University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTORY.

In the study of the history of a commonwealth, be it empire, state or
kingdom, it is necessary that we understand something of the causes
which have acted in producing and advancing, or destroying and retarding,
the various institutions—civil and otherwise—of that particular commonwealth.
Then, in order that the history of Virginia be properly
understood, it is essential that we examine the causes which led to its
settlement and organization as a State.

In the year 1492 Christopher Columbus lifted the veil which hung over
the stormy waters of the Atlantic, and exposed the American continent to
the view of Western Europe. This was the first practical discovery of
America. That the continent was seen by white men as early as the tenth
century, there can no longer remain a doubt. The examination of Icelandic
records and documents preserved in the archives of the Antiquarian
Society of Copenhagen, by recent historians, put at rest the long-doubted
claim that the Northmen were the first discoverers of America. Even so
great an authority as Humboldt says, after having examined the records,
"The discovery of the northern part of America by the Northmen can not
be disputed."

A Norse navigator, in the year 986 A. D., while sailing in the Greenland
sea, was caught in a storm and carried westward to the coast of
Labrador. Several times the shore was sighted, but no landing attempted.
The shore was so different from the well-known coast of Greenland that it
was certain that an unknown land was in sight. Upon reaching Greenland
Herjulfson, the commander, and his companions told strange stories
of the new land seen in the west.

In the year 1001 the actual discovery of the continent was made by
Lief Ericson, who sailed west from Greenland, and landed on the coast
of America in 41¼° north latitude. It was the spring of the year, and
from the luxuriant vegetation that everywhere adorned the coast the Northmen
named it Vineland (the land of vines). These adventurers on the
deep continued to visit these shores during the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth
centuries; it was as late as A. D. 1347, that the last voyage of the
Northmen to America was made. Says Ridpath: "An event is to be

weighed by its consequences. From the discovery of the western world by
the Norsemen nothing whatever resulted. The Icelanders themselves forgot
the place and the very name of Vineland." Europe never heard of
such a land or such a discovery. The curtain was again stretched from
sky to sea, and the New World lay hidden in its shadows.

He that was to announce to Europe the existence of the American continent
was to come from the classic land of Italy, and the sunny land of
Spain,—the country under whose patronage the discovery was to be made.
Christopher Columbus was the name of him whose discoveries, considered
in all their bearings upon human history, are the grandest recorded in the
annals of the world. A name around which, as time rolls away, will
gather the wreaths of imperishable fame.

No sooner had the existence of a trans-Atlantic continent been made
known than all nations from Scandinavia to the Strait of Gibraltar became
frenzied with excitement. A new world, as it were, was to be added
to the old. Monarchs, discoverers and adventurers at once rushed forward
in quest of the "Eldorado" to be found somewhere beyond the western
seas.

Spain at once prepared for the conquest of her newly acquired possessions,
and with a series of splendid triumphs in the south, the civilization
of the Incas and Montezumas perished from the earth. France was not
slow to profit by the discoveries of Columbus. Far away, hundreds of
miles toward the Arctic Circle, she took possession of the country lying
along the St. Lawrence and around Lake Champlain, and hastened to
plant colonies in the same. Between the Spanish possessions on the south
and those of France on the north, lay a territory extending from the
thirty-fourth to sixty-eighth parallels of north latitude, and from the
Atlantic on the east to the Pacific on the west. England laid claim to all
this region, and based that claim upon the discoveries of John and Sebastian
Cabot, who were the first to explore the eastern coast of America,
they having sailed from Salvador to the Capes of Virginia as early as
the year 1498. Nearly an hundred years had passed away, and no permanent
settlement had been made in all this vast domain. From the everglades
of Florida to the pine-clad hills of Nova Scotia, no white man had
ever landed on these shores. It was in the year 1583 that a young nobleman,
whose life and tragic death were to become familiar to every student
of English history, first appeared at the English court—it was none other
than Sir Walter Raleigh, an English gallant, who had taken part in
the French Protestant wars, and who now appeared at the British court
to make application for assistance in fitting out an expedition for the purpose
of planting a colony in North America. He hoped thus to prevent
the Spanish monarchy and the equally intolerant French court from gaining
possession of the entire continent to the exclusion of England and her
interests. Queen Elizabeth was then upon the British throne. Raleigh

POCAHONTAS,

From the DePass picture in Capt. John
Smith's "General Historie."

was young, rich, handsome and fascinating in his address. He soon
became a great favorite of the maiden queen, and she gave him a commission
making him lord of all the continent of North America lying
between Florida and Canada.

The whole of that part of the continent claimed by Great Britain without
any well defined boundaries, was called Virginia, in honor of the
virgin queen. Two ships were sent out to make discoveries. They were
commanded by experienced officers, and sailed from London in April,
1584, and in July reached the coast of North Carolina, on which a landing
was effected. Here they remained until September, when they returned
to England, and gave such a glowing description of the country which
they had visited, that seven ships were immediately fitted out, conveying
one hundred and eighty men, who sailed as colonists to the New World.
As the ships neared the Carolina coast, they came within sight of the
beautiful island of Roanoke. Charmed with the climate, with the friendliness
of the natives, and with the majestic growth of the forest trees, far
surpassing anything they had seen in the Old World, they decided to locate
on this island. Most of the colonists were men unaccustomed to work, and
who expected that in some unknown way, in the New World, wealth would
flow in upon them like a flood. Not realizing their fond hope, they became
disheartened, and when the supply ships arrived bringing abundant supplies,
they crowded on board and returned to England. Fifteen, however,
consented to remain and await the arrival of fresh colonists from the
mother country.

In the year 1587 Raleigh sent out another fleet, carrying a number of
families destined to augment the Roanoke colony, but when they arrived,
no trace of the fifteen men who remained on the island could be found,
they having been murdered by the Indians, and it was only by the promise
of the commander to hasten back to England and return with reinforcements
that they could be prevailed upon to remain upon the island.
Shortly after the fleet sailed on the homeward voyage an event occurred
which is worthy of note in a history of this country. This was no less
than the birth of the first white child in North America. The child was
the daughter of Ananias and Eleanor Dare. She was christened "Virginia,"
in honor of their adopted country. She was born August 18th,
1587. Her fate is involved in the mystery which enshrouds the fate of the
entire colony. Scarcely had the ships returned to Europe when a war
broke out between England and Spain, and the "Island Empire" brought
every available force to bear upon her powerful rival, both on land and
sea. The invincible Armada had to be overcome and the safety of England
secured, before Raleigh could send aid to his colony on Roanoke. It
was 1590 when the vessels were dispatched, and when they arrived at the
island the commander was alarmed to find that the colony had forever
disappeared. What their fate was must ever remain a profound mystery.

That they all fell victims to savage ferocity is most probable. Some
writers have indulged the idea that they were merged into the tribe of
Tuscarora Indians; but while humanity may dictate such a hope, "credulity
must entertain a doubt of the hypothesis." This was the last attempt
of the noble Raleigh to colonize America. Thus he saw the cherished
hope of his life a signal failure. Soon after, an ignominious death upon
the scaffold put an end to all his ambitions.

THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA.

With the discovery of America were discovered the Indians inhabiting
the continent—nations having an unwritten history. Who the first inhabitants
were we do not know; for all the ages through which the New
World passed, prior to its discovery by Columbus, are destitute of history
and chronology. But that a race, far superior to the Indians, once existed
on this continent, there can not be the least doubt. From the Atlantic on
the east to the Pacific on the west, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, in
every portion of the continent, we trace them by their vast monumental
ruins, rivaling in magnitude those of the eastern continent. Here they
built cities which may have flourished while the Pyramids were being
built, or they may have been in ruins when Cleopatra's needle was being
fashioned. But who were they? What their origin and what their fate?
Alas! we shall never know. Contemporary history furnishes no aid, for
they were isolated from all the world beside. They have disappeared from
the earth with not a vestige of history left behind them.

Whether they were the ancestors of the Indians is a question; it is not
probable that they were. Perhaps no problem has ever attracted so much
attention from historians and scientists as that of the origin of the American
Indians.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals existing in all the various stages
of society, from the lowest stage of barbarism to that of the half-civilized
state, were found roaming over the vast domain of both the Americas.
They were altogether ignorant of the country from which their ancestors
had come, and of the period at which they had been transplanted to the
New World; and although there were traditions among them seeming to
cast some light upon those subjects, yet when thoroughly investigated
they tended rather to bewilder than to lead to any satisfactory conclusions;
and the origin of these nations has ever been a subject of curious speculation
among the learned. Conjecture has succeeded conjecture, hypothesis
has yielded to hypothesis, as wave recedes before wave; still it remains
involved in a labyrinth of inexplicable difficulties, from which the most

ingenious minds will perhaps never be able to free it. Of the many
theories which have been advanced, we select the following:

Gregoria Gracia, one of the first missionaries in Mexico, after long association
with them, has formed the opinion that they are the descendants
of many nations, and therefore thinks it absurd to attempt to trace
their origin to any one nation.

