A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA FOR BOYS & GIRLS JOHN w: \VAYLAND ^ttsburgh Longitude /^■J\^ Buffalo Lilhi»'SpringfcV««nofc5~->i^' ■m«.Eng.Co.,N.Y fron 79° Greenwich A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA FOR BOYS AND GIRLS \/ A History of Virginia for Boys and Girls BY JOHN W. WAYLAND, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, HARRISONBURG VIRGINIA AUTHOR OF "HOW TO TEACH AMERICAN HISTORY' "HISTORY STORIES FOR PRIMARY GRADES," ETC. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1920 All rights reserved , W5 6 ^ Copyright, 1920, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1920, 5t"P 23 1920 '\ g)CI,Ao97496'- PREFACE In this book, which is offered to our schools, the author has had three aims : First, to be accurate in the truth of history ; second, to be intelhgible and interesting to young readers ; third, to be helpful to teachers. Accordingly, an effort has been put forth to make the narrative concrete by presenting facts in connection with persons, places, and incidents. Geography, civics, and literature, in easy phases, are frequenth^ woven in. Human and social values have been kept in mind from beginning to end. The author's sincere thanks are hereby tendered to all his friends, old pupils and others, who have generously aided him in the preparation of this book. Some have gathered facts, some have sup- plied photographs, some have spoken the needed word of encouragement. All have helped : to all he is grateful. CONTENTS PART I VIRGINIA AS A COLONY OF ENGLAND CHAPTER L Virginia and Virginia Dare 11. A Day in May . III. John Smith: His Friends and His Foes IV. Pocahontas and Her People V. A Red-Letter Year: 1619 VI. In the Tobacco Fields VII. The Kings' Governors VIII. "The Old Dominion" IX. Bacon's Rebellion X. The College of William and Mary XI. The Knights of the Horseshoe XII. William Byrd and Peter Jones XIII. Washington as a Surveyor XIV. Washington as a Soldier XV. Life on the Plantations XVI. Life in the Mountains PART II VIRGINIA AND THE REVOLUTION XVII. Patrick Henry and the Parsons XVIII. Andrew Lewis and Lord Dunmore XIX. Washington a Soldier Again . vii PAGE I II 19 28 37 46 55 63 70 79 87 94 lOI 109 116 124 131 137 143 Vlll CONTENTS XX. Jefferson and His Pen .... 149 XXI. "The Hannibal of the West" . . . 156 XXn. Campbell and King's Mountain . . . 161 XXni. Washington and Lafayette .... 167 . PART III VIRGINIA AND THE STRONGER UNION XXIV. "The Mother of States" .... 174 XXV. Washington and Madison in Independence Hall 181 XXVI. Four Virginia Presidents .... 188 XXVII. John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice 199 PART IV THE PERIOD OF GROWTH AND GREAT DIFFERENCES XXVIII. The Gateways in the Mountains XXIX. RUMSEY AND McCoRMICK XXX. "The Mill Boy of the Slashes" XXXI. The University of Virginia XXXII. Turnpikes and Stage Coaches XXXIII. Ante-Bellum Days ... PART V VIRGINIA AND THE CIVIL WAR XXXIV. John Brown's Raid . . . . XXXV. Lee's Defense of Richmond XXXVT. Jackson in the Valley . . . . XXXVII. Second Manassas and Fredericksburg 205 216 223 231 239 246 259 266 275 283 CONTENTS IX CHAPTER XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLI. XLII. XLIII. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVII. XLVIII. XLIX. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Winchester and Cedar Creek Saltville and Wytheville The Final Fight for Richmond . PART VI PROGRESS AND PROMISE Lee at Lexington , Maury and His Maps Jefferson's Dream Virginia Authors . Farms and Orchards Cities and Factories Four More Virginia Presidents Virginia and the World War PAGE 296 312 321 334 343 349 357 363 369 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA FOR BOYS AND GIRLS PART I — VIRGINIA AS A COLONY OF ENGLAND CHAPTER I VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIA DARE Virginia is like a wonderful book, full of pic- tures, full of stories. And, from first to last, the pictures change. At first we see only woods and waters, flocks of wild fowls swimming in the rivers or flying in the air, with here and there a path through the forest leading to the dens of animals or to the wigwams of Indians. And the pictures are all of hunting and fishing, of the rowing of canoes or the sailing of ships ; of red or brown people almost as wild as the birds and animals ; and of fierce battles between the wild people and the white strangers who came over the seas in ships. Then the pictures change, one after the other, and the stories too, as the years come and go ; and after a long, long time we see Virginia as we 2 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA know it to-day — ^ our Virginia, filled with farms and orchards, towns and cities ; with homes and schools and churches ; with - roads wide and smooth, with railroads straight and long ; and with telephone and telegraph wires carrying our mes- sages from house to house and from city to city. But the roads and railroads of to-day often lie upon the very paths that the Indians and the THE BUFFALOES WERE GOOD PATHFINDERS buffaloes used to follow through the woods and across the hills. The rivers and bays that now carry our ships of steel are the same that long ago were dotted here and there with flocks of fowl and frail canoes. Where many of our towns and cities rise there once stood Indian villages. Our homes are often on a camping ground or a battle field. And the stories that go along with the changes that have taken place we call history. VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIA DARE 3 Our first story, ''Virginia and Virginia Dare/' will tell us how this part of the New World came to be called Virginia and why the first English child born here was also called Virginia. Ever since the early days when John and Sebas- tian Cabot, two brave captains from England, came over to the New World, the kings and queens of England had claimed this country. Therefore, whenever any one came over here from England he was ex- pected to tell the king or the queen all about it. In the year 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh, a fine English gentle- man, a friend and favorite of Queen Elizabeth, sent over some men to find a good place to make Sn< ALltk KAi.tu.rl, A FRIEND OF THE QUEEN a settlement. They looked at many places along the strange shores, but they seemed to like best an island that they found on the coast of what is now North Carolina. There the natives were friendly, game was abundant, and the forests of cedar and pine were rich and green. Back to 4 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA England the explorers sailed and made report to Raleigh. He carried the report to Queen Eliza- beth. She was so much pleased with the new countr}^, as it was described to her, that she called it Virginia. In giving the new land this name the queen no doubt intended to honor it and also herself. Being unmarried, she was called the Virgin Queen. Virginia, as she thought of it, was the land of the Virgin Queen. Virginia it has ever since been called. Of course, nobody at that time knew just how large this country was, and nobody could have told just where Virginia began or where it ended. But it was very large. It included not only what is now Virginia and North Carolina, but also most of the country between Florida on the south and Canada on the north. The island that pleased Raleigh's men so much was called Roanoke Island. It still bears that name. It is about twelve miles long and three or four miles wide. If you will examine a good m.ap of the North Carolina coast you will see that the island lies behind a long, narrow wall of sandy beach, between Pamlico Sound on the south and Albemarle Sound on the north. Albemarle Sound is really the wide mouth of Roanoke River, which pours its waters down from the far-away mountains, through Virginia and North Carolina. VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIA DARE 5 To Roanoke Island Sir Walter Raleigh sent a colony. When it failed he sent another. All this took time — three or four years, though it does ' not take long to tell about it. In Raleigh's second colony was the Dare family. Dare was a good name for people going into a strange, wild country, was it n-ot? Mr. Dare's given name was Ana- nias ; his wife's name was Eleanor, Soon after they reached Roanoke Island a little daughter was born to them. They called her Virginia. They probably gave her this name in honor of the Queen and because they had come to make their home in this new land which was called Virginia. Virginia Dare was a good name. It seemed to have a note of prophecy in it. It seemed WILLIAMS tNGBAViun en.. A MAP OF THE VIRGINIA-CAROLINA COAST 6 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA to tell of a spirit that was to make Virginia great. The little girl, Virginia Dare, was, so far as we know, the first child born of English parents in America. We cannot help wishing that we knew her whole story. What became of her is one of the sad mysteries of those early days. Virginia Dare's grandfather, John White, had been appointed by Raleigh as governor of the Roanoke colony. When Virginia was only ten days old Governor White got on a ship and started back to England. He had to go back for more food and other supplies. He expected to return to Roanoke Island soon ; but in those days, when ships had to depend on the winds, it often took six months or longer to make a trip across the At- lantic and back. Governor White did not get back to Roanoke Island for nearly four years. A war in Europe between England and Spain had delayed him more than the uncertain winds. When he returned to the island no Virginia Dare could he find. Indeed, he could find none of the colonists he had left there. All were gone. Grass was growing in the fort. Houses were empty. Some books and pictures, torn and soiled, were scattered here and there. The only thing he could see that he thought might guide him to his lost friends and little Virginia Dare was a strange word cut VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIA DARE 7 into the bark of a large tree. This word was " Croatan." Croatan was the name of another island that lay forty or fifty miles south of Roanoke Island. NO VIRGINIA DARE COULD HE FIND Governor White tried to reach Croatan, but the ship fell into a storm on the way and was delayed. 8 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA After several days the captain of the ship lost cour- age or quarreled with Governor White and turned the ship toward England. At any rate, the sad- hearted governor never found his granddaughter or his lost colony. When Governor White reached England and told his sad story, Sir Walter Raleigh sent out other ships to search the Virginia shores, but all in vain. The lost colony of Roanoke was never found. Virginia Dare may have starved to death. She may have been murdered by the Indians ; or she may have grown up and lived long among the savages of some dusky tribe. Nobody knows. But the state of North Carolina has honored the memory of the Dares. As the state is laid out to-day, Roanoke Island forms a part of Dare County ; and every year the people who live on the island keep a holiday in honor of Virginia Dare. They come together near the place where she was born and tell her story to the little girls and boys who live there now. And the name of the belt of water that separates Roanoke Island from the mainland is called Croatan Sound. Nobody could live long in that part of the country without hearing of Virginia Dare. Sir Weaker Raleigh spent large sums of money and worked hard for many years trying to found a colon}^ in Virginia, but he failed. His failure to do what he had set his heart upon doubtless hurt him VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIA DARE 9 more than the loss of his wealth ; and the tragic end of the brave men and women who had trusted him and had faced the seas and the wilderness under his direction must have saddened him most of all ; yet his men who got back to Eng- land took with them some gifts that have en- riched England and many other parts of the world. From the wild shores of Virginia they carried back the white potato (now often called the Irish potato), tobacco, Indian corn, and the turkey ! They also carried back much knowledge that proved of value to those who came to the New World later. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. The English claim to North America rested upon the Cabots' discoveries. 2. Queen Elizabeth called the new land Virginia in honor of herself. 3. Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island, where Sir Walter Raleigh's men were trying to plant a colony. 4. Virginia Dare was the first child of English parents born in America. 5. It was through Raleigh's men that the potato, Indian corn, tobacco, and the turkey became known to Europe. PUPIL'S READINGS Allen : North Carolina History Stories ; Book I, pages 29-37- Guerber : Story of the Thirteen Colonies; pages 83-86. 