On April 20, 1775, the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, thought it prudent to remove the gunpowder from the magazine in the center of town in Williamsburg. Townspeople caught the royal marines in the act, and a standoff was had between the royal military and the militia. It was the day after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, though the news had not yet reached Virginia. Te standoff was broken, but it was the beginning of the Revolution for Virginia.