John De Laet, a celebrated Flemish writer, maintains that America
received its first inhabitants from Scythia. "The resemblance" of the
North American Indians, in features, complexion, customs, and mode of
life is more nearly like those of the ancient Scythians than any other
nation.

Moreaz, in his history of Brazil, says that the continent was certainly
peopled by the ancient Carthagenians.

George Huron, like Laet, supposes that the primitive American colonies
were Scythian, but is of opinion that the Phœnicians and Carthagenians
subsequently reached the continent, and still later that the Chinese
and other eastern peoples reached these shores, either voluntarily or have
been driven on the coast by tempests. He thus accounts for the difference
existing among the numerous tribes.

Charlevoix is clearly of the opinion that they are of Tartar extraction,
and Adair says he has been forced to believe that they have descended
directly from the Israelites.

Major Carver, who was an officer in the Provincial army, supports the
theory that they have descended from the Tartars and Chinese. He is the
first writer, with whose writings the author is acquainted, to maintain the
theory that they reached America by way of Behrings Straits, a theory
since advocated by Mr. Jefferson and many others.

Dr. Robertson, the able philologist, traces their origin to the Tartars,
by a similarity of language. He says that many of the names of American
chieftains are of Tartar origin, for instance: Tartarax, who formerly
reigned in Quiavira, means the Tartar; Manew, the founder of the Peruvian
empire, most probably came from the Manchew Tartars; Montezuma,
the title of the Mexican emperors, is of Scythian origin, for according to
some authors, it was the appellation of the Scythian chieftains. But the
most recent of all is that of Mr. Wallace, who claims that they are the
remains of the inhabitants of a great Pacific continent now submerged,
and that they escaped to America at the time of the subsidence of their
native continent. In opposition to this theory Rev. Wyatt Gill, for many
years a missionary to the Hervey Islands, Polynesia, declares that there
is not the least resemblance in feature, complexion, mode of life or language
existing between the South Sea Islanders and the Indians of North
America.

Then, among this maze of theories are we nearer a solution of the
vexed problem than we were before a solution had been attempted?

That they came from Europe is altogether improbable; that they are
descended from the Israelites has little or nothing to support it, whilst
it is highly probable that they are descended from some of the tribes of
Southern Asia.

That they are the descendants of the ancient Scythians, seems to the
author to be the most probable. The following facts appear to be almost
conclusive:

First. Both the Scythians and Indians belong to the Ganowanian, or
bow-and-arrow family of men. It will be remembered by those who claim
them to be the descendants of the tribes of North-eastern Asia, that those
tribes are spearmen.

Second. The Scythians wandered over a wide extent of country, but
not tilling it, they claimed no property in land; the Indians did the
same, and both held in abhorrence and scorn the confinement of a fixed
habitation.

Third. The entire absence of anything like a fixed system of law, except
that the strictest honesty characterized both.

Fourth. The dress of both was similar, being made from the skins of
the animals belonging to the fauna of their respective countries.

Fifth. War was the delight of both, and mercy and humanity were
alien to their warfare.

Sixth. Mounds, or tumuli, which constitute the remains of the earliest
inhabitants of America, are found nowhere in Asia except in ancient
Scythia, beyond the Indus. Herodotus, "the father of history," says
the Scythians threw earth upon the tombs of their deceased relatives
until they resembled a high mound or artificial mountain.

Seventh. The same author informs us that the Scythians were the only
people of antiquity who practiced the barbarous custom of scalping
their enemies, a custom universally practiced by the Indians of North
America.

Eighth. The Scythians were divided into tribes, just as the Indians
were.

Ninth. The similarity that (according to Dr. Robertson) exists between
many words in use by both.

Tenth. The fact that they were thoroughly acquainted with the architecture
of Southern and Western Asia is fully attested by the ruined
structures of Mexico and Central America.

From the foregoing it would seem that the evidence is largely in
favor of the claim that the Indians of North America are the descendants
of the ancient Scythians. What the labors of archæological societies
and the researches of antiquarian societies may develop upon the
subject, remains yet to be seen. It is doubtful, however, whether a
satisfactory solution of the mysterious problem will ever be reached.

Such were the inhabitants of the New World, who for two hundred
years disputed the possession of this country with the Anglo-Saxon, but

who have been driven before the march of civilization to the western
confines of the continent, where their final extinction as a race is only a
question of time.

SETTLEMENT AT JAMESTOWN.

We have not space, in a work of this character, to notice in detail
that interesting portion of history known as the Period of Voyage and
Discovery. The world was ready for great events. With the fifteenth
century came the revival of learning in Europe; Copernicus had systematized
the universe; Vasco de Gama had doubled the Cape of Good
Hope, and Portuguese navigators were steering their ships over Indian
seas. The Turks had entered Europe and made Constantinople the
capital of the Mohammedan world; Amerigo Vespucci's first account
of the Western World had been published and eagerly read all over
Europe; Grecian scholars had "crossed the Alps" and laid the foundation
for that intellectual development which was to dispel the darkness
and gloom that had enshrouded Europe during the long centuries of the
Dark Ages. The printing press came just in time to supply the demand
which the thirst for knowledge had created, and now the next great
event in the world's history was to be the founding of a permanent
English settlement in the New World.

One hundred and fifteen years had passed away since the discovery, and
it was now the year 1606. In that year James I., who had succeeded his
cousin Elizabeth on the English throne, granted to a company of wealthy
London merchants a patent for all that part of the American continent
lying between the thirty-fifth and fortieth degrees of north latitude.
The London Company, as the corporation was styled, had, as the effect
of its creation, the founding of a colony on the Atlantic coast of Virginia.
An expedition was at once fitted out, and one hundred and five
colonists bade adieu to the shores of the Old World to find a home on
the shores of the New. On the 26th day of April, 1607, they reached
the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, and to the points on either side they
gave the names of Charles and Henry, in honor of the sons of King
James. Further within the bay, on another point, they bestowed the
name of Point Comfort, because of the comfortable anchorage they found
there. Captain Christopher Newport, an experienced navigator, steered
them up a beautiful river which, in honor of the king, they called
James river. The voyage was continued up the river about fifty miles,
when they landed, May 13th, began the erection of houses, and Jamestown
was founded. A distinguished historian has said, "This is the
most important event recorded in profane history." Here was planted
the germ from which was to spring the grandest republic the world has

seen. Here on the banks of the James had landed the men who were
destined to light a lamp of liberty which all the tyranny of after ages
could not extinguish.

THE BEGINNING.

Of the one hundred and five colonists who came to Virginia, more
than half are classed as "gentlemen," and the remainder as laborers,
tradesmen and mechanics. Many of them probably had been unaccustomed
to labor, strangers to toil, and improvident. Such were the founders
of the first American States. From that beginning came the Virginias
of after times.

The London Company had prepared a form of government for the
colony before the departure from England. This code of laws was put
in a box, sealed and hidden until the arrival in Virginia, when it was
to be opened and the government established according to its provisions.
By it all power was vested in a body of seven councilors, whose names
were as follows: Bartholomew Gosnold, the navigator John Smith,
Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin
and George Kendall. At their first meeting Edward Wingfield was
chosen president; in other words, the first governor of Virginia. This
was the beginning of civil government in America.

While most of the colonists engaged in felling the forest, building
cabins and erecting a fort for protection against the savages, Captains
Newport and Smith decided to explore the country, and accordingly
sailed up the James river as far as the falls of that river, when they
paid a visit to Powhatan, king of the Indians in these parts. Here, just
below the falls, near the present site of the city of Richmond, was the
capital of him whose word was absolute law to the savage nations over
which no civil code could ever have exerted the least influence. This
monarch of the forest received the foreigners with courtesy, and manifested
no uneasiness at their intrusion. After a short stay the party returned
to Jamestown, and Newport sailed for England. Shortly after
his departure the colonists began to realize their true condition. They
were three thousand miles from home and friends, upon an unknown
shore, surrounded by wild beasts and wilder men, subject to pestilential
diseases over which their physicians had no control, and added to this
were civil dissensions. These resulted in the displacement of Wingfield in
the office of president, and the deposing, imprisonment, and finally the
execution of Kendall. Newport was in England, and Ratcliffe, Martin
and Smith were the only remaining members of the council. Ratcliffe
was chosen president, but being a man of neither courage nor ability, he
voluntarily resigned an office which he was incompetent to fill. Smith
and Martin alone were left. The latter elected the former president,
and for the first time not the least opposition was manifested toward
the new administration.

