USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. I > Part 9
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From this first examination they returned to the settlement the 21st July. As usual, sickness, want, depression, and turmoil greeted their eyes. The imbecile Martin had sailed with Nelson in the Phe- nix.b Ratcliffe was now president, and while all around him were suffering with disease and priva- tion, he entertained himself by having erected in the woods an elegant mansion for his own special comfort. Popular discontent might have been fatal
a Hillard's Smith, Sparks's Am.
b Smith's Va., i.172. Yet Mr. Burk Biog., ii. 262; Smith, i. 179.
has Martin still in Virginia ! i. 121.
136
THE SECOND VOYAGE.
[CHAP. III.
to this extravagant pretender but for the arrival of Smith. Ratcliffe was instantly deposed, and at length the only man truly fitted for the office was made president.ª Leaving his friend, Matthew Scrivener, as his deputy, to restore order and con- tinue the repairs of the town, the indefatigable captain prepared for another voyage, and sailed with twelve men on the 24th July.
Proceeding immediately to the head of the bay, they passed some time in exploring its four princi- pal inlets. As they crossed a part of its expanse, they encountered many canoes filled with the war- like Massawomecs, of whom they had received so marvellous accounts from the lowland Indians. A stratagem awed these warriors, and an interchange of arms and commodities took place.
They had now an opportunity of viewing the gigantic Susquehanocs, and of making those ob- servations upon their size, their dress, and their manners, which have heretofore been narrated. The simple giants looked with boundless reverence upon the short religious ceremony with which Cap- tain Smith invariably accompanied the duties of the day. The English had " prayer and a psalm," and the Susquehanocs forthwith followed up these Christian rites with a passionate display of worship after their own manner. Notwithstanding all op- position, they adored the English commander as a god : delivering an edifying discourse, with " most strange furious action and a hellish voice,"b they
a Stith's Va., 66; Hillard's Smith,
b Smith, i. 183; Stith, 68.
ii. 263; Smith's Va., i. 180.
137
THE RAPPAHANNOCINDIANS.
1608.]
covered him with a painted bear-skin, and hung around his neck an oppressive ornament of white beads, weighing at least six pounds, perchance to remind him of the weighty responsibility they would fain assign him.'
Leaving these people, they next proceeded up the Rappahannocosco, an Indian from the Po- tomac accompanied them. They supposed him to be a descendant of some French settler, because he had a bushy black beard, of which he was ex- tremely proud, and claiming to be related, he was pleased to call the English " his countrymen." He warned them of the warlike habits of the Rappa- hannocs, and they quickly found that he spake the truth. In no part of Virginia did they encounter more opposition, or meet with greater courage in the natives, than on the banks of this river. As they sailed up, a shower of arrows would pour upon them from bushes on the shores, behind which the archers had ingeniously concealed themselves, and nothing but the willow targets they had ob- tained from the Massawomecs protected them from serious injuries.
When they arrived at the falls, they set up crosses and carved their names upon the bark of trees. Many of them were rambling carelessly through the woods, when suddenly they were at- tacked by about one hundred Indians, who dis- charged their arrows with great precision, and ran rapidly from tree to tree, to protect their bodies from
a Hillard's Life of Smith, ii. 267, 268; Smith, i. 183.
138
THE RAPPAHANNOCINDIANS. [CHAP. III.
the fatal fire of musketry. A running fight of nearly half an hour was thus kept up, when the Indians vanished as mysteriously as they had first appeared. Looking over the battle-field, they found a single savage, wounded by a ball in the knee, and lying as though dead, but he soon revived, and was with difficulty preserved from the rage of Mosco, who earnestly asked the privilege of dashing out the captive's brains ª
The voyagers set sail at night, and proceeded twelve miles down the river, followed all the way by the natives, who shrieked, yelled, and shot their arrows with all the energy of savage natures.b Early in the succeeding dawn, they found them- selves in a broad bay, caused by the lowlands skirting the river; and here they anchored out of reach of hostile missives.e
After making peace with the Rappahannocs, they sailed towards the south. A terrible storm of rain, thunder, and lightning, visited them when a few miles south of York River, and with grateful hearts they made a point to which the name of " Comfort" might well be given. They visited the Chesapeakes and Nansemonds, who lived around the place now occupied by the town of
a " Never was dog more furious against a beare, than Mosco was to have beat out his brains." Smith, Fredericksburg ; but various indica- i. 186. tions prove that, during the past two centuries, the river has changed its bed at this spot.
b The author, in his boyhood, has often wandered amid the scenes where Captain Smith's fight with the Rappahannocs is supposed to
have taken place. It was probably near the present site of the town of
c Smith's Va., i. 188; Hillard's Smith, ii. 272.
