← Table of contents
The History of Virginia, in Four Parts

THE TABLE.

Reading edition

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

History of the first attempts to settle Virginia, before the discovery of Chesapeake bay.

PAGE.

§1. Sir Walter Raleigh obtains letters patent, for making discoveries in America, 8

2. Two ships set out on the discovery, and arrive at Roanoke inlet, 9

Their account of the country, 9

thier account of the natives, 9

3. Queen Elizabeth names the country of Virginia, 10

4. Sir Richard Greenvile's voyage, 10

He plans the first colony, under command of Mr. Ralph Lane, 11

5. The discoveries and accidents of the first colony, 11

6. Their distress by want of provisions, 12

Sir Francis Drake visits them, 12

He gives them a ship and necessaries, 12

He takes them away with him, 12

7. Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Richard Greenvile, their voyages, 13

The second settlement made, 13

8. Mr. John White's expedition, 13

The first Indian made a Christian there, 14

The first child born there of Christian parentage, 14

Third settlement, incorporated by the name of the city of Raleigh, in Virginia, 14

Mr. White, their governor, sent home to solicit for supplies, 14

9. John White's second voyage; last attempts to carry them recruits, 14

His disappointment, 15

10. Capt. Gosnell's voyage to the coast of Cape Cod, 15

11. The Bristol voyages, 16

12. A London voyage, which discovered New York, 16

CHAPTER II.

Discovery of Chesapeake bay by the corporation of London adventurers; their colony at Jamestown, and proceedings during the government by an elective president and council.

§13. The companies of London and Plymouth obtain charters, 18

14. Captain Smith first discovers the capes of Virginia, 19

15. He plants his first colony at Jamestown, 20

An account of Jamestown island, 20

16. He sends the ships home, retaining one hundred and eight men to keep possession, 20

17. That colony's mismanagement, 21

Their misfortunes upon discovery of a supposed gold mine, 21

18. Their first supplies after settlement, 22

Their discoveries, and experiments in English grain, 22

An attempt of some to desert the colony, 22

19. The first Christian marriage in that colony, 23

They make three plantations more, 23

CHAPTER III.

History of the colony after the change of their government, from an elective president to a commissionated governor, until the dissolution of the company.

§20. The company get a new grant, and the nomination of the governors in themselves, 24

They send three governors in equal degree, 24

All three going in one ship, are shipwrecked at Bermudas, 24

They build there two small cedar vessels, 24

21. Captain Smith's return to England, 25

Mismanagements ruin the colony, 25

The first massacre and starving time, 25

The first occasion of the ill character of Virginia, 26

The five hundred men left by Captain Smith reduced to sixty in six months time, 26

