Introduction to the history of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia
Campbell, Charles, 1807-1876 | Campbell, Samuel Legrand. [from old catalog]
^^0^ ■*- O"^ o^--'..'^0. ' 4<^^ .--'.'. ^^^ VAO^ 'oK A^ ^; / ^ ^ -^ ^:^%^^ ,^' ^ ^, ^,<' -^ ■"ss>\ ^^^ I; <-/'"• <?■. -•^q. •>^ l^'iW^ ''^. o' y t> * '"%. •^ Key /.iJ^--'*'°o /.v;«k..\ /.-i^r.^ >*..i';^'.\. '^'•^''•/' 'V"'^''/ ^%'*^'-y .. '<, 'V * o « o ' V^ INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE COLONY AND / .,.._.,^-=-«-' 7Xf ANCIENT DOMINION V OF VIRGINIA. BY CHARLES CAMPBELL IN ONE VOI.U1VEE. RICHMOND: B. B. MINOR, PUBLISHER. MDCGCXLVII. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, By CHARLES CAMPBELL, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Virorinia. 5 J6t90f WM. MACFARLANE, PRINTKR. 8. h. MESSENGER OFFICE. HISTORY OF VIRGINIA CHAPTER I. 1492-1591. Early voyages of Discovery ; Madoc ; The Northmen ; Co- lumbus; John Cabot; Sebastian Cabot; Sir Humphrey Gilbert; Walter Raleigh; Expedition of Amidas and Barlow; They land on Wococon Island; They return to England; The new country named Virginia; Gren- ville's Expedition; Colony of Roanoke; Lane Govern- or ; The Colony abandoned ; Tobacco ; Grenville returns to Virginia; Leaves a small Colony at Roanoke; Sir Walter Raleigh sends out another Expedition ; City of Raleigh Chartered; White Governor; Roanoke found deserted ; Virginia Dare, first child born in the Colony ; White returns for supplies ; The Armada ; Raleigh as- signs the Colony to a Company ; White returns to Vir- ginia ; Finds the Colony extinct ; Death of Sir Richard Grenville. The discoveries attributed to Madoc, the Welsh prince, have afforded a theme for the creations of poetry ; those of the Northmen of Iceland, better authenticated, still engage the dim researches of antiquarian curiosity. The glory of having made the first certain discovery of the New World, belongs to Co- lumbus. It was, however, the good fortune of the Cabots, to be the first who actually reached the main land. It was in 1492, that the Genoese navigator first landed on the shores of St. Salvador. [1497.] Giovanni Gaboto, in English, John Cabot, a Venetian merchant, resident at Bristol, with his son, Sebastian, a native of that city, having ob- tained a patent from Henry VII., sailed un- der his flag and discovered the main conti- nent of America, amid the inhospitable rigors of the wintry North. It was more than a year subsequent, that Columbus, in his third voyage, set his foot on the main land of the South. [1498.] Sebastian Cabot again cross- ed the Atlantic and coasted from the 58th degree of North latitude, along the shores of the United States, perhaps as far as to the Southern boundary of Maryland. Portuguese, French and Spanish naviga- tors now visited North America, with what motives, adventures and success, it is not necessary to relate here. [1583.] Sir Hum- phrey Gilbert, commissioned by Queen Eliz- abeth and assisted by his half-brother, Wal- ter Raleigh, fitted out a small fleet and made a voyage to Newfoundland, where he landed and took formal possession of the country. This intrepid navigator embarking to return in the Squirrel, a vessel of only ten tons, was lost in a storm. When last seen by the com- pany of the Hind, Sir Humphrey, although surrounded by imminent perils, was seated calmly on deck, with a book in his hand, and was heard to exclaim, " Be of good cheer, my friends, it is as near to Heaven by sea as by land." Not daunted by the fate of his heroic kins- man, Raleigh persisted in the design of ef- fecting a settlement in America, and being now high in the Queen's favor, obtained let- ters patent for that purpose, dated March 25th, 1584. Aided by some gentlemen and mer- chants, particularly by his gallant kinsmen, Sir Richard Grenville, and Mr. William San- derson who had married his niece, Raleigh succeeded in providing two small vessels. These were put under command of Captains Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. Barlow had already served with distinction under Raleigh in Ireland. The two vessels left the Thames on the 27th of April, 1584. Pursu- ing the old circuitous route by the Canaries, they reached the West Indies. After a short stay there, they sailed North, and early in July, as they approached the coast of Florida, the mariners were regaled with the odors of a thousand flowers wafted from the fragrant shore. Amidas and Barlow, passing one hundred and twenty miles farther, landed on the island of Wococon, * in the stormy re- * See in "Memorials of North Carolina," by J. Seawell Jones, a graphic description of this island, and of the cir- cumstances of the landing there. This writer, who evinces HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [Chap. I. gion of Cape Hatteras, one of a long series of narrow, low, sandy islands, which seem like breast-works to defend the main land from the fury of the ocean. The English took possession of the country in the Queen's name. The valleys were wooded with tall cedars, overrun with vines hung in rich fes- toons, the grapes clustering in profusion on the ground and trailing in the sea. For two days no