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH,

Who, by his efficient management of the affairs of the colony, won the
title of "The Father of Virginia," was a soldier, a traveler, and a
statesman. His life is one filled with adventure and daring exploit.
He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1579, and was early apprenticed
to a merchant; but at the age of fifteen he left his master and
went to Holland, served awhile in the Dutch army, then found his way
to Austria, where he enlisted under the flag of that country and engaged
in a war with the Turks. He was, at length, wounded, taken
prisoner, and after his recovery he was carried to Constantinople, where
he was sold as a slave and taken to the Crimea, in Russia, and subjected
to the severest treatment and his life rendered a burden. From such
abject slavery he determined to escape. An opportunity soon presented
itself. He was engaged in threshing wheat about three miles from
home, where his master visited him once a day. Smith watched his
opportunity and dispatched him with a flail; hid his body in the straw,
mounted his horse and fled into the woods. After many days' wandering
he found his way into Poland, thence he traveled through Germany,
France and Spain to Morocco, in Northern Africa, where he remained
some time, then set out for England, where he arrived just as the expedition
was fitting out to colonize the new continent of America. He
immediately attached himself to the expedition and sailed for Virginia,
where he afterward displayed those high qualities of statesmanship which
secured the permanency of the colony.

At the time that Smith began his administration the colony was on
the verge of ruin. Already disease had carried off one-half of the settlers,
among whom was Gosnold, a member of the council and one of the best
men in it, and had not the early frosts of winter put a stop to the ravages
of the pestilence, not one would have survived to tell the fate of the
colony. With the disappearance of disease and the better administration
of Smith, everything began to show signs of improvement. One of
the first acts of the new management was to begin the erection of better
buildings; the fortification was strengthened, a store-house devised, and
other preparations made for the winter. The great object now was to
secure a stock of provisions for the ensuing winter. The Indians had
grown a plentiful harvest, but to secure a portion of it was no easy task.
Smith, however, determined to undertake it, and in company with five
companions he descended the James river as far as Hampton Roads, where
he landed, and went boldly among the natives, offering to exchange
hatchets and coin for corn; but the savages only laughed at the proposal,
and mocked the strangers by offering a piece of bread for Smith's
sword and musket. Smith, ever determined to succeed in every undertaking,
abandoned the idea of barter and resolved to fight. He ordered
his men to fire among the savages, who ran howling into the woods, leaving

CAPT. JOHN SMITH,

After the original in his "General His-
torie," edition of 1629.

their wigwams, filled with corn, to the mercy of the English, not a
grain of which was touched until the Indians returned. In a short time
sixty or seventy painted warriors, at the head of whom marched a priest
bearing an idol, appeared and made a furious attack. The English a
second time opened fire, made a rush, drove the savages back, and captured
their idol. The Indians, when they saw their deity in the possession
of the English, sent the priest to humbly beg for its return, but
Smith stood firm, with his musket across the prostrate image, and dictated
the only terms upon which he would surrender it, viz: that six
unarmed Indians should come forth and load his boat with corn. The
terms were acceded to, the idol given up, and Smith and his party
returned to Jamestown with a boat-load of supplies.

Smith could not remain long inactive. No sooner had he seen the colony
in tolerable condition for this, its first winter in the New World,
than he, in company with six Englishmen and two Indians, embarked in
the pinnace and sailed up the Chickahominy river. The opinion prevailed
at Jamestown, and also with the London Company, that by proceeding
up this stream it was possible to reach the Pacific Ocean, then called the
South Sea. Smith knew the utter absurdity of such an opinion, but
humored it for the purpose of gratifying his desire for making explorations.
He ascended the river as far as possible in the pinnace, then
leaving it, as he thought, in a safe place, he left it in the care of four
Englishmen, and with the remainder of the party the journey was continued
in a canoe, and when they could proceed no further in it, Smith
traveled on foot with only an Indian guide. The men left with the pinnace
disobeyed orders, went on shore, and one of them fell into the
hands of the Indians, who learned from him the direction in which the
captain had gone. Pursuit was made at once, but when they came up
with him they found that he was no easy prey. He defended himself so
bravely that they dared not approach him until he fell into a swamp,
where he was at length forced to surrender. His captors carried him
before their chief, who received him with all the pomp and ceremony
known at a savage court. A long consultation was held to determine
the fate of the distinguished prisoner, and it seemed that the death angel
which had hovered around him all along his journey of life was about
to claim the victory. The consultation terminated unfavorably; the
executioners rushed forward and dragged their prisoner to a large stone
upon which it had been decided his head should be crushed. The awful
moment was come; the club was raised that was to dash out his brains,
and thus end his toils and difficulties, and with them the hope of Virginia.
But an advocate appeared as unexpectedly as would have been
an angel just descended from heaven, to ask his release. It was none
other than Pocahontas, the chieftain's own favorite daughter, who
stepped forth and begged that the prisoner might be spared, and when

she found her entreaties unavailing, she seized his head and placed it
beneath her own to protect it from the fatal blow. Powhatan could not
resist the pleadings of his favorite child, and yielded to her wishes.
Smith was released and allowed to live. In a few days he concluded a
bargain with the old chief by which he was to receive a large tract of
country in exchange for two cannon and a grindstone, which he was to
send back from Jamestown by the Indians who accompanied him home.
When they arrived at Jamestown, Smith, under pretext of instructing the
Indians in the use of the cannon, discharged them into the trees, at which
the savages were so frightened that they would have nothing to do with
them. The grindstone was so heavy that they could not carry it, so they
returned with a quantity of trinkets instead.

RETURN OF NEWPORT.

During the winter and spring the little colony had not been forgotten
by the company in England. Newport, soon after his arrival in London,
was again dispatched to America in company with another vessel
commanded by Francis Nelson, both vessels freighted with everything
which could be necessary for either the colony or the crew. Newport
arrived in safety, but Nelson, when nearing the capes, was caught in
a storm and driven so far out to sea, that he was forced to put into the
West Indies, where he made the necessary repairs, and then reached
his destination. Smith and Newport decided to again visit Powhatan,
who received them in the same dignified manner as on the previous occasion;
and during the conference the chieftain exhibited so much
diplomatic skill that he was on the eve of closing a bargain with Newport
which would have been very disadvantageous to the colony; but
Smith prevented the transaction by passing some blue beads before the
eyes of the monarch; and by placing great value upon them, and impressing
him with the fact that they were only worn by the greatest personages,
succeeded in exchanging a pound or two of them for about
seven hundred bushels of corn. But no sooner had they returned to
Jamestown with this new supply to their former stock, than, as is generally
the case with ill-gotten gains, a fire broke out and consumed the
greater part of it, together with a number of their cabins and some arms
and bedding.

But this was not all; Newport, instead of returning to England
immediately, remained fourteen weeks at Jamestown, consuming the
provisions that he should have left for the defenseless and helpless
colony after his departure. His delay was occasioned by the fact that
he had brought over with him several refiners of gold who had discovered
some glittering earth near Jamestown, which they pronounced

gold. All the available force was engaged in loading the ship with
this worthless clay. The idea prevailed to such an extent that Smith
says there was no talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, wash gold,
refine gold, load gold. The cargo was at last completed, and Newport
sailed for London. When the Phœnix, the vessel of Captain Nelson,
was to be loaded, Smith, instead of permitting it to be freighted
with "fools' gold," fitted her out with a cargo of cedar timber.
This was the first valuable shipment made from Virginia to England.

Smith accompanied the Phœnix as far as the capes, taking fourteen
men with him and two open boats, which were to be used in carrying
out his long cherished design of exploring the Chesapeake. In this
work nearly three months were consumed, and three thousand miles
of coast and river were explored and accurately mapped. The map of
the Chesapeake Bay made by Smith at this time is still preserved, and
is a marvel of exactness. It is the original upon which all subsequent
descriptions have been based.

VIRGINIA UNDER THE SECOND CHARTER.