22. The three governors sail from Bermudas, and arrive at Virginia, 26

23. They take off the Christians that remained there, and design, by way of Newfoundland, to return to England, 27

Lord Delaware arrives and turns them back, 27

24. Sir Thomas Dale arrives governor, with supplies, 27

25. Sir Thomas Gates arrives governor, 28

He plants out a new plantation, 28

26. Pocahontas made prisoner, and married to Mr. Rolfe, 28

27. Peace with the Indians, 28

28. Pocahontas brought to England by Sir Thomas Dale, 29

29. Captain Smith's petition to the queen in her behalf, 29

30. His visit to Pocahontas, 32

An Indian's account of the people of England, 32

31. Pocahontas' reception at court, and death, 33

32. Captain Yardley's government, 34

33. Governor Argall's good administration, 34

34. Powhatan's death, and successors, 34

Peace renewed by the successors, 34

35. Captain Argall's voyage from Virginia to New England, 35

36. He defeats the French northward of New England, 35

37. An account of those French, 36

38. He also defeats the French in Acadia, 36

39. His return to England, 36

Sir George Yardley, governor, 36

40. He resettles the deserted plantation, and held the first assembly, 36

The method of that assembly, 37

41. The first negroes carried to Virginia, 37

42. Land apportioned to adventurers, 37

43. A salt work and iron work in Virginia, 38

44. Sir Francis Wyat made governor, 38

King James, his instructions in care of tobacco, 38

Captain Newport's plantation, 38

45. Inferior courts in each plantation, 39

Too much familiarity with the Indians, 39

46. The massacre by the Indians, anno 1622, 39

47. The discovery and prevention of it at Jamestown, 40

48. The occasion of the massacre, 41

49. A plot to destroy the Indians, 42

50. The discouraging effects of the massacre, 43

51. The corporation in England are the chief cause of misfortunes in Virginia, 43

52. The company dissolved, and the colony taken into the king's hands, 44

CHAPTER IV.

History of the government, from the dissolution of the company to the year 1707.

§53. King Charles First establishes the constitution of government, in the methods appointed by the first assembly, 45