inhabitant was seen ; on the third a canoe with three men approached. One of them was readily persuaded to come aboard, when some presents gained his confidence. Going away he began to fish, and having load- ed his canoe returned, and dividing his cargo into two parts, signified that one was for the ship, the other for the pinnace. On the next day they received a visit from some canoes, in which were forty or fifty men, amongst whom was Granganameo, the King's brother. The King, Wingina, himself lay at his chief town, six miles distant, confined by severe wounds received in a recent battle. Here the English were hospitably entertained by the wife of Granganameo. She was small, pretty and bashful, clothed in a leathern man- tle with the fur turned in ; her long black hair was restrained by a band of white coral ; strings of pearl hung from her ears and reach- ed to her waist. The disposition of the na- tives seemed gentle, their manners easy ; pres- ents and trafiic soon conciliated their good will. The country was called Wingandacoa; the soil was found rich; the air mild and sa- lubrious ; the forests abounded with a variety of " sweet-smelling trees" and oaks superior in size to those of England. Fruits, melons, nuts and esculent roots were observed ; the woods were stocked with game and the wa- ters with innumerable fish and wild fowl. After having examined as much of the inte- rior as their time would permit, Amidas and Barlow sailed homeward, accompanied by two of the natives, Manteo and Wanchese. Queen Elizabeth, charmed with the glowing descriptions of the new country, which the enthusiastic adventurers gave her on their return, named it, in allusion to her own state a fine genius, vindicates his native State, against what he conceived to be the unjust and arrogant claims of Virginia. His argument would have lost none of its force by the omis- sion of the splenetic and invidious remarks in which he indulges. There is no real ground of jealousy between these two States. The recollections of Sir Waller Raleigh's Colony belong equally to both. of life, Virginia. * Raleigh was shortly af- ter returned to parliament from the county of Devon and about the same period knighted. The Queen granted him also a patent to li- cense the vending of wines throughout the kingdom. Such a monopoly was part of the arbitrary system of that day. Nor was Sir Walter unconscious of its injustice, for when some years afterwards a spirit of resistance to it showed itself in the House of Commons, and a member was warmly inveighing against it. Sir Walter was observed to blush. Yet he voted for the abolition of such monopo- lies, and no one could have made a more munificent use of such emoluments, than he did in carrying out his grand schemes of the discovery and colonization of Virginia. [1585.] He fitted out a fleet of seven ves- sels for that country, and entrusted the com- mand of it to his relative, Sir Richard Gren- ville. This gallant officer had, like the cele- brated Cervantes, shared in the famous battle of Lepanto, and after distinguishing himself by his conduct during the Irish rebellion, had become a conspicuous member of par- liament. Grenville was accompanied by Thomas Candish,~ or Cavendish, afterwards renowned as a circumnavigator of the globe — Thomas Hariot, a friend of Raleigh and a pro- found mathematician, and John With, an ar- tist, whose pencil supplied materials for the illustration of the works of De Bry and Bev- erley. On the 26th of June, the fleet anchor- ed at Wococon, but the navigation there being found too perilous, they proceeded through Ocracock inlet to the island of Roanoke, (at the mouth of Albemarle Sound,) which they selected as the seat of the Colony. The colonists one hundred and eight in number were landed. Manteo, who had returned with them, had already been sent from Wococon, to announce their arrival to his king, Win- gina. Grenville, accompanied by Lane, Ha- riot, Cavendish and others, explored the coast for eighty miles southward, to the town of Secotan, in the present county of Craven, * Stith's History of Virginia, 11. Tytler's Life of Sir Waller Raleigh : Edit, in Greenbank's Periodical Lib. Bancroft's History of the United States, 1 cap. 1,2,3. Beverley's History of Virginia, B. 1, p. 2. Smith's His- tory of Virginia, B. 1, p. 79-85. Early History of Rhode Island, 179-181. Mazzei's account of the early settlement of Virginia in the commencement of his Recherches sur lee Etats-Unis abounds in errors. Yet this work was written expressly lor the purpose of correcting the errors of oiher writers. 