ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, 1775: Furious Williamsburg residents (patriots? a mob?) broke into the Magazine and seized a reported 400 guns.
They were angry about an incident on Saturday night, which left three young men maimed by a booby trap set up in the Magazine. The nocturnal raiders, apparently seeking “to furnish themselves with arms,” set off a tripwire that launched a hail of swan shot in their direction.
Dixon & Hunter’s Virginia Gazette described the incident: “upon touching a string which was in their way, it went off, and wounded three persons, but not mortally; one of them is terribly hurt by several small balls that entered his arm and shoulder; another, by the loss of two fingers of his right hand, rendered incapable of following his profession for subsistence; the other wounded very slightly.”
So as word spread on Monday, June 5, a crowd gathered at the site and hundreds of weapons were taken. Members of the House of Burgesses claimed they tried, but failed, to prevent it.
Later that day, they approached the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, whom many held responsible for the placement of the “diabolical invention.” They demanded the keys to the Magazine to investigate. Dunmore refused.
In the wake of the incident, the House of Burgesses ordered Col. James Innes to guard the Magazine. The people became more aligned with the Patriot cause. And the days of Dunmore—and royal government in Williamsburg—were numbered.