The history of Maryland : from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, Part 21

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 21

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been thereby provided. Another act also, apparently of more SEC. VII. importance, was passed at the same session, entitled, "an act for preventing Indians disaffected to the British interest in Ame- rica, from coming into this Province as spies, or on any other evil design." The Nanticokes were the principal objects of this law; as appears from the preamble thereof, as follows :- " Where- as it is represented to this general assembly, that Indians, not in friendship or alliance with his majesty's subjects, and especially some of those Nanticoke Indians, who some years ago left their usual place of residence, and went to the westward, have lately fixed cabbins, under pretence of hunting, in different places of this Province, where they have behaved very insolently, and have even intimated, that they have been active in some of the horrid cruelties committed last summer by the savages on the frontiers of the neighbouring Provinces; and it is apprehended, that no strange Indian would, at this time of open war, come into this Province, unless with a view to get information, and give intelligence to our enemies, or on some other ill design: In order therefore, to discover any such, who may be lurking about hereafter, be it enacted," &c. The substance of the en- acting clauses was,-that constables of hundreds, wherein any Indian town lay, should take an account annually of the Indians thereto belonging ; and the chief Indian of such town refusing to give such account, might be taken into custody, and commit- ted to prison. Also, that Indians travelling from their towns (within the Province) should take out passes; and, if discovered without a pass, at ten miles distance from their respective towns, might be seized and committed. To which a proviso was an- nexed, that this act should not hinder any Indian belonging to any of the Six Nations from travelling, &c. as an ambassador to the governor of this Province.

Although the preamble of this act states, that the Nanticokes, when they migrated from the eastern shore of Maryland, "went to the westward," yet this may be reconciled with Heckewel- der's statement of their first settling at Wyoming in Pennsylva- nia, in sight of the Shawanese towns, on the eastern branch of the Susquehanah. Their first settlement there, (at Wyoming,) be- ing prior to the war, the incidents, recognized by the last cited act of 1756, might have occurred subsequently to their first set- tlement there. "They," (the Nanticokes,) as Heckewelder states, "together with the Shawanese, endeavoured to remove

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SEC. VII. the Christian Indians from Northampton county to Wyoming, their private object being to have a full opportunity to murder the white inhabitants in the war, which they already knew would soon break out between the French and English." But the Shawanese were then, prior to the war, "drawing off by degrees to the Ohio," as Heckewelder states in another place; "so that," as he says, "at the commencement of the French war in 1755, they had all, except a few families, retired to the Ohio, where they joined their countrymen (previously settled there) in the war against the English."-This seems to elucidate and explain the conduct of the Nanticokes alluded to in the last cited act of assembly of Maryland; so that it appears, they joined their neighbours-the Shawanese, some of whom were then settled "to the westward" on the Ohio, in "the horrid cruelties committed in the summer of 1755, on the frontiers of the neighbouring Provinces," to wit, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Those of the Nanticokes, who had migrated from Maryland previous to the war of 1756, and settled at Wyoming, thus as- sociating themselves with the Shawanese and Delawares, who had during the whole of that war been the steadfast friends of the French, appear to have retired with those Shawanese and Del- awares towards the Ohio after the treaty of peace in 1763. But those of the Nanticokes, who had, as Heckewelder mentions, settled at Chenango, in the State of New York, in the neighbour- hood of the Iroquois or Six Nations, most probably continued in either a friendly or neutral state towards the British colonies, as the Six Nations did. With these latter Nanticokes, it ap- pears, the remnant of the Nanticoke tribe, then still remaining on the Nanticoke and Broad-creek, in Maryland, kept up a com- munication in their respective counties ; and, within a few years after the peace of 1763, on a mature consultation in those coun- cils, it seems to have been the joint and final resolution of the whole of the tribe, that their remnant in Maryland should entire- ly remove from their ancient seats on the Nanticoke and Broad- creek, and "live with their brethren" under the shelter of the Iroquois. This receives confirmation from an act of assembly of Maryland, passed in the year 1768, entitled " an act for granting to the Nanticoke Indians a compensation for the lands therein mentioned;"-the preamble of which states ;- " Whereas the greatest part of the tribe of the Nanticoke Indians have, some years ago, left and deserted the lands in this Province, appropri-