1585.] HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. North Carolina. During this excursion, the Indians at a village called Aquascogoc, stole a silver cup. A boat being despatched to reclaim it, the astonished inhabitants fled to the woods, and the English, regardless at once of the dictates of prudence and human- ity, burnt the town and destroyed the stand- ing corn. Grenville in a short time re-em- barked for England with a valuable cargo of skins and furs, and on his voyage captured a rich Spanish prize. Lane now extended his discoveries to the Northward, as far as the town of Chesapeakes, on Elizabeth river, near where Norfolk now stands, and about one hundred and thirty miles from the island of Roanoke. The Chowan river was also explored, and a voyage was made up the Roanoke, then known as the Moratoc. Lane, although a good soldier, seems to have wanted some of the qualities indispensable in the founder of a new plan- tation. The Indians grew more hostile, con- spiracies were entered into for the destruc- tion of the whites, and the rash and bloody measures employed to defeat their machina- tions, only aggravated the mischief. The colonists, filled with alarm, became impatient to escape from a scene of so many privations and so much danger. In this critical junc- ture. Sir Francis Drake arrived with a fleet of twenty-three sail. This celebrated navi- gator, returning from a long cruise, in part privateering, in part exploring, anchored near Roanoke, to enquire into the welfare of the plantation of his friend, Sir Walter Raleigh. Drake furnished Lane with vessels and sup- plies amply sufficient to complete the dis- covery of the country and to ensure a safe return home, should that alternative be found necessary. A violent storm raging for four days, dispersed and shattered Drake's fleet and destroyed the vessels that had been as- signed to Lane. The tempest at length sub- siding, Drake generously offered Lane ano- ther ship, with supplies. But the governor, acquiescing in the unanimous desire of the colonists, requested permission for them all to embark in the fleet and return to England. The request was granted, and thus ended the first actual settlement of the English in Ame- rica. During the year which the Colony had passed at Roanoke, With had made drawings from nature illustrative of the appearance and habits of the natives. Hariot had accu- rately observed the soil and productions of the country, an account of which he after- wards published.* He, Lane, and some other of the Colonists had learned from the In- dians the use of a narcotic plant, called by them Uppowoc, by the Europeans, tobacco. The natives smoked it ; sprinkled the dust of it on their fishing weirs, to make them fortu- nate ; burnt it in sacrifices to appease the an- ger of the gods, and scattered it in the air and on the water, to allay the fury of the tem- pest. Lane carried back some tobacco to England, supposed to be the first ever intro- duced into that kingdom.! Sir Walter Ra- leigh by his example soon rendered the use of this seductive leaf fashionable at court. His tobacco-box and pipes were long pre- served in England by the curiosity of anti- quaries. It is related that he made a wager with the Queen, that he could calculate the weight of the smoke evaporated from a pipe- full of tobacco. This he easily won, by first weighing the tobacco and then the ashes, when the queen agreed, that the difference must have gone off" in smoke. Upon paying the guineas, Elizabeth gaily remarked, that " she had heard of many workers in the fire, that had turned their gold into smoke, but that Sir Walter was the first that had turned his smoke into gold." Another anecdote is, that a country servant of Raleigh's bringing him a tankard of ale and nutmeg into his study, as he was intently reading and smo- king, was so alarmed at seeing clouds of smoke issuing from his master's mouth, that he ran down stairs, crying out that Sir Wal- ter was on fire. Sir Walter Raleigh never visited Virginia, although it has been so represented by sev- eral writers. Had he in person undertaken the plantation of the Colony, it would proba- bly have been managed with more prudence and crowned with better success. Drake's fleet had hardly lost sight of the coast before a vessel arrived at Roanoke with supplies for the Colony. Finding it aban- doned she sailed for England. Within a fortnight after. Sir Richard Gren- ville, with three relief vessels, fitted out prin- * " A True Report of the New-foumlland of Virginia." The name of the author is properly Hcriot, but Hariot is more commonly used. t See Mrs. Thompson's Life of Raleigh, in Appendix. 6 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [Chap. I. cipally by Raleii^h, arrived off Virginia. Gren- ville unwilling that the English should lose possession of the country, left fifteen men on the island of Roanoke with provisions for two years. No disappointment could abate the in- domitable resolution of Raleigh. During the ensuing year, 1587, he sent out a new expe- dition of three vessels, to establish a Colony, which he chartered by the name of " The Governor and assistants of the city of Ra- leigh in Virginia." John White was sent out as Governor with twelve counsellors, and they were directed to establish themselves at the town of Chesapeakes, on Elizabeth River.