10 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames: Colonial Virginia; pages 3-15. Sydenstricker and Burger : School History of Virginia ; pages 5-10. Suggestions. — For a little instructive entertainment it might be well to have one of the older girls impersonate Queen Elizabeth, one of the smaller ones Virginia Dare. One boy could be Raleigh, another John White. Let each tell his own story. Four more children could present to the Queen the four great gifts. One could carry a basket of potatoes, one several ears of corn, one a stalk of tobacco, and one a big picture of a turkey. CHAPTER II A DAY IN MAY On a day in May in the year 1607 three little ships came saihng up a broad river. On the ships were a hundred or more EngHshmen. At a point about forty miles up from the mouth of the river, where a large shoulder of land extended into the water, the ships stopped and the men landed. The river at this point is three or four miles wide, and the shoulder of land extended out from the north bank a mile or more. The Indians called this great river Powhatan, after their mightiest chief; but the Englishmen called it the James, after their king, in England. On your map you will see that this great river heads in the Alleghany Mountains. It breaks through the Blue Ridge at Balcony Falls, and on its banks are now the rich cities of Lynchburg and Richmond. Guarding its mouth are Newport News, Ports- mouth, and Norfolk. Through the mouth of Chesapeake Bay it pushes its way to the ocean. ^\ You will also observe that the capes at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay are called Charles and Henry. The hundred Englishmen of whom we II 12 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA speak gave the capes those names in honor of the two sons of King James ; and the village that they founded up the river where they landed they called Jamestown. Jamestown was begun twenty years later than Raleigh's settlements on Roanoke Island ; and it JAMESTOWN ISLAND TO-DAY, AS SEEN FROM A BOAT IN THE RIVER came near to failure, time after time, during the first few years. Fatal diseases, lack of food, hostile savages, and quarrels among themselves made the Jamestown pioneers few and wretched. If it had been easy for them to get back to England they would have gone, and the history of Virginia would be different. But the ocean was wide ; ships were few ; the winds were uncertain. Dangers A DAY IN MAY 13 and death faced them here, but distances and difficulties kept them here. And so, in the slow march of years, the settlement on the James was established. Jamestown is famous as the first English colony in America that held out. It became the cradle of THE JAMES RIVER OPPOSITE THE OLD ja n ! \ SETTLEMENTS a great republic. That is to say, the childhood of Virginia and of the United States began at Jamestown. It was there that many of our great lessons of government were first learned in this country. When the white men at Jamestown began to cut down the straight pine trees to build their houses, it was the first time an ax of iron was; heard in that part of Virginia. The Indian axes 14 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA were of stone or copper. The Indians were known to be hostile, so one of the first structures the white men built was a sort of fort. The wall was probably made of heavy logs, ten or twelve feet long, set up on end, one tight against the other. Where the ground was marshy and soft these logs may have been sharpened and driven down. At other places a trench was dug, the logs were set down into it, one against another, and the earth tamped in around them. Such a wall is called a palisade, and the place inclosed by a palisade is called a stockade. Many of the early forts in this country were stockades. Although most of the Jamestown men were daring and jolly fellows, they also had a deep respect for God and for religion. Accordingly, they soon built a church. Indeed, one of the first things they did after they landed was to hold religious services. The minister. Rev. Robert Hunt, stood under an old canvas sail stretched from two trees across to one or two other trees not far away. His pulpit was a bar of wood nailed to two of the trees. Around the sides were wooden rails ; and the seats were logs and hewn planks. In bad weather the men crowded into an old rotten tent. Under such conditions Mr. Hunt read prayers, preached sermons, and invoked the blessings of God upon their work and their hopes. A DAY IN MAY 15 And, all around them, in $plte of fever and ague, in spite of hunger and savages, there were many things to give them hope and courage. Some of the land was marshy, but much of it was well drained and fertile. Wood for fires and timber for building were abundant and near at hand. The rivers and creeks were ready-made roads for boats and canoes, and the waters were alive with fish. When the sun came out it scattered golden light among the green trees and the wild flowers, and the perfume of the buds and blossoms seemed all the sweeter because of the songs of the birds. The old sail between the trees and the rotten tent in days of storm served as a church till a better one could be erected. This better one was homely enough, looking like a barn. It sat up above the ground on the tops of forked posts. The roof was made of poles, coarse grass, and earth. Most of the dwelling houses were equally rude. Some thirty years later a strong brick church was built, the bricks being carried over from England in ships. The tower of that brick church is still standing. It is eighteen feet square, and the walls are three feet thick. This old brick church tower stands almost alone to mark the place where our brave forefathers landed that pleasant day in May. For as time went on other towns were built at healthier places, and Jamestown was gradually deserted. The i6 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA strong tide of the mighty river has cut deep into the soft banks of the island — for the old shoulder of land is now an island — and if the government had not built a strong wall of masonry to break the force of the river current the old church tower too, and the graves around it, might in time be cut away. As it is, the foundations of many of the old houses of Jamestown are under water. When the water is clear one may look down into it and see the outlines of stone and brick foundations in the river bed. The company of men who came to Jamestown in 1607 were sent out from London by a strong organization of merchants and land agents called the London Company. This company got its power from the king. The written statement given them by the king, setting forth what they might do and what they might not do, was called a charter. Various charters were granted to the London Company by the king from time to time till 1624. The directors of the London Company were anxious to establish settlements in Virginia for a number of reasons. They wanted settlers here in order that the gold or the silver or the fish or the furs or the valuable woods that might be found here could be collected and shipped to England. And they had the notion that there was much gold here and that it was probably easy to get. A DAY IN MAY 17 In the second place, they were interested in carrying the flag of England into new regions, thus to extend the power and influence of the British government. In this the king himself was naturally much interested. In the third place, some of the men of the London Company and many others in England were anxious to educate and civilize the Indians, and to teach them the true religion. Besides all these reasons, some men in the Company and in England were eager to travel in strange countries, to hunt, to explore, to encounter dangers and adventures. Such things would add a keen spice to life and give them fine tales to tell when they got back liome. We may say, therefore, that it was desire for trade and wealth, with patriotism, the missionary spirit, and the love of adventure, that drew the London Company together, got the charters from the king, and stirred men to cross the ocean for the new, strange country. These motives, v/ith others, brought thousands to the new shores here and there as the years passed. The Jamestown settlement and a few others near it stood alone in the wilderness for a number of years. All the way" from the Spanish settle- ments in Florida to the French hamlets in Nova Scotia, the Virginians on the James were the only Europeans living on the Atlantic coast of North i8 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA America. Then in 1613 or 1614 some Dutch traders built their huts where New York City now stands, and in 1620 came the Enghsh Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. But people in New York and Massachusetts were not close neighbors to Virginia in those days. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. The first permanent settlement in Virginia was made at Jamestown, on the James River, in 1607. 2. This was the first permanent English settlement in North America. 3. The colony was sent over by the London Company, under a charter from King James I. 4. The motives that led to the enterprise were (i) desire for trade and gold, (2) patriotism, (3) the missionary spirit, and (4) the love of adventure. 5. It was at Jamestown that some of the first and greatest lessons in American government were learned. PUPIL'S READINGS Gordy : Colonial Days ; pages 7-24. Magill : First Book in Virginia History; pages 9-20. Otis : Richard of Jamestown ; pages 9-54. TEACHER'S READINGS ' Chandler and Thames : Colonial Virginia ; pages 16-41. Smithey : History of Virginia ; pages 33-47. Stanard : Jamestown and the Association for the Pres- ervation of Virginia Antiquities. Sydenstricker and Burger : School History of Virginia ; pages 16-31. CHAPTER III CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH: HIS FRIENDS AND HIS FOES On that pleasant day in May, 1607, when those three Uttle ships came saiUng slowly up the James River and stopped at the big shoulder of land where Jamestown was soon built, one might have seen among the men who stepped ashore a sturdy young fellow named John Smith. He was only twenty-eight years old, but he was a strong swimmer and a brave soldier. He had a record of which he was proud, and we may be certain that he walked with his head up and his shoulders straight, even though he was under arrest. Yes, John Smith was under arrest. When the ships had left England, sent out by the London Company under the charter from the king. Smith was one of seven men already selected to govern the colony ; but on the way over something had happened to turn his companions against him. Perhaps he boasted too much of what he had done as a soldier in Europe. Perhaps he talked too much of what he was going to do in Virginia. 19 20 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA What caused the. trouble we do not know exactly; but we do know that he was charged with mutiny and arrested, and that he was still under arrest when the colony landed and founded James- town. But John Smith was soon to be heard of again. Shortly after the arrival at Jamestown he had his trial and was set free. Then he began to explore the rivers and the woods ; to fight and trade with the Indians ; and to write books. In that crude village of Jamestown, on the edge of the Virginia wilderness, John Smith wrote the first English book ever written in America. People still read it. It has a long title, which I shall not ask you to remember ; but it tells many interesting facts about life at Jamestown and adventures in Virginia during the first thirteen months that Smith was here. In all he remained in Virginia only two years and a half; but within that short period he did so much to help the colony that we may truly call him the " Father of Virginia.'' And, for short, we may call that first book of his "A True Relation." This is the first part of its long title. He also drew a map of Virginia, which was sent over to England about Christmas, 1608 ; and with it was sent a letter written by Smith. His **True Relation" (True Story) of Virginia had been sent over some six months earlier. All CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 21 of these and various other writings of his were pubhshed in London from time to time. And it is from Smith's books that we get most of our knowledge about the first settlements on the James. So John Smith, like Julius Caesar, was both a writer and a fighter. He had to fight to keep the Indians from killing him and the other men at Jamestown ; and he wrote, I suppose, be- cause he liked to write. But to live at James- town the first two and a half years and to do enough in that time to earn the title, ** Father of Virginia," John Smith had to perform many other tasks besides fight- ing and writing. As I have told you, he explored the rivers and the forests. And he not only fought the Indians, he also made friends with them whenever he could He knew that a good friend is better than a bad enemy. From the Indians he often obtained corn and other food for the sick and starving men at Jamestown. When he was president of the coun- cil, or governor, he had to look after things in CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 22 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA general. All this was a big job for a young man who had come to Jamestown under arrest. There must have been something born in John Smith that made him a leader of men. His courage, his honesty, his good sense, and his skill in doing things soon proved him the greatest man among them all. He was not called governor or president all the time. Those titles were borne by first one and then another. But Smith was the mainstay of the colony as long as he was there. In the village he had bitter foes as well as trusty friends. One of his worst enemies was a man named John Ratcliffe. And often the men who were not his enemies were difficult to manage. He had a hard time keeping the lazy fellows at work, keeping the bad ones from swearing, and keeping the unruly ones from quarreling and fighting among them- selves. In truth he did not always succeed in doing all these things. You have heard the old saying, "When the cat's away the mice will play.'' So it was at Jamestown. Nearly every time Smith returned from an expedition he would find the men at Jamestown in trouble. Quarreling, sick- ness, lack of food, and hostile savages made the graveyard grow faster than the town ; and un- willingness to work and to obey orders made bad matters worse. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 23 One time when fire broke out and destroyed most of the cabins, many of the beds, some of the guns, and a part of the precious food supply. Smith could hardly get the men to work to rebuild the cabins. What do you think was the reason ? They were too busy digging out some yellow dirt which they had found and which they thought was gold ! They had to send a shipload of it to England before they would believe that it was not gold. The fact that Smith was able, under such condi- tions, to save the colony at all proves him a strong and a wise man. We have spoken of the men at Jamestown, not of women and children. There were no women and children there for about a year and a half. Then two women came. They were followed by others from time to time. But for ten years or more the white women and children in Virginia were comparatively few. The consequent lack of home life was one thing that stood in the way of the colony's progress. From June i, 1607, to September, 1609, Smith with small companies of his friends went out many times far into the wilderness. He went up the James River as far, it seems, as the seven hills where Richmond now stands. At that point are the falls, or the rapids, in the river. They mark the upper limit of tidewater. One time, after 24 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA he had gone up the river from Jamestown a few miles, he turned the boat to the right, into the mouth of the Chickahominy, and followed it upstream until the boat stuck fast on the bottom. Then leaving most of his men in the boat. Smith took two of them, got into an Indian canoe, and, with some friendly Indians as guides, went on up the stream. Thus following the Chickahominy, the little company finally reached a point in the White Oak Swamp. This is not far east of Richmond. There in the swamp Smith was attacked by a band of hostile Indians, who captured him and took him to their kings. Of his adventures while a prisoner of the Indians you will learn something in the next chapter. Besides exploring the James, the Chickahominy, the York, and other neighboring rivers. Captain Smith also searched out many of the shores of Chesapeake Bay. On his voyage up the bay he went into at least two broad rivers that still bear Indian names : the Rappahannock and the Poto- mac ; and once, it is said, he got up into the head- waters of the bay as far as to the spot where the city of Baltimore now stands. He learned to know Powhatan, the Indians' mightiest king, and Opechancanough, Powhatan's brother. The latter lived to a great age and never ceased to hate the white men. And Smith made a CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 25 friend of Powhatan's brave daughter, Pocahontas, whose name is written large in the history of Virginia. One day in the autumn of 1609, as Smith and some of his men were saihng down the river towards Jamestown, some powder in the boat exploded and burned Smith terribly. To put out the fire he jumped into the water and almost drowned be- fore his men could pull him back into the boat. Not long afterward he re- turned to England, where he lived most of the time till his death in 163 1. He 1 • 1 • T POCAHONTAS, POWHATAN'S BRAVE DAUGH- was DUriea m i>On- ^^j^ j^^ England she wore fine don. clothes and was called " LADY Br 1 1-1 REBECCA" eiore he died Captain Smith wrote several more books, but he never returned to Jamestown. He did come over, about 161 5, to the shores of New England, spend- ing a year or so in explorations there. Perhaps he may have seen some of the traders from Holland who were then beginning to settle on Manhattan Island and along the Hudson River. The Pilgrims had not yet come to Plymouth Rock. 26 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA It was a long time before John Smith was honored at Jamestown with a monument ; but if you should go there to-day you would find one. In the year 1907, just three hundred years after the founding of Jamestown, a great exposition to celebrate the event was held near there ; and it was in the same year (1907) that the monument to Captain Smith was erected. It stands near the old brick church tower, a figure of bronze on a base of white stone. The head is bare and the left hand rests on the hilt of a sword. On the front of the stone base is cut this inscription : CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH GOVERNOR OF JOHN SMITH MONUMENT AT JAMESTOWN 1608 FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. During the first two years and a half at Jamestown Captain John Smith was the ablest and wisest man. 2. While at Jamestown, Smith wrote the first English book ever written in America. 3. Smith also explored the country and made maps, which were published in England. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 27 4. In 1907 the Jamestown Exposition was held and a monument to Smith was erected at Jamestown. PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History; pages 11-17. Guerber : Story of the Thirteen Colonies ; pages 87-97. Otis : Richard of Jamestown ; pages 54-78. TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames: Colonial Virginia; pages 42-55. Cooke: Stories of the Old Dominion ; pages 17-55. Sydenstricker and Burger : School History of Virginia ; pages 31-38. Note. — The monument to Captain Smith was presented to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiqui- ties by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bryan of Richmond. Suggestions. — i. This chapter may easily be supple- mented with a story or two of Smith's early life as a soldier. Rossiter Johnson's "Captain John Smith," published by The Macmillan Company, will be found a delightful book in this connection for teacher and pupils. 2. At the point where Smith is termed both a writer and a fighter, the teacher may add a helpful touch by reading certain lines from the first portion of Longfellow's "Court- ship of Miles Standish." CHAPTER IV POCAHONTAS AND HER PEOPLE We have said that the name of Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Powhatan, is written large in the history of Virginia. By this we mean that she did much to help the white people in the early days of danger, and that ever since then her name has been remembered and honored. For example, in 1821 a county of Virginia was named after her. In 1863 this county and forty-nine others were made into the state of West Vir- ginia ; but that county is still called Pocahontas. On a map of the Mountain State, as West Virginia is often termed, you can see it ; and you will notice that some of the head- waters of the James AN INDIAN BOY. POSSIBLY POCAHONTAS -KlVCr COmC irOm HAD SUCH A BROTHER ^j^g mouutaiu valkys just east of Pocahontas County. 28 POCAHONTAS AND HER PEOPLE 29 On a fair day in June, 1898, the writer went down the James River from Richmond to Norfolk on a trim new steamboat. In those days that new boat was spoken of as a ''beautiful stranger on the James.'' It stopped at Jamestown Island and many other places along the winding course of the historic river. But its name was not new, neither was it strange or unknown. That new boat was the Pocahontas. For many years it steamed up and down the James, the ancient river of Powhatan, passing from day to day the places where Poca- hontas as a child and as a young woman used to see Captain John Smith and the other white men from England. But the first meeting of Smith and Pocahontas was on the York River. After Smith had been captured in the White Oak Swamp he was led before chief Opechancanough. The latter at once decided to kill him ; but luckily Smith had in his pocket a small compass. This he showed to the savage chief, whose eyes began to sparkle as he watched the needle dance round the dial. Then he tried to put his finger on the dancing needle. When his finger touched the glass and the needle went on dancing the chief was much astonished. He at once began to associate Smith and his compass with the fearful powers of the gods — the good and evil spirits that the Indians be- lieved in and worshiped ; and he came to the 30 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA conclusion that he had better not be so hasty with Smith. Accordingly, Smith with his compass was taken around as a sort of show. After he had been led to a number of the Indian villages he was conducted to Werowocomoco. This place was on the north bank of the broad York River, about three miles from the present Yorktown, measuring across the water. Yorktown is on the south side of the York. Werowocomoco was on the opposite side, a mile or two farther up the river. Werowocomoco was the winter residence of Powhatan, the great chief of all the surrounding tribes. When Smith was led before this monarch of the wilderness he saw^ an old man who had once been strong and active, and who still carried his seventy or eighty years like a king. The old warrior's face was not much wrinkled. His hair, once black, was thin and gray, hanging down upon his broad shoulders. He had a few hairs upon his chin and upper lip. Around him stood fifty tall braves, and behind him waited his group of wives. In the companies about the king were other men and women who were rulers in their own villages. For instance, the woman who brought Smith some water to wash was the queen of Appomattox. When he had washed she gave him a bunch of soft turkey feathers for a towel. POCAHONTAS AND HER PEOPLE 31 But in spite of all this show of kindness the captive was still regarded as a dangerous enemy. A council of war was held and it was decided to put him to death. Two stones were placed before Powhatan and Smith was laid upon them. A strong warrior with a heavy club stood ready to beat out the prisoner's brains. Then Pocahontas declared herself Smith's friend. She sprang forward and, shielding him with her own body, began to plead with her father for his life. If it had been anyone else who made the plea, perhaps Powhatan would have paid no heed. But he could not refuse his favorite child. At length he said that Smith might live, and he gave him over to Pocahontas to be her servant. Some persons question this story, but it is prob- ably true. Among the poets that have put it into verse was the great English writer, William Make- peace Thackeray. Here is the last stanza of his poem: "Dauntlessly aside she flings Lifted axe and thirsty knife, Fondly to his heart she clings, And her bosom guards his life ! In the woods of Powhatan, Still 'tis told by Indian fires How a daughter of their sires Saved a captive Englishman." Pocahontas at this time was probably twelve or thirteen years old. By the time Captain Smith 32 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA left Virginia in the autumn of 1609 she was fourteen or fifteen. Within this period she saved Smith's Hfe more than once, risking her own hfe to do so. And she also saved the Jamestown colony. She kept the Indians from attacking the white men or she gave the white men warning, saving them in that way. More than once she got a party of Indians together and had them carry corn and other provisions to Jamestown. If it had not been for her the settlers might all have starved to death. If Captain Smith is called the '^ Father of Vir- ginia," Pocahontas may justly be termed its *' guardian angel." In April, 1613, about three and a half years after Smith had returned to England, and after many more white people had come to Virginia, there was an interesting marriage at Jamestown. The groom was a fine young Englishman named John Rolfe. The bride was the Indian princess Poca- hontas. The latter was at this time about eighteen years old. She had professed faith in the Christian religion and had received baptism according to the practice of the Church of England. The minister at this time was not Mr. Hunt, but Mr. Alexander Whitaker. The old stone font that is said to have held the baptismal water is now kept at Williamsburg, seven or eight miles north of Jamestown. At Williamsburg one of the POCAHONTAS AND HER PEOPLE 33 historic landmarks is old Bruton Church ; and in this church one of the interesting relics that visitors may see is that old stone font. After Pocahontas and Mr. Rolfe were married they lived for two or three years at Varina, in Bermuda Hundred. The latter was one of the new settlements along the river above Jamestown. Then in 1616, when Sir Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia, went to England, Mr. and Mrs. Rolfe, their little son Thomas, and several of Pocahontas's Indian friends went with him. In England Mrs. Rolfe was received with much honor and was known as Lady Rebecca. Rebecca was the name that had been given her at James- town when she had become a Christian. In England Pocahontas was much surprised to meet Captain John Smith. She had been told that he was dead. After a year or so in England the Rolfes were preparing to return to Virginia, but it was the fate of Pocahontas never to see her native land again. She developed a rapid consumption and soon died. Her body was laid to rest in England, but her spirit and her name, her descendants and her memory, still live in Virginia. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, after growing up and being educated in London, returned to his mother's country — to Virginia — where even to-day many of the best people are proud to claim him and his mother as 34 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA their ancestors. In Surry County there is an old brick house which was owned at one time by Thomas Rolfe. And what of the Indians in Virginia to-da}^ ? two PICTURES OF A PAMUNKEY INDIAN GIRL, NOW LIVING IN VIRGINIA. SHE IS THE chief's DAUGHTER, AND SHE HAS A SISTER POCAHONTAS A few still survive. Among the many tribes that the white men found here were the Pamun- keys. The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York. Powhatan, it is said, was of the Pamun- POCAHONTAS AND HER PEOPLE 3S key tribe. A small number, a hundred or more, of the Pamunkeys still remain. They live on a reservation of 800 acres of land at Lester Manor, between Richmond and West Point. They live and dress now much like other Virginians. They have a school and a church of their own. They have their farms, gardens, and orchards ; but they still do a good deal of hunting and fishing. They still have their own chief ; and one of the chiefs daughters has been kind enough to allow her picture to be made for this book. She has a sister Pocahontas. The Pamunkeys pay no regular taxes to the state, but for many years it has been the custom of their chief to carry a basket of fish or game to Richmond at Thanksgiving and another at Christmas as presents to the governor. It is said that there are in Virginia also a few survivors of the Chickahominy tribe. And here and there on the islands of Chesapeake Bay it might be possible to find small remnants of other tribes who, in the days of Pocahontas and Powhatan, were hunters and fishers and warriors in tidewater Virginia. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, became a friend to Smith and to the Jamestown colony. 2. It was through her friendship that the settlers were more than once saved from massacre and starvation. 36 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA 3. Pocahontas became a Christian and married John Rolfe. From their son, Thomas. Rolfe, many people now Hving in Virginia have descended. 4. A few Indians, mostly Pamunkeys, still live in Vir- ginia. PUPIL'S READINGS Guerber : Story of the Thirteen Colonies ; pages 97-101. Magill : First Book in Virginia History; pages 29-34. Maury : Young People's History of Virginia ; pages 27-34. Otis: Richard of Jamestown ; pages lOO-iii. TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History; pages 43-54. Chandler and Thames: Colonial Virginia; pages 70-86. Smithey : History of Virginia ; pages 15-23 ; 54-56. CHAPTER V A RED-LETTER YEAR: 1619 We speak of 1619 as a red-letter year in the history of Virginia because so many things of importance took place that year. First, the colony was granted a new charter, better than those charters it had received before. Second, a shipload of young women came over to make good homes for the Virginia bachelors. Third, the export of tobacco began to be a big business. Fourth, steps were taken to establish a large college. Fifth, the first negro slaves were brought to James- town. Let us now take up these things in order. Until 1619 Virginia had been under two or three different charters and seven or eight different governors. One of the governors. Sir Thomas Dale, had been too harsh, but he had done some things that helped the colony. For example, he had enlarged the clearings in the forests so as to have more land for corn, and he had encouraged the raising of horses, cattle, and hogs. The best thing he did was to give each man three acres of land for his own. From his three acres each 37 38 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA owner had to pay taxes. Each year he had to give six bushels of corn to the government. But the rest of his crop was his own. From this time on the Virginia farmers began to work better and to be more interested in the colony. With the better charter of 1619 came a good governor, Sir George Yeardley. Under this charter Governor Yeardley carried Dale's plan much farther. Every person who came to Vir- ginia at his own expense and stayed three years or longer could have fifty acres of land. Each one also w^ho had been there for three years prior to 1619 could have fifty acres. Under such conditions people became anxious to live in Virginia. At the beginning of 1619 Virginia had only 400 settlers. They were scattered along the James as far up as Bermuda Hundred and Dutch Gap ; and a few were on the Eastern Shore. Before the end of 1619 twelve hundred more had arrived; and by 1622 there were more than 4000 white people in the colony. By that time the plantations extended up the James to the Falls and the Seven Hills ; and on the Eastern Shore were three or four settlements, located at or near the places where the towns of Cape Charles, Eastville, and Onancock now stand. But the charter of 1619 enabled Governor Yeardley to do something else that was better, A RED LETTER YEAR: 1619 39 perhaps, than making the Virginians independent landowners. It required him to give the people a larger share in the government. It allowed the planters to elect men from their own number to help make the laws of the colony. Therefore, soon after Yeardley arrived in Virginia he divided the whole colony into eleven districts and re- quested each district to elect two delegates. Thus there were elected in all twenty- two men. On July 30, 1 6 19, these twenty-two men met in the little wooden church at Jamestown. They were the representatives of the people. Together with the governor and his council they were the law- m.akers of Virginia. They composed the first legislative body in the New World, elected by the people. This was a great event. It reminds us of what was done in old England in 1265, when, under the direction of Simon de Montfort, the British House of Commons had its beginning. The body of the people's delegates at Jamestown was called the House of Burgesses. From that time on the people of Virginia thought more of themselves, of their ho/nes, of their rights, and of their colony than ever before. The shipload of young women reached James- town early in the year 1619. The ninety maids who landed were doubtless poor, but they were honest and courageous. In the old country they 40 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA had seen little chance for wealth or usefulness. In the new country were promise and hope, in spite of all the dangers. So to the new land these young women came. Soon they met ninety lone- some bachelors, and then there were ninety more weddings in Virginia. Before this there were a few women in the colony,, but not enough by any means. After this there were more real homes in the wilderness, and the men did not talk so much about going back to England. Soon the colony was more firmly established. It was not long till another shipload of young women came to Virginia, and they too found hus- bands promptly. The Company was careful to send only good young women, and the governors made an effort to see that only worthy men married them. By this time tobacco was used in the colony as money. The cost of bringing over one of these young women was equal to the value of about 1 20 pounds of tobacco. Accordingly, before a groom could claim his bride he was required to hand over enough tobacco to pay her expenses on the voyage. Thus it came to pasa in those days that 120 pounds of tobacco was spoken> of as the price of a wife. About this time, moreover, the exporting of tobacco from Virginia to England began on a large scale. John Rolfe and others had shipped A RED LETTER YEAR: 1619 41 some tobacco before this ; but in 1619 the business became notable. In that year a cargo of 20,000 pounds left Virginia. The next year the shipment was twice as large ; and in 1622 the quantity sent abroad was 60,000 pounds. Wheat, corn, and barley were also grown, but for many years tobacco was used as money and was the most important export from Virginia. JAMESTOWN IN l622. IN THIS PICTURE THE PALISADES SHOW PLAINLY Many of the colonists were disappointed in not finding gold ; but it was only a few years until tobacco and corn took the place of gold. One of the most interesting subjects that the Virginians were discussing in 1619 was the college that was to be built at Henrico. Henrico was a village on the James at the point now called Dutch Gap. The plan was to make Henrico a city and the capital of the colony. Naturally, the college 42 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA was to be located there, and it was to be called the University of Henrico. This school was to be used especially for educat- ing the Indians, so that they all might in time become Christians. Thus we can see how strong the missionary spirit was in those days. For several years this school had been thought of and talked of on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1618, under the direction of King James himself, a large sum of money for the school had been col- lected in England. In the summer of 1619 one of the first things the new House of Burgesses at Jamestown did was to enact certain laws to aid the college. Before the end of the year large tracts of land had been set aside to be used for the sup- port of the school. These plans, which went so hopefully forward for several years, were rudely shattered in 1622 by a terrible attack by the Indians. The "City of Henrico" was destroyed. The superintendent of the college lands and seventeen of the tenants thereon were killed. The University of Flenrico remained only as a splendid memory. But in spite of all difficulties, schools were established in early Virginia from time to time. For example, in 1634 Benjamin Syms gave two hundred acres of land in Elizabeth City County, with eight cows, to support a free school. A few years later Thomas Eaton, in the same county,^ A RED LETTER YEAR: 1619 43 left an estate for the same purpose. In honor of these men the high school at Hampton is to-day called the Syms-Eaton Academy. The year 1619 was, indeed, a red-letter year. It was a year when ships came in and ships went out. It was a time when hopes were high and great deeds — and some sad deeds — were done. One more thing we must notice. About the last of August, 1619, a Dutch ship came to Virginia and sold to the governor and others twenty negroes. These were the first negro slaves sold in this country, so far as we know. Thus began a traffic that was unfortunate in many ways. In some parts of the New World where the Spaniards had settled the Indians were enslaved. In Virginia and other colonies, from very early times, white servants were often bound to masters for certain terms of years and then set free. They were called indentured servants. But "the negroes were generally held as slaves for life, and negro slavery lasted in many parts of our country for more than two hundred years. Many good men and women in Virginia and in other states tried to stop slavery, and some of them set their own slaves free ; but the practice was hard to get rid of and it was not stopped altogether until the end of the Civil War, of which you have often heard your fathers and mothers speak. One man who had a great deal to do with making 44 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA 1619 a red-letter year for Virginia in the happier ways we have pointed out was Sir Edwin Sandys. He was a member of the London Company. He did a great deal to secure the good charter of 1619 and to encourage young women to come to Vir- ginia. Thus he had a large part in giving the colony a better government and better homes. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. The year 1619 was of unusual importance in the Vir- ginia colony. Some of the great events of that year were the following : (i) The first election of lawmakers from the planta- tions : the beginning of the House of Burgesses. (2) The first large incoming of women : the extension of home life in the colony. (3) A notable growth in the shipment of tobacco from Virginia to England. (4) Many definite steps toward the establishment of a college at Hentico. (5) The introduction of African slaves. 2. Sir Edwin Sandys should be given credit for many of the helpful measures. PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History; pages 55-79. Maury : Young People's History of Virginia ; pages 64- 68. TEACHER'S READINGS Armstrong: The Syms-Eaton Free School; pages 1-27. Chandler and Thames: Colonial Virginia; -pages 131- 145. A RED LETTER YEAR: 1619 45 Smithey : History of Virginia; pages 57-62. Sydenstricker and Burger : School History of Virginia ; pages 59-66. Notes. — i. In connection with beginnings in Virginia the teacher will find **The Old Dominion, Her Making and Her Manners," by Thomas Nelson Page, of much interest and value. 2. On August 15, 1919, the 300th anniversary of the first meeting of the House of Burgesses at Jamestown was cele- brated in the House of Delegates at Richmond. The pro- gram of this celebration, as published at the time, with the newspaper reports, should be preserved in many of our school libraries. CHAPTER VI IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS It was in the tobacco fields that the prosperity of Virginia was finally established. It was in the tobacco fields that negro slavery first came to be regarded as a necessity. And it was in the tobacco fields that many of the habits of life that long distinguished Virginia had their origin. In other words, it was the extensive cultivation of tobacco in colonial Virginia that colored and shaped her life and her history in many ways. Tobacco was the first thing the white men found in Virginia to make them rich. As we have seen, they were disappointed in not finding gold ; but soon they found that if they carried tobacco to England they could exchange it for gold or almost anything else ; for it was not many years after Sir Walter Raleigh's men carried tobacco home with them until the '^fragrant weed" sold readily in London at a good price. At first the men at Jamestown did not see the gold on the tobacco leaf. Eor five or six years they made no effort to grow it for market. Then one of them saw his chance. It was our friend 46 IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS 47 John Rolfe. He found that he could grow tobacco successfully. He also learned of the demand for it in England. Putting his ideas into action, he was soon building up a profitable trade by raising tobacco in Virginia and exporting it. Another man who got the same idea almost as soon as Rolfe did was Governor Dale. Then it %7 '^^^•A^ '^- '%Ki A VIRGINIA TOBACCO FIELD Spread quickly. Soon tobacco was growing in all sorts of places : in fields, in gardens, and even in the streets of Jamestown. After some years, it is said, the Indians stopped growing tobacco, finding it cheaper or more convenient to buy it from the white men. The success with which