It was on the 23d day of May, 1609, that King James revoked the
first charter of the London Company, and at the same time granted a
new one by which the government was completely changed. The new
patent included all the country lying between the mouth of the Cape
Fear river on the south and that of the Hudson on the north, the
Atlantic on the east and an undefined boundary on the west. The
company was permitted to choose its own councilors, and they in turn
were to select the governor. Lord Delaware was chosen to this high
position for life. The British government now began to dream of a
flourishing empire in the west, which should be tributary to the parent
one then rapidly rising to the first place among the nations of Europe,
and accordingly surrounded Delaware with stately officers whose high-sounding
titles would indicate that they were the dignitaries of an opulent
kingdom, instead of a half-starved colony on the distant shores of
Virginia. Sir Thomas Gates was commissioned lieutenant-general; Sir
George Somers, admiral; Christopher Newport, vice-admiral; Sir
Thomas Dale, high marshal; Sir Fernando Wainman, master of cavalry,
and a long list of others constituted the royal establishment. But
the long array of titled nobility was not without its effect upon the future
of Virginia. Five hundred emigrants were speedily collected, and
in June a fleet of nine vessels sailed for Jamestown. The gentlemen
composing the new government sailed in the Sea Vulture, the largest
vessel in the fleet. When nearing the capes of Virginia a fearful storm
was encountered. One small vessel was lost, and the Sea Vulture was

driven far to sea, and finally stranded upon the rocks of the Bahamas,
and did not reach Jamestown till April of the next year. The other
vessels outrode the storm and reached their destination. When the
news of the appearance of so large a fleet in the bay was received, it
was thought to be a part of the Spanish navy, the object of which was the
conquest of the colony. Everything was put in a state of defense
against the supposed enemy. Smith had, in the meantime, by his kindness,
won the good will of the Indians, and hundreds of them now
responded to his call, and joined in defense against the supposed invasion.
Fear was, however, soon changed to rejoicing; the supposed enemy
proved to be friends. The emigrants having landed, elected Captain
Francis West (the brother of Lord Delaware), temporary president,
the council being all dead save Smith; but he obtaining the sympathy
of the sailors, refused to surrender the government of the colony. For
the sake of health, to avoid dissension between the old and newly arrived
colonists, and for trading with the Indians, Smith decided to establish
two new settlements, and accordingly selected a company of the best
men, placed them under command of Francis West, and sent them to
the falls of the James, there to erect cabins and establish a permanent
settlement. He then placed another company under Martin and dispatched
them to a place called Nansemond, with the same object in
view. Martin exhibited his imbecility by making an attack upon the
natives in his immediate vicinity, and then by his cowardice and carelessness
permitted them to return, attack his position and kill and
wound a number of his men. He then sent to Jamestown for reinforcements,
and when they arrived, set a limit to his own management by
leaving his men to their fate and going to Jamestown, where he remained
cowering under Smith's denunciations of his perfidy and cowardice.
The president not hearing of his colony at the falls, determined to pay
it a visit; and upon his arrival found that West had selected, as the
site of the projected town, a location subject to inundation and many
other disadvantages. He offered to purchase from Powhatan the site
upon which the city of Richmond now stands, but the restless adventurers,
dreaming of rich gold fields further up the river, refused the offer,
despising alike the president's kindness and authority. But Smith was
born to rule. With five of his own men he rushed boldly into the midst of
the mutineers, and arrested the ringleaders of the opposition, but a hundred
infuriated men gathered around him and compelled him to release
the prisoners. He escaped to the supply-ship which lay at the foot of
the falls, and being supported by the sailors, he here spent nine days in
making every effort to conciliate the turbulent spirits who were in a
frenzy of excitement over the "guilded hopes of the South Sea mines,"
but all in vain. Discouraged and well-nigh exhausted, Smith set out
on his return to Jamestown, but no sooner had he departed than the
Indians attacked those left behind. Those of the terrified wretches who
escaped fled to Smith, whose boat had grounded on an island above
Jamestown. Here the disturbers were again arrested. The president
returned to the falls, satisfied the demands of the savages, and left all
again under the care of West, who listened to the deceitful statements
of the prisoners and released them. Thus Smith again saw his authority
set at defiance, and for the last time left the falls of the James. His
work was nearly completed. On the journey down the river his powder
flask exploded while he was sleeping and tore the flesh from his body in
a frightful manner. Crazed with pain, he threw himself into the river
to cool the burning sensation, and was nearly drowned before his companions
could rescue him. Nearly one hundred miles lay between him
and the only surgeon, Dr. Russell, in Virginia, and to him he must go
before his wounds could be dressed. In this pitiable condition he arrived
at Jamestown, where Ratcliffe and Archer were then on trial on a
charge of treason, and, fearing his evidence, they hired an assassin to
murder him; but when the fiend saw the pitiable condition of his intended
victim, his heart failed him and he was unable to fire the fatal
shot. The term of Smith having expired, Captain George Percy, a
younger brother of the Earl of Northumberland, was elected president,
and Smith, in September, 1609, sailed for England, never to return
again to the scenes of his toils and sufferings. An eventful life was
rapidly drawing to its close. "The Father of Virginia," the benefactor
of his country and his race, he who had faithfully discharged every
duty imposed upon him, was yet to feel the sting of base ingratitude.
Those whose interests he had best served were the first to condemn his
actions. Like Columbus, Boone, Robert Harris, and a host of others
whose lives were to be known, their labors appreciated, and names honored
by succeeding generations, his name has become the most celebrated
that appears in the early history of America. Truly has it been said
that great men are never known by the generation in which they live.

THE STARVING TIME.

At the time Smith left Jamestown, there were four hundred and
ninety-three persons in the colony, all well sheltered and supplied; but
the master spirit was gone, and soon anarchy ruled supreme. Such was
the inactivity, profligacy, recklessness and insubordination, that by the
approach of early winter they were confronted with starvation. In
addition, the Indians determined upon the utter extinction of the colony,
and hung upon the outskirts of the settlements, burning houses
and murdering all who were so unfortunate as to fall into their hands.
Then a pestilence broke out, and the fatality was so great that by the
return of the spring of 1610, there remained but sixty persons alive in

ROBERT BOLLING,

The husband of Jane Rolfe, the grand-daughter of
Pocahontas.

From the original in the possession of the Bolling family.

the colony, and they must have perished had not assistance reached
them. But just as the last ray of hope was yielding to despair, Sir
Thomas Gates and his crew, who had been wrecked in the West Indies,
arrived at Jamestown; but what must have been their feelings, when,
instead of finding the colony in a happy and prosperous condition, they
met only a few famished wretches begging for bread! Gates supplied
their wants from his store-ship and assumed the government.

JAMESTOWN ABANDONED.

The few survivors had, however, resolved to abandon Jamestown at
the first opportunity, and thus forever bid adieu to a place which promised
nothing but death. In vain did the governor remonstrate. Four
pinnaces lay at anchor in the river. It was the intention to sail for
Newfoundland, and there the remnant of the Virginia colony should
remain among the fishermen until some vessel would carry them to
England. Thus, the efforts of the London Company, as had those of
Raleigh and Gosnold before, ended in failure. The colonists crowded on
board the pinnaces, and on the 8th of June dropped down the river.
But Lord Delaware was already within the bay, and ere the disheartened
colonists had reached the mouth of the James, his ships hove in sight,
bearing new emigrants, plentiful supplies, and a governor who gave a
promise of better things. The hitherto discouraged but now rejoicing
colonists were taken on board and all returned to the deserted village,
where, before nightfall, all was happiness and contentment.

Lord Delaware's administration was characterized by justice and mildness;
he endeared himself to the colonists and inspired them with hope,
but he did not long remain; in the early autumn his health failed, and
he delegated his authority to Percy—the same who had relieved Smith—
and sailed for England.

Sir Thomas Dale was already under sail to Virginia bearing a governor's
commission, and upon his arrival he assumed the government and
made martial law the basis of his administration. He was a soldier by
profession, and had served with distinction in the Danish wars. Jamestown
needed a strong government, and there was, therefore, very little
complaint against his military rule. During his administration the population
was augmented by the arrival of three hundred emigrants from
England.

The last act of Governor Dale marks an era in the history of Virginia.
This was nothing less than a division of property. Ever since
the founding of the colony, all property had been held in common, after
the manner of the primitive eastern nations; the colonists had worked
together and the products of the harvest had been deposited in one common
store-house, where all was under the control of the council. Governor

Dale changed all this, and caused the lands to be laid out into lots
of three acres each, one of which was to be given to each of the colonists—to
hold forever—upon which he might plant orchards and cultivate
grain with the understanding that no one had the right to gather
but himself. Thus the right of property in land was, for the first time,
recognized in the New World. The colonists saw the advantage of individual
labor, and the good results were soon apparent in the general
improvement of the colony.