* Arriving at Roanoke near the end of July, White found the Colony deserted, hu- man bones scattered on the beach, the fort rased, and deer couching in the ruinous cabins, or feeding on the vegetation which had overgrown the floor and crept up the walls. Raleigh's judicious order, instructing White to plant the Colony on the banks of Eliza- beth river, was not carried into effect, owing to the refusal of Ferdinando, the naval offi- cer, to assist in exploring the country for that purpose. An English sailor being slain by the savages, a party was despatched to avenge his death, and by mistake unfortunately killed several of a friendly tribe. Manteo, by Ra- leigh's direction, was christened and created Lord of Roanoke and Dassamonpeake. On the 18th of August, the governor's daughter, Eleanor, wife to Ananias Dare, one of the council, gave birth to a daughter, the first christian child born in the country, and hence named Virginia. Dissensions now arose among the settlers, and although they were not in want of stores, some demanded per- mission to go home ; others violently op- posed ; at last, however, all joined in request- ing the governor to sail for England and re- turn with supplies. To this he reluctantly consented, and leaving Roanoke on the 27th of August, 1587, where he left eighty-nine men, seventeen women and eleven children, he arrived in England on the 5th of Novem- ber. He found the kingdom wholly engross- ed in taking measures of defence against the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada. Raleigh, Grenville, and Lane, were assisting * Stith, 23. Tytlcr's Raleigh, 23. Oldy's Raleigh, 74. Bancroft's Hist. U. S. 1., cap. 3. Elizabeth in her council of war. The con- juncture was most unpropitious to the inter- ests of the infant Colony. Raleigh never- theless found time even in this portentous crisis of public affairs to despatch White with supplies in two vessels. But the company, running after prizes, encountered privateers, and after a bloody engagement, White's ves- sels were so disabled and plundered as to be obliged to put back to England, whilst it was impossible to refit, owing to the urgency of more important matters. But even after the destruction of the Ar- mada, Sir Walter Raleigh found it impracti- cable to prosecute any further his favorite de- sign of establishing a Colony in Virginia. [1589.] He formed a company of merchants and adventurers and assigned to it his pro- prietary rights.* In this company were Thomas Smith a wealthy London merchant, afterwards knighted, and Richard Hakluyt, Dean of Westminster, and the compiler of a celebrated collection of voyages. Raleigh, at the time of making this assignment, gave a hundred pounds for propagating Christian- ity among the natives of Virginia. After ex- periencing a long series of vexations, difficul- ties and disappointments, he had expended forty thousand pounds in eflbrts for planting a Colony in America. At length disengaged from this enterprise, he indulged his martial genius, and bent all his energies against the colossal ambition of Spain, who now aspired to overshadow the world. More than another year was suffered to elapse, before White returned to search for the long neglected Colony. He had now been absent from it for three years, and felt the solicitude not only of a governor, but also of a parent. Upon his departure from Roa- noke, it had been concerted between him and the settlers, that if they should abandon that island for another seat, they should carve the name of the place to which they should re- move, on some conspicuous object, and if they went away in distress, a cross should be carved above the name. Upon his arrival at Roanoke, White found not one of the Colo- nists ; — the houses had been dismantled and * " Le Colonel Richard Bland dans sa dissertation pleine de sens et d'erudition, sur las droits des Colonies, impri- ince en Virginie en 1766, dit que Raleigh rcnoncja a ses droits et ne parle d'aucune exception." Recherches sur les Etats-Unis, (by Mazzei,) v. 1., p. 9. 1591.] HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. a fort erected ; goods had been buried in the earth and in part disinterred and scattered ; — on a post within the fort the word croa- TAN was carved without, however, a cross above it. The weather proving stormy, seven of the company were lost by the capsizing of a boat, the stock of provisions grew short, and no further search was then made for the unfor- tunate Colonists. None of them ever was found, and whether they perished by famine or by the Indian tomahaAvk, was left a subject of mournful conjecture. The site of the Col- ony was unfortunate, being difficult of access and near the stormy Cape Hatteras, whose very name is synonymous with danger and shipwreck. Thus after many nobly planned but unhappily conducted expeditions, and enormous expense of life and treasure, the first plantation of Virginia became extinct. [1591.] Sir Richard Grenville fell in a bloody action with a Spanish fleet near the Azores. Mortally wounded, he was removed on board one of the enemy's ships and in two days died. In the hour of his death, he said in the Spanish language to those around him : — " Here I, Richard Grenville, die with a joyous and quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, fighting for his country, queen, religion and honor, my soul willingly departing from this body, leaving behind the lasting fame of having be- haved as every valiant soldier is in his duty bound to do."* This gallant knight was next to his kinsman. Sir Walter Raleigh, the prin- cipal person concerned in the first settlement of Virginia.! CHAPTER II. 1591—1604. Gosnold's Voyage to New England ; Early Life and Ad- ventures of Captain John Smith ; Born at Willoughby ; At thirteen years of age undertakes to go to sea; At fif- teen apprentice to a merchant ; Visits France ; Studies * Camden, quoted by Barrow in his Life of Sir Francis Drake, 169. The dying words of Grenville may recall to mind those of Campbell's Lochiel : " And leaving in death no blot on my name, Look proudly to heaven from a death-bed of fame." t Stith's Hist, of Va., 29. Tytler's Raleigh, 18. the military art ; Serves in the Low countries ; Repairs to Scotland ; Returns to Willoughby ; Studies and exer- cises ; adventures in France ; Embarks for Italy ; Thrown into the sea ; His escape ; Joins the Austrians in the war with the Turks ; His gallantry ; Combat with three Turks ; Made prisoner at Rottenton ; His sufferings and escape ; Voyages and Travels ; Returns to England. [1602.] Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, deviating from the oblique route by the Ca- naries and the West Indies, made a direct voyage in a small bark across the Atlantic, and in seven weeks reached Massachusetts Bay. It was on this occasion, that English- men for the first time landed on the soil of New England. Gosnold returned to Eng- land in a short passage of five weeks. In these early voyages, the heroism of the navi- gators is the more admirable, when we advert to the extremely small burthen of their ves- sels and the imperfection of nautical science at that day. [1606.] Measures were taken in England for planting another Colony, But prelimi- nary to a relation of the settlement of Vir- ginia proper, it is necessary to give some his- tory of Captain John Smith, " the father of the Colony." He was born at Willoughby in Lincoln- shire, England, in 1579, being descended, on his father's side, from an ancient family of Crudley, in Lancashire, on his mother's, from the Rickands at Great Heck, in Yorkshire.* He was educated at the free schools of Al- ford and Louth. At the age of thirteen, his mind being bent upon bold adventures, he sold his satchel, books and all he had, intend- ing to go privately to sea. His father's death occurring just then, prevented the execution of that scheme. Having before lost his mother, he was now left an orphan with a competent estate, which, however, being too young to receive, he little regarded. At fifteen he was bound apprentice to Thomas Sendall of Linn, " the greatest merchant of all those parts." But in a little time, disgusted with the mo- notony of that life, he quit it and accompa- nied a son of Lord Willoughby to France. There he began to learn the military art, and afterwards served some years in the Low coun- tries. Thence he embarked for Scotland, with letters recommending him to the notice * Smith's Hist, of Va. 1., 1-54. " The Trve Traveils, Adventures and Observations of Captaine lohn Smith." Hillard's Life of Smith in Sparks' American Biography. 8 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [Chap. II. of King James VI. After suffering illness and shipwreck, Smith reached Scotland ; but finding himself without money or means ne- cessary to make himself a courtier, he return- ed to his native place, Willoughby. There, indulging a romantic taste, he built for him- self a lodge in a neighboring forest, where he studied military history and tactics, and amused his leisure with hunting and horse- manship. In this retreat he was visited by an Italian gentleman in the service of the Earl of Lincoln, who persuaded him to re- turn into the world, and he now repaired once more to the Low countries. Having made himself master of horsemanship and the use of arms, Smith resolved to try his for- tune against the Turks. Proceeding to St. Valery, in France, his trunks were plundered by some French gallants, and he was forced to sell his cloak to pay his passage. Wan- dering in France he experienced extraordi- nary vicissitudes of fortune. Walking one day in a forest, worn out with distress and fatigue, he fell prostrate on the ground by the side of a fountain, scarcely hoping ever to rise again. Found in this condition by a humane farmer, his necessities were relieved and he was enabled to pursue his journey. At another time he met in a grove one of the Frenchmen who had robbed him. Without a word on either side they drew their swords and fought, The Frenchman soon fell, but confessing his guilt, Smith, though hurt in the rencontre, spared his life. Aided by the liberality of a former ac- quaintance, "the Earl of Ployer," he went to Marseilles and embarked in a vessel crowded with pilgrims bound for Rome. On the voy- age, the weather proving stormy, the pil- grims, with bitter imprecations against Queen Elizabeth and Smith, cast him as a heretic into the sea, in order to propitiate Heaven. He saved himself by swimming to the islet of St. Mary, (opposite Nice, in Savoy,) which he found inhabited only by a few cattle and goats. On the next day he was taken up by a French ship, the Captain of which proving to be a friend of " the Earl of Ployer," en- tertained him kindly. With him Smith vis- ited Alexandria in Egypt, Scanderoon, the Archipelago, and coast of Greece. During the cruise, a Venetian argosy was captured after a desperate action, in which Smith dis- played signal courage. He landed in Pied- mont with five hundred sequins and a box of jewels, his share of the prize. In Italy he met with Lord Willoughby and his brother, both recently wounded in a duel. At Rome he saw the Pope, and surveyed the wonders of the imperial city. Embarking at Venice, he crossed over to the wild regions of Alba- nia and Dalmatia. Visiting next Gratz, in Styria, he met there the archduke Ferdinand, and joining a German regiment, engaged in the war with the Turks. At the siege of Olym- pack and of Stowle Wessenburg, in 1601, Smith distinguished himself as a volunteer in the artillery service. For his good con- duct he was put in command of two hun- dred and fifty horse under Count Meldritch. In the Battle of Girke he had a horse killed under him, and was badly wounded. At the siege of Regal he encountered and slew in a tournament three several Turkish champi- ons, Turbashaw, Grualgo, and Bonny Mul- gro. For these exploits he was honored with a triumphal procession, in which the three Turks' heads were borne on lances. A horse richly caparisoned was presented to him with a cimeter and belt worth three hun- dred ducats, and he was promoted to the rank of Major. In the bloody battle of Rot- tenton he was wounded and made prisoner. With such of the prisoners as escaped mas- sacre, he was sold into slavery at Axiopolis and fell into the hands of the Bashaw Bogall, who sent him by way of Adrianople to Con- stantinople, a present to his youthful mis- tress, Charatza Tragabigzanda. Captivated with her prisoner, she treated him tenderly, and to prevent his being sold again, sent him to remain for a time with her brother, the Tymour Bashaw of Nalbritz, in Tartary. He occupied a stone castle near the sea of Azof. Immediately on Smith's arrival his head was shaved, an iron collar rivetted on his neck, and he was clothed in hair-cloth. Here long he suffered cruel bondage. At length one day while threshing in a barn, the Bashaw having cruelly beaten and reviled him, he turned and slew him on the spot with the threshing bat, then put on his clothes, hid his body in the straw, filled a sack with corn, closed the doors, mounted the Bashaw's horse and rode off. After wandering for some days he fell in with a highway, and observing that the roads leading towards Russia were indi- 1 calcd by a cross, he followed that sign, and 1604-7.] HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. in sixteen days reached Ecopolis, a Russian frontier post on the Don. The governor there took off his irons, and he was kindly treated by him and the lady Callamata. Passing through Russia and Poland, he returned to Transylvania, in December, 1603. Here he met many friends and enjoyed so much hap- piness, that nothing less than his desire to revisit his native country could have torn him away. Proceeding through Hungary, Mora- via and Bohemia, he went to Leipsic, where he found Prince Sigismund, who gave him fifteen hundred golden ducats to repair his losses. Travelling through Germany, France and Spain, from Gibraltar he sailed for Tan- frier, in Africa, and to the city of Morocco. Taking passage in a French man-of-war, he was present in a terrible sea-fight with two Spanish ships, and after touching at Santa Cruz, Cape Goa and Mogadore, he finally returned to England about the year 1604. CHAPTER III. 1604—1607. Gosnold, Smith and others set on foot another expedition ; James I. issues Letters patent; Instructions for govern- ment of the Colony ; Charier granted to London Com- pany for First Colony of Virginia ; Sir Thomas Smith Treasurer ; Governm-ent of the Colony ; Three vessels under Newport sail for Virginia; The voyage; Enter Chesapeake Bay; Ascend the James river; The Eng- lish entertained by the Chief of the Qiiiyoughcohanocks ; Landing at Jamestown ; Wingfteld President ; Smith ex- cluded from the council. Bartholomew Gosnold was the prime mo- ver, and Captain John Smith the chief actor in the settlement of Virginia. Gosnold, * who had already made a voyage to New England, in 1602, for many years fruitlessly labored to set on foot an expedition for that purpose. At length he was reinforced in his efforts by Captain Smith, Edward Maria Wingfield, a merchant, Robert Hunt, a clergyman, and others, and by their united exertions, certain of the nobility, gentry and merchants be- came interested in the project, and King James the first, who, in 1603, had succeeded Elizabeth, was induced to lend it his coun- tenance, t * Stith, 30. t Smith, Vol. I, p. 149. April 10th, 1606, letters patent were is- sued authorizing the establishment of two Colonies in Virginia and other parts of Amer- ica. All the country from 34 to 45 degrees of North latitude, then known as Virginia, was divided into two colonies, the first, or Southern, and the second, or Northern. The Southern colony was appropriated to Lon- don, and the plantation of it was entrusted to Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers, knights, Richard Hackluyt clerk, prebendary of Westminster, Edward Maria Wingfield and gome others. It was provided that the Colony should have a council of its own, subject to a superior council in England. The inferior council was authorized to search for and dig mines, coin money, carry over adventurers and repel intruders. Revenue duties were imposed, the colonists invested with the privileges of English subjects, and the lands granted to settlers in free and com- mon soccage. * On the 20th of November, 1606, instructions were given by the Crown for the government of the two Colonies, di- recting that the council in England should be appointed by the Crown, the local council by the superior one in England, the local council to choose a President annually from its own body, the Christian religion to be preached, lands to descend as in England, the trial by jury secured in criminal causes, and the coun- cil empowered to determine all civil actions, all produce and goods imported to be stored in magazines, a clerk and treasurer, or Cape Merchant to be appointed for the colony. The stockholders, styled adventurers, were authorized to organize a company for the management of the business of the colony, and to superintend the proceedings of the local council. The Colonists were enjoined to treat the natives with kindness, and to endeavor by all means to convert them to Christianity.! March 9th, 1607, the gen- eral council was enlarged and further in- structions given for its government. May 23rd, a charter was granted to the treasurer and company of adventurers for the city of London for the first Colony of Virginia. To this company was granted all the land in that part of America called Virginia, from Point Comfort along from the sea-coast to the Northward two hundred miles, and to *^ Hening's Slatutes at Large, Vol. 1, p. 57. t I Hen., 67. Stith 30, and Appendix 2. 10 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [Chap. III. the Southward two hundred miles up into the land from sea to sea West and North- west. The council in England was authori- zed to establish Ibrms of government for the Colony, and the governor was empowered, in case of rebellion, or mutiny, to enforce mar- tial law, and the oath of supremacy was re- quired to be taken by the Colonists. For the rest, the provisions of the letters patent granted to Sir Thomas Gates were generally re-enacted. * Sir Thomas Smith was ap- pointed Treasurer of the company in Eng- land, and the chief management of their af- fairs was entrusted to him. He was an emi- nent London merchant, had been chief of Sir Walter Raleigh's assignees, was about this time governor of the East India Com- pany, and had been ambassador to Russia, t The frame of government provided for the new Colony was cumbrous and complicated. The legislative and administrative powers were so distributed between the local council, the Crown and the company, as to involve de- lay, uncertainty, conflict and irresponsibility. The Colonists, by the words of the charter, were invested with the rights of English- men ; yet as far as political rights were con- cerned, there being no security provided by which they could be vindicated, they might often prove to be of no more real value than the parchment on which they were written. Yet the government of an infant colony must of necessity be for the most part arbitrary. The political rights of the colonists n)ust for a time lie in abeyance. The civil rights of the Virginia colonists were protected by the trial by jury, and lands were held by a free tenure. After long delay three vessels were equip- ped for the expedition, one of twenty tons, one of forty, the third of one hundred. They were commanded by Captain Christopher Newport, a navigator experienced in voyages to the New world. Orders were put on board, enclosed in a sealed box, not to be opened until their arrival in Virginia. They set sail on the 19th of December, 1606, from Black- wall. For six weeks head-winds detained them in the Downs, within view of the Eno-- lish coast. During this interval, disorder threatening a mutiny, prevailed among the adventurers. However it was suppressed by * Stith, Appendix 8. t Suih, 12. I Hen., 70. the interposition of the clergyman, Mr. Hunt. The winds at length proving favorable, the little fleet proceeded along the old route, by the Canaries, to the West Indies, and after passing three weeks there, sailed in quest of the island of Roanoke. Having exceeded their reckoning three days, without finding land, the crew grew impatient, and Ratcliffe, captain of the pinnace, proposed to steer back for England. At this conjuncture, a violent storm providentially drove them into the mouth of Chesapeake bay. The first land they came in sight of, April 26, 1607, they called Cape Henry, in honor of the prince of Wales, eldest son of king James.* A party of thirty landing, found " flowers of divers kinds and colors and goodly trees." While recreating themselves on the shore, they were assaulted by five of the savages, who came " creeping upon all fours from the hills, like bears," and wounded two, but re- tired at the discharge of muskets, t That night the sealed box was opened, when it appeared that the members of coun- cil appointed, were Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Maria Wingfield, Chris- topher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George Kendall. They were instructed to elect out of their own number a president lor one year. He and the council together were invested with the government. Affairs of motnent were to be examined by a jury, but determined by the council. Seventeen days were spent in quest of a place for the settlement. A point, at the en- trance of the Chesapeake bay, they named Point Comfort, because they found a good harbor there, which, after the late storm, " put them in good comfort." Landing there April 30th, they saw five Indians, who were at first alarmed, but seeing Captain Newport lay his hand upon his heart, they came bold- ly up and invited the strangers to Kecough- tan (Hampton) their town. There the Eng- lish were entertained with corn-bread, tobacco and" pipes and a dance. May 4th, they were kindly received by the Paspaheghs. The * Smith, vol. 1, p. 151. Cape Charles was called after the King's second son, then Duke of York, afterwards Ctiaries I. t Narrative (in 4 Purehas' Pilgrims, p. 1685.) Iiy George Percy, brother of the Ear! of Northumberland and one of the first expedition. See Hillard's Life of Smith, in Sparks' Amer. Biog. 211 and 214, in note. Hillard in the main fol- lows Siith. 1607.] HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 11 chief of a neighboring tribe * sent a guide to conduct them to his habitation, and stood on the bank of the river to meet them when they landed, " with all his train," (says Per- cy,) " as goodly men as any I have seen of savages or Christians, the Werowance t com ing before them playing on a flute made of a reed, with a crown of deer's hair, colored red, in fashion of a rose, fastened about his knot of hair, and a great plate of copper on the other side of his head, with two long feathers, in fashion of a pair of horns, placed in the midst of his crown. His body was painted all with crimson, with a chain of beads about his neck ; his face painted blue, besprinkled with silver ore, as we thought; his ears all behung with bracelets of pearl and in either ear a bird's claw through it, beset with fine copper or gold. He enter- tained us in so modest a proud fashion, as though he had been a prince of civil govern- ment, holding his countenance without laugh- ter or any such ill behavior. He caused his mat to be spread on the ground, where he sate down with a great majesty, taking a pipe of tobacco, the rest of his company standing about him. After he had rested awhile, he rose and made signs to us to come to his town. He went foremost and all the rest of his people and ourselves followed him up a steep hill, where his palace was settled. We passed through the woods in fine paths, hav- ing most pleasant springs, which issued from the mountains. We also went through the goodliest corn-fields that ever were seen in any country. t Chief. man in sunder." The English making signs of peace, were suffered to land unmolested.* At length they selected for the site of the Colony, a peninsula on the North side of the James river and about forty miles from its mouth. In honor of the reigning king, they named it Jamestown. It belonged to the country of the Paspaheghs. The situation eligible in some points, was, however, ex- tremely unhealthy. They landed at James- town on the 13th day of May, 1607. This was the first permanent settlement effected by the English in North America, after the lapse of one hundred and ten years from the discovery of the Continent by the Cabots, and twenty-two years after the first attempt to colonize it, made under the auspices of Walter Raleigh. Upon landing, the council took the oath of office ; Edward Maria Wingfield, a Lon- don merchant, t was elected President, — the first executive officer in Virginia. Thomas Studley was made cape merchant or treas- urer of the Colony. Smith was excluded from his seat in the council, upon some false pretences. CHAPTER IV. 1607—1608. Newport and Smith with a party explore the James to the Falls; Powhatan; Jamestown assaulted by Indians; Smith's Voyages up the Chickahominy ; iWurmurs against him ; Again explores the Chickahominy ; Made pris- oner; Carried captive through the country; Taken to Werowocomoco ; Rescued by Pocahont-iS ; Returns to Jamestown ; Fire there ; Rage for gold-hunting ; New- port visits Powhatan ; Newport's departure ; Affairs at Jamestown. All hands now fell to work ; the council planning a fort, the rest clearing ground for pitching tents, preparing clapboard for freight- ing the vessels, laying off gardens, weaving fish-nets, &c. The Indians frequently visited them in a friendly way. The President's overweening jealousy would allow no military exercise or fortification, save the boughs of trees, thrown together in a half-moon, by the energy of Cap- * Percy's Narrative. t Hillard's Life of Smith. 2 Sparks' Amer. Biog. 209. 12 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [Chap. IV. 