tobacco could be grown and sold soon led to an unexpected danger. The settlers became so anxious to plant tobacco 48 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA that they neglected to plant corn. This was bad, for corn was needed for food, and tobacco could not take its place. While a ship was making a trip to England aad back the colony might have starved. Accordingly, Governor Dale made this rule : for each acre planted in tobacco the farmer had to plant three acres in corn. This was a good rule, and if it had been enforced by all the early governors it probably would have been helpful to all concerned. As soon as men in England saw that the Virginia planters were making money growing and shipping tobacco, many of them hastened to the new country and went into the same business. Thus the population of the colony was rapidly increased and the tobacco trade grew by leaps and bounds. In 1628, half a million pounds were exported ; in 1639, a million and a half; and in 1753, the year that George Washington was twenty-one 3^ears old and Thomas Jefferson was ten, the amount of tobacco exported by Virginia planters reached the huge figure of 53,000,000 pounds. The extensive planting of tobacco hastened the clearing of the forests and pushed the settlements up the rivers. Tobacco grows best in new land — land from which the trees have recently been cut. Accordingly, as soon as the planters wore out one field they cleared another. Land was plentiful and cheap. They did not think of trying IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS 49 to enrich the old field — they let it lie idle ; and in a few years it grew up in pines. The farms usually bordered on the rivers, especially the deep rivers ; for it was very con- venient for the planter to have the boats come up to a landing at the edge of his field. It saved him the trouble and expense of hauling his tobacco to a wharf some miles away. And thus the growing of tobacco kept the settlers scattered. In New England everybody lived in or near a town, but in Virginia most of the people lived in the country, as they still do. In many cases the plantations were large, so that neighbors were miles apart. Under such conditions each family, with its servants or slaves, made a little settlement of its own, and had to rely upon its own resources most of the time. Habits of active life and self-reliance were developed. Boys learned to ride horses and to row boats, to hunt, to fish, and to follow trails through the forests. Women and girls learned to manage the household, to direct the tasks of the domestics, and to entertain guests for days at a time ; for one had to travel too far in those times to pay a visit to think of returning home the same day. And at the head of the whole plantation stood the father of the family, as commander-in-chief. Often he had foremen and overseers under him, but if so he was still at the head. Such conditions 50 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA made him a master and a leader of men. It is not surprising, therefore, that so many of the old Virginia planters showed remarkable powers of leadership wherever they went. The fact that so many laborers were needed on the plantations and the fact that the negroes could do the work desired soon resulted in fixing slavery on the colony with a strong grip. In England tobacco sold for money, and in Virginia it was used as money. For many years very little real money found its way over to Virginia. There were so many things that the colonists needed to buy that most of their tobacco money was left in London. So at home, in Virginia, they made tobacco take the place of money for a long time. The Indians used shells and woven belts, called wampum ; the trappers in many places used beaver skins ; at various places in the southern colonies corn and rice were used ; but in colonial Virginia, as a rule, tobacco was money. The gallant Virginia bachelors, as we have seen, paid for their wives in tobacco — at first 120 pounds apiece, later 150. Taxes came to be reckoned in tobacco. Even the preachers — the pastors of the local churches — received their salaries in so many pounds of tobacco. Frequently, instead of hauling his tobacco around from one store to another as he or his- wife went shopping, the planter would place his IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS 51 [; hn:;'i:;il/^ [•■■'ri'.'-.yiAi'.i tobacco at some reliable warehouse, get certificates for it, and then trade the certificates in making his purchases. Who- "'If, ever held a cer- tificate owned the tobacco covered by the certificate. This is the plan now fol- lowed by our na- tional government in respect to gold and silver. The gold and the silver, much of it, is left in the vaults at Wash- ington or some other city, while the gold certificates and the silver cer- tificates pass from hand to hand as money. We must admit, however, that to- bacco was not a very good standard money. It changed in. value too often. As the prices went up or down from time to time it was very hard to adjust debts that had been made when FOR MONEY, THE INDIANS USED SHELLS AND WOVEN BELTS, CALLED WAMPUM 52 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA the price of tobacco was different. Such conditions often led to trouble between debtors and creditors. A famous instance was the Parsons' Case, of which we shall hear later. As we know, there were only a few small towns in early Virginia. Most of the families lived on the widely scattered plantations. But the gover- nors and their councils, with many members of the House of Burgesses, were anxious to have more towns. So they devised a plan which they thought would hasten the building of towns. They passed a law in 1680 that required the planters to haul their tobacco to certain specified points on the rivers and load it on the boats at those points only. At those points warehouses would be built and towns would grow up. The planters objected to this law very seriously. They wished to continue loading their tobacco at their own wharves, or wherever they found it most convenient to do so. In the counties of New Kent, Gloucester, and Middlesex the planters finally destroyed a large part of their tobacco rather than submit to the law. This riotous action took place in 1682 and is known as the Tobacco Rebellion. Soldiers w^re sent to put down the rioters, a number of whom were severely punished. Several of the leaders, it is said, were hanged. But the Virginians still raised big question marks after such laws as this one, and in like manner IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS 53 after the laws of Parliament that required them to sell their tobacco and other products for the special benefit of British merchants. The tobacco fields of Virginia are still turning from green to gold. In many sections of the state, south and east of the Blue Ridge, one may see thousands of tobacco '"patches," large and small, every summer. The broad green leaves often hide the ground, and if the field is kept free from weeds and worms it presents a very attractive appearance. In the towns and cities of eastern Virginia tobacco warehouses and tobacco factories are much in evidence. Lynchburg, Danville, Petersburg, and Richmond are great centers for the marketing and the manufacturing of tobacco. And Virginia not only sells tobacco, it also buys it from many distant lands. To Richmond, espe- cially, tobacco of various types is imported and there in the factories it is blended with that grown at home in the numerous finished products that are put upon the market. An interesting feature of life in the tobacco factories is the singing of the negroes as they work. Many of them are employed in certain depart- ments of the factories, and often a considerable number of them work near together in the same room. With many of them it is a habit to sing from day to day, keeping a sort of happy time in their tunes to the motions of their hands and 54 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA bodies. Often the music is weird and beautiful. To hear it is worth a journey of miles. In some such manner, no doubt, the fathers and mothers of these negroes sang, generations ago, in the tobacco fields along the James, the York, and the Rappa- hannock. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. After the men at Jamestown found that they could grov/ tobacco successfully and get a good price for it in Eng- land, they began to grow it and to export It on a large scale. 2. For many years tobacco growing was the chief business of the Virginia planters. 3. Plantation life kept the people scattered, made negro slavery seem a necessity, and developed self-reliance and leadership in the plantation owners. 4. For a long time tobacco was used very generally In Virginia as money. 5. The Tobacco Rebellion of 1682 showed a growing dis- position on the part of the planters to oppose laws that they regarded as unjust. 6. Tobacco Is still an Important commodity In the fields and factories of eastern Virginia. PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History; pages 67-69. Gordy : Colonial Days; pages 29-32. TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames : Colonial Virginia; pages 146-162. Moore: Industrial History of the American People; pages 131-154. Smithey : History of Virginia ; pages 64, 65. CHAPTER VII THE KINGS' GOVERNORS In 1624 Virginia became a royal colony. From that time on, therefore, till Virginia became an independent state in 1776, the king of England, most of the time, appointed the governors. Some of those royal governors we should rem.ember, and we shall name a few of them presently ; but first let us learn something about the different kinds of colonies. There were three kinds of English colonies in America, and Virginia at different times repre- sented all three kinds : charter, royal, and proprie- tary. Prior to 1624 she was a charter colony. After 1624, most of the time, she was a royal colony ; but for a few years she was a proprietary colony. Under the early charters granted by King James, as we learned in Chapter II, the London Company was allowed to govern the colony. Under the later charters, as we learned in Chapter V, the planters were allowed to have a share in governing themselves. A charter colony, as a rule, was allowed a considerable measure of self- government. 55 56 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA But by 1624, or earlier, King James became alarmed regarding the Virginia colony. He feared that the planters were assuming too many privi- leges. He also became offended with some mem- bers of the London Company. So he revoked the charter. Thenceforth Virginia, as a rule, like other royal colonies, had a governor appointed by the king, though Virginia, we must admit, was not held as closely under royal authority as royal colonies usually were. In a proprietary colony one of the king's friends, or several of them, were put in control. In Mary- land, for example. Lord Baltimore was put in control ; in Pennsylvania, William Penn ; in Geor- gia, James Oglethorpe. In those colonies those men stood somewhat in the king's place. They were landlords or proprietors. Their colonies were called proprietary colonies. In a proprietary colony the proprietor appointed the governor or acted as governor himself. For a few years, from 1673 ^o 1684, Virginia was a proprietary colony. Culpeper and Arlington were the proprietors. Some of the notable governors that Virginia had while she was a charter colony were Captain John Smith, Lord Delaware, Thomas Dale, and George Yeardley. The list of royal governors that we shall mention is somewhat longer ; for Virginia was a royal colony for a long time — nearly one hundred and fifty years. THE KINGS' GOVERNORS 57 The first royal governor that we shall notice was Sir John Harvey. He was not regarded as a good* ruler. On the contrary, the Virginians hated him ; but we mention him for two reasons. The first reason is that while he was governor, in 1634, the first Virginia counties were laid out. There were eight of these counties, or shires, and their names were Charles City, James City, Henrico, Elizabeth City, Isle of Wight, Northampton, Warwick, and York. The second reason is that because of Governor Harvey's bad conduct the people finally impeached him and arrested him. They sent him back to the king, charging him with taxing them unjustly and with failing to respect the House of Burgesses. From 1642 to 1652 the king's governor was Sir William Berkeley. He was a man of education and fine manners, but he was not in sympathy with the free spirit of the New World. He did some good things for Virginia, but he was selfish and wasteful. He was also afraid that the people would do too many things without asking his leave. Owing to a great civil war in England, Berkeley was set aside for several years ; but in 1660 he was made governor again,* and this time he con- tinued to hold the office for sixteen years. But his way led to sorrow. His faults produced Bacon's Rebellion, of which we shall hear again. 58 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA In spite of the fact that Governor Berkeley became very unpopular before he left Virginia, a rich county of the state was allowed to tak'e his name, many years after his death. Berkeley County was one of the fifty counties that, in 1863, were erected into the state of West Virginia. Lord Culpeper was another colonial governor who was honored in the naming of a Virginia county. From it came the famous Culpeper Minute Men of Revo- lutionary days. But he was not exactly a king's governor. As we have already noted, Culpeper and Arlington were pro- prietors of Virginia from 1673 ^o 1684. Culpeper himself acted as gov- ernor for two or three years. He was regarded as unjust and tyrannical. The Tobacco Rebellion of 1682 was one thing that gave him a chance to make the Virginians feel his heavy hand. Two governors who were popular in many respects were Francis Nicholson aad Edmund Andros. Both of them had been governors before, in New York or in New England. There they SIR EDMUND ANDROS THE KINGS' GOVERNORS 59 both had done badly ; but in Virginia both did well in most respects. Nicholson did much toward the establishment of William and Mary College, of which we shall learn more farther on. The college was actually opened in 1693, while Andros was governor. He perhaps did not favor it, but he had the good judgment not to oppose it. In the year 1698 Nicholson was made governor of Virginia a second time. In that year he did some- thing that a good many of the colonists did not like. He moved the capital away from James- town. But he did it with good reason. James- town always had been an unhealthy place, and not long after Nicholson came back in 1698 the town was again destroyed by fire. Accordingly, he moved the capital eight miles north, near the new college, at Middle Plantation. He laid out Middle Plantation on a splendid plan, shaping it for a city. The name he changed to Williams- burg. Williamsburg is to-day the oldest city in the state and is one of the most interesting places in America to the student of history. Another good governor of colonial Virginia was Alexander Spotswood. Of him we shall hear again in connection with the Knights of the Horseshoe. He is known as the Tubal Cain of Virginia because he was the first to encourage the working of iron. William Gooch was acting governor for twenty- two years — from 1727 to 1749. It was during 6o A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA his long term that many new settlements were made in the northern and western parts of the colony. For example, the towns of Richmond, Petersburg, Winchester, and Staunton were all laid out or started within Gooch's term. Staunton was named in honor of his wife, who was Lady Staunton. Goochland County was named for him. It was Governor Robert Dinwiddie who, in 1753, discovered a young man named George Washington. Of Dinwiddie we shall hear again. And Dinwiddie County will not let us forget him. One of the last and one of the best-loved colonial governors was Lord Botetourt. He came to represent the king in 1768, but by that time the spirit of independence was so strong in Virginia, as well as in some of the other colonies, that he had a difficult situation to meet. He tried to be loyal to the king, but at the same time he saw that the colonists were entitled to the rights they were claiming. He died before the Revolution came on — before Virginia and the other colonies de- clared themselves free and independent states ; but in the long struggle for liberty the people counted Botetourt on their side. A rich county of Virginia still bears his name, and there is a statue of him on the campus of William and Mary College. In all, no less than eight Virginia counties were named after kings' governors. Five of the eight THE KINGS' GOVERNORS 6i we have already mentioned : Berkeley, Culpeper, Goochland, Dinwiddie, and Botetourt. Two of the others are Spotsylvania, for Spotswood, and Fauquier. Francis Fauquier was governor from 1758 to 1768. The eighth one was Dunmore. Lord Dunmore was the last of the kings' governors in Virginia ; and after the people had fallen out with him so thoroughly, as we shall hear farther on, they refused to call a county by his name any longer, and, thenceforth, what was first Dunmore County has been known by the beautiful Indian name, Shenandoah. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. The English colonies in what are now the United States were of three kinds: (i) Charter, (2) Royal, (3) Propri- etary. 2. A charter colony received from the king a written state- ment of privileges, a sort of constitution, under which it governed itself in large measure. 3. A royal colony was sometimes allowed some degree of self-government, but it was directly under the control of the king, who appointed the governors. 4. A proprietary colony was given over by the king into the hands of a landlord, or proprietor. The proprietor was a sort of owner of the colony and appointed the governors or acted as governor himself. 5. Virginia was a charter colony till 1624. After that she was a royal colony most of the time till 1776, when she declared herself an independent state. 6. Many times before 1776 the royal governors had trouble 62 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA to keep down the growing spirit of independence. The royal governors in other colonies also had the same trouble. 7. At least eight Virginia counties were named in honor of kings' governors. PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History; sketches of Smith, Yeardley, Berkeley, and Spotswood. Long: Virginia County Names; pages 135-151. Maury: Young People's History of Virginia ; pages 64- 74. TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames : Colonial Virginia; pages 270-284. Wertenbaker : Virginia Under the Stuarts; chapters III and IV. Suggestion. — It might be worth while to have the class discuss such questions as the following : 1 . Was Governor Nicholson justified in moving the capital away from Jamestown ^ 2. Should Botetourt have sided with the people or with the king? 3. Was it necessary to change the name of Dunmore County.? There is still a Dunmore Street in the city of Norfolk, and another in Williamsburg. CHAPTER VIII *'THE OLD DOMINION" Virginia is often called the Old Dominion. To explain how she got this name is the purpose of this chapter. But to do this we must first tell of some great events that took place in England. Let us go back, therefore, to the year 1642 and make a beginning there. In 1642 a terrible war broke out in England. It is known in history as the Civil War. But we must be careful to distinguish it from the Civil War in our own country. It is called a civil war because it was limited to England. It was a conflict between different factions of the same country, or state. In the English Civil War the king — King Charles I — and his friends were on one side ; on the other side were the leaders of Parliament and their friends. For many years the two parties had been quarreling sharply. The war started in the fierce battle of Edgehill in October, 1642. Over what were they quarreling .? Two things — two big questions : government and religion. > 63 64 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA King Charles,!, like his father, James I, be- lieved that the king ought to be allowed to rule as he pleased, without being required to consult Parliament. Parliament, on the contrary, de- manded to be heard and declared that the king by himself had no right to tax the peo- ple or to set aside the laws. So they differed on government. In religion they differed just as sharply. Religious differences had been making trouble in England for many years. Before the time of Queen Eliza- beth and Sir Walter Raleigh the church people had taken sides in two great parties. One party was called Catholic, the other Protestant. Then a division began to appear among the Protestants. Some of them wanted to change the forms of worship and the organization of the church. Those who advo- cated such changes were nicknamed Puritans. The Puritans, therefore, were Protestants who wanted CHARLES I ''THE OLD DOMINION" 65 to make the differences between Catholics and Protestants still wider than they were. King Charles and his friends were Protestants, but not Puritans. They could not agree with the Puritans. But by the year 1642 the Puritans were very strong in Parliament and had to be reckoned with. They were strong and they were hard fighters. Thus, we see. King Charles and his friends differed with the other party, the Puritan party that controlled Parliament, on both government and religion. Nicknames became famous in those days. King Charles and his friends were called Cavaliers. This was perhaps because many of them had fine horses and w^re gallant riders. The leaders of Parliament and their friends were called Round- heads. This was due to the fact that most of them cut their hair somewhat shorter than the Cavalier style. The Cavaliers allowed their hair to grow so long that it hung down over their shoulders. The Roundheads sheared off their hair just above their shoulders. The war was long and bloody ; but after about seven years had passed the Cavaliers were beaten and the king was put to death. He was beheaded in the year 1649. Then many of the Cavaliers left England. They could not endure Roundhead rule. Hundreds of 66 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA them came to Virginia. So many came that Virginia became a sort of Cavaher colony. There always had been a few Puritans in Vir- ginia, but after 1649 they had to keep quiet. Soon they were outnumbered by the Cavaliers perhaps ten to one, and the Cavaliers would not allow anybody to speak against the king, even after he had been executed. One of the Cavaliers who fled from England was a young man named Charles. He went to Holland. The Cavaliers in Virginia were anxious to have him come to them, for he was the king's son. They invited him to come to Virginia and to be king here. He did not come but he remembered the invitation with gratitude. Later, feeling in England changed, and Parliament became willing to have a king agam ; so young Charles in Holland received another invitation. This one he accepted. Back to England he went and there was crowned king — King Charles II. But even before he was crowned king in England he had been proclaimed king in Virginia. Thus there was some ground for the claim that Virginia was his older dominion — older than England. Possibly Charles himself spoke of Virginia as his ''old dominion." At any rate, from that day down to the present, Virginia has been familiarly termed the Old Dominion. The coronation of young Charles took place in THE OLD DOMINION" 67 the year 1660. The event is known in history as the Restoration. In that year the monarchy was restored. Sir Wilham Berkeley was governor in Virginia when Charles I was executed and for two or three years longer ; but in 1652 Parliament, which was then under the control of Oliver Cromwell, sent over some ships of war to look after the Virginia Cavaliers. Up the river toward Jamestown they came. Berkeley and his men got ready to fight, but after representatives of both sides had come together and talked matters over an agreement was reached peaceably. The Virginians agreed to recognize the authority of Cromwell and Par- liament, but they were to be allowed to manage their own affairs very much in their own way. Berkeley retired from the governor's office and was not governor again till 1660. In the mean- time the governors were elected by the House of Burgesses or were appointed by Cromwell. The latter was a real king, though he was not called a king. In 1658 he died. Then it was not long till the Restoration took place. OLIVER CROMWELL 68 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA Charles II was king from 1660 to 1685 — twenty-five years ; and Berkeley, after he was restored in 1660, was king's governor for sixteen years. This we learned in the preceding chapter. Next we shall have the story of Bacon's Rebellion ; for the Old Dominion, like Old England, was ever ready to stand up for her rights. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. Civil war in England overthrew King Charles I because he tried to be an absolute monarch. 2. Government and religion were the two big questions over which the Puritan Parliament quarreled with the king. 3. The Puritans and others who fought against the king were nicknamed Roundheads. The king and his friends were called Cavaliers. 4. After the king was executed in 1649 many of the Cava- liers came to Virginia. This migration gave the king's friends a large majority in Virginia. 5. Soon the Cavaliers in Virginia invited young Charles, the king's son, to come to Virginia and be king. It was because of this loyalty to him that Virginia was called the Old Dominion. 6. The kingship was restored in England in 1660. Young Charles was made King Charles II. PUPIL'S READINGS Cooke : Stories of the Old Dominion ; pages 56-64. Maury: Young People's History of Virginia; pages 77-79- "THE OLD DOMINION" 69 TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames : Colonial Virginia ; pages 207- 222. Smithey : History of Virginia; pages 71-79. Sydenstricker and Burger : School History of Virginia ; pages 86-96. Wertenbaker: Virginia Under the Stuarts ; Chapter IV. • Note. — Explain what Parliament is upon the first occur- rence of the term. One may say : Parliament is the law- making body of Great Britain. It corresponds to our Con- gress. One house of Parliament is elected by the people and is called the House of Commons. The other is made up of barons and bishops and is called the House of Lords. It was the House of Commons, especially, that quarreled with the Stuart kings. CHAPTER IX BACON'S REBELLION In the year 1676 there was sound of battle in Virginia. Much it meant to different persons and groups of people far and near. To the king's governor it meant defiance. To the hostile Indians it meant defeat. To many brave Vir- ginians who dared to stand for justice it meant death. Even to the haughty king across the seas it sounded a note of warning. Most of the time the early settlers in Virginia had no serious troubles with the Indians. Twice, however, the latter had risen up in force and tried to drive the white men out of the land. The first time was in 1622, when about 350 whites were killed. The second time was in 1644, when the number of settlers slain was about 500. Both massacres were directed, it seems, by that fierce enemy with the long name : Opechancanough. By 1644 the savage chief was very old and hardly able to walk. This may explain why, when Governor Berkeley led a troop of cavalry against the red men, the wily old enemy was captured. He was led to Jamestown, where the 70 BACON'S REBELLION 71 governor treated him kindly, but he was killed by a cowardly guard who shot him in the back. After 1644 the whites and the Indians had no notable difficulties till 1675. Then small sparks kindled great fires. Some Indians in Stafford County, just across the river from Fredericksburg, stole some pigs from a white man. Then after one or two Indians had been shot and the Indians in turn had killed a settler or two, the whole north country* was aroused. The white men of Virginia and Maryland joined forces against the savages, and some messengers of the Indians who came to the English camps were treacherously put to death. Then the fighting men of tribe after tribe painted their faces and went upon the war path. From the Potomac to the James they swept down toward the settlements ; and south of the James, on the Meherrin, the Nottoway, and the Appomattox, their war whoops were heard. In a single day in January, 1676, more than thirty settlers were killed. *'Why does not Governor Berkeley do something to drive back the Indians.