Ĭaptain Jack Jouett of the Virginia Militia, then twenty-seven years old, was asleep on the lawn of the Cuckoo Tavern (or by another account at his father's house) in Louisa County, Virginia that night when he heard the sound of approaching cavalry and spotted Tarleton's British cavalry. With a fast maneuver designed to catch the politicians completely unaware, he had planned to cover the last 70 miles (110 km) in 24 hours. On June 3, with 180 cavalrymen and 70 mounted infantry of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Tarleton left his camp on the North Anna River, marching his force covertly. Learning of this, British General Charles Cornwallis ordered Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to ride to Charlottesville and capture them. In late May 1781, after General Benedict Arnold, who had defected to the British, had attacked the Virginia capital of Richmond, Governor Thomas Jefferson and Virginia's legislature, including Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson, Jr., and Benjamin Harrison V fled to Charlottesville, Virginia (Jefferson's home, Monticello, was nearby). Portions of Jouett's famous ride took place on the Three Notch'd Road. He sounded a warning alert at Monticello and the town of Charlottesville of secretly approaching British troops seeking to capture the Governor of Virginia and key members of the Virginia General Assembly.

Jack Jouett's Ride ĭuring the American Revolutionary War, a young Virginian named Jack Jouett is credited with an epic nighttime ride by horseback. Route 250 in Virginia follows the historic path of the Three Notch'd Road, as does nearby Interstate 64. By the 1730s, the trail extended from the vicinity of the fall line of the James River at the future site of Richmond westerly to the Shenandoah Valley, crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains at Jarmans Gap. It is believed to have taken its name from a distinctive marking of three notches cut into trees to blaze the trail. Three Notch'd Road (also called Three Chopt Road) was a colonial-era major east-west route across central Virginia. A now-removed portion of the road located in Short Pump For the road in Alabama, see Three Notch Road.

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