On April 1 , 1622 ( March 22 , 1622 in the Julian calendar ) , the Native American Powhatans launched what became known as the Indian massacre of 1622 , a campaign against English colonists in retaliation for previous violent acts committed against them by the English . The Powhatan attacked settlements from the fall line of the James River to Hampton Roads , surprising the colonists in their homes and fields , burning and looting the settlements . This resulted in the killing of 347 of an estimated total of 1,200 colonists , a quarter of the population of Virginia . Martin 's Hundred was the plantation hardest hit with more than 50 residents recorded as dead , with perhaps as many as 70 dying within the hundred . Wolstenholme Towne 's death toll was not separated in the death rolls . Surviving settlers in Virginia were largely evacuated by governor 's order to Jamestown , which had been spared due to a last minute warning . Wolstenholme Towne , like almost all English settlements in the region , was permanently abandoned
Indian massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
Wolstenholme Towne