715. The Man Who Saved Thomas Jefferson's Life

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Way the World Works. Today, I want to continue talking about these unsung heroes of the Revolutionary War period. Today, I want to talk about a man named Jack Jewett who may have ended up saving Thomas Jefferson's life. And I want to talk about a period of the war that we don't talk about often. You know, we hear about 1776 and the years leading up to it. We don't often talk about the things that happened in between that time and the time the war ended.

And there was a lot that happened. So at the time that Jack Jewett does his very brave act of writing through the night to warn Thomas Jefferson that his life may be in danger, this is going to be 1781. And let me just give you some background story before we dive right into that. So for nearly 100 years, Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia. Now, Williamsburg, I think I told you guys I got to go on a trip there recently.

So there's a place, Colonial Williamsburg, you can go and there are actors and everybody dresses up and the streets are reconstructed. Some of the buildings are even original to look like it did in colonial times. And you can take, you know, carriage rides, you can go into taverns and eat by a candlelight. You can go into George Washington's favorite tavern. You can eat by candlelight.

It's really cool. And so for from, I think it was 1699 to 1780, that's going to be the capital of Virginia. But in 1780, the Virginia legislature, they're going to move it to Richmond, which is where it is today. So Richmond, Virginia is going to become the capital. And that was because it was further inland and they thought that that would provide a little bit more relief

and distance from the British. So that was a really important move. So I want to make that clear so it moves to Richmond. However, just a year later in 1781, Richmond is going to be under threat. And part of that is because Benedict Arnold, he's the famous trader to the Americans and we'll do an episode on him later as well.

He is going to give very sensitive information to the British. They're going to be able to raid Richmond. And so Richmond is no longer going to be safe for the Virginia legislature to meet, legislature, meaning the lawmakers of the Virginia, the new state. It was a colony and then a state. So because Richmond is no longer safe, they have to move all their political business to Charlottesville.

So Charlottesville is going to be right outside of where Thomas Jefferson lives. His beautiful home Monticello, which is on a hill, is going to be near Charlottesville. So that's where he's going to be. Another little known fact, I think we forget because Thomas Jefferson was so big. He did so many things. He signed the declaration.

He later became our third president. Some people forget that he was also the governor of Virginia. And so in 1781, he's the governor. He's a very big political figure. He's also somebody who signed the declaration. And so he's a perceived enemy to the Brits on all sorts of fronts.

And so he's going to be there, the Virginia legislature, the lawmakers. They're going to be in Charlottesville as well. And so that's going to make this very important to the story. And we will explain why right now. So the night is June 3, 1781, 26 year old Jack Jewett is staying at his father's pattern, which is where you could eat, get a meal and also get like a bed for the night.

His father's tavern is oddly called the cuckoo. So he's going to be staying there in the middle of the night. He hears a bunch of horses and soldiers quickly moving through the streets, heading towards Charlottesville. Now, he first is just like, oh, horses, you know, let me turn around, go back to bed. But then he's like, wait a second, they're going in the direction of Charlottesville.

That's where the Virginia legislature is right now. That's the British troops coming for the Virginia legislature. And this is huge, right? This comes with huge implications. He knows that everybody's lives are at stake. And it is a very big chance that the British are coming to take prisoner, right?

To maybe capture people like Thomas Jefferson. So as it turns out, Jackie is absolutely correct in what that Calvary of British soldiers is going to do. They are heading towards Charlottesville. They are being led by a very intimidating military figure. His name is Banister Carlton.

And they are going with the explicit mission of capturing Jefferson, capturing the Virginia legislature and essentially sending the message that the Brits have taken out all of the important players in Virginia and to decapitate, so to speak, Virginia's power. And so this is huge. And this could have huge implications for the Revolutionary War.

And at this point in time, we needed to boost morale and we needed to maintain some position of power because things weren't always going so well. We've talked about that in other episodes. And we're real close to the war turning around, but at this exact moment, things aren't great. So instead of, you know, turning back over and saying,

I'm just going to go to sleep. I'm sure they can take care of themselves. Jack gets up and he thinks I have to beat the Calvary to Jefferson. I have to let Jefferson know what is going on. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but when I wake up in the middle of the night to like get a drink of water or something,

the last thing I want to do is hop on a horse and try to race a giant army. But that is exactly what Jack does. He's very brave and he understands what's at stake here. So he climbs out of bed, he gets ready, he jumps on his horse. But here's the thing, he can't take the main roads, right? Because that's how the British are going to Charlottesville.