^" This question was on many tongues. As one attack after another was reported, the frontier settlers became anxious. Then they grew angry ; for still the governor did nothing worth talking about to protect them. 72 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA ''He feels safe enough, away down there at Jamestown, I suppose," said one. '*He was prompt enough in 1644," said another ; "he soon caught old Opechancanough/' "But that was thirty-odd years ago," said a third. "The governor now is getting old him- self." "He is not too old to love money," somebody else remarked. "He is not too old to make money trading with the Indians." At that remark a great many people began to think. The governor was making money through an extensive trade with the Indians. If he made war upon them he would lose his business with them. Was it possible that the governor was so mean and selfish as to put his own gain above the safety and welfare of the people ? Some men thought so. Some began to say so. The white population of Virginia at this time was 40,000 or more ; and some of the bold settlers had pushed far up towards the Blue Ridge moun- tains. Not only the frontiersmen whose homes were in most danger began to get angry with the governor, but also some of the rich planters far down on the tidewaters. The latter for a number of years had been much annoyed by the navigation laws. These were laws made in England requiring the colonists to send their goods abroad in English BACON'S REBELLION 73 ships and sell them to English merchants. These laws were much disliked, and Governor Berkeley was in a measure blamed for them. They were the king's laws ; Berkeley was the king's governor. And the way Berkeley was handling the House of Burgesses was also very provoking. He had brought it about that certain poor men in the colony could not vote ; and he had kept one set of men in the House of Burgesses for a long time — because, people declared, that set of men up- held him. Soon some of the bolder spirits of the colony were ready to raise an army and fight the Indians whether the governor gave the word or not. A few of them were almost angry enough to fight the old governor himself. Just then Nathaniel Bacon took the lead. Bacon was a young educated Englishman who lived up the James at Curl's Neck, about fifteen miles below the site of Richmond. He w^as a cousin, perhaps, of that Nathaniel Bacon who acted as governor of Virginia in 1689. He must have had some land that is now covered b}^ parts of Richmond, for at a certain place in the city one may now see a tablet marking Bacon's Quarter. In 1676 Nathaniel Bacon was just about as old as John Smith was when he came to Virginia. And in some ways he was much like John Smith. Although he had been in the colony only four or 74 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA five years he was already well known. Like John Smith, he must have been a natural leader of men. Some of the planters and frontiersmen, who were ready to march against the Indians, whether the governor gave them leave or not, looked to Bacon to lead them. And after one or two men on Bacon's own land had been killed he said, "Tm ready!'' But at the same time he expected the governor to approve the cam- paign. He led a force against the Indians but he also sent a messenger to Jamestown asking the governor to grant him a commission : that is, to appoint him as a military officer. This was in the early spring of 1676. But Governor Berkeley refused Bacon's re- quest. He did not grant him a commission. Instead, he declared him a rebel. Even after an election had been held and Bacon had been elected to the House of Burgesses, Berkeley was still un- willing to authorize the settlers, under the leader- ship of Bacon, to act in their own defense. Bacon at first seemed about ready to submit to the governor's will, but it was not long till he and the governor were open enemies. At one time Bacon and his soldiers marched to the governor's house and compelled him to sign a commission. Later they had a battle or two around Jamestown, and the village was burned by Bacon's men. Some of them lived in Jamestown, but they set BACON'S REBELLION 75 fire to their own houses. They seemed to think that it was better to lose Jamestown than to lose the fight for justice. They did not want the town to serve as a shelter for tyrants any longer. Besides, some of them may have been anxious to have the capital built at a more healthful place. One day in August Bacon's followers met to- gether at Middle Plantation, the very place to which the capital was moved in 1698, and there they took an oath to stand by Bacon in the fight against Berkeley and the Indians. For by that time Bacon and his men were involved in a double war. Berkeley had friends and he was as brave as he was stubborn. Besides, he had the king behind him — or thought he had. Bacon and his associates, therefore, would have had a big job on their hands just to stand up against the governor. But out in the forests were the blood- thirsty savages. Bacon and his men had to fight them too. And they did fight them effectively. On one of the Richmond hills they met the red men and killed a hundred and fifty of them. The little stream at the foot of the hill has ever since been called Bloody Run. Down on the Appomattox, near the place where Petersburg now stands, they broke the power of another tribe. Even across the Nottoway and the Meherrin, down to the Roanoke, they chased the scattering bands. So j6 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA thoroughly were the Indians beaten that they were never able afterwards to give much trouble to the whites east of the Blue Ridge. All through the spring and summer, far into the autumn, the noise of strife was in the land. Then one day in October, in Gloucester County, at the house of a friend, Nathaniel Bacon died. In the hard campaigns he had worn himself out and had caught a fever. It was probably the same kind of fever that had been killing people at Jamestown since 1607. The fall of Bacon was a deathblow to the revolution. Bacon's Rebellion we call it. Gov- ernor Berkeley called it the "Great Rebellion." Bacon's followers scattered. They were hunted like beasts. Most of those that Berkeley caught he hanged, especially such as had acted as leaders in any way. More than twenty men in all were executed as rebels and traitors. Berkeley no doubt thought that he would please the king, but he was disappointed. The king thought that Berkeley was too severe. Even the king must have felt that Bacon and his men had just cause for some of the claims they made. At any rate, many of the best men of England felt thaf Berkeley rather than Bacon was the traitor. They knew very well that a ruler should think first of the people's rights. And some of them, no doubt, looked upon Nathaniel Bacon BACON'S REBELLION i^ much as their fathers in England had looked upon Simon de Montfort, or as their descendants just a hundred years later looked upon George Wash- ington. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon and other prominent young men, against the king's governor. 2. The main causes were these : (i) The governor had taken away the vote from some of the Virginians. (2) He had not called an election of Burgesses In ten years or more. (3) He supported the navigation laws, which were very burdensome to the colonists. (4) He failed to defend the people against the Indians. 3. Bacon and his men began by defending themselves and their neighbors against the Indians. This led to war with the governor too. 4. Bacon's death In the fall of 1676 ended the war. 5. Sir William Berkeley, the governor, was unduly harsh in punishing Bacon's men. Even the king censured him. 6. Bacon stood for the same principles, largely, that Wash- ington stood for a century later. PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History; pages 99-108. Cooke: Stories of the Old Dominion; pages 65-81. Maglll : First Book in Virginia History; pages 40-55. Maury: Young People's History of Virginia; pages 83- 92. 78 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames: Colonial Virginia; pages 223-238. Smithey : History of Virginia; pages 81-91. Sydenstricker and Burger: School History of Virginia; pages 97-105. Wertenbaker: Virginia Under the Stuarts; chapters V and VI. Note. — Bacon's Rebellion is such a fascinating subject that one is in danger of spending too much time on it. Do not fail to make clear what it signified : the growing spirit of independence among the people. It showed that they would not long submit to what they felt to be unjust treat- ment. It gave them notions of self-government that they could not forget. CHAPTER X THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY In Chapter V we learned that the Virginians as early as 1619 were planning a college. The Indian massacre of 1622 blighted their plans. It was many years before a college was actually opened in Virginia, though a desire for something of the kind must have been in the minds of some of the people all the time. A number of the planters were well educated, and at least a few schools were maintained in spite of the fact that Sir William Berkeley and perhaps some of the other royal governors were not in favor of educating the people at large. Some of the wealthy men of the colony sent their sons to England to school. But in 1693, ^s we saw in Chapter VII, a college was founded in Virginia, at Middle Plantation. The king and queen in England at that time were William and Mary. They favored the college, so it was named in their honor. William and Mary College has had a splendid history. It taught religion and law as well as science and arts in colonial days and thus helped to strengthen the spirit of liberty and justice. Many of the great 79 8o A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA men who were leaders in the days when our nation was being built had been trained at William and Mary. In later times, as we shall see, it has sent out many leaders to our public schools. In 1660 the House of Burgesses passed an act favoring a college. That was more than thirty years before the college was really established. But in 1690 a young preacher, Rev. James Blair, began in earnest to work for the college. He worked with the people in general, with the House of Burgesses in particular, and then he went to England and laid the matter before the king and queen. The result we have already seen. Soon the college was opened. It was located close to Bruton Parish Church at Middle Plantation. And only five years later (1698), as we learned in Chapter VII, the colonial capital was moved from Jamestown to the same place. About the same time the name of the village was changed to Williamsburg (this in honor of the king) and a splendid plan for a town was laid out. It was the purpose of the governor and others to make Williamsburg a cit}^ The main street, called Duke of Gloucester Street, runs east and west. It is about a hundred feet wide and one mile long. At the west end stands William and Mary College. At the east end stood, for many years, the capitol — the building in which the House of Burgesses met and where the business THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY 8i of the colonial government centered. There in the ground to-day one may trace the foundations of the old building. A small monument marks the spot. From 1698 to 1780 Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia. Until 1705, when the capitol WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, MAIN BUILDING was finished, the House of Burgesses met in the college building. This shows how closely the college and the colonial government were asso- ciated. Governor Nicholson did much to help the college, though after a time he quarreled fiercely with Rev. Mr. Blair. The latter was first presi- 82 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA dent of the college and served as such for fifty years. At first, and for many years thereafter, young Indians were taught in some of the departments of William and Mary. They were trained to do missionary work among their own people. Three early Presidents of the United States were students of William and Mary College. They were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler. John Marshall, the famous chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, also studied law there. In old Williamsburg such men as Alexander Spotswood, Patrick Henry, George Washington, George Mason, George Wythe, and Richard Henry Lee were familiar figures. It was from William and Mary College that certificates were issued for many years to the young surveyors of Virginia, the men like Peter Jefferson, George Washington, Thomas Lewis, and others, who marked the boundary lines of states, counties, and plantations. It may be that some boys