This Day in History: April 2

The importation of Dutch and French ammunition, arms, and other supplies continued unabated throughout the fall of 1776 and the following year. Virginia, while she lacked the ships and port cities of the colonies to the north, had tobacco, which Europe and the West Indies wanted more than any other colonial commodity...Van Bibber and Harrison wrote Virginia's Commissary-General, William Aylett, on April 2, 1777, that tobacco was the only import in the islands that could command cash payment. [More]