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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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A
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA,
FROM ITS
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT.
A
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA,
FROM ITS
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT
BY EUROPEANS
TO
THE PRESENT TIME.
BY ROBERT R. HOWISON.
VOL. I.
CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF THE COLONY TO THE PEACE OF PARIS, IN 1763.
PHILADELPHIA: CAREY & HART. 1846.
975.5 H 84 1
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, BY ROBERT R. HOWISON,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Virginia.
C. SHERMAN, PRINTER, 19 St. James Street.
Southern -$27.50 (2.no)
1236195
TO
THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA,
This Dolume,
CONTAINING
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THEIR STATE,
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
VIRGINIA was the earliest settlement made by men of the Anglo-Saxon race upon the soil of America. Her infancy was attended by events which have imparted to her all the interest that the Romance of Real Life can afford. In her very childhood she presented a model of those republican governments, which have since yielded happiness to mil- lions in the Western Hemisphere. And in more mature years she has powerfully contributed, by her statesmen, her precepts, and her example, to give character to the great confederacy of which she is a member. The virtues and the faults, the glory and the shame of the "Old Do- minion," have never been without influence upon the whole American Republic.
Her history then deserves to be studied. Several writers have devoted attention to her progress, and some of their works possess merit which ought to have introduced them
viii
PREFACE.
to general notice. But they have been read by the few and neglected by the many. The Histories of Smith, Beverley, Keith, Stith, Burk, and Campbell, are either entirely out of print, or so nearly so, that they cannot be obtained without much difficulty, and " the young men of Virginia remain more ignorant of the career of their own state, than of that of Greece or Rome."
The author of the volume now offered to the public, was induced, by a sense of his own ignorance, to turn his thoughts to the sources from which might be drawn know- ledge concerning his native state. He formed the plan of writing her history in four parts-
PART I. To embrace the period from the Discovery and Settlement of Virginia by Europeans, to the Dissolution of the London Company, in 1624.
PART II. From 1624, to the Peace of Paris, in 1763.
PART III. From 1763 to the Adoption, by Virginia, of the Federal Constitution, in 1788.
PART IV. From 1788 to the present time.
The volume completed, contains the first and second parts, under this arrangement. It is believed that the his- tory of our Revolutionary struggle will most naturally begin with the measures of the English Parliament which were adopted immediately after the Peace of Paris. The remainder of the work may be embraced in another volume, but when it can be completed is, at present, uncertain.
In writing the Colonial History, the author has endea-
.
ix
PREFACE.
voured to draw from the purest fountains of light the rays which he has sought to shed upon his subject. Convinced that truth should be the first object of the historian, he has laboured with earnestness in examining, sifting, and com- paring the evidence, printed and in manuscript, upon which he has relied. Every material statement of fact has been verified by a reference to the original authority, in order to guide those who may wish to test the accuracy of the work.
In deducing inferences from facts, he has used all free- dom, and has depended solely upon his own judgment. To err is human,-nor can the author flatter himself with the hope either that he has avoided error, or that he will escape censure ; but conscious of no desire save that of giving an impartial delineation of his subject, he is tempted to hope that candour will find at least as much to approve, as pre- judice will seek to condemn.
In preparing this volume, he has been aided by several gentlemen, who have placed within his reach rare books and treasures in manuscript, which were indispensable to his purpose. To these friends he need not now do more than render his thanks. It will not be necessary to name them, inasmuch as, should they read these lines, they will at once recognise his object, and accept his gratitude. To Gen. William H. Richardson, Librarian of Virginia, he is under obligations which he cannot refuse to acknowledge. This gentleman has given him access to the Library of the
x
PREFACE.
State, and has permitted him to consult the works there found, as freely as he could have desired. The office of the General Court has also been open to him, and its records have in many cases proved valuable guides in his search for truth.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, August 29th, 1846.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Obligations of the world to Columbus; His claim to the original dis- covery of America disputed; The Northmen ; Madoc of Wales; Merit of Columbus; Henry Seventh of England; Voyage of John Cabot ; of Sebastian ; Causes of delay in colonizing North America ; Henry Eighth ; Edward Sixth; Mary ; Character of Elizabeth ; Her patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert; Sir Walter Raleigh; Voyage of Amidas and Barlow ; They land on Wococon Island ; Charms of the country ; Manners of the natives; Return to England ; Elizabeth bestows a name; Sir Richard Grenville; Attempt at settlement ; Ralph Lane's excursion up the Chowan River ; Thomas Heriot ; Con- flicts with the Indians; Arrival of Sir Francis Drake; The settle- ment deserted ; Grenville's small colony ; John White arrives ; Birth of Virginia Dare ; White returns to England; Raleigh extends to others the benefit of his patent; Governor White comes again to Roanoke, but finds not the settlers ; Their probable fate ; Death of Grenville ; of Walter Raleigh -
CHAPTER II.