Dale now surrendered the government to Sir Thomas Gates, and by
his (Gates') permission selected three hundred men and began a settlement
on a narrow neck of land, nearly surrounded by water, which
he called Henrico in honor of Prince Henry. Other settlements were
made on both sides of the river at considerable distances from the
parent town, and the foundation of the first American State was thus
securely laid.

VIRGINIA UNDER THE THIRD CHARTER.

It was now the year 1612, and King James, who made "change" the
rule of his reign, granted a third charter to the company, under which
many important changes were made. By it the privileges and immunities
were greatly increased; their jurisdiction was extended over all the
territory within a radius of three hundred miles from Jamestown;
they were permitted to elect their own officers, to decide all questions
of law and right—in fact, to govern the colony on their own responsibility.
This was the germ from which sprang democratic government
in America.

MARRIAGE OF ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS.

In the year 1613, Captain Samuel Argall, then cruising in the Chesapeake,
made a voyage up the Potomac, when he learned of the presence
of Pocahontas, whom he succeeded in enticing on his boat and then
carried her to Jamestown. The authorities detained her with expectation
that her father, Powhatan, would pay a ransom for her, but the
old chief became highly enraged and at once prepared for war, but before
hostilities began a Mr. John Rolfe, a highly respected young planter,
struck by her beauty and fascinated by her manners, wooed and won
her affections and the promise of her hand.

Powhatan gave his consent to the union, and sent her uncle and two
brothers to witness the ceremony, which was celebrated with great pomp,
according to the rites of the English Church. In 1616 she accompanied
her husband to England, but was very unhappy. Captain Smith, who
was then in London, called to see her, but appeared to be somewhat

reserved in his manner. This added to her burden of grief, and she
wept like a child. Smith inquired the cause of her grief. "Did I not
save thy life in America?" said she. "Didst thou not promise that if
I went into thy country thou wouldst be my father, and I shouldst
be thy daughter? Thou hast deceived me; behold her now a stranger
and an orphan." Pocahontas was warmly received. Lady Delaware
introduced her to Queen Anne, and many families of distinction paid
every attention to the modest daughter of this western wilderness; but
nothing could be done to dispel the gloom which surrounded her, and in
a short time she fell a victim to the dread disease, the small-pox, and
died just as she was about to re-embark for America.

One son, the issue of this union, became a man of prominence in the
affairs of the colony, and to him many of the first families of Virginia,
among whom were the Randolphs and the Bollings, trace their ancestry.

Early in the year 1616, Gates and Dale both sailed for England,
and left the government in the hands of Sir Thomas Yeardley, whose
administration was similar to those of his predecessors—Dale and Gates.
The colony increased in numbers, the social condition improved; obedience
on the part of the colonists and respect on the part of the savages
brought about a feeling of security and confidence hitherto unknown in
the history of the colony.

In 1617, Yeardley was succeeded by Captain Argall, who proved
himself to be the most tyrannical governor that had yet swayed the
scepter over Virginia. He was a sailor by profession, and accustomed
to the rigid discipline of the seas, where he had long held despotic sway
over the decks of his own vessel. Naturally tyrannical, cruel and
covetous, he was entirely unfit to administer the government as it then
existed in Virginia, and, as might have been expected, his administration
became a synonym for fraud, corruption and violence. When the news
of his high-handed oppression reached England, the London Company
requested Delaware to return to Virginia and again assume the government.
He yielded to their importunities and sailed for Virginia, but
died on the way. Argall continued his oppressive sway until 1619,
when he was superseded by Sir George Yeardley, who, through the
influence of Sir Edwyn Sandys, treasurer of the London Company, was
appointed to fill his place.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT.

With Sir George Yeardley governor, and important changes in the
London Company, the colonists expected a period of prosperity, and
their expectations were fully realized. Martial law was abolished; the

RUINS OF JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA,

The first town founded in America, and first capital of Virginia—destroyed by its own inhabitants in 1676, during
"Bacon's Rebellion," to prevent Lord Berkeley's taking shelter there—never rebuilt.

governor, in accordance with instructions from the company, divided the
plantations along the James river into eleven districts, called boroughs,
and issued a proclamation commanding the citizens to ELECT TWO REPRESENTATIVES
from each borough to take part in the government: the
election was held in the latter part of June, and the first House of
Representatives in the New World convened at Jamestown on the 30th
of July, 1619.

This body was called the House of Burgesses, and by it were "debated
all matters thought expedient for the good of the colony." A
number of acts were passed which were pronounced by the company to
be "well and judiciously carried," but unfortunately we have no record
of them.

In this eventful year, Sir Edwyn Sandys recognized the fact that the
stability of the colony could only be secured by the establishment of
family ties. Up to this time very few of the colonists had come to Virginia
with the intention of finding a permanent home; by far the greater
number were adventurers who left England with the determination to
sometime return—either after they had accumulated a fortune, or gratified
a desire for adventure. The endearments of home and friends are
the ties that bind men to a settled habitation, and now, if these could
be found on this side of the Atlantic, then would these adventurers
relinquish the fond hope of returning to seek them in the mother country,
and the permanency of the colony would be assured. To achieve
this end was the determination of Sir Edwyn, and during this year he
sent over twelve hundred and sixty emigrants, among whom were ninety
"agreeable young women, poor but respectable and incorrupt," who
were designed as wives for the colonists. Shortly after, another consignment
was made of "sixty young maids of virtuous education, young,
handsome, and well recommended." Such is the compliment paid by
the historian to the first mothers of Virginia. It has been said that
they were sold to the planters at prices ranging from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. Such was not the case. They
were transported at the expense of the company, and when they were
chosen as wives by the planters the fare for transportation was charged
and paid by the husbands. Thus domestic relations were established;
then came habits of thrift, an increase of comforts, and consequent happiness.
Within the next two years fifty patents for land were granted
and 3,500 emigrants found homes in Virginia.

INTRODUCTION OF AFRICAN SLAVERY.

It was the policy of King James to increase the population of the
colony as rapidly as possible, and with that end in view, despite the
protests of the London Company, he sent over one hundred "idle and

dissolute" persons who were in custody for various misdemeanors, and
were only transported to escape a worse fate at home. They were sold
out as servants to the planters, who endured their presence only because
of the profits derived from their labor, and the increased assistance thus
secured in carrying into effect the various industrial enterprises then
projected by the colonists.

This beginning created a desire on the part of the planters to employ
other labor than their own, and unfortunately the opportunity to gratify
that desire came only too soon. It was in the month of August, 1619,
that an event occurred which was destined to stamp its impress upon
the pages of American history; an event so far-reaching in its effects
that no prophetic eye could foretell what they were to be. No one
thought that an institution was then taking root which in the distant
future would involve the American States in civil war and almost wreck
society itself. This event was none other than the introduction of African
slavery. A Dutch vessel sailed up the James river and sold twenty
Africans as slaves to the colonists. The world knows the result.

A LIBERAL CONSTITUTION.

Another change was now to take place. A new constitution was prepared
for Virginia, and Sir Francis Wyatt was appointed to supersede
Yeardley in the government. The new code was modeled after the
English constitution, and was a long step toward representative government.
It acknowledged the right of petition, and of trial by jury; but
the most remarkable provision was that which bestowed the power upon
the House of Burgesses to veto any objectionable acts of the company.

THE INDIANS ATTEMPT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE COLONY.

Three years of prosperity had spread the settlements far and wide;
they extended for a hundred and forty miles along the banks of the
James and far into the interior; several had also been made on the
Potomac, so that by the year 1622, there were no less than eighty families
dotting the country around the Chesapeake. The only cause for
anxiety was the fear of Indian hostilities, and well indeed might this
anxiety exist, for there was now a plot being laid which if it had been
carried out in detail would not have left an Englishman alive in Virginia.
The friends of the colonists were gone. Pocahontas had died in
a foreign land, and Powhatan had also passed away—beloved and honored
by all who knew him. His brother, the cunning, treacherous and revengeful
Opechancanough, had succeeded him. He had long looked
with a jealous eye upon the encroachment of the English, and saw in

their occupation of the country the fate of his own race; and, now that
he was vested with the power which his honored brother had withheld
from him, he determined to annihilate the colony at one fell blow. To
meet the colonists in the open field only insured his own defeat, owing
to the disparity in arms; and the fact that the number of fighting men
were now nearly equal would have resulted in just what he wished to
avoid—the destruction of his own people. His only hope of success
lay in some great stroke which should destroy the power of the colony
at once; his cruelty and revenge dictated a general massacre. In order
to avoid suspicion he renewed the treaty of peace with Governor Wyatt,
and only two days before the blow was to be struck he declared that
the sky would fall before he should violate the terms of the treaty. The
friendly relations were continued up to the fatal day, even to the very
hour. They borrowed boats from the English, brought in venison and
other provisions for sale, and even sat down to breakfast with their unsuspecting
victims. The fatal hour arrived. It was twelve o'clock,
noon, on the 22d day of March, 1622, when every hamlet in Virginia
was attacked by a band of yelling savages, who spared neither age, sex
nor condition. The bloody work went on until three hundred and forty-seven
men, women and children had fallen victims at the bloody and
barbarous hands of that perfidious and inhuman people. Had not a
converted Indian, who lived with a Mr. Pace, revealed the plot, and
thus put the people of Jamestown and immediate settlements on their
guard, and therefore in a state of defense, every settlement would have
been laid in ruins and the inhabitants put to the tomahawk. But the
plot failed. There were yet sixteen hundred fighting men in the colony,
and the Indians were made to pay dearly for their perfidy. The English
pushed into the wilderness, burning wigwams, killing every Indian that
fell into their hands and destroying crops, until every tribe was driven
far into the interior. Confidence was once more restored, and a feeling
of security brought a return of prosperity; emigration again revived,
and at the end of the year the population numbered 2,500.