139
THE FIRST HARVEST.
1608.]
Norfolk. Three hundred savages received them with a flight of arrows, shot as fast as they could draw their bows; but the English replied with musket-balls, and the natives left their canoes, and hid behind the trees on the shore. Smith resolved to burn the canoes and waste the country ; but the Indians, perceiving his design, sued for peace, and gave their chief's bow and arrows, a chain of pearl, and four hundred baskets of corn, as the price of safety.ª
Returning in triumph from this expedition, the voyagers, without farther accident, arrived at Jamestown on the 7th day of September, after an absence of nearly two months.
On their return, they found Ratcliffe a prisoner for mutiny, many sick, some dead, Scrivener in perfect health, managing the government well, and rejoicing in the new harvest of corn, which had just been gathered in. This was the first grain pro- duced by the industry of the colonists themselves, and might have been serviceable had it not been injured by rain.b
Smith could now no longer refuse the office which the Council and colonists united in forcing upon him. On the 10th of September, he was for- mally elected president, and commenced vigorous measures for the welfare of the settlement. The church was rebuilt, the store-house repaired, a new building erected for supplies, the fort put in order,
a Smith, i. 191 ; Stith, 74 ; Keith, 81; Hillard's Smith, ii. 277.
b Hillard's Smith, ii. 278; Stith, 74; Burk, i. 125.
140
FIRST ARRIVAL OF WOMEN. [CHAP. III.
and a regular watch established. The men were diligently exercised each Saturday, and a martial spirit began gradually to displace habits of indo- lence and insubordination. The Indians often attended the drills, and looked with awe upon the firing of musketry, by which a file of soldiers would shatter with their balls the trunk of a tree at a con- siderable distance.ª
The time of harvest among the natives having arrived, Lieutenant Percy was sent out with the boats to trade; but he had not gone far ere he met Captain Newport with a ship from England, con- taining another supply of settlers and provisions. In every load of colonists that had yet left the na- tive country, we mark the usual superabundance of indolent gentlemen and dissipated cavaliers, to consume food and create sedition. We find few labourers and fewer mechanics. But in this last supply, came eight Poles and Germans, skilled in making tar, pitch, glass, mills, and soap ashes,- and two females, Mrs. Forrest and her maid Anne Burras, the first European women who had yet dared to exhibit their faces upon the shores of the Chesapeake.
Newport, with all the vanity of a weak and jeal- ous mind, had obtained from the council in Eng- land instructions authorizing him, in some cases, to act independently of the council of the colony ; and setting forth three objects, without obtaining one of which he was not to return to the mother
a Smith, i. 192 ; Stith, 76; Hillard's Smith, ii. 278.
141
NEWPORT AND POWHATAN.
1608.]
country : these were a lump of gold, a discovery of the South Sea, or one of the lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh.ª He came also fully prepared to astound old Powhatan by a profusion of princely presents, such as a basin and ewer for the royal face and hands, a bedstead and bed to be substi- tuted for the tanned hide that formerly subserved his majesty's purposes ; and by express command of the ignorant English council, he was to convey a barge above the falls of the river, and penetrate to the South Sea !' Smith regarded with ill-con- cealed disgust these ridiculous pretensions; but prepared, in good faith, to aid Newport in his schemes. The first grand affair to be accomplish- ed was the coronation of Powhatan, in the name and by authority of King James of Britain. When a small party arrived at Werowocomoco, the pre- sents were spread before the eyes of the king ; but Newport soon found that he had encountered a soul not to be dazzled by false show. Powhatan, with haughty coldness, told Smith that "if the English king had sent him presents, he also was
a Smith's Hist., i. 192, 3; Ban- sonæ;" but if the Captain was him- croft's U. S., i. 150.
self the author of this short narra- b Stith's Va., 77; Hillard's Smith, ii. 280. tive, he could not have thought very highly of these damsels. He calls c Smith, 194, 195, gives an enter- taining account of a masquerade which Pocahontas caused to be ex- hibited before him on his arrival at Werowocomoco. Indian maidens, them " fiends," speaks of their " hell- ish shouts and cryes," and bitterly complains of their tormenting him by " crowding, pressing, and hang- ing about him, most tediously cry- very nearly in the decorations of ing, 'Love you not me ? love you nature, were the " dramatis per- not me ?' "
142
A CORONATION.
