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Sergeant
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- Apr 14, 2007
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If you want to have a better understanding of England’s first successful colony in the new world, I highly recommend this book. Outstanding!
While reading it, I have always wondered what would cause the spark of an English/Indian war. Well, I now know. From 1607 through 1622, the Virginia Company had a policy of peaceful coexistence with the natives and cultural assimilation. The way they looked at it, the natives would live alongside the English colonists and would learn civility from them. This seemed to be working rather well. There were the occasional misdeeds of both sides as we can expect with people so different from one another living in close proximity in that day and age, but everything seemed to be working. After Chief Powhatan died, eventually his brother Opechancanough became chief. He came to see the colonists as an enemy. Chief Opechancanough devised a plan that on a particular day, the natives would be in the town and plantations doing their usual business. They would not be openly armed. The colonists didn't expect anything. Then at the appointed time, the attacks began up and down the river by the Indians. At the time of the attack, there were roughly 1240 settlers in the James River region. On that single day, March 22, 1622, roughly 400 men, women and children were killed. The Indians spared no one they came across and after they killed the colonists, they scalped and dismembered the victims. The only reason why Jamestown itself was spared was because of a man named Richard Pace. One of the Indians who was working as his servant told Richard Pace what was going to happen the morning of the planned attack. Richard rowed three miles down the river and told the governor at Jamestown before the attack began. Jamestown didn't lose a single person in the attacks, but just seven miles down the river at Martin's Hundred, all seventy colonists there were killed. Chief Opechancanough thought that by this attack, those that did survive would leave for the safety of England. In this, he was completely wrong and sealed the doom of his people. It wasn't until after this event in English literature that the natives were referred to in a negative way. They were now labeled as "beasts, miscreants, or brutish". A ten year war then ensued with the policy of the Virginia Company becoming "extinction of the native peoples". Both sides continued to raid one another's homes and villages killing any person caught in their way. Finally, in 1632, a peace treaty went into effect. That held until April 18, 1644 when Chief Opechancanough again did a multiple surprise attack on the colonists killing up to 500 people that day. It was on again after that. Opechancanough was captured in 1646 and was to be transported back to England for trial. Two weeks after his capture, one of the guards shot him in the back and killed him. Amazing sad stuff, huh? Up until 1624, the colonists would only settle in what they called the Indians wastelands. Basically, the swamp areas. That helps explains their high death rates. They didn't want to take any land they thought the Indians would take offense at. They apparently didn't realize that the Indians took offense at this anyway. The land that the colonists thought was undesirable was actually Indian hunting grounds. After the attack in March 1624, all land of the natives was to be seized as spoils of war. King James did not come involved in this adventure until 1623. Up until then, it had been a totally private corporation affair. After complaints from investors and a rising death toll from the fighting, King James voided the Virginia Company's charter and made Virginia a royal colony in 1624. The book states that the action the King took wiped away a 200,000 pound investment by the company! That is a staggering amount of investment.
It appears to me that after these events, Native American and European colonists relations pretty much went downhill from there for the most part.
Great book.
Darrell Pace
While reading it, I have always wondered what would cause the spark of an English/Indian war. Well, I now know. From 1607 through 1622, the Virginia Company had a policy of peaceful coexistence with the natives and cultural assimilation. The way they looked at it, the natives would live alongside the English colonists and would learn civility from them. This seemed to be working rather well. There were the occasional misdeeds of both sides as we can expect with people so different from one another living in close proximity in that day and age, but everything seemed to be working. After Chief Powhatan died, eventually his brother Opechancanough became chief. He came to see the colonists as an enemy. Chief Opechancanough devised a plan that on a particular day, the natives would be in the town and plantations doing their usual business. They would not be openly armed. The colonists didn't expect anything. Then at the appointed time, the attacks began up and down the river by the Indians. At the time of the attack, there were roughly 1240 settlers in the James River region. On that single day, March 22, 1622, roughly 400 men, women and children were killed. The Indians spared no one they came across and after they killed the colonists, they scalped and dismembered the victims. The only reason why Jamestown itself was spared was because of a man named Richard Pace. One of the Indians who was working as his servant told Richard Pace what was going to happen the morning of the planned attack. Richard rowed three miles down the river and told the governor at Jamestown before the attack began. Jamestown didn't lose a single person in the attacks, but just seven miles down the river at Martin's Hundred, all seventy colonists there were killed. Chief Opechancanough thought that by this attack, those that did survive would leave for the safety of England. In this, he was completely wrong and sealed the doom of his people. It wasn't until after this event in English literature that the natives were referred to in a negative way. They were now labeled as "beasts, miscreants, or brutish". A ten year war then ensued with the policy of the Virginia Company becoming "extinction of the native peoples". Both sides continued to raid one another's homes and villages killing any person caught in their way. Finally, in 1632, a peace treaty went into effect. That held until April 18, 1644 when Chief Opechancanough again did a multiple surprise attack on the colonists killing up to 500 people that day. It was on again after that. Opechancanough was captured in 1646 and was to be transported back to England for trial. Two weeks after his capture, one of the guards shot him in the back and killed him. Amazing sad stuff, huh? Up until 1624, the colonists would only settle in what they called the Indians wastelands. Basically, the swamp areas. That helps explains their high death rates. They didn't want to take any land they thought the Indians would take offense at. They apparently didn't realize that the Indians took offense at this anyway. The land that the colonists thought was undesirable was actually Indian hunting grounds. After the attack in March 1624, all land of the natives was to be seized as spoils of war. King James did not come involved in this adventure until 1623. Up until then, it had been a totally private corporation affair. After complaints from investors and a rising death toll from the fighting, King James voided the Virginia Company's charter and made Virginia a royal colony in 1624. The book states that the action the King took wiped away a 200,000 pound investment by the company! That is a staggering amount of investment.
It appears to me that after these events, Native American and European colonists relations pretty much went downhill from there for the most part.
Great book.
Darrell Pace