DISSOLUTION OF THE LONDON COMPANY.

Ditterences between the king and Parliament had produced two powerful
political parties in England—the Royalists, supporting the king, and
Patriots, defending Parliament. To the latter belonged the greater
number of the London Company, and, as a political measure, the king
determined to dissolve the company by declaring its charter null and
void. It was true that the operations of the company, in a financial
point of view, had been a failure. In eighteen years they had expended
a half million dollars, and had sent 9,000 emigrants to Virginia, only

2,500 of whom were now in the colony. The annual exports did not
exceed 20,000 pounds.

We have not space to follow in detail the proceedings, legal and
otherwise, of the crafty James. He sent John Harvey, John Pory,
Abraham Piersey, Samuel Mathews and John Jefferson, commissioners
to "make more diligent inquiry touching divers matters, which concerned
the State of Virginia." The commission arrived in Virginia
early in the year 1624, and after remaining a short time returned and
reported the company in a state of bankruptcy, and the government of
the colony in a very bad state, with no prospect of an improvement under
the present management. James caused a quo warranto to be issued
against the company, and the cause was tried at the Trinity term of
King's Bench, for the year 1624. The judges were dependent upon the
king for their places, and it was not difficult to determine the result of a
trial in the result of which James had such a deep interest. Chief
Justice Ley rendered the decision against the corporation, and the London
Company ceased to exist. But their mission was filled; the foundation
of the Old Dominion was securely laid, and it only remained for
others to rear the structure.

VIRGINIA UNDER THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT.

There was but little change made in the government of the colony.
This was not the object of the king when he canceled the charter of the
company; his action was directed against the corporation, and not against
the State, and ere the few proposed changes could be made King James
died—March 27, 1625—and was succeeded by his son, who came to the
throne under the title of Charles I. He paid very little attention to
his American subjects. Governor Wyatt was continued in office until
1626, when he went to England to attend to the private affairs of his
father, who had recently died, and Sir George Yeardley was appointed
to fill the vacancy. His previous liberal administration was remembered
by the colonists, and Charles could not have performed an act
that would have met with greater approbation on their part. Yeardley's
career was closed by death, November 14, 1627, and in obedience to
instructions to the council, they elected Francis West, governor, the day
after the burial of Yeardley. He continued in office until March, 1628,
when John Pott was chosen in his stead, who in turn was, in a few
days, relieved by John Harvey, who arrived from England and assumed
the government early in the year 1630.

VIRGINIA AND CHARLES I.

Four years had now passed away since Charles began his reign, and
during all that time he had been engaged in the domestic affairs of his
kingdom; but he now turned his attention to Virginia as a fruitful field
from which to reward his courtiers. This he did by granting them
patents for large tracts of land, regardless of location, improvements, or
anything else, and finally, in utter disregard of the protestations of the
colonists, set a limit to his recklessness by granting to Sir Robert Heath
a patent for one-half the territory of Virginia, extending from the 36°
north to Florida. But as all that part, including the present Carolinas,
was not settled until long after, and the charter finally became void because
of Heath's failure to comply with its conditions, the colonists could
not consider themselves so badly damaged after all, though the act was
an evidence of the way in which they might at any time be divested of
their rights.

THE MARYLAND CHARTER—GOVERNOR HARVEY.

Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, in 1632, obtained a patent for all that
part of Virginia embraced within the present limits of Maryland, and at
once proceeded to colonize it, notwithstanding the fact that there were
already several settlements of Virginians within the territory, to whose
remonstrances he gave no heed. William Claibourne, who had been a
member of the council and also colonial secretary of state, had obtained
a license from the king "to traffic in all American ports where there
was no license," and these permits had been approved by Governor
Harvey. Claibourne settled upon Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, not
far from the present city of Annapolis, and when ordered to abandon it
by the Maryland authorities he defended it by force. He was finally
arrested, tried, found guilty of murder, piracy and sedition. He escaped
to Virginia, and when demanded by the authorities of Maryland, Harvey
refused to give him up, but sent him to England for trial. The
Virginians were highly incensed at Harvey for not protecting Claibourne
and keeping him in the colony, for they regarded the Marylanders as
nothing more than an infringement upon their rights. Harvey was tried
on a charge of malfeasance in office. Of the trial we know but little.
The first entry upon the records relating to the subject is as follows:
"An assembly to be called to receive complaints against Sir John Harvey,
on the petition of many inhabitants, to meet 7th of May, 1635;"
and the next one is: "On the 28th day of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as governor
until the king's pleasure is known." When Charles I. heard of the
action of the colonists, he regarded it as unwarrantable insolence—little
short of treason. He reinstated Harvey in the government, and we
hear of no more dissatisfaction during the remainder of his administration,

SEAL OF THE COUNCIL CHAMBER

Of the Colony of Virginia, with the arms of the
Virginia Company of London.

which came to an end in 1639, when Sir Francis Wyatt again
assumed the government.

ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST COUNTIES.

Virginia was the first State in the world, composed of separate political
divisions, based upon the principle of universal suffrage. It was in
the year 1634 that the territory of Virginia was divided into eight shires,
or counties, similar to those of England, and named as follows: James
City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth, Warwick River, Warosenoyoke,
Charles River and Acomac. Lieutenants were appointed for each district,
whose business it was to supervise the military affairs. Sheriffs,
sergeants and bailiffs were to be elected as in England, and commissioners
were appointed to hold county courts in the different shires.
This was the origin of the county court system in Virginia.

FIRST PUBLICATION OF THE ACTS OF THE LEGISLATURE.

Wyatt continued in office for nearly two years, and was then succeeded
by Sir William Berkeley—a name destined to become notorious
in the history of Virginia—who arrived and assumed the government in
February, 1642. The assembly convened in March, and its first act
was to pass a solemn protest against a petition which Sir George Sandys
was having numerously signed, to be presented to Parliament, praying
for the restoration of the London Company. Much important business
was transacted at this session of the assembly. The punishment of temporary
slavery, which had existed from the foundation of the colony,
was abolished. The trials of causes were made to more nearly conform
with those of England. Laws were passed regulating land titles. A
treaty was made with Maryland respecting trade on the Chesapeake
Bay. Taxation was rendered more uniform, and the tax for the support
of the governor was abolished. This was the first meeting of the
assembly the acts of which were published.

THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION OF 1642.

The war clouds which had darkened the political horizon of England
for many years now broke forth in a storm of uncontrolled fury. Civil
war drenched the island in blood. The Royalists were defeated; Charles
went to the scaffold; monarchy was overthrown, and Oliver Cromwell
declared Protector of the Commonwealth of England, the destinies of
which he controlled until the year 1658, when he was succeeded by his
son, Richard, who held the reins of government until the restoration of
monarchy in 1660.

Throughout the period of the revolution the Virginians continued
loyal to the royal cause, not because they loved monarchy, but because
they cherished the liberties secured under the constitution which Charles
I. had given them, and after the execution of Charles I. they recognized
his fugitive son as their rightful sovereign—then an exile in Holland.
The loyalty of Virginia to the father did not escape the notice of his
son, and from a foreign shore he transmitted to Berkeley a commission
as governor, signed by his royal highness. Thus the fugitive from
England, the refugee to Holland, was still the sovereign of Virginia.

In the meantime the last opposition to the Parliamentary army in
Britain had been overcome, and Cromwell now turned his attention
to his distant colony, determined to force it to submit to the
new government.