Elizabeth dies ; Is succeeded by James I .; His character ; Progress of liberty in England; General activity and excitement; Desire for colonizing ; Peace with Spain ; One of its effects ; Bartholomew Gos- nold; His successful voyage; Richard Hakluyt; Charter granted by King James to the London and Plymouth Companies ; Prepara-
19
xii
CONTENTS.
tions for the voyage ; The King's articles of instruction ; Their pro- minent traits considered ; First colonists to Virginia ; Cavaliers ; Gentlemen; Few labourers or mechanics ; They sail from Black- wall; Are driven to Chesapeake Bay ; The River Powhatan ; James- town; Captain John Smith ; His early history ; Secret correspon- dence; Three duels; Smith a captive in Tartary ; His arrival in Virginia ; Visit to King Powhatan ; Distress of the colonists ; Presi- dent Wingfield ; The aborigines ; Tribes in Virginia ; Giants ; Man- ners of the natives; Women; Learning and oratory; Religion ; Government and laws; Their gradual decay in America ; Conflict of Smith with the savages; Approach of winter - 69
.
CHAPTER III.
Smith's excursion up the Chickahominy River; He is captured by the natives; Indian superstition; The prisoner conducted in triumph through several tribes; Brought before Powhatan; The Princess Pocahontas; She saves the life of the captive; Smith's return to Jamestown; Levitical law ; Arrival of Newport; Blue beads and Indian corn; A river of gold ; Sand and cedar; Smith's first voyage of exploration ; The Potomac; An adventure; The second voyage; The Susquehanoc Indians; Fight with the Rappahannocs; The Nansemonds; Return; Smith made president; Newport's third ar- rival; Coronation of Powhatan; Jealousy and discord among the settlers ; Disappointment of the London Council; Smith's letter ; He visits Powhatan ; Danger of the English; They are preserved by Pocahontas; Heroism of Smith; His influence with the savages; German traitors ; Arrival of Argal; Second Charter of King James ; Lord Delaware governor ; A fleet for Virginia ; A storm ; Sir George Somers wrecked on the Bermuda Islands ; He sails for Virginia ; A scene of wretchedness ; Materials for the colony ; Discord ; Sedition ; Accident to Smith; He leaves Virginia; Idleness; Profligacy ; . Disease ; Starvation; Death; Arrival of Somers; The colonists abandon the settlement; They meet Lord Delaware in the river ; Return to Jamestown, - -
. 119
xiii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
Lord Delaware; Death of Sir George Somers; The governor's health . fails ; Sir Thomas Dale, High Marshal of Virginia; Sir Thomas Smith's martial law ; Its expediency ; Third Charter of James ; The London Company ; Seizure of Pocahontas; Her intermarriage with Rolfe; Peace with the Indians; Argal captures Port Royal; Baptism of Pocahontas; Tobacco; Dale embarks for England, accompanied by Rolfe and Pocahontas ; Captain Smith and his preserver ; Death of Pocahontas ; Her descendants ; Uttamatomakkin ; Argal deputy governor ; Death of Lord Delaware; of Raleigh; of King Pow- hatan ; Argal's tyranny ; First General Assembly ; Convicts sent to Virginia; Dispute with King James concerning tobacco; Negro slaves introduced ; Women imported; Sir Francis Wyatt; Opecan- canough ; Indian massacre; Its disastrous effects ; King James op- presses the London Company ; Their noble independence ; Royal commissioners in Virginia ; Writ of quo warranto ; Earliest laws of the Assembly ; King dissolves the London Company ; He prepares to issue new laws for Virginia ; His death
- 179
CHAPTER V.
