The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 17

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062

USA > Maryland > The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations > Part 17

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SEC. VII. bay, the river Rapahanock,* neere vnto which is the river Kus- 1608. carawaock. Upon which is seated a people with 200 men. Af- ter that, is the river Tanto Wighcomoco, and on it a people with 100 men.t The people of these rivers are of little stature, of another language from the rest and very rude. But they on the river Acohanock with 40 men, and they of Accomack 80 men doth equalize any of the territories of Powhatan, and speake his language, who over all these doth rule as king.

been found Indian weapons, buck-horn, and the bones of the human skeleton. It is perfectly evident," he adds, " that a great body of Indians must have been employed a great while to collect all those shells."-This raises a strong suppo- sition, that the seat of the Ozinies must have been on this spot, which is on the south side of the Chester, and about fifteen or sixteen miles from its mouth. The " sixty men," belonging to them, mentioned by Smith, must have meant that number of warriors ; so that, upon the principle before stated, from Mr. Jefferson, of three warriors to ten souls, their tribe, comprising men, women, and children, would have amounted to only two hundred; but, by the more mo- dern rule, (as stated by the superintendant of the Indian trade, in 1820,) of one warrior to ten souls, their tribe would have amounted to about six hundred.

* It will be recollected, that Smith has herein before stated, that the remarka- ble river in Virginia, now invariably known by the name of the Rapahanock, was " by many called Tappahanock ;" which last name he has annexed to it on his map. But he has also laid down on his map, on the Eastern Shore of the bay, another river denoted by him under the denomination of the Rapahanock, (to which he alludes in the text immediately above,) and has placed it next above the river called by him-the Cuscarawaock, (which last river we have supposed to have been the Nanticoke,) and also above the isles, to which he affixed the name of Limbo. From a comparison of this part of his map with modern maps of Maryland, it will be seen, that this river on the Eastern Shore, which he called the Rapahanock, could be no other than the river in Dorchester county called on Griffith's map Hungary river, but more commonly by the neigh- bouring inhabitants-Hunger river. This name-Rapahanock, he probably had from some of the Eastern Shore Indians during his first voyage up the Chesa- peake.

The above passage confirms our former arrangement of the rivers on the lower part of the Eastern Shore, as herein before stated. Supposing the Rapa- hanock, just above mentioned by Smith, to have been the Hunger river in Dor- chester county, as we have just ventured to state; " neere unto which is the river Cuscarawaock ;" it seems necessarily to follow, that he must have meant by the Cuscarawaock-the Nanticoke river, that being the next and nearest river to the Hunger, " after that, " as he says, " is the river Tanto Wighcomoco ;"-which may be understood in two different ways ; to mean, either the Wighcomoco now so called, which is the next river southwardly to the Nanticoke, and, by prefix- ing the word-Tanto to it, to distinguish it from the Wighco, by which he meant the Pocomoke, or the Wighco itself laid down by him on his map, evidently the Pocomoke, omitting, under this last supposition, the river now known as the Wighcomoco, as also that called the Manokin, neither of which last, as it appears from his account, he explored in any manner .- How the author of the anony- mous History of Maryland before cited could suppose, that the Cuscarawaock was "probably that now called the Chester," after perusing the above passage in

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"Southward we went to some parts of Chowanock and the SEC. VII. Mangoags to search for them left by Mr. White .* Amongst those 1608.

Smith's History, seems extraordinary, and in which he is certainly erroneous. A remark herein before made, may be again repeated, as it appears to be of considerable importance. The term Wighco, or Wighcomoco, seems to have been a favorite term with the Indians in the denomination of rivers. There are two rivers in Northumberland County, Virginia, near Smith's point at the mouth of the Patowmack, called Wighcomoco. There is also a Wighcomoco river on the Maryland side of the Patowmack, dividing the counties of St. Mary's and Charles from each other. It appears, therefore, to have had some etymological meaning not now known.

* It will be recollected, as it has been herein before stated, that in the year 1587, a colony, consisting of more than one hundred adventurers, was settled on the island Roanoke, in North Carolina, under a Captain John White, as Govern- or. White returned to England in the same year, in order to procure further supplies for the colonists ; but the Spanish war preventing any supplies from be- ing sent to them for a year or two after they had been settled there, and nothing concerning them any way satisfactory having been ever afterwards known, they were supposed to have been destroyed by the Indians. Sentiments of humanity, however, continuing to prompt many of the members of the Virginia Company in England concerning these unfortunate settlers, instructions were given to Captain Newport, on his second voyage to Virginia, with the second supply of colonists and stores, (who arrived there just about the time of Smith's return from his exploration of the Chesapeake in 1608,) that endeavors should be made to find some of the lost company sent to Roanoke, under a supposition, that some of them might still be alive as captives with the Indians. No efforts, however, appear to have been made by Newport, during his stay in the country after bringing the second supply, which was during the remainder of the year 1608, to find any of the lost company of Governor White. But, after Newport's de- parture for England, Captain Smith set out on a voyage to Pamaunkee, (now called York river,) on the 29th of December, 1608, and stopped by the way at Warraskoyack, (now called Warrasqueake,) where the Isle of Wight county borders on the James river. Here he prevailed upon the king of the Warrasko- yacks to furnish him with two guides to accompany "Mr. Sicklemore, a very va- liant, honest, and painefull souldier," as Smith terms him, (probably the same Michell Sicklemore, who had attended him in his two voyages up the Chesa- peake,) on a visit to the Chowanocks, who lived on the Chowan river near the divisional line between North Carolina and Virginia, under a pretence, as Smith says, to carry a present to their king, but in reality " to seeke for the lost compa- ny of Sir Walter Raleigh's," (under White) " and silke grasse."-The king com- plied, and Sicklemore departed with his guides. How long Sicklemore was gone on that excursion, is not mentioned ; but Smith subsequently states :- " Master Sicklemore well returned from Chowonoke; but found little hope and lesse certaintie of them were left by Sir Walter Raleigh;"-meaning the unfor- tunate people under White. He immediately afterwards in the next paragraph states, as follows :- " Master Nathaniel Powell and Anas Todkill," (who had, both of them, accompanied him in his previous excursions up the Bay,) " were also by the Quiyoughcohanocks," (who appear to have lived somewhere about Upper Chipoack creek, which divides the counties of Surry and Prince Georges, in Virginia, from each other,) " conducted to the Mangoags," (who lived on the Nottoway river, which empties into the Chowan in North Carolina,) " to search them there : but nothing could they learne but they were all dead."-This ex- cursion of Powell and Todkill was most probably in the spring of 1609, and their

VOL. I .- 19

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SEC. VII. people are thus many "severall nations of sundry languages, 1608. that environ Powhatan's Territories. The Chowanocks, the Mangoags, the Monacans, the Mannahokes, the Masawomekes, the Powhatans, the Sasquesahanocks, the Atquanachukes, the Tockwoghes, and the Kuvearawaocks. All these not any one un- derstandeth another but by interpreters."

1620.

In further illustration of what may be termed the primeval state of the country now denominated Maryland, may be here added some particulars relative to what is called the "travels" of John Pory, in the year 1620 .- Mr. John Pory, "gentlemen," is mentioned, as one of the patentees in the second charter of Virginia, bearing date, May 23d, 1609. He next appears, as one of Sir George Yeardley's council, who arrived in Virginia, as governor of that colony, on the 18th of April, 1619. It is probable, that Pory had been, before that time, a resident in Vir- ginia, in the time of governor Argall; as he is stated to have been closely connected with that governor in his arbitrary and improper proceedings while governor of that colony. He was, however, on the arrival of governor Yeardley appointed a coun- cillor, and held at the same time the office of secretary of the province. Whether this last office had been conferred on him by Argall or Yeardley, does not appear. He succeeded Mr. Rolfe as secretary; but was afterwards discharged from that place by the order of the company in England, for betraying their councils to the Earl of Warwick .* Among the improper proceedings of governor Argall; in which Pory appears as an active sub-agent, both of them under the patronage and encour- agement of the Earl of Warwick, who had then formed a little party in the Virginia Company at home, was a scheme "to set up a new plantation in Virginia;" for which purpose they had procured a patent "to the said captain Argall and his associ- ates; whereby he and his company, their heirs and assigns (save only in time of defence by war) were exempted from all power, authority, and jurisdiction, to be from hence" (that is, from the Virginia Company in England,) "devised, or there" (in Virgi- nia) "established, that so he" (the captain) "might reign there as great and absolute master, without law or controlment and

intelligence seems to have quieted all subsequent inquiries concerning those un- fortunate colonists. Although Smith's expression above is,-" we went to Chow- anock," &c .; yet it certainly means only, that persons were sent by him to Chow- anock to search, &c .; which appears to have been done under his presidency.

* Burk's Hist. Virg. Vol. 1, p. 273.

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without the fear of ever being called to any future reckoning."* SEC. VII. 1620.

There can be no doubt, but that this scheme was in substance, to do what Lord Baltimore subsequently did, (about which Clay- bourne and some other Virginians made such a pother,) that is, to lop off some of the unsettled territories of Virginia, and erect a new Province, and a new government distinct from that of Virginia. There is every ground of probability to suppose, that with this view Pory performed his "travels" alluded to. It would seem, that he subsequently drew up an account of these travels, which was either delivered to or procured by Mr. Sam- uel Purchas, and published by himn, in the year 1625, in his book entitled, Hackluitus Posthumus, or Purchas's Pilgrims." But, not being able to have recourse to this scarce volume in Ameri- ca, we are left to rest our narrative of Pory's travels entirely upon the authority of Smith's statement thereof in his General History of Virginia, which statement, from circumstances pre- sently mentioned, may be depended upon as being the same, at least in substance, as that of Mr. Purchas. Prefatory, however, to this statement, it seems to be necessary to promise, as further mentioned by Smith in his general history,t that the Virginia Company in England, in the year 1619, sent instructions to their government in Virginia, that certain lands in different parts of the Province, with a certain number of tenants thereon, sent by the company from England for that purpose, should be appropriated to the use of the different officers of the government of the Pro- vince, as therein specified, in lieu of salaries; which plantations were to go to their successors in office: among others, to the go- vernor and secretary, each one plantation or tract of land, as therein mentioned. In like manner, plantations for the special use and profit of the company in England were also to be thus settled and planted. Settlements of this kind were accordingly made and planted, in pursuance of these instructions on the eastern shore of Virginia; particularly, one for the use and pro- fit of the company, one for the governor, and one for the use of the secretary of the Province pro tempore, who, in the year 1620, was Mr. John Pory. It was under the ostensible view of visit- ing the "secretary's lands, on the Eastern Shore," which lands appear to have been located at or near to the Indian town called Accomack, a town situated, not in what is now called Accomack

* See the company's declaration, of May 7th, 1623, in Burk's Hist. Virg. Vol. J. p, 318.

+ Smith's Hist. Virg. Vol. ii. p. 40.

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SEC. VII. county, but on or near to the little river called Cheriton in what 1620. is now called Northampton county, that Mr. Pory made his ex- cursions, in the year 1620, into other parts of the country bor- dering on the Chesapeake. An account of which is inserted in Smith's History, as follows :-

"The observations of Master John Pory, Secretarie of Vir- ginia, in his trauels.

"Hauing but ten men meanly prouided to plant the secreta- ries land on the eastern shore neere Acomack. Captaine Wil- cock's plantation, the better to secure and assist each other .* Sir George Yearely intending to visit Smith's isles, fell so sicke that he could not, so that he sent me with Estinien Moll, a Frenchman, to finde a convenient place to make salt in. Not long after Namenacus, the king of Pawturunt,t came to vs to seeke for Thomas Saluage, our interpreter. Thus insinuating himselfe, he led vs into a thicket, where all sitting downe, he shewed vs his naked brest; asking if we saw any deformitie upon it, we told him, No; No more, said hee, is the inside, but as sincere and pure; therefore come freely to my countrie and welcome: which wee promised wee would within six weekes after. Hauing taken a muster of the companies tenants,ţ I went to Smith's isles, where was our salt-house: not farre off wee found a more convenient place, and so returned to James towne.

"Being furnished the second time,§ wee arrived at Aquoha- nock,|| and conferred with Kiptopeke their king. Passing Rus- sel's ile and Onancoke, we arrived at Pawtuxunt : the descrip- tion of those places you may reade in captaine Smith's discoue- ries, therefore needlesse to be writ againe.T But here arriving

* The sense of the two sentences above seems to be somewhat obscure ; but by altering the punctuation of a full stop at the word Accomack into a comma, so as to make Accomack and captaine Wilcock's plantation one and the same place, near which the secretary's lands were, it seems to be rendered more intel- ligible : but the sentences would be still ungrammatical.

t The Indian town on the river Patuxent in Maryland, herein before men- tioned.

# The "tenants" seated on the lands of the Virginia company in England, located on the eastern shore, as before explained.

§ These two excursions appear to have been both in the same year, 1620.

|| The Indian town, called Aquohanock, appears from Smith's map, compared with Madison's, to have been situated on a river or creek of the same name, which now in part divides the counties of Accomack and Northampton from each other.

T This expression seems to indicate, that the above account, entitled "The Observations of Master Pory," &c. as printed in Smith's book, was only an

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at Attoughcomoco the habitation of Namenicus and Wamenato, SEC. VII. his brother,* long wee staied not ere they came aboord vs with 1620. a brasse kettle, as bright without as within, ful of boyled oisters. Strict order was given none should offend vs, so that the next day I went with the two kings a hunting, to discover what I could on their confines. Wamanato brought mee first to his house, where hee shewed mee his wife and children, and many corne-fields; and being two miles within the woods a hunting, as the younger conducted me forth, so the elder brought me home, and vsed me as kindly as he could after their manner. The next day he presented me twelve beuer skinnest and a canow, which I requited with such things to his content, that he pro-

abridgment or copy of some original account thereof, then before drawn up ; most probably that account of Pory's travels, which was published in Purchas's Pilgrims. There appears to have been a great personal friendship between Samuel Purchas, the author of the "Pilgrims," and captain Smith, as is evident from some " Commendatory Verses," written by Purchas, and published in Smith's History, entitled, " Samuel Purchas of his Friend Captaine John Smith and his Virginia ;" of which, indeed, the reader who peruses them, will much regret that the poetry was not better. Purchas published his " Pilgrims" in 1625, and Smith his History of Virginia in 1629. Hence it may be inferred, that the latter might have borrowed his account of Pory's travels from the for- mer, although, without doubt, he had previously communicated to the former much general information concerning his own travels. The original account of Pory's travels probably contained a description of Russel's isles and Onancock and Pawtuxunt, which Smith thought " needlesse to be writ againe," in this part of his book, inasmuch as he had before described them in a former part of his work; but it does not appear that Onancock was ever before mentioned by him therein. It was probably the place now so called, which was lately or is now the capital town of Accomack county, where the county courts are held.

* There is no place of this or a similar denomination on the Pawtuxunt laid down by Smith on his map, nor have we any clew whereby even a probable location of this town may be made. As Pory and his party arrived first at the town called Pawtuxunt, it would seem that Attoughcomoco was higher up the river than that town, which, as we have before described it from Smith's map, appears to have been on the left or north side of the river Patuxent, in what is now Calvert county, and nearly opposite to a place called Cole's Inspection- house on the St. Mary's side of the river.

+ This affords ample proof that those valuable animals called beavers, whose fur is so estimable, once existed in Maryland in considerable numbers, though no where therein now known. They must have abounded, at the time of Pory's travels, in the head waters of the Patuxent. Tradition has pointed out various similar places on the eastern shore also, where it is said they once existed. Our provincial records also recognise licenses to trade with the Indians of the pro- vince for beaver, as will hereinafter appear. Smith mentions them in his de- scription of the animals of Virginia. " The beaver," says he, " is as big as an ordinary water-dog, but his legs exceeding short. His fore-feete like a dog's, his hinder feet like a swan's. His taile somewhat like the forme of a racket, bare without haire, which to eat the salvages esteeme a great delicate." Those of Maryland, we may suppose to have been of the same description.

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SEC. VII. mised to keepe them whilst hee lived, and burie them with him 1620. being dead. Hee mnch wondered at our bible, but much more to heare it was the Law of our God, and the first chapter of Genesis expounded of Adam and Eve and simple marriage; to which he replyed, hee was like Adam in one thing, for he neuer had but one wife at once: but he, as all the rest, seemed more willing of other discourses they better understood. The next day the two kings with their people, came aboord vs, but brought nothing according to promise; so that ensigne Saluage challenged Namenicus the breach of three promises, viz: not in giving him a boy, nor corne, though they had plentie, nor Montapass a fugitive, called Robert Marcum, that had lived five yeeres amongst those northerly nations,* which he cunningly answered by excuses. Womanato, it seems, was guiltlesse of this false- hood, because hee staied alone when the rest were gone. I asked him if he desired to be great and rich: he answered, they were things all men aspired vnto:t which I told him he should be, if he would follow my counsell, so he gaue me two tokens, which being returned by a messenger, should suffice to make him cenfident the messenger could not abuse vs.

