1622.

March 22, Massacre in Virginia.

settlement, the whole company removed to it, and began a plantation.1

What had been merely dreaded at Plymouth, was experienced in all its horrors in her sister colony. By a preconcerted conspiracy, the Indians in the neighbourhood of Virginia, on the 22d of March, fell on the English, 347 of whom, unresisting and defenceless, were cruelly massacred. The massacre was conducted with indiscriminate barbarity. No regard was shown to dignity; no gratitude, for benefits. Six of the council were slain, one of whom, Mr. George Thorpe, a very respectable and pious man, who had the principal management of the lands and affairs of the college, had been a distinguished friend and benefactor of the Indians. An exterminating war between the English and the Indians immediately succeeded this massacre. The people, concerned in the care and culture of the college lands, experiencing a great slaughter, those lands were now abandoned; and no public institution was again attempted for the benefit of the natives of Virginia, until benefactions were made by the Honourable Robert Boyle.3

To the horrors of massacre were soon superadded the miseries of famine. Of eighty plantations, which were advancing fast toward completion, eight only remained; and of the numerous settlers, who had been transported to Virginia at a great expense, 1800 only survived these disasters.4

1 Morton, 44. Mather, Magnal. b. 1. 11. Prince, 1619-1622. See A. D. 1624. Weston was one of the merchant adventurers, who, in 1619, sent proposals to Leyden for transporting the English Congregation to America. He appears to have been active in promoting the Plymouth settlement from that time until this year. Why he now withdrew his patronage we are not informed; but by a letter from him, received at this time, addressed to governor Carver," we find," says governor Bradford, "he has quite deserted us, and is going to settle a Plantation of his own." See Prince, 65, 70, 114, 118.

2 Smith, Virg. 144-149, where are the numbers slain at the several plantations. Purchas, v. 1788-1790. Beverly, 61, 62. Keith, 138. Stith, 211. Nemattanow, a famous Indian warrior, believed by the natives to be invulnerable, was killed by the English in 1621; and Keith [137.] says, it was in revenge of his death, that Opechancanough plotted this massacre. Chalmers [b. 1. 58.] says, "it ought to be observed, that the emigrants, notwithstanding the humane instructions of their sovereign and the prudent orders of the company, had never been solicitous to cultivate the good will of the aborigines; and had neither asked permission when their country was occupied, nor had given a price for invaluable property, which was taken without authority."

3 Stith, 217, 295. Mr. Boyle's donation was annexed to the professorships of William and Mary college, as a sixth professorship, for the instruction of the Indians and their conversion to Christianity. Jefferson, Virg. Query xv.

4 Purchas, b. 9. c. 15. Chalmers, b. 1. 59. In the year 1620 there were about 2260 inhabitants in Virginia. [See that year.] In 1621, governor Wyat brought over nearly 700, which addition makes 2960. Deduct from this number 347 for the loss in the massacre, and the remainder is 2613. If, as Purchas leads us to believe, there were but 1800 left after the massacre and famine, upwards of 800 are still unaccounted for. The natural deaths in the colony since 1620 may partly account for this deficiency; but some accessions to it have probably been omitted, which might counterbalance that loss. It is indeed expressly said in Purchas, that "in the yeeres 1619, 1620, and 1621, there hath

land.

Much as the colony lost of its inhabitants and possessions by 1622. the recent calamities, its losses were considerably counterbalanced by supplies from the parent country. From May 1621 to May Supplies 1622, 20 ships transported 1300 persons, and 80 cattle, from from EngEngland to Virginia. King James made the colonists a present of arms out of the tower, and lent them 20 barrels of powder; lord St. John, of Basing, gave them 60 coats of mail; the city of London, and many private persons, made them generous contributions. Such had now become the extent of the settlements Inferior and the number of the inhabitants, in the Virginia colony, that it courts apwas found very inconvenient to bring all causes to James Town. pointed. Inferior courts were therefore appointed in convenient places, to relieve the governor and council from the heavy burden of business, and to render justice less expensive, and more accessible, to the people. This is the origin of county courts in Virginia.2

The tobacco, exported from Virginia to England, on an aver- Tobacco. age for the last seven years, was 142,085 pounds a year. Previous to the massacre, a successful experiment of wine had been made in that colony; and a specimen of it was now sent to Wine. England.3

The English had now ten forts at Bermudas; 3000 people; Bermudas. and 50 pieces of ordnance.1

Thirty five ships sailed this year from the west of England, Fishery. and two from London, to fish on the New England coasts; and made profitable voyages.5

to N. Eng

The Plymouth company having complained to king James of Restraint the encroachments and injuries of interlopers on their American on the trade commerce and possessions, and applied to him for relief; the land. king issued a proclamation, commanding that none should frequent the coasts of New England, but the adventurers and plant

beene provided and sent for Virginia two and fortie saile of ships, three thousand five hundred and seventie men and women for plantation, with requisite provisions." I am inclined, therefore, to ascribe some part of this extraordinary reduction to an emigration from the colony, seldom noticed by historians. It is affirmed, that several English families, to shun the massacre in Virginia, fled to the Carolinian coasts, and settled at a place called Mallica, near the river May. It is also affirmed, that they converted the inhabitants of the neighbouring Apalaches. Atlas Geographus Americ. v. 688. Univ. Hist. xl. 420. Brit. Emp. iii. 210. This last history says, they were driven on the coasts of Carolina; which seems to imply, that they made their escape by water.