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ated by former acts of assembly for their use, so long as they SEC. VII. should occupy the same ; and the few that remain have, by their petition to this general assembly, prayed that they might have liberty to dispose of their right to the said lands, or that some compensation should be made them for quitting claim thereto, as they are desirous of totally leaving this Province, and going to live with their brethren, who have incorporated themselves with the Six Nations ; and that they have given a power of attorney to a certain Amos Ogden, to dispose of the said lands for them, and to execute a release and acquittance therefor, which power appears to be confirmed and approved by Sir William Johnson, his majesty's superintendant of Indian affairs for the northern department; and whereas the said Amos Ogden hath, in behalf of the said Indians, offered to take the sum of $6663 dollars, for a release of right, and full acquittal of claim of the said Nanticoke Indians to the said lands on the Nanticoke and Broad-creek, be it enacted," &c. The commissioners, for emit- ting bills of credit, were thereby directed and required to pay to the said Amos Ogden, for the use of the said Nanticoke Indians, the said $6663 dollars, in full satisfaction for the said tribe of Nanticoke Indians, their claim to the said lands, and to take his receipt for the same. On the completion of this transaction, it would appear, that every individual of the tribe or nation bid adieu for ever to their ancient abode on the Nanticoke.

No further account of any other material incidents of this voyage has reached us. They returned to James town on the seventh of September, having their boat loaded with corn. From this excursion Smith is said to have drawn a map of Ches- apeake bay, and of the rivers thereof, annexing to it a descrip- tion of the countries bordering thereon, and the nations or tribes inhabiting them, which he sent to the council in England, and which is said to have been done with admirable exactness,* as we have before had occasion to mention. His superior abilities having obtained the ascendancy over envy and faction, he now entered on his office of president.

About this time Newport arrived with an additional supply of The tenor inhabitants, and with fresh "instructions" from the London company. The tenor of these "instructions" demonstrates, from Eng- that those who were engaged in the colonization of America at land to Virginia.

this time in England, were actuated more by the alluring pros-

* Burk's Hist. of Virginia, vol. 1, p, 127,

1603.

of some in- structions

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SEC. VII. pects of a sudden acquisition of wealth, than the future benefits 1608. arising from colonies. The president and council of the colony were required to explore the western country, in order to pro- cure certain intelligence of a passage to the South Sea; to transmit, as a token of success in the discovery of mines, a lump of gold ; and to find some of the lost company sent out by Raleigh to Roanoke. And they threatened in a letter to Smith, that unless the charge of Newport's voyage, amounting to about two thousand pounds, was defrayed by the ship's return, they should be deserted, and left to remain there as banished men. A reader of humanity could scarcely give credit to this fact, did he not find it recorded by a creditable historian .* Thus far, then, we have not yet found, that either religious persecution or political oppression, or even the glory of propagating the chris- tian faith, however much talked of, were really and truly the prime and original motives to English colonization.

An at- tempt of the Ply- mouth company to settle a colony in Maine.

A feeble attempt made in this and the preceding year by the North Virginia or Plymouth company, to plant a colony in that part of North America now called the District of Maine, de- serves some notice. In 1607 Sir John Popham, then lord chief justice of England, and others concerned in the Plymouth com- pany, sent out two ships with a colony, under the government of George Popham, his brother, attended with Raleigh Gilbert, nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, second in command. They sailed from Plymouth on the last of May, 1607, and on the 11th of August landed on a small island, since called Parker's island, at the mouth of Sagadahoc or Kennebec river. Here they built a store-house and fortified it, and gave it the name of fort St. George. On the fifth of December the two ships sailed for England, leaving a little colony of forty-five persons. During the winter which was said to have been very severe, the go- vernor or commander-in-chief, George Popham, died. They had the misfortune of losing all their stores by fire; so that when the ships arrived the next year, 1608, bringing with them the disagreeable intelligence of the death of Sir John Popham and Sir John Gilbert, in England, the great patrons of the colony, they were so dispirited that they unanimously resolved to return with the ships to England, which they did. All the fruit of this expedition was the building of a barn, which was found to

* Burk's Hist. of Virginia, vol. 1, p. 127, 148, and Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 162.

