Ex-Governor Jefferson under fire

For several days after regrouping in Staunton after Tarleton's attack on Charlottesville, the Virginia Assembly continued fruitlessly to issue resolutions to the governor, not realizing that he had relinquished the seat on June 1. On June 12, after electing his successor, the House also voted to conduct “an inquiry into the conduct of the Executive for the past twelve months” to account for the “numberless miscarriages and losses” Virginia had suffered during his administration. This was a particularly insensitive phrase to one whose wife had experienced miscarriages and who had recently lost their third child.

On June 19, Jefferson's friend Archibald Cary, the Speaker of the Senate, caught him up on events in the Virginia legislature. "You must have heard that Nelson is your successor," he reported. Moreover, the House had voted to give "Ample Powers to the Executive"--in other words, to empower a dictator--and the Senate was likely to concur. At last, Cary came to the real point:

So Much for Assembly but I must give you one more peice of News respecting your Self.,,,George Nicholas made a Motion in the Delegates House for an Inquire into your Conduct, a Catalogue of omissions, and other Misconduct. I have not Seen the Particulars. Your Friends Confident an Inquire would do you Honor Seconded the Motion. I presume you will be Serv’d with the order....I had heard something of this Kind was to be brought on the Carpit, and If I know you, it will Give you no pain.

Cary clearly did not know Jefferson. He was stricken by the news, utterly and permanently mortified.  For the rest of his life, he would recall the Assembly's action--which he attributed to the machinations of Patrick Henry--with bitterness and shame.