Virginia was now rapidly becoming a nation. Under the influence
of her salutary laws, the products of a virgin soil, wrought by willing
hands, and the advantages which her foreign trade had given her, she
had increased her population from a few hundred to twenty thousand,
and there were trading to her ports ten ships from London, two from
Bristol, twelve from Holland, and seven from New England. Such was
the colony which Cromwell now proposed should submit to the government
of the Commonwealth.

A fleet, together with a considerable land force, sailed for Virginia,
and cast anchor before Jamestown. But the colonists, in anticipation
of the projected conquest, had not been idle. Many veterans from the
shattered royal army had taken refuge in Virginia. The colonial army,
thus augmented, was a power of which the Commonwealth was ignorant.
In addition, several Dutch merchant ships were lying in the river,
trading in violation of the acts of Parliament, and of course were armed,
that they might defend themselves against the fleets of the Commonwealth.
They now allied themselves with the colonial forces. The
commissioners of Cromwell, surprised at such a show of resistance,
hesitated, and offered fair and honorable terms to the colonists. By
them was insured a continuation of their liberties, the preservation of
their constitution intact, and a full and complete pardon for all past
offenses. Thus the colonists could gain by treaty all that they could
hope to gain by the most successful resistance. The articles were signed
by the commissioners on the part of the Commonwealth, and the council
on the part of the State of Virginia, "as equals treating equals."

From this time to the Restoration, Virginia governed herself, and obtained
unlimited liberty of commerce, which was regulated by independent
laws. The famous Navigation Acts of Cromwell were not
designed for her oppression, and were never enforced on her shores. A
trade was opened between Virginia and Denmark, and finally with

"every Christian nation in amity with England." When the colony
recognized the authority of Cromwell, Berkeley, who held his commission
from the exiled king, was too loyal to continue in office, and
Richard Bennett, one of the commissioners, was chosen to succeed him.
A council was also chosen to act in accordance with instructions from
Parliament, and to exercise such powers as the assembly might delegate
to it. Bennett retired from office in March, 1655, and Edward Digges
became his successor. He served two years, when an election was held,
and the choice fell upon "worthy Samuel Mathews, an old planter of
nearly forty years' standing, a most deserving Commonwealth's man,
who kept a good house, lived bravely, and was a true lover of
Virginia."

He, like most Virginians since, was opposed to long sessions of the
legislature, and in the spring of 1659, threatened to dissolve that body
unless it speedily adjourned. The worthy Samuel had forgotten that it
was the legislature that made the governor. His attention was, however,
called to the fact by the reply of the Speaker to the effect that
"the House of Burgesses, the representatives of the people, were not
dissolvable by any power yet extant in Virginia, except their own; and,
that the former election of the governor and council was void." The
old governor thus learned that Virginia, then—as well as now—regarded
her officers as servants and not dictators.

VIRGINIA AT THE TIME OF THE RESTORATION.

Richard Cromwell resigned the Protectorate in 1660. Virginia, too,
was without a head. The assembly at once convened and again elected
Berkeley governor, with the understanding that he should call the
assembly together at least once in two years, and that it should not be
dissolved save by its own consent. The old monarchist, now aware
that Charles, his beloved prince, would shortly be placed upon the
throne, accepted the office and acknowledged himself the people's
servant.

Virginia now had a population of thirty thousand. She had established
upon her soil the supremacy of the legislative branch of representative
government; had secured freedom of trade, security against
foreign taxation, and a universal elective franchise. Prosperity kept
pace with freedom. The social condition of the emigrants now coming
to her shores was vastly improved, and her hospitality was already proverbial.
Such was Virginia in the year 1660.

BACON'S REBELLION.

No sooner had intelligence of the Restoration reached Virginia than
Berkeley issued a proclamation calling for the election of a new assembly,
declaring that the acts of that body during the existence of the Protectorate,
were illegal and no longer in force. The people still indulged the
hope that all would yet be well; but they had yet to learn that Charles
II. was the worst monarch of modern times, and that in enforcing his
tyrannical edicts he would find in Berkeley a most willing tool.

The new statute was a death-stroke at colonial liberty. It provided
that all trade should be restricted to English ports and carried only in
English vessels. A heavy tax was imposed for the support of the government.
The colonists demonstrated and petitioned, but the king turned
a deaf ear to complaints, and the oppressive laws were rigorously enforced.

But legislative tyranny sank into insignificance when compared with
the recklessness of granting large tracts of land to the ignoble and profligate
courtiers who thronged his court. No matter whether these lands
were on the distant frontier, or the best and most highly cultivated in
the colony. Whole hamlets and entire counties were thus given away,
and in 1673 the king became a bankrupt in the matter of lands by granting
to Lords Culpeper and Arlington a patent for the entire State of
Virginia, together with all its rights and privileges for a period of thirty-one
years.

At the gay court of Charles II. this may have been regarded a small
bounty to a royal favorite, but to the forty thousand Virginians thus
transferred to a proprietor from whom nothing was to be hoped, and
everything feared, it appeared in a very different light. Messrs. Ludwell,
Moryson and Smith went to England and presented a remonstrance,
but to no purpose.

In the meantime a war broke out with the Susquehanna Indians. The
legislature raised and equipped an army of five hundred men for service
in the war, but just as they were ready to march they were disbanded
by the governor, who refused to assign any reason for the act. Volunteers
then flocked to Jamestown and offered to serve without any remuneration
if the governor would only appoint a leader. This he refused
to do. Then they determined to march to the defenseless frontier without
the governor's consent, and looking about for a leader, they found a
young man from Henrico county who had just returned from England,
whither he had gone to complete his education. The name of that young
man was Nathaniel Bacon. When he took command of the volunteer army
he made application to Berkeley for a commission, but it was refused, and
Bacon marched to the frontier authorized only by the will of the people
and the danger of his country. No sooner had the army began its march
than Berkeley declared Bacon a rebel and his followers traitors, and collecting
as great a force as he could raise among the wealthy aristocrats

residing in and about Jamestown, he marched in pursuit of Bacon, with
the proclaimed intention of suppressing the rebellion. Bacon continued
his march to the frontier, defeated the Indians, drove them far into the
interior, and was returning homeward when he heard of the action of
the governor. Leaving the greater part of his army, he continued by
forced marches towards Jamestown, to which place the governor had
fallen back; but he was made prisoner by one Gardiner, and carried before
Berkeley. He was finally pardoned and allowed to take his seat in
the assembly on condition that he would confess the impropriety of his
conduct, and promise obedience for the future. His soldiers, however,
were not satisfied with the humility to which then leader was subjected,
and marched to Jamestown and compelled the governor to give him a
commission, and he again marched to the frontier. But no sooner was
he gone than Berkeley retired into Gloucester and a second time declared
Bacon a rebel; who when he heard the news, fell back towards Gloucester,
and forced the governor with his forces to retreat into Acomac.
This county, located on the eastern shore, was considered a distinct territory,
although tributary to Virginia. Bacon once more marched up
the Potomac, and Berkeley crossed the bay and entered Jamestown.
No sooner had Bacon heard of the governor's movements, than he
wheeled his van and shortly appeared in front of Jamestown, attacked
the place and drove Berkeley on board the ships in the river. The torch
was applied, and in twelve hours the oldest town in British America was
in ruins.

We know little of Bacon after this, more than that he died of disease
contracted during his campaigns. With him died the cause for which he
fought. The patriots disbanded, and Berkeley's authority was soon
restored, and his vengeance glutted by hanging twenty-three of the followers
of Bacon.

Thus ended Bacon's rebellion. The only difference between that
struggle and the one of a hundred years later being that the first was an
effort to establish a free government subject to Great Britain, which could
not be done; and the second was an effort to establish a free government
independent of Great Britain, which was done.

Berkeley resigned his commission and went to England, where he
found his actions towards the colony universally disapproved, even by
the king himself. This the governor could not withstand, and he soon
sank beneath his load of crime, and died, despised in England and execrated
in Virginia.

From this time onward, for a period of nearly fifty years, there is
little of interest in the history of Virginia, save the succession of
governors, and a desultory Indian war carried on upon her western
frontier.

Sir Herbert Jeffries came over as the successor of Berkeley, but was
in a short time relieved by Sir Henry Chichely. In 1678 Lord Culpeper,
who, together with Lord Arlington, held a patent for the entire
State, came over and assumed the government, made many fair promises,
one of which was to secure the redress of grievances demanded by the
colony; then leaving the government in the hands of Chichely, he
returned to England. In 1683 Arlington surrendered his claim to Culpeper,
who thus became sole proprietor of Virginia. He came over and
began his government on the principle that he owned Virginia, and the
Virginians were his slaves, but before his acts could accomplish much mischief,
Charles II. revoked his charter because of a failure to comply
with its terms. Thus, in 1684, Virginia again became a royal province,
with Lord Howard of Effingham as royal governor.

