys, creeks and quagmires made it almost impassable.  His face was lashed by low hanging limbs, scratched by briars, and cut by thorns so deep – it is said – the scars remained ever after.  But through woods, across fields, over all obstacles he plunged forward, for he had forty-five miles to go, and must outride Tarleton.

Reaching Monticello he shouted his warning, dashed on to Charlottesville where most of the members of the legislature were stopping and aroused them ere the British came in sight.

Jefferson sent his family at once by carriage to the Carter estate, Blenheim.  He took time, though, to secure his papers and did not leave until with his telescope he saw the troopers swarming nearby.  He instantly mounted his horse and was soon out of sight in the deep woods.  He was not a minute too soon for Tarleton’s men were at the doors of Monticello.  Just as they entered two faithful slaves were busy hiding silver and other valuables.  Martin was handing down the articles through a trap door to Caesar.  As the soldiers loomed in front of Martin, he, terrified, dropped the door and left Caesar shaking in total darkness, where he remained until the raiders left eighteen hours later.  But such precautions were not needed for the officer in charge saw that Tarleton’s orders that Jefferson’s property was not to be molested were strictly obeyed.  Jefferson, when questioned as to how much damage he suffered from Tarleton, said, “He treated me very genteelly.”

Had Jack Jouett not ridden hard and fast  he could not have been able to outride the British.  Though Tarleton did not know he was racing against an unknown rider, yet sensing victory he pressed forward rapidly, yes, madly, that hot June morning, but soon found he must have rest for both men and horses.  Sighting a colonial house in the midst of well-kept grounds, he halted and entering with his officers demanded breakfast.  It proved to be Castle Hill, the home of Dr. Thomas Walker, a member of the legislature, a cousin of the immortal Washington and the man who built the first cabin in Kentucky.

Mrs. Walker graciously consented to ordering breakfast.  Dr. Walker played the perfect host, praised the troops, measured the ‘tallest soldier in the British Army,’ and otherwise entertained them.  Of course the uppermost thought in the minds of Dr. and Mrs. Walker was to delay the departure of the British as long as possible, and thus give Jefferson a chance to escape, for in the early morning hours of that day Dr. Walker had been roused from his sleep by a knocking under his window and someone calling his name.  It proved to be Jack Jouett, his gallant steed was lathered, almost foundered.  Hearing the hurried story of Captain Jouett, Dr. Walker ordered his fastest horse saddled.  The bold rider, flinging himself upon the fresh mount, was off like mad.

When breakfast was prepared Mrs. Walker made it possible for many of the soldiers to swarm into the kitchen and consume the food ordered by the Colonel and his staff.  Another breakfast met a similar fate, and still another.  Finally Tarleton, sitting in the parlor, became impatient and demanded the cause of the delay.  Mrs. Walker, smilingly replied that if he would set a guard to keep the soldiers from the kitchen, she would give orders for still more food.  This stratagem helped Jack Jouett to reach Monticello before Tarleton and his troops.

After warning Jefferson, Jack Jouett rushed to Charlottesville and aroused the members of the legislature.  Jack Jouett also helped General Stevens, who had been wounded at Guilford Courthouse, to escape by dressing him and as a farmer and himself (Jouett) as a General, wearing a hat with a long plume.  Seeing the ‘General’ escaping, the British went thundering after him but passed by the ‘farmer’ on an old broken down horse.  Jouett coquetted with them till the ‘farmer’ was out of sight, then tauntingly waved them adieu at Afton as he disappeared into the deep woods in the valley below.

In recognition of his valuable service to the state and to the continental Army, the Virginia Legislature, on June 12, 1781, voted Captain Jack Jouett an elaborate sword and pair of pistols.

In 1782 this hero left his native Albemarle, passed through Cumberland Gap, followed the Wilderness Road, and came to that far-flung western part of Virginia which is now Mercer County, Kentucky.  This was than a primeval forest, infested with wild animals and ferocious redskins.  From there Jouett was sent as a delegate to the Virginia Legislature; he was also active in the conventions preliminary to the organizing of Kentucky as a separate state.  He also served in the Kentucky Legislature from both Mercer and Woodford counties for several years.  He was always a leader in civic affairs and was active in making Kentucky a noted agricultural and fine stock-raising state.

He was married to Miss Sallie Robards, and they reared a large family.  His descendants have noble borne the name.  The noted portrait painter, Matthew Harris Jouett, was a son, and Rear Admiral James Edward Jouett, ‘Fighting Jim, was a grandson.

Virginia, the land of his birth, has placed many memorials to Jack Jouett, and annually observes June Fourth.  Kentucky, his adopted home, where he spent the last forty years of his life and was ever in the forefront in civic affairs, has been dilatory in commemorating the greatest rider in history; the greatest because there was the most at stake.  Jack Jouett was the saver not only of the lives of those renowned patriots, but of our very nation itself – our glorious United States.  For so severe a blow at that critical period would have paralyzed the plans of the Revolution, crushed their hopes and broken their morale.  The whole course of our history would have been changed.  Take out the work of Thomas Jefferson alone for those constructive years from 1781 to 1826 and see what a loss we would have suffered.