54. The ground of the ill settlement of Virginia, 45

55. Lord Baltimore in Virginia, 46

56. Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland, 46

Maryland named from the queen, 46

57. Young Lord Baltimore seats Maryland, 46

Misfortune to Virginia, by making Maryland a distinct government, 47

58. Great grants and defalcations from Virginia, 47

59. Governor Harvey sent prisoner to England, and by the king remanded back governor again, 47

60. The last Indian massacre, 48

61. A character and account of Oppechancanough, the Indian emperor, 48

62. Sir William Berkeley made governor, 49

63. He takes Oppechancanough prisoner, 49

Oppechancanough's death, 50

64. A new peace with the Indians, but the country disturbed by the troubles in England, 50

65. Virginia subdued by the protector, Cromwell, 50

66. He binds the plantations by an act of navigation, 51

67. His jealousy and change of governors in Virginia, 51

68. Upon the death of Matthews, the protector's governor, Sir William Berkeley is chosen by the people, 52

69. He proclaims King Charles II before he was proclaimed in England, 52

70. King Charles II renews Sir William Berkeley's commission, 52

71. Sir William Berkeley makes Colonel Morrison deputy governor, and goes to England, 53

The king renews the act concerning the plantation, 53

72. The laws revised, 53

The church of England established by law, 53

73. Clergy provided for by law, 53

74. The public charge of the government sustained by law, 53

75. Encouragement of particular manufactures by law, 54

76. The instruction for all ships to enter at Jamestown, used by law, 54

77. Indian affairs settled by law, 54

78. Jamestown encouraged by law, 54

79. Restraints upon sectaries in religion, 55

80. A plot to subvert the government, 55

81. The defeat of the plot, 55

82. An anniversary feast upon that occasion, 56

83. The king commands the building a fort at Jamestown, 56

84. A new restraint on the plantations by act of parliament, 56

85. Endeavors for a stint in planting tobacco, 56

86. Another endeavor at a stint defeated, 57

87. The king sent instructions to build forts, and confine the trade to certain ports, 57

88. The disappointment of those ports, 58

89. Encouragement of manufactures enlarged, 58

90. An attempt to discovery the country backward, 59

Captain Batt's relation of that discovery, 59

91. Sir William Berkeley intends to prosecute that discovery in person, 60

92. The grounds of Bacon's rebellion, 60

Four ingredients thereto, 61

93. First, the low price of tobacco, 61

Second, splitting the country into proprieties, 61

The country send agents, to complain of the propriety grants, 61

94. Third, new duties by act in England on the plantations, 62

95. Fourth, disturbances on the land frontiers by the Indians, 62

First, by the Indians on the head of the bay, 62

Second, by the Indians on their own frontiers, 63

96. The people rise against the Indians, 63

They choose Nathan Bacon, Jr., for their leader, 63

97. He heads them, and sends to the governor for a commission, 64

98. He begins his march without a commission, 64

The governor sends for him, 65

99. Bacon goes down in a sloop with forty of his men to the governor, 65

100. Goes away in a huff, is pursued and brought back by governor, 65

101. Bacon steals privately out of town, and marches down to the assembly with six hundred of his volunteers, 65

102. The governor, by advice of assembly, signs a commission to Mr. Bacon to be general, 66

103. Bacon being marched away with his men is proclaimed rebel, 66

104. Bacon returns with his forces to Jamestown, 66

105. The governor flies to Accomac, 66

The people there begin to make terms with him, 67

106. Bacon holds a convention of gentlemen, 67

They propose to take an oath to him, 67

107. The forms of the oath, 67

108. The governor makes head against him, 69

General Bacon's death, 69

109. Bacon's followers surrender upon articles, 69

110. The agents compound with the proprietors, 69

111. A new charter to Virginia, 70

112. Soldiers arrive from England, 70

113. The dissolution by Bacon's rebellion, 70

114. Commissioners arrive in Virginia, and Sir William Berkeley returns to England, 71

115. Herbert Jeffreys, esq., governor, concludes peace with Indians, 71

116. Sir Henry Chicheley, deputy governor, builds forts against Indians, 71

The assembly prohibited the importation of tobacco, 72

117. Lord Colepepper, governor, 72

118. Lord Colepepper's first assembly, 72

He passes several obliging acts to the country, 72

119. He doubles the governor's salary, 72

120. He imposes the perquisite of ship money, 73

121. He, by proclamation, raises the value of Spanish coins, and lowers it again, 73

122. Sir Henry Chicheley, deputy governor, 74

The plant cutting, 74

123. Lord Colepepper's second assembly, 75

He takes away appeals to the assembly, 75

124. His advantage thereby in the propriety of the Northern Neck, 76

125. He retrenches the new methods of court proceedings, 77

126. He dismantled the forts on the heads of rivers, and appointed rangers in their stead, 77

127. Secretary Spencer, president, 77

128. Lord Effingham, governor, 77

Some of his extraordinary methods of getting money, 77

Complaints against him, 78

129. Duty on liquors first raised, 78

130. Court of Chancery by Lord Effingham, 78

131. Colonel Bacon, president, 79

The college designed, 79

132. Francis Nicholson, lieutenant governor, 79

He studies popularity, 79

The college proposed to him, 79

He refuses to call an assembly, 79

133. He grants a brief to the college, 79

134. The assembly address King William and Queen Mary for a college charter, 80

The education intended by this college, 80

The assembly present the lieutenant governor, 80

His method of securing this present, 80

135. Their majesties grant the charter, 80

They grant liberally towards the building and endowing of it, 80

136. The lieutenant governor encourages towns and manufactures, 80

Gentlemen of the council complain of him and are misused, 81

He falls off from the encouragement of the towns and trade, 81

137. Edmund Andros, governor, 81

The town law suspended, 81

138. The project of a post office, 81

139. The college charter arrived, 81

The college further endowed, and the foundation laid, 82

140. Sir Edmund Andros encourages manufactures, and regulates the secretary's office, 82

141. A child born in the old age of the parents, 83

142. Francis Nicholson, governor, 83

His and Colonel Quarrey's memorials against plantations, 84

143. His zeal for the church and college, 84

144. He removes the general court from Jamestown, 84

145. The taking of the pirate, 84

146. The sham bills of nine hundred pounds for New York, 86

147. Colonel Quarrey's unjust memorials, 87

148. Governor Nott arrived, 88

149. Revisal of the law finished, 88

150. Ports and towns again set on foot, 88

151. Slaves a real estate, 88

152. A house built for the governor, 88

Governor dies, and the college burnt, 88

153. Edmond Jennings, esq., president, 89

154. Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor, 89

BOOK II.

Natural Productions and Conveniences of Virginia in its unimproved state, before the English went thither.

CHAPTER I.

Bounds and Coast of Virginia.

§1. Present bounds of Virginia, 90

2. Chesapeake bay, and the sea coast of Virginia, 91

3. What is meant by the word Virginia in this book, 91

CHAPTER II.