He can't do that because if he does that, he's going to be, he's going to be caught. He also knows he has to get there quicker than them because it is literally a race for time. He has got to beat them even if it's just minutes to Jefferson so that he can warn him. So he gets on his horse and he takes back roads and he that's fast as his little legs and the horse's legs and carry him. He goes 40 miles in the middle of the night to try to get to Jefferson first.

Miraculously, Jack gets there before the British troops do. And when he gets to Monticello, it's the next morning, it's June 4th and Thomas Jefferson is already up. He's in his garden and Jack is there and he's like, this is what's going on. The British are coming.

They're literally coming to capture you. You got to get out of here quick. Now, if I were Jefferson, I would have gotten a horse and just gotten out of there, right? He lingers a little bit. He does linger a little bit and it's because he wanted to make sure that he could do what he could to warn other legislators.

He wanted to make sure he could get family members out and he wanted to grab very specific and important papers and make sure that those weren't compromised because even if he's going to get away, the British troops are absolutely going to come looking in Monticello for whatever documents or important papers they can find. And so Jefferson is not moving with great haste. He's actually kind of taking his time and it's funny because if you're reading the story,

you're kind of like, all right, get going, get going because you know what's going to happen. And as it turns out, it was such a narrow escape. I mean, you can't even imagine this. Jack got there just in amount of time and by the time that Jefferson is able to mount his horse and get moving, he just barely misses the British soldiers. So it was so close, which makes what Jack did even more important because if he would have

even waited one more minute, five more minutes, he may not have been able to get there in time. And honestly, the whole thing kind of plays out like a good movie scene. It would be a great topic for a movie even because Jefferson is able to escape behind a mountain behind Monticello and by the time he gets to the top of that mountain, he can actually see the cavalry at his home. He can see them arriving and you can't even imagine.

I mean, I think he would just be like, oh, that was a close one, right? And so as it turns out, the British do search for papers. They do question people who are at Monticello, but they do not burn it, which is actually kind of impressive because you'd think at that point, they may have been willing to do just about anything, but Monticello is left unscathed. It's not harmed and Jefferson is able to narrowly get out.

Now, even though Thomas Jefferson was kind of dragging his feet and not leaving as soon as he should have, Jack did not stay and linger with him. Jack rode on and tried to warn other Virginia legislators to make sure he could save as many people as he could. And it worked, the fact that he was willing to ride in the middle of the night. So quickly, he was able to save not only Jefferson's life,

but also the life of other Virginia legislators who were able to get out, who were able to avoid the cavalry coming to them. It stories like these that make you think like, oh, my goodness, history could have gone in a completely different direction. I mean, imagine, imagine if Jack Jewett hadn't gone and Jefferson is captured. Our war may have had a completely different outcome

if the Virginia legislature is no more. And so it's just these individual decisions of bravery that may have helped completely secure the course of history, that secure our future as a nation. And you think like, oh, we got real close to losing. And it's really incredible to think about.

And so we have so much to thank Jack Jewett for. And there's a lot of credit given to Paul Revere for being the Midnight Rider. And in another episode, we talked about Sibyl Lettington, who was another Midnight Rider, who did a similar, or as legend has it, did another horseback ride to warn people. And then you have people like Jack Jewett, who years later again,

rode in the middle of the night to save the lives of very important people. And so we have all these people who did these daring and brave things who don't always get a poem written about them like Paul Revere did for his Midnight Ride, but are no less important. And so this is another one of those great stories of people that we should really be honoring.

Not just for, because this is the 250th year of our country, not only because it's an important year, but because they are important to the cause of liberty. And that's actually, that is one of my favorite stories about the revolution because I did not know this until earlier this year, how close Jefferson got to being captured.

And it just baffles me because you're just like, Oh, edgy your seat reading it like you got to get out of there, man, they're coming. So I think it's a really cool story. And again, we have Jack Jewett to thank for keeping Thomas Jefferson safe.

And so great story, great person to impress your friends and your teachers with being like, Oh, I know you've heard of Paul Revere, but have you heard of Jack Jewett? So give me some great material to work with. I will leave it there. As always, don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast.

And until next time guys, I will talk to you later.