Character of Charles I .; His Proclamation concerning the colony ; The representative government continues ; Indian war; Death of Sir George Yeardley ; Proposals of the King; Rejected by the As- sembly ; George Calvert, Lord Baltimore ; He refuses to take the oath of supremacy in Virginia ; Sir John Hervey ; Good and evil of his administration; Settlement of Maryland; William Claiborne ; Hervey deposed ; Restored by the King ; Tobacco laws ; Sir William Berkeley governor ; His character ; Prosperous state of the colony ; The Established Church ; Intolerant laws ; Indian hostilities ; cap- ture of Opecancanough ; His death ; Increase of population; Ship- ping ; Rebellion in England ; Execution of Charles I .; Ordinance of the Long Parliament ; Virginia remains loyal; Fleet sent to subdue her ; Resistance ; Honourable surrender ; Independence under the Protectorate ; Samuel Matthews governor ; His death ; Election of Sir William Berkeley by the Assembly ; Restoration of Charles II. 255
xiv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Joy of the colonists because of the Restoration ; Their folly ; Quakers in America ; Laws against them; New commission from the King to Berkeley; Navigation laws enacted by the English Parliament ; Their oppressive effect in Virginia; An Assembly of royalists ; Conspiracy of the Oliverians; Promptly crushed by the governor ; Grant of Charles to Culpeper and Arlington; Assembly in vain seeks redress ; Expedition of Captain Batte; Grievances of the colony ; General discontent ; Indian murders ; Nathaniel Bacon ; His character ; He is chosen by the people to lead them against the Indians; Asks a commission from the governor, which is not granted ; Marches against the savages ; A new Assembly; Bacon is made captive ; He is released ; Laws of a free legislature; Berkeley still refuses a commission; Bacon's conduct; Governor leaves Jamestown ; Rebellion ; Berkeley flies to Accomac; Meeting of Vir- ginians at Middle Plantation ; Bacon marches against the Indians ; Battle of Bloody Run ; Bland and Carver ; Berkeley again in James- town; Advance of the insurgents ; Conflict; Defeat of the royalists; Jamestown burned by Bacon; His successes ; His death; Despon- dency of the insurgents ; Execution of Thomas Hansford; Of Wil- ford; Of William Drummond; Martial law; Trial by jury; Exe- cution of Giles Bland; Death of Lawrence ; Berkeley's thirst for re- venge ; Assembly interferes; Death of Sir William Berkeley; Vir- ginia before and after the rebellion
- 314
CHAPTER VII.
Royal commissioners; Robert Beverley persecuted ; Lord Culpeper arrives ; His proceedings; His covetousness ; Act of cohabitation ; Destruction of tobacco plants ; Severe measures against the rioters ; Robert Beverley's wrongs ; Assembly deprived of judicial power ; Howard of Effingham ; Treaty with the Five Nations; Death of . Charles II .; Accession and character of James II .; Rebellion of Monmouth ; White slaves ; Revolution in England ; William, Prince of Orange; Francis Nicholson governor; College of William and
XV
CONTENTS.
Mary ; Sir Edmund Andros in Virginia ; Nicholson again governor ; Capture of a pirate ; Nicholson's ambitious schemes; His proceed- ing in New York; Edward Nott; Alexander Spotswood governor; He promotes the welfare of the colony ; His expanded views; Ex- pedition across the Alleghany Mountains ; Knights of the Golden Horseshoe; Blackbeard the pirate; Spotswood superseded ; William Gooch governor; Expedition against Carthagena ; Death of Com- missary Blair ; Of Colonel William Byrd ; Governor Gooch's charge to a grand jury ; Capitol destroyed by fire; Departure of Gooch ; Robert Dinwiddie governor - 372
CHAPTER VIII.
Improvement in the colonies; Progress of knowledge ; Benjamin Frank- lin ; French and English possessions in America; Encroachments of the French; Ohio Company; French fort on the River Le Bœuf; George Washington ; Sent by Dinwiddie to the French commander on the Ohio; His danger; His return ; Preparations for war ; Fort Duquesne ; Washington advances ; Defeat and death of M. Jumon- ville ; The Great Meadows; Fort Necessity attacked by French and Indians ; Gallant defence ; Honourable capitulation ; Dinwiddie's Wild plans ; La Force, the prisoner ; Major-General Edward Braddock; His army marches from Fort Cumberland ; Difficulties of the way ; Washington's advice; Braddock's confidence ; Passage of the Mo- nongahela; A battle in the forest; Total defeat of the English army; Danger of Washington ; Death of General Braddock ; Colonel Dun- bar retires to Philadelphia ; Indian cruelties on the frontier of Vir- ginia ; Prowess of Samuel Bingaman ; Washington's distress ; Lord Loudon commander-in-chief; Governor Dinwiddie leaves the colony ; His character; Francis Fauquier ; William Pitt, Prime Minister of England ; General Forbes marches against Fort Duquesne; Defeat of Major Grant ; Heroism of Captain Bullet and his men ; Capture of Fort Duquesne ; Burial of the remains of Braddock's army ; Cam- paigns of 1758 and 1759; Successes of England ; Peace of Paris in 1763
. 437
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PART I.