[CHAP. III.
a king; he would not go to meet Newport, and would wait but eight days for his coming ; he de- sired not their aid against the savages above the falls, as he was able to avenge his own injuries ; and as to the stories his people had told about the salt waters beyond the mountains, they were all utterly false." Newport now came, and all the presents, basin and ewer, beds, bedding, and royal garments, were prepared. The old king was to be crowned, and we know not whether to be more amused at the stupid farce arranged by James Stuart and executed by Christopher Newport, or struck with the noble independence of the Indian monarch. He was willing to wear the scarlet cloak and other regal apparel offered; but stub- bornly refused to kneel, in order that the crown might be placed upon his head. He had never bended the knee to mortal man, and should he now humble himself before the men who had, as he be- lieved, so deeply injured him? Vain were all pro- testations, examples, and persuasive addresses. Had the Archbishop of Canterbury stood ready with the anointing oil, the monarch of the forest would not have bowed before him. We can gather from the narrative no other inference than this, that several attendants pressed heavily on the royal shoulders, and that while he was thus bent by phy- sical force, three others placed the crown upon his brow !ª
a The full account is in Smith, i. bosom swells with pride in telling of 196; Stith, 78, 79 ; Hillard's Smith, ii. 285 ; Keith, 84. Mr. Burk's Irish
Powhatan's obstinacy, and with his bosom swells his language. i. 129.
143
GENTLEMEN IN THE FOREST.
1608.]
Immediately a pistol-shot was fired, and a volley from the boat announced the glorious coronation. Powhatan started to his feet in terrible fright, and seized his arms, but finding that this was part of the ceremony, he became calm, and, by way of making due return for the honour conferred on him, he presented to Captain Newport his worn mantle and his old shoes !a Comment on gifts so dignified and so appropriate, is entirely unneces- sary.
Newport now set forth with one hundred and twenty chosen men, to explore the country above the falls and discover the South Sea; but after wandering in the wooded country several days, exhausting their strength, provoking the natives, inflating their own light souls with the hope of having disclosed a silver mine, they returned to Jamestown, " deluded and disappointed, half sick, and all complaining, being sadly harassed with toil, famine, and discontent.77b
Smith had plainly foretold this result, and he now exercised his authority as president, in direct- ing their labour to more profitable ends.
Leading a number of gentlemen and cavaliers into the forest, he set them to work with axes to fell the trees and prepare boards for building. He · himself joined in the task, and shame drove these proud spirits forward. It has often been found, that men of good birth and refined manners, pos- sess indomitable energy when they can be induced
b Stith, 79; Hillard's Smith, ii. i. 130.
Smith, i. 196; Stith, 79; Burk,
287.
144 1
SMITH THREATENS NEWPORT. [CHAP. III.
to apply themselves even to laborious bodily exer- tion. These gentlemanly wood-cutters soon began to relish their work, and took great delight in hear- ing the thunder of the lofty trees as they fell before their prowess. But fingers, which in England had perchance been decked with jewels, were some- times blistered by the rough contact of an axe, and often tremendous oaths at every third blow attested the pain. Smith corrected this habit by counting the oaths, and for each one, at the close of the day, a can of cold water was poured down the sleeve of the offender.2
But, while the president thus incited them to in- dustry and union, the seeds of discontent were yet alive in the colony. It could not be otherwise with a mixed band of adventurers, compounded of every grade and character. Smith was indefatigable in endeavours to obtain provision, and exacted it from the Indians by every means in his power. His necessities alone can be pleaded in justification of some of his measures, and these necessities would not have existed but for the indolence and despica- ble jealousy of his companions. Newport envied his influence, and endeavoured to undermine him ; but Smith finally threatened to send the ship to England and keep the captain, in order that by bitter experience he might learn the causes at work unfavourable to the settlement. This threat so awed him, that he hastened his departure.
While the ship remained, an active trade was
a Smith, i. 197; Stith, 80; Hillard's Smith, ii. 288.
145
SMITH'S LETTER.
1608.]
carried on between her crew, the settlers, and the natives. The savages brought furs, baskets, and "young beasts," and received in exchange powder, ball, and arms, as well as axes, hoes, butter, cheese, oatmeal, and oil. The policy of permitting them to have arms was strictly forbidden by Smith, and its fatal effects were made apparent in subsequent years.ª
The ship, being at length freighted, sailed under Newport's command. She left behind, among other colonists, Captains Waldo and Winne, as members of the Provincial Council.