1 Purchas, ut supra. Smith, Virg. 147. Stith, 233. Univ. Hist. xli. 529. 2 Beverly, 60. Stith, 207. Brit. Emp. iii. 68.

3 Stith, 218, 246. Robertson, b. 9. French vinedressers, brought over to Virginia in 1621, wrote to the English company, that the Virginia climate and soil surpass the province of Languedoc. Beverly, 191.

4 Josselyn, Voy. 250. In the years 1619, 1620, 1621, there were sent to Bermudas 9 ships, employing 240 mariners, and carrying about 900 people for settlement. Purchas, v. 1785.

5 Smith's N. Eng. tryals, in Purchas, v. 1840-1842.

"Where in Newfound

land they shared sixe or seven pounds for a common man, in New England they shared fourteene pounds; besides six Dutch and French ships made wonderfull returnes in furres."

1622. ers; or traffic with the Indians otherwise than by the license of the council of Plymouth, or according to the orders of the privy council. "This remarkable edict, far from proving beneficial to the company, really brought on its dissolution."1

Grant to
Gorges.

State of
Quebec.

Visit to

A grant was made by the council of Plymouth to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason, jointly, of all the lands between the rivers Merrimack and Sagadahock, extending back to the great lakes and river of Canada. This district was called Laconia.2

All the colony of Quebec, at this period of Canadian annals, consisted of no more than 50 persons, men, women, and children. An establishment, however, had been formed at Trois Rivieres; and a brisk trade continued to be carried on at Tadoussac.3

1623.

INTELLIGENCE being received at Plymouth, that Masassoit was Masassoit. likely to die, and that a Dutch ship was driven ashore near his house, the governor sent Edward Winslow and John Hambden with Hobomack, to visit and assist him, and to speak with the Dutch. They found Masassoit extremely ill; but, by cordials administered by Mr. Winslow, he revived. After their departure, Hobomack informed them that Masassoit had privately charged him to tell Mr. Winslow, that there was a plot of the Massachusetts against Weston's people at Wessagusset; that, lest the English of Plymouth should avenge their countrymen, they also were to be destroyed; and that the Indians of Paomet, Nauset, Mattachiest, Succonet, the Isle of Capawick, Manomet, and Agawaywom, had joined with the Massachusetts in this conspiracy; and that he advised them to kill the conspirators, as the only means of security.5

Indian conspiracy.

1 Chalmers, b. 1. 91. This Proclmation, dated 6 November, is in Hazard's Coll. i. 151, 152; and in Rymer's Fœdera, xvii. 416; and is entitled, "A Proclamation, prohibiting interloping and disorderly trading to New England in America."

2 Belknap, N. Hamp. i. c. 1.

3 Champlain, Voy. 2 partie, 49. Charlevoix, Nouv. France, i. 158. Univ. Hist. xxxix. 419.

4 Mr. Hambden is said to have been a gentleman of London, who then wintered with the Plymouth colonists, and desired much to see the country"; and is supposed by Dr. Belknap to be the same person, who afterward distinguished himself by his opposition to the arbitrary demands of Charles I. Winslow, Relat. Belknap, Biog. ii. 229.

5 Mattachiest seems to be the country between Barnstable and Yarmouth harbours. Manomet is the name of a creek or river, which runs through the town of Sandwich into the upper part of Buzzard's Bay, formerly called Manomet Bay. Between this and Scusset Creek is the place, which, for more than a century, has been thought of as proper to be cut through, to form a communication by a navigable canal, from Barnstable Bay to Buzzard's Bay. Prince, 1623. Belknap, Biog. ii. 314.

1623.

The governor, on receiving this intelligence, which was confirmed by other evidences, ordered Standish to take with him as many men as he should judge sufficient, and, if a plot should be Expedition of Standish, discovered, to fall on the conspirators. Standish, with eight men, to suppress sailed to the Massachusetts, where the natives, suspecting his it. design, insulted and threatened him. Watching his opportunity, when four of them, Wittuwamet, Pecksuot, another Indian, and a youth of 18, brother of Wittuwamet, and about as many of his own men, were in the same room, he gave a signal to his men ; the door was instantly shut; and, snatching the knife of Pecksuot from his neck, he killed him with it, after a violent struggle; his party killed Wittuwamet, and the other Indian; and hung the youth. Proceeding to another place, Standish killed an Indian; and afterward had a skirmish with a party of Indians, which he put to flight. Weston's men also killed two Indians. Standish, with that generosity which characterizes true bravery, released the Indian women, without taking their beaver coats, or allowing the least incivility to be offered them. The English Wessagussettlers now abandoned Wessagusset; and their plantation was set abanthus broken up, within a year after its commencement. Standish, the English, having supplied them with corn, and conducted them safely out of Massachusetts Bay in a small ship of their own, returned to Plymouth, bringing the head of Wittuwamet, which he set up on the fort. This sudden and unexpected execution so terrified the other natives, who had intended to join the Massachusetts in the conspiracy, that they forsook their houses, and fled to swamps and desert places, where they contracted diseases which proved mortal to many of them; among whom were Canacum, sachem of Manomet; Aspinet, sachem of Nauset; and Ianough, sachem of Mattachiest.1