Of the Waters.

§4. Conveniency of the bay and rivers, 93

5. Springs and fountains descending to the rivers, 93

6. Damage to vessels by the worm, 94

Ways of avoiding that damage, 94

CHAPTER III.

Earths, and Soils.

§7. The soil in general, 96

River lands—lower, middle and upper, 96

8. Earths and clays, 98

Coal, slate and stone, and why not used, 98

9. Minerals therein, and iron mine formerly wrought upon, 98

Supposed gold mines lately discovered, 99

That this gold mine was the supreme seat of the Indian temples formerly, 99

That their chief altar was there also, 99

Mr. Whitaker's account of a silver mine, 99

10. Hills in Virginia, 100

Springs in the high lands, 101

CHAPTER IV.

Wild Fruits.

§11. Spontaneous fruits in general, 102

12. Stoned fruits, viz: cherries, plums and persimmons, 102

13. Berries, viz: mulberries, currants, hurts, cranberries, raspberries and strawberries, 103

14. Of nuts, 104

15. Of grapes, 105

The report of some French vignerons formerly sent in thither, 107

16. Honey, and the sugar trees, 107

17. Myrtle tree, and myrtle wax, 108

Hops growing wild, 109

18. Great variety of seeds, plants and flowers, 109

Two snake roots, 109

Jamestown weed, 110

Some curious flowers, 111

19. Creeping vines bearing fruits, viz: melons, pompions, macocks, gourds, maracocks, and cushaws, 112

20. Other fruits, roots and plants of the Indians, 114

Several sorts of Indian corn, 114

Of potatoes, 115

Tobacco, as it was ordered by the Indians, 116

CHAPTER V.

Fish.

§21. Great plenty and variety of fish, 117

Vast shoals of herrings, shad, &c., 117

22. Continuality of the fishery, 118

The names of some of the best edible fish, 118

The names of some that are not eaten, 118

23. Indian children catching fish, 118

Several inventions of the Indians to take fish, 119

24. Fishing hawks and bald eagles, 121

Fish dropped in the orchard, 121

CHAPTER VI.

Wild Fowl and Hunted Game.

§25. Wild Water Fowl, 123

26. Game in the marshes and watery grounds, 123

27. Game in the highlands and frontiers, 123

Of the Opossum, 124

28. Some Indian ways of hunting, 124

Fire hunting, 124

Their hunting quarters, 125

29. Conclusion, 126

BOOK III.

Indians, their Religion, Laws and Customs, in War and Peace.

CHAPTER I.

Persons of the Indians, and their Dress.

§1. Persons of the Indians, their color and shape, 127

2. The cut of their hair, and ornament of their head, 128

3. Of their vesture, 128

4. Garb peculiar to their priests and conjurors, 130

5. Of the women's dress, 131

CHAPTER II.

Matrimony of the Indians, and Management of their Children.

§6. Conditions of their marriage, 133

7. Maidens, and the story of their prostitution, 133

8. Management of the young children, 134

CHAPTER III.

Towns, Building and Fortification of the Indians.

§9. Towns and kingdoms of the Indians, 135

10. Manner of their building, 135

11. Their fuel, or firewood, 136

12. Their seats and lodging, 136

13. Their fortifications, 136

CHAPTER IV.

Cookery and Food of the Indians.

§14. Their cookery, 138

15. Their several sorts of food, 139

16. Their times of eating, 140

17. Their drink, 140

18. Their ways of dining, 141

CHAPTER V.

Traveling, Reception and entertainment of the Indians.

§19. Manner of their traveling, and provision they make for it, 142

Their way of concealing their course, 142

20. Manner of their reception of strangers, 143

The pipe of peace, 143

21. Their entertainment of honorable friends, 145

CHAPTER VI.

Learning and Languages of the Indians.

§22. That they are without letters, 147

Their descriptions by hieroglyphics, 147

Heraldry and arms of the Indians, 147

23. That they have different languages, 148

Their general language, 148

CHAPTER VII.