Deep disappointment had been felt by the Eng- lish council at the result of this enterprise, so far as it had been carried. Their expectations were ex- travagant, and their despondency was proportion- ably great. They had hoped for gold and silver, and they had obtained glittering sand and un- wrought cedar. They had looked for accounts of abundance and content, and they had learned of famine and incessant discord. By Captain New- port they had sent an intemperate letter to Smith, complaining of the state of things in the colony, and declaring that, unless the expenses of this ship, amounting to about two thousand pounds, should be paid by her return cargo, they would abandon the settlers to their own resources.
To this ungenerous missive Captain Smith re- turned a letter, which has been preserved, and which is a fair transcript of his own vigorous, acute, and manly character. He refutes every charge
a Smith, i. 199; Stith, 81; Burk, i. 131.
VOL. I.
10
146
SMITH'S LETTER.
[CHAP. III.
brought against himself,-and for the distress and dissensions of the colonists, he refers them to the true cause-that is, the character of the persons who had been sent-dissipated cavaliers and indo- lent gentlemen, who did nothing but consume what the industry of a few provided. He begs for me- chanics, " carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fish- ermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees' roots." He lashes with unsparing severity the valueless beings who had possessed authority. Newport and Ratcliffe are fearlessly denounced. Their silly requirements as to the South Sea, the lump of gold, and Raleigh's company, are treated with well-deserved freedom ; and the scheme of em- ploying Dutchmen in making glass and pot-ashes is shown to be false in economy ; for these articles might be obtained on the shores of the Baltic greatly cheaper than they could then be produced in Vir- ginia. Altogether this letter is an unanswerable reply to the complaints that had been made, and must have convinced the English council that one mind at least in Virginia was worthy of confidence.a
The maiden lady, Anne Burras, who had come with the last adventurers, did not long pine for a husband. She was soon united to John Laydon, one of the original settlers; and this marriage was the first ever solemnized between Europeans on the soil of Virginia.b
a The letter may be found in full dates this marriage in 1609, as doth in Smith, i. 200-203, and more briefly in Keith, 87-89.
b Smith, i. 204; Stith, 84; Burk,
i. 130. Beverley, 19, erroneously
also Oldmixon, Brit. Empire, i. 359. When he and Beverley agree, they are generally both wrong.
147
MESSAGE FROM POWHATAN.
1608.]
Powhatan was too observant not to perceive the difference in vigour of mind between the vain-glo- rious Newport and the resolute Smith. Some time after the ship had sailed, he sent a message to the president, inviting him to pay him a visit, and promising that if he would send men to build him a house, and send also a cock and hen, a grindstone, and other articles, he on his part would grant to the English a full supply of provisions. Smith re- solved instantly to accept this offer ; but knowing the treacherous arts of the savages, he prepared for every emergency, and determined, if necessary, to seize the person of the monarch, and retain him as a hostage until his demands were complied with.
Sending before him two Englishmen and four Germans to build the house for Powhatan, he left Jamestown on the 29th December, with a well- armed party of volunteers, who eagerly sought the service.ª
(1609, Jan. 12.) On arriving at Werowocomoco, the wary emperor received them with apparent sur- prise, and denied that he had sent any invitation to Captain Smith,-but when his messengers were confronted with him, he relaxed his caution, and attempted to give the affair a ludicrous turn. To their earnest demand for corn he gave dilatory re- plies, and would be satisfied with none of their commodities except swords and muskets. The
a Burk, i. 132; Hillard's Smith, are said to have left Jamestown on ii. 297; Smith, i. 205; Stith, 85. A the 29th December, and yet we are strange anachronism occurs in the told afterwards that they spent their original account in Smith. They Christmas among the Indians!
148
PERFIDY OF GERMAN SETTLERS. [CHAP. III.
English were now placed in circumstances highly critical and dangerous. They were surrounded by overwhelming numbers of warriors, who waited but a signal from the king either to fall openly upon them, or to cut them off by stratagem. And in ad- dition to these, a secret foe now threatened them. The Germans who had been sent to build the king's house, with perfidy infinitely blacker than that of the savages, united themselves with the natives, and sought by a thousand schemes to involve the English in ruin.ª Their treachery was not fully discovered until nearly six months after this time, and thus their secret plan only rendered them the more dangerous.