doned by

A severe drought prevailing at this time in Plymouth, the Drought. government set apart a solemn day of humiliation and prayer; and soon after, in grateful and pious acknowledgment of the blessing of copious showers, and supplies of provisions, a day of public thanksgiving.2

1 Winslow's "Good Newes from New England: Or, a Relation of things remarkable in that Plantation," abridged in Purchas, b. 10. c. 5. Coll. Mass. Hist. Society, viii, 257-263. Mather, Magnal. b. 1. c. 3. Morton & Prince, 1623. I. Mather, N. Eng. 14-16. Belknap, Biog. ii. Art. STANDISH. Wittuwamet was a chief of the Massachusetts, said to be "a notable insulting Indian." Pecksuot was "a notable Pinese, i. e. Counsellor and Warrior." Prince, 1623. Winslow says, Pecksuot had made the point of his knife as sharp as a needle, and ground the back also to an edge. The natives were in the habit of wearing knives, suspended at the breast, in sheaths tied about the neck. One of these Indian sheaths, a part of the spoils in the old wars with the French and Indians, is in my possession. It is seven inches long, and terminates in a point. It is made of leather, curiously wrought with some hard but pliant substance of various colours, and trimmed at the upper edge with a fringe with little pendant rolls of brass or some other metal.

2 Purchas, b. 10. c. 5. 1866. Prince, 1623, from Bradford and Winslow.

1623.

The first patent of Plymouth had been taken out in the name of John Pierce, in trust for the company of adventurers; but when he saw the promising state of their settlement, and the favour which their success had obtained for them with the council for New England, he, without their knowledge, but in their name, procured another patent of larger extent, intending to keep it for his own benefit, and hold the adventurers as his tenants, to sue and be sued at his courts. In pursuance of this design, he, in the autumn of the last year, and beginning of this, made repeated attempts to send a ship to New England; but it was forced back by storms. In the last attempt, the mariners, about the middle of February, were obliged, in a terrible storm, to cut away their main mast, and return to Portsmouth. Pierce was then on board, with 109 souls. After these successive losses, patent ashe was prevailed on by the company of adventurers, to assign signed to the Plyto them, for £500, the patent which had cost him but £50. The mouth ad- goods, with the charge of passengers in this ship, cost the company £640. Another ship was hired, to transport the passengers and goods; and it arrived at Plymouth in July. Soon after arrived a new vessel of 44 tons, which the company had built, to remain in the country; both brought supplies for the plantation, and about 60 passengers.

Pierce's

venturers.

Settlements begun at Pascataqua river.

John Mason, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others, having obtained patents of the New England council for several portions of territory, sent over, in the spring of this year, David Tomson, Edward and William Hilton, and a few other persons, to begin a settlement. Tomson and some of his company began one accordingly, 25 leagues north east from Plymouth, near Smith's Isles, at a place called Pascatoquack. The place first seized Little Har was called Little Harbour, on the west side of Pascataqua river, and near its mouth; where was built the first house, called Mason Hall. The Hiltons, proceeding higher up the river, settled at Cochecho, afterward called Dover. Scattered settlements were also begun this year, by different adventurers, at Monahigan, and at other places.2

bour.

Dover.

1 Morton, 1623. Prince, 1623, from Bradford and Winslow. Mather, Magnal. b. 1. c. 3. Neal, N. Eng. i. 113, 115. Belknap, Biog. ii. 234, 235.

2 Winslow's Relation, Purchas, v. lib. 10. c. 5. 1867. Hubbard, N. Eng. c. 18, 31. Prince, 1623. Belknap, N. Hamp. i. c. 1. Farmer's MS. The chimney and some part of the stone wall of this house were standing when Hubbard wrote his history. Tomson, from dislike either of the place, or of his employers, removed within a year after into Massachusetts, where he possessed himself of a fertile island, and a valuable neck of land, which was afterward confirmed to him, or his heirs, by the Massachusetts court, on the surrender of all his other interest in New England. Tomson (so Winslow writes the name) was a Scotchman; the Hiltons were from London. The neck of land possessed by Tomson was Squantum neck. Bradford's Letter Book; Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. iii. 63; Belknap, Biog. ii. 334.-But few buildings were erected about Pascata