War and Peace of the Indians.

§24. Their consultations and war dances, 149

25. Their barbarity upon a victory, 149

26. Descent of the crown, 150

27. Their triumphs for victory, 150

28. Their treaties of peace, and ceremonies upon conclusion of peace, 151

CHAPTER VIII.

Religion, Worship and Superstitious Customs of the Indians.

§29. Their quioccassan and idol of worship, 152

30. Their notions of God, and worshiping the evil spirit, 155

31. Their pawwawing or conjurations, 157

32. Their huskanawing, 160

33. Reasons of this custom, 164

34. Their offerings and sacrifice, 165

35. Their set feasts, 165

36. Their account of time, 165

37. Their superstition and zealotry, 166

38. Their regard to the priests and magicians, 167

39. Places of their worship and sacrifice, 168

Their pawcorances or altar stones, 168

40. Their care of the bodies of their princes after death, 169

CHAPTER IX.

Diseases and Cures of the Indians.

§41. Their diseases in general, and burning for cure, 171

Their sucking, scarifying and blistering, 171

Priests' secrecy in the virtues of plants, 171

Words wisoccan, wighsacan and woghsacan, 172

Their physic, and the method of it, 172

42. Their bagnios or baths, 172

Their oiling after sweating, 173

CHAPTER X.

Sports and Pastimes of the Indians.

§43. Their sports and pastimes in general, 175

Their singing, 175

Their dancing, 175

A mask used among them, 176

Their musical instruments, 177

CHAPTER XI.

Laws, and Authorities of the Indians among one another.

§44. Their laws in general, 178

Their severity and ill manners, 178

Their implacable resentments, 179

45. Their honors, preferments and authorities, 179

Authority of the priests and conjurers, 179

Servants or black boys, 179

CHAPTER XII.

Treasure or Riches of the Indians.

§46. Indian money and goods, 180

CHAPTER XIII.

Handicrafts of the Indians.

§47. Their lesser crafts, as making bows and arrows, 182

48. Their making canoes, 182

Their clearing woodland ground, 183

49. Account of the tributary Indians, 185

BOOK IV.

Present State of Virginia.

PART I.

Polity and Government.

CHAPTER I.

Constitution of Government in Virginia.

§1. Constitution of government in general, 186

2. Governor, his authority and salary, 188

3. Council and their authority, 189

4. House of burgesses, 190

CHAPTER II.

Sub-Divisions of Virginia.

§5. Division of the country, 192

6. Division of the country by necks of land, counties and parishes, 192

7. Division of the country by districts for trade by navigation, 194

CHAPTER III.

Public Offices of Government.

§8. General officers as are immediately commissionated from the throne, 196

Auditor, Receiver General and Secretary, 196

Salaries of those officers, 197

9. Other general officers, 197

Ecclesiastical commissary and country's treasurer, 197

10. Other public officers by commission, 197

Escheators, 197

Naval officers and collectors, 198

Clerks and sheriffs, 198

Surveyors of land and coroners, 199

11. Other officers without commission, 199

CHAPTER IV.

Standing Revenues or Public Funds.

§12. Public funds in general, 200

13. Quit rent fund, 200

14. Funds for maintenance of the government, 201

15. Funds for extraordinary occasions, under the disposition of the assembly, 201

16. Revenue granted by the act of assembly to the college, 202

17. Revenue raised by act of parliament in England from the trade there, 202

CHAPTER V.

Levies for Payment of the Public, County and Parish Debts.

§18. Several ways of raising money, 203

Titheables, 203

19. Public levy, 203

20. County levy, 204

21. Parish levy, 204

CHAPTER VI.

Courts of Law in Virginia.

§22. Constitution of their courts, 205

23. Several sorts of courts among them, 206

24. General court in particular, and its jurisdiction, 206

25. Times of holding a general court, 206

26. Officers attending this court, 206

27. Trials by juries and empannelling grand juries, 207

28. Trial of criminals, 207

29. Time of suits, 208

30. Lawyers and pleadings, 208

31. County courts, 208

32. Orphans' courts, 209

CHAPTER VII.