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be of use to the succeeding colonists, who planted there some SEC. VII. years afterwards .*

1609.

In the succeeding year, an important change took place in The se- the London or South Virginia Company. Whatever their mo- cond char- ter of Vir-

tives might have been, it seems that the members of that com- ginia, and pany thought it proper to petition the king for a new organiza- of granting the causes tion of their body. Some have attributed this to that supreme it. direction of all the company's operations, which the king, by the former charter, had reserved to himself, and which discou- raged persons of rank or property from becoming members of a society so dependent on the arbitrary will of the crown.t Others have supposed that the distractions and divisions which had prevailed in the council in the colony, having created much mismanagement in their affairs, the company in England were on that account induced to request an alteration in their charter.± While others again have attributed the desire of a change therein to their inordinate thirst for a sudden accumulation of wealth; § which conjecture seems to be too much strengthened by the tenor of their last instructions sent to the colony by Newport. The most probable motives, however, arose from a combination of the two last mentioned causes ; and, as a late writer upon it observes-disappointed in their sanguine expectations of a rich and immediate profit, they were willing enough to believe the representations of the discontented and envious, rather than suppose that they themselves were mistaken in their calcula- tions. | The king yielded to their request, and granted what is commonly called the second charter of Virginia, bearing date the 23d of May, 7 Jac. 1, (A. D. 1609.)" By this the adminis- tration of the affairs of the colony was vested in a single person, under the denomination of a governor, who was to reside in the colony, and to act according to the orders, laws, and in-

* Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. 1, p. 10. Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 160, 162.

t Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. 4, p. 192.

# Oldmixon's British Empire in America, vol. 1, p. 225. Harris's Voyages, vol. 2, p. 225. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 39, p. 243.

§ Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 164. Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. 1, p. 42.

|| Burk's Hist. of Virginia, vol. 1, p. 148. Chalmers (in his Annals, ch. 2, p. 24,) assigns another probable reason for their application for a new charter. " Partly in order to augment the number of the adventurers by the addition of persons of the greatest consequence in the nation, but more to explain former and to acquire new privileges."

T See this charter at large in Hazard's Collections, vol. 1, p. 58.

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SEC. VII. structions of a council resident in England. The principal

1609.

clause in this charter which has any immediate relation to what is now the state of Maryland, is that which designated the ex- tent of territory thereby granted. The king granted and con- firmed to the company, "all those lands, countries, and territo- ries, situate, lying, and being in that part of America called Virginia, from the point of land called Cape or Point Comfort all along the sea coast to the northward, two hundred miles, and from the said point of Cape Comfort all along the sea coast to the southward, two hundred miles, and all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea coast of the precinct aforesaid up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and north-west, and also all the islands lying within one hundred miles along the coast of both seas of the precinct aforesaid." This was cer- tainly a great enlargement of their territories beyond what was expressed in their first or former charter; which seemed to have confined them to fifty miles of English statute measure, north- ward and southward, along the coast of America from the first seat of their plantation and habitation, which was James town, and only one hundred miles back into the country from the sea- coast. But the country granted by this second charter, included nearly one-third of the present United States. The extent of it "from sea to sea," that is, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, would have been absurd, could it be supposed that they were then acquainted with the real distance between those seas across the continent of North America, in the latitude of Point Comfort. But it would seem, from the tenor of their last in- structions to the president and council, sent out by Newport, before referred to, that they were at that time strongly possessed with the idea, either that a passage to the south sea westward, through some inlet, would soon be discovered, or that the dis- tance to that ocean across the continent was but very short, compared with what it has been since found out to be. Into this mistake they seem to have been led, not only by the previ- ous discoveries of the Spaniards at the narrow isthmus of Darien, but also by some accounts given by the Indians to captain Smith, when he was exploring the Chesapeake, of great waters lying to the westward, not far distant; obviously meaning the lakes, and not the Pacific ocean .* Another observation on this

* Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. 1, p. 40. It is worthy of notice, how- ever, that Powhatan told Smith that all the accounts he had received " of salt waters beyond the mountains," were false. Burk's Hist. of Virginia, vol. 1, p. 129.

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charter occurs, in relation to the subsequent grant by Charles I. SEC. VII. to Lord Baltimore, which at first was so loudly complained of as 1609. unjustly lopping off so much of the territories of Virginia. The absurd aspect of the extent of territory granted by this second charter of Virginia, left this solitary question only-how and where its excrescencies should be pared off? That it was too large for any kingdom or commonwealth upon earth, admitted of no doubt.

The last and concluding clause in this charter seems also to claim some notice, as it manifests the temper of those times in relation to religious controversies, and indicates those causes which eventuated in about twenty years afterwards, in the set- tlement of a colony of English catholics in Maryland. "And lastly, because the principal effect which we can desire or ex- pect of this action is the conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and christian reli- gion,* in which respect we shall be loath that any person should be permitted to pass, that we suspected to affect the supersti- tions of the church of Rome, we do hereby declare, that it is our will and pleasure that none be permitted to pass in any voyage, from time to time, to be made into the said country, but such as first shall have taken the oath of supremacy; for which purpose we do by these presents give full power and authority to the treasurer for the time being, and any three of the council to tender and exhibit the said oath to all such per- sons as shall at any time be sent and employed in the same voyage."}

The Dutch nation, notwithstanding their constant war with The settle- Spain for many years for their independence, which about this ment of the time was acknowledged by all except their ancient masters, New York. Dutch at

* This cant pervades all the early charters of North America, both French and English. As the emperor Powhatan was well known to entertain a most inveterate hatred to the Anglo-Virginians, on account of their invasion of his territories, his sentiments on the above clause, could he have read it, would very probably have been similar to those of the Indian cazique of Cuba ; to whom, when fastened to the stake to be burnt, a Franciscan friar, labouring to convert him, promised immediate admittance into the joys of heaven, if he would em- brace the christian faith. " Are there any Spaniards," says he, after some pause, " in that region of bliss which you describe ?" " Yes," replied the monk, " but only such as are worthy and good." " The best of them," returned the indignant cazique, " have neither worth nor goodness ; I will not go to a place where I may meet with one of that accursed race !"

t This clause will be animadverted upon more at large in a subsequent part of this work.

VOL. I .- 24

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SEC. VII. had now attained to a considerable extent of trade in the East 1609. Indies ; insomuch that the state's general had, in 1602, thought it proper to erect what is styled by historians, the Dutch East India Company. The great length of the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope being productive of many inconveniences, the company became anxious, as indeed all the rest of Europe had long been, to explore some more convenient route thereto. With this view they employed captain Henry Hudson, an English navigator of considerable experience, and who had been engaged in the English service in the two pre- ceding years on two similar expeditions, to find out a shorter passage to the East Indies .* Being furnished by the company with a vessel equipped with all necessaries, and with twenty men, English and Dutch, he sailed from the Texel about the beginning of April, in the year 1609. He at first pursued the same course which he had done in his two former voyages, nearly north along the coast of Norway and Lapland, until as the journalt expresses it, -- "they came to the height of The North Cape of Finmarke, and had sight of Ward-house," the

* Some doubt has been expressed by different writers, as to the authority under which Hudson sailed in this his third voyage for a discovery of a passage to the Indies, the journal of it being silent on that subject. That the expedition was fitted out at his own expense and on his own account, is very improbable. His sailing from the Texel, a fact recognized by the journal, warrants the inference, that the voyage was either at the private instance and expense of some Dutch merchants at Amsterdam, or at that of the Dutch East India company, as above mentioned. That it was under the authority and at the expense of that com- pany seems to be established by the following passage and citation in the Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. 10, p. 293, in the section where they treat of the proceedings of the Dutch East India company :- " Feeling some inconveniences from the great length of the voyage, they (the company) were still very desirous of finding some shorter passage to the Indies; in order to which they contracted, in the year 1609, with a famous English pilot, Henry Hudson, who promised them great things in that respect, but performed nothing more than attempting a pas- sage first by the north-east, and then by the north-west, in one voyage, without success in either." For this the authors of that work cite,-" Avertissement a la tête de Recueil des Voyages de la Compagnie, p. 40." Supposing that this fact was recognized by the Dutch East India company, it takes away all doubt about the authority under which Hudson sailed. The citation from the Biog. Britan. art. Hudson, in Holmes's Annals, vol. 1, p. 167, confirms this.

t The journal of this voyage, as inserted in the " Collections of the New York Historical Society," (vol. 1,) and extracted from Purchas's Pilgrims, is there stated to have been "written by Robert Ivat, of Lime-House," who appears throughout the journal to have acted as master's mate, and who is recognized in that capacity in the journal of Hudson's preceding voyage, in the year 1608, from England. Ivat was, therefore, an Englishman, and his journal originally in the English language.

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most northernly points of the Norwegian Lapland. Here, " after SEC. VII. much trouble with fogges, sometimes, and more dangerous of 1609. ice," Hudson appears to have altered the destination of his voyage, which evidently was to have explored a route to Japan or China by Nova Zembla, along the northern coast of Russia, and through the straits, between Asia and America, since disco- vered by captain Cook to be impassable on account of ice. Pursuing their course back, they arrived on the thirtieth of May, at one of the Ferrs islands, which lies in about 62º north latitude, a little to the north-west of the Shetland islands of Scotland. Here they watered and repaired, and on the first of June sailed again, directing their course to the west- ward. After a series of "stormes," and losing their fore-mast, they found themselves, on the third of July, on the banks of Newfoundland, "among a great fleet of Frenchmen, which lay fishing on the banke." Apparently desirous of landing, in order to replace their mast, they kept their course westwardly within soundings, until the thirteenth of July, when they first "had sight of the land." On the eighteenth, they "went into a very good harbour," and there, according to the journal, "they went on shoare, and cut a fore-mast,-then at noone they came aboard againe, and found the height of the place to bee in 44 degrees 1 minute."* After remaining in this harbour about six days, having furnished themselves with a new mast, watered, and wantonly "drove the salvages from their houses, and took the spoyle of them," as their journal says, they, on the six and twentieth of July, "sat sayle and came to sea." They continued coasting the continent of North America without touching at any land, except for a few hours on the eastern banks of Cape Cod, until they arrived, on the eighteenth of August, at the capes of the Chesapeake. Without any appa- rent cause, either assigned on the journal or otherwise appear- ing, they set out to retrace their course back again along the continent ; but being blown considerably off the land, as low as the latitude of 36°, they with some difficulty regained the mouth of the Chesapeake; from whence they departed again

* This harbour is stated by Doct. Miller, in his discourse before the Hist. Soc. of New York, (see their Collections, vol. 1, p. 30,) to have been " at or near the place where Portland, in the district of Maine, now stands." But if the journal be accurately printed, as to the figures-"44 degrees,"-the harbour of Penobscot would seem to correspond better with the latitude mentioned, and, apparently from maps, answers every other part of the description equally as well.

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SEC. VII. on the twenty-seventh of August, and proceeded along the 1609. coast to the mouth of the Delaware. Not finding the entrance thereof with ease, or, as they say, "the bay being shoald," they held on their course towards the north until they came to Sandy Hook, within which they anchored on the third of September, in the latitude of "40 degrees 30 minutes," ac- cording to their journal. Curiosity, or some other reason unknown, induced the captain to ascend the river, which now bears his name, as high up, it is said, as Albany; and immedi- ately on his return down, took his departure from the Hook, on the fourth of October, and after a short passage arrived "on the seventh day of November, in the year 1609, in the range of Dartmouth in England."

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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 21

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