and girls who read this book know something of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. It is a famous literary society, with branches, or chapters, in many of the leading colleges and universities of America. But per- haps only a few know that this society was founded at William and Mary College. It was organized there in 1776. From there it was carried to Har- THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY 83 vard and Yale, and so it grew as the decades passed. The original minute book of the society may still be seen in the library of William and Mary College. As one walks down Duke of Gloucester Street from the college towards the place where the old capitol stood in the days of Washington, Henry, and Jefferson, he passes many historic objects. Soon he comes to Bru- ton Church, on the left- hand side. In it is the font from which it is said Pocahontas was bap- tized. A little farther back from the street is the Wythe House, the old home of George Wythe, the great teacher of law. Wythe County, Virginia, was named for him. On a little farther, on the same side of the street, is the old court house ; and almost opposite, on the right-hand side of the street, is the historic powder horn. This is a queer brick structure, having eight sides and a high pointed roof. It was the center of some stirring events at the beginning of the Revolu- tionary War. THE HISTORIC POWDER HORN AT WIL- LIAMSBURG. IN IT THE POWDER BELONGING TO THE COLONY WAS STORED 84 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA Almost at the east end of Duke of Gloucester Street, on the left-hand side, is the place where Raleigh Tavern used to stand. In that old tavern many important meetings were held in olden days by men who were famous or later became so. And then, as one comes to the end of the wide street, he sees in front of him the heavy stone which marks the spot where the old capitol stood, in which the House of Burgesses met for nearly eighty years, and ia which Patrick Henry delivered his "Caesar-Brutus" speech. Of this we shall hear again. One other house, a quaint little cottage, we must not overlook in Williamsburg. Far and wide it is known as the ** Audrey House." It is one of the places that Miss Mary Johnston had in mind when she wrote her well-know^n book, Audrey, a romance of colonial Virginia. In front of the Audrey House is the Palace Green ; and near by is the site of the palace in which the kings' governors used to live. The place is now occupied by a school in which many boys and girls, almost every day, study the his- tory of their country and other subjects that help to make good citizens. The broad Palace Green is their playground. One day when the author of this story was look- ing at a monument that stands beside the school- house a crowd of little girls climbed up on the iron THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY 8s fence around the monument and there, perched Hke crows, begged him to take their picture with a camera he was carrying in his hand. During the past thirty years WiUiam and Mary College has made a specialty of training teachers for the public schools of Virginia. Many of the superintendents of schools in the state to-day are graduates of William and Mary. In 1914 there were 118 graduate teachers from William and Mary in our state schools. In 191 5 the number w^as 108; in 1916 it was 104; and in 1917 it was iii. In 1 91 8 young women were first admitted to William and Mar}^ as students. That event will no doubt mark the beginning of a n'ew epoch for the historic school. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. William and Mary College was founded at Middle Plantation, eight miles north of Jamestown, in 1693. 2. About the same time or soon afterwards the place was named Williamsburg and was laid out as a city. 3. From 1698 to 1780 Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia. 4. Among the famous men who were trained at William and Mary College were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Marshall, and John Tyler. 5. At William and Mary in 1776 was established the Phi Beta Kappa Society. 6. In recent years William and Mar\' has done a great work training teachers for the public schools. 86 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History ; pages 1 10-122. Magill : First Book in Virginia History; pages 84-89. Maury: Young People's History of Virginia; pages 94- lOI. TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames: Colonial Virginia; pages 239- 252. Heatwole : History of Education in Virginia ; pages 69-99. Tyler : Williamsburg, the Old Colonial Capital. Suggestion. — Have the class write down In parallel columns the words *' capital" and "capitol" each as often as it occurs .in this chapter, and then see that the distinction between the two is clearly understood. CHAPTER XI THE KNIGHTS OF THE HORSESHOE In Chapter VII we learned that one of the good royal governors of early Virginia was Alexander Spotswood. He served as governor for twelve years — from 1710 to 1722. Within that time and later his name became firmly linked in Virginia with two well-known metals : iron and gold. He had horseshoes made of both : iron ones for horses, gold ones for men. The first man mentioned in the Bible as a master of iron-workers was Tubal Cain. Spotswood was the first great iron-master of Virginia ; therefore he is often called the Tubal Cain of Virginia. He had iron furnaces erected at difi^erent places, but especially at Germanna, on the Rapidan River. The Rapidan is a branch of the Rappahannock, and Germanna was only fifteen or twenty miles above Fredericksburg. Spotswood had thousands of acres of land in what are now Spotsylvania, Orange, and Culpeper counties ; and at various places on his land he found good iron ore. He made so much iron after a while that he shipped some of it to Great Britain. 87 88 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA Most of the time while Spotswood was governor he, of course, had his headquarters at WiUiams- burg, the colonial capital ; and one day in the late summer of 1716 the lawn in front of his house was the scene of great excitement. The governor was going on a long journey, and a dozen or more gentlemen, good friends of the governor, were going with him. To be sure, they took with them attendants and servants, and later they were A GENTLEMAN S COACH. IN SUCH A COACH, PERHAPS, GOVERNOR. SPOTSWOOD RODE joined by a dozen forest rangers and some friendly Indians, who served as guides. So the party at last probably numbered forty or fifty men in all. The governor started out in his coach, but most of the party were on horseback. They carried guns and perhaps swords and pistols. There were rolls of blankets and bundles of provisions, with pack mules to carry them. Where was the governor going ? To Fred- ericksburg ? Farther than that. To Germanna ? Farther than Germanna. He was going clear up THE KNIGHTS OF THE HORSESHOE 89 to the Blue Ridge mountains — and across them, too ! That, in those' days, was a big undertaking ; for none of the bold settlers had yet pushed over the Blue Ridge, and there were only narrow Indian trails, paths of wild animals, and the wind- ing beds of rocky streams to follow. A hard undertaking it was, but the governor wanted to satisfy himself as to what was to be seen west of the Blue Ridge. The strange tales that he had heard only made him the more de- termined to go and see for himself. So, with his gallant company, he waved good-by to Williams- burg and .set off toward the northwest. It was the 20th of August, 1 716. In five days the party reached Germanna, the governor's village of iron-workers. There five days were spent in resting and in securing the rangers and the Indian guides, and in making other preparations for the expedition to the mountains. On August 29th they left Germanna, but it was the eighth day afterwards (September 5th) when the top of the Blue Ridge was reached. And they had many adventures on the way. The governor now rode horseback like the others, having left his coach below Germanna. One man's horse was bitten by a rattlesnake — many rattlers were seen. Bears and foxes, too, seemed plentiful. Turkeys and deer were frequently shot. 90 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA One day a man shot a deer from his horse, and his horse jumped so suddenly that the man was thrown roughly upon the ground. Two or three of the party became sick with measles, but the advance continued. It is probable that the explorers followed up the course of the Rapidan River. If so, they passed near the place where Stanardsville is now located and came to the top of the Blue Ridge at or near Swift Run Gap. From the summit of the mountain they looked down upon the great A FLINT-LOCK MUSKET. WITH GUNS SUCH AS THIS THE KNIGHTS OF THE HORSESHOE KILLED DEER AND BEARS — ' Shenandoah Valley, stretching away fifty miles on either hand. Below them, close to the moun- tain, lay the places where Port Republic, Elkton, Shenandoah, and other towns may now be seen. Ten miles out in the broad valley a long mountain ran down from the northeast, stopping suddenly right in front of them. If they asked the name of this mountain the Indians probably said, '*Massanutten." Twenty miles farther west, at the far side of the valley, other mountain ranges could be seen, piled against the sky, if the day was fair. They were the first Alleghany ranges. It is possible to see all these things and many THE KNIGHTS OF THE HORSESHOE 91 others from Swift Run Gap, for the gap is only a sHght depression in the great Blue Ridge ; and one standing in the gap is up high enough to look across the top of the Massanutten Mountain and to see the AUeghanies far beyond. Besides, as we have noted, the Massanutten ends almost opposite Swift Run Gap, leaving a clear view across the valley on the left-hand side, as one faces west. Down into the valley the noisy company went. By evening they were at the river. The next day they crossed the river, calling it the Euphrates. But the Indian name, Shenandoah, is much more beautiful, and it means ''Daughter of the Stars." They crossed the river at a rather deep place, where it was about eighty yards wide. One or two men, possibly more, went in swimming. Some went fishing, using grasshoppers for bait. They caught some perch and some chubs. Others went hunting and killed some deer and turkeys. The governor took possession of the country in the name of King George I of England. On the 7th of September the governor and his party recrossed the Ridge, and ten days later they were back at Williamsburg. But what about the horseshoes of gold ? They were suggested by horseshoes of iron. In the flat, sandy lands of tidewater the horses had not been shod ; but in the stony country near the mountains and in the mountains their hoofs 92 A HISTORY OF VIRGINIA needed protection. So, before leaving Germanna on the way up, the horses of the governor's party had been shod with iron. After the expedition was over the governor ordered from England some little horseshoes of gold. These he gave to his friends who had gone with him to the valley, and thenceforth he called those men '^Knights of the Horseshoe." It was only a few years after Spotswood crossed the Blue Ridge till other men from eastern Vir- ginia began to cross and to settle on the west side. But most of the early settlers of the valley were German and Scotch-Irish people who crossed the Potomac River and came up into the valley from Pennsylvania and Maryland. FACTS TO REMEMBER 1. In 1 71 6 Governor Spotswood led the first expedition from eastern Virginia across the Blue Ridge into the Shenan- doah Valley. 2. It was not many years thereafter till the valley began to attract settlers, some from eastern Virginia, many from Pennsylvania and Maryland. 3. The gentlemen who went with Spotswood across the Blue Ridge w^ere dubbed ''Knights of the Horseshoe," and to each of them the governor gave a little horseshoe of gold. PUPIL'S READINGS Chandler: Makers of Virginia History ; pages 123-134. Cooke: Stories of the Old Dominion; pages 82-93. THE KNIGHTS OF THE HORSESHOE 93 TEACHER'S READINGS Chandler and Thames : Colonial Virginia; pages 299-303. Fontaine: Journal of John Fontaine; pages 281-292 in "Memoirs of a Huguenot Family," Putnam's reprint, Scott: History of Orange County ; pages 98-113. CHAPTER XII WILLIAM BYRD AND PETER JONES William Byrd was a leading man in Virginia for many years. He was born at Westover, a fine home on the James River, in 1674. At the time of Bacon's Rebelhon, therefore, he was only two years old. He died in 1744, when Thomas Jefferson was one year old and George Washington was twelve. William Byrd had a famous friend and a famous daughter. The friend was Alexander Spotswood. His daughter's name was Evelyn. She was a young woman who was very attractive and who had many friends. But William Byrd did not have to depend on his friends or even on his daughter to make him a name in history. He did things for himself. Perhaps we should say he did things for others. Thus he made for himself a place of honor in old Virginia. What are some of the things that William Byrd did? For one thing, he wrote books. In this he reminds us of John Smith. John Smith, you remember, was the author of the first English 94 WILLIAM BYRD AND PETER JONES 95 book written in Virginia. Well, William Byrd was' the first famous Virginia author born in Virginia. He not only wrote books, he also bought books and put them into his library. At last he had all together about 4000 volumes. That was a large collection for a private libraryin those days, especially in a new country like this. William Byrd was also a soldier. He was a colonel of militia. And from time to time he HP^* 1^ mS'^^k wu^vy *•-'•■ ^- X"'. ...... ..•-^ ,„ />C ^ M^ »*,t^^^4eA ^^/'^o-'^^, T^>'fA/ *'.... ,.w^e.. ;/-•'--■■ ■;■-;/ •-• '■■■■-• -,' ,'/*.--'"y j?'-'.-"'^ ,.'»"•••"-■ ', • ^ # ■>'-' i/ ^ /^,,..„..