But Smith never for a moment lost his self-pos- session. If the savage monarch was skilful in fraud, able in diplomacy, profound in dissimula- tion, and prompt in action, he had opposed to him one competent to meet him. A most ingenious system of manœuvres now took place. Powhatan delivered several long harangues, in which, under the cover of friendly professions and of kingly dig- nity, he veiled a purpose of bloody revenge. He told the English that he had outlived three genera- tions of his own people, and now in his age he de- sired peace. Why should war exist between them to keep the settlers in watchful suspense, and the Indians in fear of death from swords and musket- balls ? He entreated his visiters to lay aside their
a Purchas, iv., 1721, 1725. " Those chas. Stith, 89. See "Powhatan's damned Dutchmen," they are ele- Chimney," S. and W. Lit. Mess. for gantly styled by the writer in Pur- Sept., 1846, 539.
149
SPEECH OF POWHATAN.
1609.]
, arms for a season, and come up to his quarters to partake of his hospitality. But the president was not thus to be deceived. He sternly reminded the Indian of his promises, reproached him for his re- fusal to perform them, admonished him of his own power, refused to give him weapons, and threatened to use them. It was at this stage of their debates that we are told the baffled emperor heaved a deep sigh, and uttered words so characteristic, so expres- sive both of his own disappointment and of his re- luctant esteem for his adversary, that they merit a place in history.
"Captain Smith," said Powhatan, "I never used any werowance so kindly as yourself, and yet from you I receive the least kindness of any. Captain Newport gave me swords, copper, clothes, a bed, towels, or what I desired; ever taking what I offered him, and would send away his guns when I entreated him. None doth deny to lie at my feet, or refuse to do what I desire, but only you, of whom I can have nothing but what you regard not, and yet you will have whatsoever you de- mand. Captain Newport you call father, and so you call me; but I see for all, as both, you will do what you list, and we must both seek to content you. But if you intend so friendly as you say, send hence your arms, that I may believe you ; for you see the love I bear you doth cause me thus nakedly to forget myself."ª
a The speech is given as in the slightly the phraseology ; Purchas, text in Smith, i. 210 ; Stith, 88, pre- iv. 1721. serves the substance, but changes
1
150
SAVAGE PLOT.
[CHAP. III.
Determined now to proceed to extremities, Smith prepared to seize the king, and transport him to the settlement; but the ever-watchful savage took the alarm, and fled with his valuables, his women and children, leaving a few attendants to divert suspicion. The English commenced loading their boats with corn. The night approached-a storm of rain and wind arose and raged without inter- mission. A dark plot of death was arranged by the Indians; and, in the relaxed vigilance of the hour, the English might all have fallen. But a guardian spirit was near. Through the gloom of the forest, and the heavy rain of a rigorous season, Pocahon- tas hastened to the cottage where the president was reposing. Her feelings, long restrained, found relief in tears, and, with all the sensibility of a woman, she revealed the intended plot, warned them to prepare, and told them of her own danger, should it be discovered that she had disclosed the scheme of her father and his vindictive warriors.ª
This generous maiden had not been gone more than an hour, when eight strong savages arrived from the king's quarters, bringing professions of amity, and also platters of venison for the use of the English. The captain listened coolly to their insidious request, that the matches for the guns might be extinguished, made them taste every platter they had brought, and sent them back to the king with a message that he was ready to re- ceive him.' Thus the plot of the savages was
b Smith, i. 212; Hillard's Smith, Hillard's Smith, i. 306.
a Smith, i. 212; Stith, 89, 90;
ii. 307; Keith, 99.
151
ENERGY OF SMITH.
1609.]
rendered abortive by the exertions of their mo- narch's favourite daughter.
We cannot justify Smith in his design to seize the person of Powhatan. War did not exist be- tween them, and whatever may be the perfidy of savages, those who pretend to be Christians can never make this a plea for fraud and violence. Yet we find our admiration constantly growing with each step in the history of this great man. He was ever watchful, brave, and self-balanced. He controlled the vicious, awed the turbulent, encou- raged the timid, and roused the indolent. Several periods occurred in the history of the colonists, when his genius alone preserved them from death, either by famine or by savage assault. He visited Pamunky, the seat of Opecancanough, who was the first of the native chiefs in active and treache- rous hostility to the English. With sixteen men, Smith encountered the chief, surrounded by nearly seven hundred braves, and he terrified them by an act of heroism which they long remembered. Seizing Opecancanough in the midst of his army, he wound his hand in the long lock of hair that graced his head, and, turning a pistol against his breast, led him forth in sight of all his fol- lowers. Trembling with fear at this determined conduct, they threw down their arms, and, after a speech from the president, in which he threatened that " if they did not load his boat with corn, he would load her with their carcasses,"ª they professed their good-will, and complied with every demand.
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