Jack Jouett for more than a century has lain in an unmarked grave in Bath County, Kentucky.  So the history of his heroism and achievements belong not alone to Virginia, but to Kentucky as well.  But few of this state know of his epic ride.  Our histories are silent on this, one of the most dramatic episodes of the American Revolution.

Now the patriotic organizations, the historical societies, our educators, our press, our school children, all are cooperating to build a memorial in Kentucky to this patriot rider that will tell posterity of his daring deed.

Madison County, Surveyed the 16th of February 1791 for John Payne’s heirs 1,200 acres of land by virtue of a Treasury Warrant (N1959) on the east side of Silver Creek and bounded as followeth (to wit) Beginning at A. two white oaks and honey locust trees, standing by a clay lick, thence South 70 West 242 poles, crossing a branch at 216 poles to three white oak trees on the point of a ridge at B. Thence West 40 West 174 poles to a buckeye and papaw trees on the bank of Silver Creek at C. Thence down the creek with its meanders North 5 West 32 poles West 40 West 40 poles, North 40 poles, West 15 West 38 poles, West 25 East 20 poles, West 28 West 50 poles, West 30 East 8 poles, West 60 West 80 poles, West 18 West 40 poles, West 25 East 52 poles, West 80 East 64 poles, North 22 poles, East 28 poles to Samuel Cochran’s line at a white oak tree on the bank of the creek, thence with Cochran’s line South 50 East 88 poles, crossing a branch to the corner two white oak trees, thence with the same West 40 East 182 poles, two white oak trees, thence South 55 East 294 poles to a white oak, hickory and poplar saplings, thence South 13 West 344 poles to the beginning. Platted by a seal 200 poles and and tract variation 3’30” East

James Anderson, Examined and Received by James French

A quick note on the tract variation – since I didn’t know what this was I looked it up. It refers to the declination which is the difference between true north and magnetic north. Surveyors in 1791 would use compasses that point to magnetic north, and the “variation” was the adjustment needed to align those readings with true north. This was a crucial factor for accurate land surveying at the time, as magnetic declination changes based on location and over time.  First time I’ve happened upon this!

I do hereby assign and transfer to John Jouett and his heirs forever, one equal moiety of the land contained in a platt and Certificate of Survey for twelve hundred acres lying in Madison County on the east side of Silver Creek made in the name of the heirs of John Payne and now lodged in the Register’s Office of the State of Kentucky and request that the Register will issue the patent to myself and the said John Jouett as tenants in common. Given under my hand and seal this 14th day of July 1795.

Payne Smith

Teste, Thomas Todd, John Watkins, Roberts Lawsons

From an article in the Mercer County Public Library –

John Jouett, Jr., known as ‘Jack’ Jouett, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, December 7, 1754, son of John Jouett, Sr., and Mourning (Harris) Jouett. He removed to Kentucky in 1782, settling first in Mercer County, later, in 1793, to Woodford County, finally, to Bath County, where he died March 1, 1822. John Jouett, Jr., married, on August 20 or 24, 1784, in Mercer County, Kentucky, Sarah ‘Sallie” Robards, born January 25, 1765, died November 14, 1814.

Their children were as follows:

(1) George Payne Jouett, born June 1, 1785, died September 4, 1811.

(2) Catherine Jouett, born January 8, 1787, died December 23, 1790, unmarried.

(3) Matthew Harris Jouett, born April 22, 1788, in Mercer County, Kentucky; died August 10, 1827, in Fayette County, Kentucky; married on Mary 25, 1812, in Fayette County, Kentucky, Margaret Henderson Allen; Matthew Harris Jouett was an artist; he served as captain in the War of 1812.

(4) Elizabeth L. Jouett, born March 10, 1790; died April 23, 1848; marriage August 19, 1817, William Dabney Hayden, died May 12, 1834.

(5) Mary ‘Polly’ Jouett, born February 8, 1792; married July 19, 1815, in Bath County, Kentucky, William Edward Stockton, died February 25, 1835.

(6) John J. Jouett, Jr., born October 22, 1793; married December 22, 1818, Amy Eliza Beverly Brown.

(7) William Robards Jouett, born April 21, 1795; married Sarah A. Chesley, a niece of President Zachary Taylor.

(8) Landon Carter Jouett, born April 12, 1797; died August 5, 1828.

(9) Robert Jouett, born January 6, 1799, died October 20, 1816.

(10) Thomas Jefferson Jouett, born January 14, 1801; died by May 1841; married 19 Nov. 1829, Mary Polly Daniel.

(11) Virginia A. Jouett, born June 21, 1803, died June 17, 1822.

(12) Lynch Jouett, born October 2, 1806, married October 5, 1843, March Scholl, daughter of Joseph Scholl; she was born about 1813.

The first notice I found of Jack Jouett in Mercer County, Kentucky, was from the March 29, 1787, Court Order Book #1, dated March 29, 1787, he and eleven other men were the jury in a court case involving John Froman, Samuel Westerfield and Thomas Clark.

John Jouett died in Bath County in March of 1822. There is a mistake in the following notice as it was in the year 1781 that John Jouett made his famous ride!

Visitors are welcome at the Jack Jouett house located six miles southwest of Versailles. Can you believe I haven’t been? I will remedy that in our next trip – or move? – to Kentucky!