This is a great story written by Susan F. Beason of Caroline County. ( http://www.co.caroline.va.us/ )

Edmund Pendleton (1721-1803) Caroline’s Most Distinguished Son

“Taken in all he was the ablest man in debate I ever met.” Thomas Jefferson

In 1752, Robert Dinwiddie replaced the popular William Gooch as the governor of Virginia. That year, the people of Caroline elected Edmund Pendleton to the House of Burgesses. Already serving as a magistrate, Pendleton replaced the wealthy, Cambridge educated John Baylor of Newmarket Plantation. Edmund was a lawyer of modest means who had received his education in the local clerk’s office. He immediately became a leader in the House Of Burgesses. Although an arch-conservative, he was able to walk a middle line between the wealthy planters and the common farmers and merchants. His policies were always those of sound economics and conciliation. However as the years of the Revolution dawned he would prove himself to be a rebel in good standing. In 1753, Governor Dinwiddie insisted he be paid in Spanish gold for affixing his seal to land patents. Pendleton demanded the governor give up this fee and sent Peyton Randolph to London to the Board of Trade to complain about Dinwiddie’s actions. He locked horns with the governor again when it was suggested Virginia troops be used for the defence of Ft. Cumberland against the French in Maryland. Pendleton wrote and pushed to passage a bill which reorganized the Virginia militia. This bill put into place a hardened group of native-born troops who defended Virginia in the bloodiest days of the French and Indian War. Later, it would form the core of the force which Virginia would send to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In time, Pendleton’s personal reputation and skill as a lawyer grew and his services were in great demand. After the royal governor dissolved the House of Burgesses in 1773, they returned to Williamsburg and convened themselves independently. This convention passed resolutions protesting taxation without proper representation, and other outrages by the crown. They then elected members to represent Virginia in a congress to be held in Philadelphia. Edmund Pendleton, along with Patrick Henry and George Washington were among those elected. The three met at Mt. Vernon and went north to Philadelphia together. Pendleton and Henry were old enemies—one the leader of the conservatives and the other the head of the radicals. The tyrannical policies of George III united the two in a common cause. They would never however, really see eye to eye. Pendleton always feared open defiance to the crown would lead to bloodshed. He would favor conciliatory policies until the eve of the Revolution. The convention they attended would become known as the First Continental Congress. The convention agreed to boycott all trade with Britain and formulated plans for all the colonies to muster a common defence. It called for the setting up of “Committees of Safety” in each county. These committees would be elected by the people and would train men, buy arms and carry out the programs which the congress would direct. In 1774, Caroline elected its first “Committee of Safety” with Pendleton as the moderator. The following year, after the flight of the royal governor the House of Burgesses organized a “Committee of Safety” for the entire colony of Virginia. Pendleton was elected its chairman. This position was the acting chief of state for the colony of Virginia. In 1776, Pendleton was elected president of the Virginia convention and later was elected the chair for the House of Delegates which sat under the new constitution. The same year he would openly defy the crown when a rider from Philadelphia to Williamsburg came through Caroline with the news of the Declaration of Independence. Pendleton was at home on July 11, 1776, recuperating from a fall from his horse when the news arrived in Caroline. Immediately, he called the magistrates together and renounced the crown of England. They then swore the oath of allegiance required in the declaration, thus severing Caroline’s ties with Great Britain forever. As the news had not yet been formally announced in Virginia, Caroline became the first county in Virginia to declare independence. In 1779, Pendleton became head of the judiciary Department of Virginia, and he would later collaborate with Thomas Jefferson to revise the laws of Virginia. George Washington appointed him Judge of the United States District Court of Virginia. He was the leader of the Federalist Party in Virginia until his death in 1803. Pendleton was buried at his home in Caroline, near File, known as Edmundsbury. In 1907, the remains of Judge Edmund Pendleton, his two wives and infant were disinterred from his burial ground in the presence of the Reverend Goodwin of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg and his great-great neice Charlotte Pendleton. Also present was the undertaker of Bowling Green, Mr. Pegg. The remains were taken to Bruton Parish Church and there reinterred. The end of the banquet table which once graced the dining room at Edmunsbury is preserved in the D.A.R. Museum in Washington, D.C. A historical marker, located 2.5 miles south of Bowling Green, marks the site of Edmundsbury.