"Some things being stolne from vs, he tooke such order that they were presently restored, then we interchanged presents: in all things he much admired our discretions, and gaue vs a guide that hee called brother, to conduct vs up the river : by the way we met with diuers that still tould vs of Marcum: and though it was in October, we found the countrie very hot, and the corne

* This Robert Marcum must have been one of the English settlers in Virginia, who had left them, possibly for some crime, or as a runaway servant, being a " fugitive," and having become an inmate with the Indians on the Patuxent, who were " northerly nations" in respect to Virginia, had assumed an Indian name-Montapass.

t Philosophy from a savage !- Although our American Indians, when first discovered, appeared to approximate to what theoretical writers upon govern- ment call a pure state of nature, if such a state could exist, as nearly as any por- tion of mankind hitherto known, yet we here find among them a perfect idea of what is generally deemed the first stage of civilization-the utility and value of property. In Womanato's estimation the acquisition of riches was one step to greatness, or that greatness and riches were correlative terms. Of the nature of these riches, in an Indian's estimation at that time, somewhat may be inferred from Smith's account of Powhatan's treasure,-" A myle from Orapakes," says he, "in a thicket of wood, he hath a house, in which he keepeth his kinde of treasure, as skinnes, copper, pearle, and beads, which he storeth up against the time of his death and buriall. Here also is his store of red paint for ointment, bowes and arrowes, targets and clubs."

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gathered before ours at James-town .* The next day we went to SEC. VII. Paccamagannant, and they directed vs to Assacomoco, t where their 1620. king Cassatowap had an old quarrell with ensigne Saluage but, now seeming reconciled, went with vs, with another Werowance, towards Mattapanient,¿ where they perswaded vs ashore upon the point of a thicket; but supposing it some trecherie, we returned to our boat: farre wee had not gone from the shore, but a mul- titude of saluages sallied out of the wood, with all the ill words and signes of hostilitie they could. When wee saw plainly their bad intent, wee set the two Werowances at libertie, that all this while had line in the cabbin, as not taking any notice of their villanie; because we would convert them by courtesie. Leaving them as we found them, very ciuill and subtill, wee returned the same way wee came, to the laughing king on the eastern shore,§ who told vs plainly, Namanicus would have allured him into his countrie under colour of trade to cut his throat.

"This Thomas Saluage, it is sixteene yeares since he went to Virginia, being a boy, hee was left with Powhatan, for Namon- tacke, to learne the language,|| and as this author affirmeth, with much honestie and good successe, hath serued the publike with- out any public recompence, yet had an arrow shot through his

* Although no date of the year is annexed to these "Observations of John Pory," as published in Smith's History, yet as Mr. Chalmers, in his statement of them, affixes the year 1620 thereto, and the order of inserting them in Smith's History nearly corresponds with the same date, we must suppose, that the month of "October" above mentioned was that of the year 1620. As to the country being hot in that season, we know, that there is sometimes some very warm weather throughout Maryland in the first part of the month of October. The warmth or coldness of the climate does not correspond exactly with the sun's: declination. It is much colder in the spring of the year, (about the first of March,) than in the autumn, (about the first of October,) although the sun is at both these times nearly of the same altitude ; the frosts of the preceding winter having chilled the earth and atmosphere. To gather corn in October is not usual: at this day in Maryland, it not then being sufficiently hardened for keeping ; but: savages, being commonly improvident, might sometimes imprudently gather their corn too early ; especially if they meant to sell it.

t Neither of these places is laid down on Smith's map, and no designation of their scites is suggested above.

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The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 17

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823 Publication date: 1837 Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver Number of Pages: 1062

Author: Bozman, John Leeds, 1757-1823
Publication date: 1837
Publisher: Baltimore : J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver
Number of Pages: 1062