Church and Church Affairs.

§33. Parishes, 210

34. Churches and chapels in each parish, 210

35. Religion of the country, 210

36. Benefices of the clergy, 210

37. Disposition of parochial affairs, 211

38. Probates, administrations, and marriage licenses, 212

39. Induction of ministers, and precariousness of their livings, 213

CHAPTER VIII.

Concerning the College.

§40. College endowments, 214

41. The college a corporation, 214

42. Governors and visitors of the college in perpetual succession, 215

43. College buildings, 215

44. Boys and schooling, 215

CHAPTER IX.

Military Strength in Virginia.

§45. Forts and fortifications, 217

46. Listed militia, 217

47. Number of the militia, 217

48. Service of the militia, 218

49. Other particulars of the troops and companies, 218

CHAPTER X.

Servants and Slaves.

§50. Distinction between a servant and a slave, 219

51. Work of their servants and slaves, 219

52. Laws in favor of servants, 220

CHAPTER XI.

Provision for the Poor, and other Public Charitable Works.

§53. Legacy to the poor, 223

54. Parish methods in maintaining their poor, 223

55. Free schools, and schooling of children, 224

CHAPTER XII.

Tenure of Lands and Grants.

§56. Tenure and patents of their lands, 225

57. Several ways of acquiring grants of land, 225

58. Rights to land, 225

59. Patents upon survey, 225

60. Grants of lapsed land, 226

61. Grants of escheat land, 227

CHAPTER XIII.

Liberties and Naturalization of Aliens.

§62. Naturalizations, 228

63. French refugees at the Manican town, 228

CHAPTER XIV.

Currency and Valuation of Coins.

§64. Coins current among them, what rates, and why carried from among them to the neighboring plantations, 230

PART II.

Husbandry and Improvements.

CHAPTER XV.

People, Inhabitants of Virginia.

§65. First peopling of Virginia, 231

66. First accession of wives to Virginia, 231

67. Other ways by which the country was increased in people, 232

CHAPTER XVI.

Buildings in Virginia.

§68. Public buildings, 234

69. Private buildings, 235

CHAPTER XVII.

Edibles, Potables and Fuel.

§70. Cookery, 236

71. Flesh and fish, 236

72. Bread, 237

73. Their kitchen gardens, 237

74. Their drinks, 238

75. Their fuel, 238

CHAPTER XVIII.

Clothing in Virginia.

§76. Clothing, 239

Slothfulness in handicrafts, 239

CHAPTER XIX.

Temperature of the Climate, and the Inconveniences attending it.

§77. Natural temper and mixture of the air, 240

78. Climate and happy situation of the latitude, 240

79. Occasions of its ill character, 241

Rural pleasures, 241

80. Annoyances, or occasions of uneasiness, 243

Thunders, 243

Heat, 243

Troublesome insects, 243

81. Winters, 250

Sudden changes of the weather, 251

CHAPTER XX.

Diseases incident to the Country.

§82. Diseases in general, 252

83. Seasoning, 253

84. Cachexia and yaws, 253

85. Gripes, 253

CHAPTER XXI.

Recreations and Pastimes in Virginia.

§86. Diversions in general, 254

87. Deer-hunting, 254

88. Hare-hunting, 254

89. Vermin-hunting, 255

90. Taking wild turkies, 256

91. Fishing, 256

92. Small game, 256

93. Beaver, 256

94. Horse-hunting, 257

95. Hospitality, 258

CHAPTER XXII.

Natural Product of Virginia, and the Advantages of Husbandry.

§96. Fruits, 259

97. Grain, 261

98. Linen, silk and cotton, 261

99. Bees and cattle, 262

100. Usefulness of the woods, 263

101. Indolence of the inhabitants, 263

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings