KING WILLIAM.
King William was formed in 1701 from King and Queen. The
mean length of the county is 32 miles; mean breadth 8½ miles.
The county lies between the Pamunkey and Mattapony, which
unite at the SE. angle of the county, and form the York. The land
on the borders of these streams is very fertile, and their waters
afford convenient navigation, as well as fine shad and herring
fisheries. Pop. in 1840, whites 3,150, slaves 5,780, free colored
338; total, 9,258. King William C. H. lies 27 miles NE. of Richmond,
2 miles from the Mattapony. It contains but a few dwellings
beside the public buildings, which are of brick, and stand in
a handsome square adorned with locusts, neatly enclosed with an
iron railing. Ayletts is a small village at the head of navigation,
on the Mattapony, 30 miles above its junction with the Pamunkey.
The Pamunkey and the Mattapony meet at the southerly angle
of the county, and form York River. The place of their junction
is named West Point. It was the place of habitation of Opechancanough,
the brother of Powhatan, and king of Pamunkee. "He
was the author of the great massacre in 1622, the `Sicilian Vespers'
of the colony. When very old and infirm, and nearly blind,
he headed his people in battle, borne on a litter; he was at length
captured by Governor Berkeley, with a party of horse, and finally
assassinated by a private hand while a prisoner at Jamestown,
displaying to the last moment the fortitude of a `stoic of the
woods,' unimpaired by age, and unshaken by calamity." In "Bacon's
Rebellion," the followers of Bacon occupied West Point, and
strongly fortified it.
West Point was, anciently, a large village: it has now but one
good house, and the ruins of several others. There is the remnant
of the Mattapony tribe of Indians, now dwindled down to
only 15 or 20 souls. Further up on the Pamunkey, at what is called
Indian Town, are about 100 descendants of the Pamunkeys.
Their Indian character is nearly extinct, by intermixing with the
whites and negroes. Their land is in the hands of trustees appointed
to hold it for the tribe. They manufacture pottery and
baskets very neatly. A traveller, as long ago as 1759, thus speaks
of this Indian settlement:
On the north side of Pamunkey River stands the Pamunkey Indian town, where at
present are the few remains of that large tribe; the rest having dwindled away through
intemperance and disease. They live in little wigwams, or cabins, upon the river; and
have a very fine tract of land of about 2000 acres, which they are restrained from alienating
by act of Assembly. Their employment is chiefly hunting or fishing for the neighboring
gentry. They commonly dress like the Virginians, and I have sometimes mistaken
them for the lower sort of that people.
On the banks of Moncuir creek, just above Warranuncock island,
now known as Goodwin's island, are two Indian mounds or tumuli,
somewhat reduced in size by cultivation, yet eight or ten feet high,
and about sixty feet in diameter. Evident traces exist of an Indian
settlement in the vicinity, on the Pampitike estate.