James II. came to the throne in 1685, but there was no change in the
government of the colony for the next three years, when William,
Prince of Orange, drove James from the English throne and mounted
it himself. He referred all complaints of the Virginians to his privy
council, with orders that they should receive prompt attention. Sir
Francis Nicholson came over and assumed the government. By his
mild and conciliatory administration of the affairs of the colony he became
more popular than any of his predecessors.

REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL OF VIRGINIA.

In the year 1698 the seat of government was removed from Jamestown
to Williamsburg, seven miles distant from the old metropolis. The historian
of that day assigns as the reason of the removal the fact that
Williamsburg was "in a healthier and more convenient location, and
freer from moschetoes."

Nicholson was succeeded in 1693 by Sir Edmund Andros, but was
restored in 1698, and served until 1705, when Edward Nott became
governor. He died shortly after receiving his commission, and the
government devolved upon Edward Jennings, the president of the council,
until the king's pleasure became known. The Earl of Orkney
received the commission, but sent out Brigadier-General Hunter to rule
in his stead. He was captured by the French while on his way to
America, and the illustrious

COLONEL ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD

became governor. He was the most distinguished individual that controlled
the destinies of Virginia prior to the Revolution. He had won
distinction on many bloody fields during the campaigns of Marlborough,
and thus secured the appointment of colonial governor of Virginia.

THE UNKNOWN REGIONS OF THE WEST.

One hundred and three years had passed away since the founding of
Jamestown, and the little colony of one hundred and five souls had
grown to nearly one hundred thousand. Hardy pioneers had extended
the domain of civilization far into the interior. There were now twenty-four
counties in Virginia, and settlements were approaching the eastern
base of the Blue Ridge, but of the country beyond the "rocky barrier"
nothing whatever was known, The most daring adventurer had not
dared to penetrate this unknown wilderness. But the conquest of the
wilderness was the mission of those determined spirits who had fled from
oppression in the Old World to find a home of freedom on the shores of
the New. Governer Spotswood determined to know something more of
this region, and accordingly equipped a company of horsemen, and heading
it in person began his march from Williamsburg through a dense
wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and savage men. Toiling on for
several days, the expedition at last reached the base of the Alleghanies,
and pushing upward through the narrow defiles the intrepid governor
and his little party reached the summit and stood upon one of the loftiest
peaks of the Appalachian range. What a spot! Never before, perhaps,
had the footsteps or the voice of civilized man been heard amid
this mountain fastness. As that little band stood there gazing westward
into an illimitable wilderness, they there resolved that its vast extent
should be peopled, redeemed from the sway of savage men, and the forest
be made to blossom as the rose. How well that resolution has been
carried into effect, let the fifteen millions of happy and prosperous people
who now throng the great valley of the Mississippi answer.

The party returned to Williamsburg and gave the most glowing description
of the country which they had visited. Amid forests of fragrant
trees and perfumed alcoves, spots more enchantingly beautiful than
were ever graced by Calypso and her nymphs, they had discovered those
mysterious hygeian fountains from which flowed these life-giving waters
which have since obtained a world-wide fame. In order to induce emigration
to the West, the governor established the "Transmontane Order,
or Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," giving to each of those who accompanied
him a miniature golden horseshoe bearing the inscription,
"Sic Jurat transcendere Montes" (thus he swears to cross the mountains).
These were given to whoever would accept them, with the understanding
that he would comply with the inscription. (See De Hass, page 35.)

SILVER MEDAL PRESENTED THE INDIAN POTENTATE, THE
"KING OF PAMUNKIE,"

By the nial Authorities of Virginia.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS—"WESTWARD THE STAR
OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY."

Many daring adventures crossed the rocky barrier during the succeeding
years, but it was not until the year 1732 that a permanent setlement
was made west of the mountains. In this year sixteen families
from Pennsylvania came over and began a settlement near where Winchester
now stands. They were guided to the location by a gentleman
named Joist Hite, and to them is due the credit of having first planted
the standard of civilization in Virginia, west of the mountains. (Kerchevel,
page 65.)

The second settlement was made in 1734 by Benjamin Allen and three
others on the north branch of the Shenandoah, about twelve miles
south of the present town of Woodstock. Other adventurers pushed on
and settlements gradually extended west, crossing the Capon river,
North Mountain and the Alleghany range, until finally they reached
the tributaries of the Monongahela (MS. volume of Dr. Ruffner). For
twenty years after the settlement about Winchester, the natives inhabiting
the mountains and intervening vales remained in a state of comparative
quiet; but about this time a circumstance occurred which led
to a much better acquaintance with the vast and unexplored regions of
the West. Two men, Thomas Morlen and John Salling, determined to
explore those unknown regions, and accordingly set out from Winchester.
They journeyed up the Shenandoah, crossed the James river near
the Natural Bridge, and had progressed as far as the Roanoke, when they
were attacked by a party of Cherokees, and Salling was made prisoner.
Morlen made his escape from them and returned in safety to the settlement.
Salling was carried captive into what is now called Tennessee,
where he remained with them for several years. While on a hunting
expedition with some of his tribe, they were attacked by a party of Illinois
Indians, who were the deadly enemies of the Cherokees, and Salling
was a second time borne off a prisoner.

This occurred in what is now the State of Kentucky, which was at
that time the favorite hunting-ground of all the tribes of the Mississippi
Valley. Salling was taken by his new captors to Kaskaskia, and was
afterward sold to a company of Spanish traders on the Lower Mississippi,
who in turn sold him to the governor of Canada, and he transferred
him to the Dutch authorities at Manhattan; thence he succeeded in
reaching Williamsburg, after an absence of more than six years. (De
Hass, page 38.)

About the time that Salling returned to Williamsburg, a considerable
addition was made to the population of Virginia by the arrival of emigrants
at Jamestown, among whom were John Lewis and John Mackey,
both of whom were desirous of securing land in the West. Struck with
Salling's description of the country which he had traversed, where
mighty rivers, flowing from unknown sources amid the icy fountains of
the far North, rolled their transparent waters in majestic grandeur to
the South; where stretched away vast plains fringed with primeval forests

which seemed to be the culminating point of the plant regions of the
Northern Hemisphere, they determined to visit it, having first engaged Salling
as a guide. The three crossed the mountains, and descending the western
declivities, they were so much pleased with the country that they decided
to locate and take up their final abode. Accordingly they both
set about finding a suitable location. Lewis selected as the place of his
future residence a site on a stream which still bears his name. Mackey
chose a spot on the Shenandoah; and Salling, having concluded to remain,
chose a tract of land on the waters of the James, where he built his
cabin.

Lewis made application for and received a grant of one hundred thousand
acres of land; and while in Williamsburg perfecting his claim, he
met with Benjamin Burden, who had just arrived from England as the
agent of Lord Fairfax, to whom James II. had granted five hundred
thousand acres of land to be located west of the Blue Ridge, and prevailed
upon him to accompany him to his home. Burden remained at
Lewis' the greater part of the summer, and on his return to Williamsburg
took with him a buffalo calf which he and Andrew Lewis (afterward
General Lewis) had caught and tamed. He presented it to Governor
Gooch, who was so much pleased with his mountain pet that he
entered on his journal a patent authorizing Burden to locate any quantity
of land not exceeding five hundred thousand acres on any of the
waters of the Shenandoah or James rivers west of the Blue Ridge. One
of the conditions of this grant was that he should settle one hundred
families in ten years within its limits, and for this purpose Burden sailed
for Europe in the year 1737, and upon his return to Virginia brought
with him upward of one hundred families of adventurers to settle upon
his grant. Among these emigrants were many who became the founders
of some of the most distinguished families of Virginia. Of these were
the Alexanders, Crawfords, McDowells, McLures, Moores, Matthews,
Pattons, Prestons, Tolfords, Archers and others.

ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST COUNTIES OF THE BLUE RIDGE.

In the year 1738 the Colonial Legislature of Virginia passed a bill
providing for the organization of a new county west of the Blue Ridge,
and accordingly Orange county was divided into two parts, and the new
county named Augusta. The pioneers of this county were so much distinguished
for their heroism, which struck terror and dismay into the
Indians, that during the darkest days of the Revolution, when the Pennsylvania
and New Jersey troops had mutinied, and it seemed that all
was lost, Washington was heard to exclaim: "Leave me but a banner
to place upon the mountains of West Augusta, and I will rally around
me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her
free."