| Abstract: |
Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony from 1751 to 1758, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on October
3, 1692. Collected in two bound volumes and copied from Dinwiddie's original letters, which are deposited in the Virginia
Historical Society, the letters were probably part of Sparks's research for his twelve-volume Writings of George Washington (1834-1838). A significant number of Dinwiddie's letters are addressed to George Washington, first in his role as an adjutant
in the Virginia militia, and later as a Lt. Colonel during the French and Indian War. Dating between 1754 and 1756, the correspondence
in these volumes chronicles three significant years of Dinwiddie's administration as the acting Governor of the Virginia Colony.
Each of the bound volumes contains letters arranged in chronological order, totaling over 450 pages of text. The letters reflect
Dinwiddie's difficulties in raising funds for defense of the Ohio, his overtures to Britain's Indian allies, his appeals to
the Earls of Halifax and Albemarle for political and financial support, and his justification of the pistole tax. The letters
confirm Dinwiddie's absolute devotion to British interests in the colonies and document his efforts to protect those interests.
In them readers also glimpse some of the early colonial dissatisfaction with British administration, and are introduced to
a portion of George Washington's early military career.
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