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
CHAPTER I.
Obligations of the world to Columbus-His claim to original discovery dis- puted-The Northmen-Madoc of Wales-Merit of Columbus-Henry Seventh of England-Voyage of John Cabot-Of Sebastian-Causes of delay in colonizing North America-Henry Eighth-Edward Sixth- Mary-Character of Elizabeth-Her patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert- Sir Walter Raleigh-Voyage of Amidas and Barlow-They land on Wococon Island-Charms of the country-Manners of the natives-Re- turn to England-Elizabeth bestows a name-Sir Richard Grenville- Attempts at settlement-Ralph Lane's excursion up the Chowan river- Thomas Heriot-Conflicts with the Indians-Arrival of Sir Francis Drake-The settlements deserted-Grenville's small colony -John White arrives-Birth of Virginia Dare-White returns to England- Raleigh extends to others the benefit of his patent-Governor White comes again to Roanoke, but finds not the settlers-Their probable fate-Death of Grenville-Of Walter Raleigh.
IF, in the present age, a child of science could discover and unfold to our view a world connected with that in which we live, yet heretofore invisible, teeming with the treasures of nature, unimpaired in original freshness and beauty, and peopled by beings to whom all art seemed unknown, we would hail this discovery as approaching the miracu-
20
AMERICA.
[CHAP. I.
lous, and its author as destined to immortality on earth.
Hence we may conceive something of the asto- nishment that pervaded the mind of Europeª when it was first announced that a navigator had crossed the mysterious expanse of water which had so long bounded her hopes and excited her fears, and had returned to tell of a world that she had never known before.
He who really accomplished this great object, may be reckoned among the men to whom our race should rejoice to render all that gratitude could suggest, or that generosity could give; and if Co- lumbus in life was loaded with chains, and in death has been deprived of the privilege which the heart of a father seeks when he would give his name to his child, it has been because man is neither per- fect in judgment, nor untainted in virtue.
It may be possible to attach too much importance to the discovery either of a great truth in science, or of an exhaustless source of physical wealth upon our earth, but it would be difficult to express a measure of merit greater than that which is due to the navigator of Genoa. He who would compute his worth must belong not to any age that has suc- ceeded him, nor to the time in which we live, nor to any era that may soon appear.
He must live near the point at which we have reason to believe that this world will close its final scene; and as he looks back to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and sees what America has done
a Robertson's America, i. 64.
3
21
AMERICA.
CHAP. I.]
in affecting the destinies of man, in developing the human mind, in pointing out the road to national happiness, and in leading on the hosts which are at last to be united under one Divine Director, he may catch some faint view of the glories which should encircle the name of Columbus.
If it be feared that love to his native land may exercise an influence upon an American so strong as to cause him to view his country's progress with too sanguine hope, and her discoverer with undue enthusiasm, we would be tempted to refer to the words of an English historian, proverbial for his distrust of democracy, for his love to the monarchi- cal institutions of his country, but whose prophetic eye had been accustomed so long to regard the rise of empires and the fall of kings, that he had learned to look down the vista of the future and behold the fates of nations. He has spoken of America, and pointed to her shores as the hope of the world, even of that nation to which his heart was most firmly bound,-and the warmest patriot in the "great Republic" could hardly desire for his country re- nown more substantial, or influence more extended, than that which this impartial mind has declared to await her.ª
From the immense field of American history
a Alison's History of Europe, ii. only under the shadow of ancient 407. "But if the sun of British greatness is setting in the old, it is from the same cause rising in reno- vated lustre in the new world. *
renown, but a hundred and fifty mil- lions of men in North America will be speaking its language, reading its authors, glorying in its descent." * In two centuries the name of Eng- * The whole passage is worthy land may be extinct, or may survive of attention.
22
EARLY VOYAGES.
