1675.
Lands at Greenspring settled on Sir William Berkley--Indian
Incursions--Force put under command of Sir Henry Chicheley--
Disbanded by Governor's Order--The Long Parliament of Virginia
--Colonial Grievances--Spirit of the Virginians--Elements of
Disaffection.
THE lands at Greenspring, near Jamestown, were settled during this year
on Sir William Berkley, the preamble to the act reciting among his
merits, "the great pains he hath taken and hazards he has run, even of
his life, in the government and preservation of the country from many
attempts of the Indians, and also in preserving us in our due allegiance
to his majesty's royal father of blessed memory, and his now most sacred
majesty, against all attempts, long after all his majesty's other
dominions were subjected to the tyranny of the late usurpers; and also
seriously considering that the said Sir William Berkley hath in all time
of his government, under his most sacred majesty and his royal father,
made it his only care to keep his majesty's country in a due obedience
to our rightful and lawful sovereign," etc. The Rev. John Clayton,
(supposed to be father of the Virginia naturalist,) writing in 1688,
says: "There is a spring at my Lady Berkley's called Green Spring,
whereof I have been often told, so very cold, that 'tis dangerous
drinking thereof in summer time, it having proved of fatal consequence
to several. I never tried anything of what nature it is of."
The Indians having renewed their incursions upon the frontier, the
people petitioned the governor for protection. Upon the meeting of the
assembly, war was declared against them in March, 1676; five hundred
men enlisted, and the forts garrisoned. The force raised was put
under command of Sir Henry Chicheley, who was ordered to disarm the
neighboring Indians. The forts were on the Potomac, at the falls of the
Rappahannock, (now Fredericksburg,) on the Matapony, on the Pamunkey, at
the falls of the Appomattox, (now Petersburg,) either at Major-General
Wood's, or at Fleets', on the opposite side of the river, on the
Blackwater, and at the head of the Nansemond. Provision was made for
employing Indians; articles of martial law were adopted; arms to be
carried to church; the governor authorized to disband the troops when
expedient; days of fasting appointed. The Indians having been emboldened
to commit depredations and murders by the arms and ammunition which they
had received, contrary to law, from traders, a rigorous act was passed
to restrain such. When Sir Henry Chicheley was about to march against
the Indians he was ordered by Sir William Berkley to disband his forces,
to the general surprise and dissatisfaction of the colony.
There had now been no election of burgesses since the restoration, in
1660, the same legislature since that time having continued, to hold its
sessions by prorogation. It may be called the Long Parliament of
Virginia in respect to its duration. Among its members may be mentioned
Colonel William Clayborne, Captain William Berkley, Captain Daniel
Parke, Adjutant-General Jennings, Colonel John Washington, Colonel
Edward Scarburgh. Robert Wynne was made speaker shortly after the
restoration, and so continued until 1676, when he was succeeded by
Augustine Warner, of Gloucester. James Minge, of Charles City, was now
the clerk, and had been for several years.
The price of tobacco was depressed by the monopoly of the English
navigation act, and the cost of imported goods, enhanced. Duties were
laid on the commerce between one colony and another, and the revenue
thence derived was absorbed by the collecting officers. The planters, it
is said,[281:A] had been driven to seek a remedy by destroying the crop
in the fields, called "plant cutting." The endeavors of the agents in
England to obtain a release from the grants to the lords and a new
charter, appeared abortive. The Indian incursions occurring at this
conjuncture, filled the measure of panic and exasperation. Groaning
under exactions and grievances, and tortured by apprehensions, the
Virginians began to meditate violent measures of relief. Many of the
feudal institutions of England, the hoary buttresses of mediaeval power,
could have no existence in America; a new position gradually moulded a
new system; and men transplanted to another hemisphere changed opinions
as well as clime. Thus, in Virginia, the most Anglican, oldest, and most
loyal of the colonies, a spirit of freedom and independence infused
itself into the minds of the planters. The ocean that separated them
from England lessened the terror of a distant sceptre. The supremacy of
law being less firmly established, especially in the frontier, a wild
spirit of justice had arisen which was apt to decline into contempt of
authority. Added to this, the colony contained malecontent Cromwellian
soldiers reduced to bondage, perhaps some of them men of heroic soul,
victims of civil war, ripe for revolt. The Indian massacres of former
years made the colonists sensitive to alarms, and impatient of
indifference to their cruel apprehensions, which can hardly be realized
by those who have never been subjected to such dangers. The fatigues,
privations, hardships, perils of a pioneer life, imparted energy; the
wild magnificence of nature, the fresh luxuriance of a virgin soil,
unpruned forests, great rivers and hoary mountains, these contributed to
kindle a love of liberty and independence. Moreover, the disaffection of
the colonists was somewhat emboldened by the civil dissensions of
England, which appeared now again to threaten the stability of the
throne.
FOOTNOTES:
[281:A] Account of Bacon's Rebellion, in Va. Gazette, 1766.