[CHAP. I.
which the genius of Columbus has developed, a portion has been selected for the subject of the following pages that would seem, at first sight, to bear but a small value when compared with all the interests of the powerful republic of which Vir- ginia is a part; but it will not be difficult to show that her history merits a separate consideration, and that from an early period of her existence as a colony, she has exerted an influence upon the fate of America that may well draw to her progress the notice of all who hope to find in the past, lessons for future generations.ª
In tracing the events which first led Europeans to her shores, it will not be the duty of the his- torian to speak of every voyage that was under- taken, or of every discovery made, during the cen- tury succeeding the first voyage of Columbus to the western world. These successive discoveries opened an immense tract of coast and of island ex- tending from the frozen sea of the north to the more temperate ocean in the region of Cape Horn, and many of them had little influence in determining the fate of North America.b But it will be a task appropriate to our subject to award to him who deserves it the merit of having opened the seal which none before him had dared to touch, and led the way along which others of more humble name were to pass in founding a nation's greatness.
a Burk's History of Virginia- 102, 199; Tytler's General History, Preface ; Tytler's General History, 476 : continuation by Nares.
b Robertson's America, i. 85, 101,
474, 475; Guthrie's Geography- improved, ii. 644.
23
EARLY VOYAGES.
1002.]
Since this discovery has been made, many have been found willing to deny to the noble Genoese his right to its exclusive honour. Nations and men unknown to fame have been industriously marshalled in array against him, and pretensions have been advanced in favour of those who, could they themselves have spoken, would have declared their unworthiness of the glory which he has won with so enormous hazard.ª But perhaps nothing could more fully vindicate the title of Columbus than the failure of all attempts to prove that Ame- rica had been reached by adventurers from Europe before his day ; and those whose misspent industry has been employed in drawing from the moulder- ing records of the past evidences in favour of the navigators of Iceland or of Wales, might with jus- tice be rewarded with the lands explored by their favoured heroes of the ocean.b
(1002.) The narrative upon which rests the claim of Norway and Iceland to the discovery of New- foundland and Nova Scotia, five centuries before the great voyage of Columbus, is traditional in its form,
a Might in opinion stand His rivals, winning cheap the high repute Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they Dreaded not more the adventure than PARADISE LOST, Book II.
adopted the views of Irving, Ban- croft, Leslie, Jameson, and Murray, and rejected the claim of the North- men ; but since the appearance of certain " antiquitates Americanæ" his belief has undergone a revolu- tion, and in his Pictorial History of
b Read Irving's Columbus, ii .- Appendix, 270, 276; Bancroft's the United States, i. 17-28, he United States, i. 6. Mr. Frost, in gives to the Scandinavian naviga- his first history of the United States, tors all the honour they could ask.
24
DID MADOC REACH AMERICA? [CHAP. I.
and so far inconsistent in its statements that it would be difficult to declare to what land it accom- panies its actors. The ingenuity of learned minds has been employed in reconciling its facts, and in accommodating its descriptions to the soil, the productions, the climate, and the people of northern America ;ª but it would be more prudent to suppose that Vinland and Greenland were one and the same, than to believe that the rude voyagers of the eleventh century, without chart or compass, and exposed to the storms of northern regions, passed in safety the terrific seas which separate the west- ern islands of the old world from the eastern out- posts of the great American continent.
(1170.) But if the claim of the Northmen be more than doubtful, the pretensions that have been ad- vanced in favour of Wales are not better supported.
Madoc, son of Owen Guyneth, Prince of North Wales, may have existed, may have quarrelled with his brethren concerning the division of their rugged patrimony, may have wandered away to sea and sailed west, " leaving the coast of Ireland so far north that he came to a land unknown, where he saw many strange things ;"> but it would require a mind steeped in credulity to believe that he landed on the shores of the western world.c Though the tradition which speaks of him be of
2 Belknap's American Biography, i. 105-115.
c " But where this place was, no history can show." Captain Smith b Hakluyt, iii. 1, edition 1600; thus unceremoniously dismisses the quoted in Belknap's American Bio- graphy, i. 129.
claim of Madoc .- History of Virgi- nia, i. 79.
25
VIEWS OF COLUMBUS.
1492.]
unquestionable antiquity, yet it affords no sufficient basis for belief that he visited America,ª and no- thing but national prepossession and jealousy of Spain could have induced the authentic Hakluyt to lend his favour to this fable.' Those who by their burrowing propensities, have discovered among the Indians of North Carolina a dialect of the Welsh," will not find much difficulty in receiv- ing Madoc as the forerunner of Columbus, and to their guardianship the fame of the Welsh naviga- tor may be safely committed.
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