Produced by Roger Burch with scans from the Internet Archive. {Transcriber's Note: Quotation marks have been standardized to modern usage. Footnotes have been placed to immediately follow the paragraphs referencing them. Transcriber's notes are in curly braces; square brackets and parentheses indicate original content.} {Illustration: Cover} INDIAN BIOGRAPHY: OR, AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE BEEN DISTINGUISHED AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN NATIVES AS ORATORS, WARRIORS, STATESMEN, AND OTHER REMARKABLE CHARACTERS. * * * * * BY B. B. THATCHER, ESQ. * * * * * IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. * * * * * NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, No. 82 CLIFF-STREET * * * * * 1836. [Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by Harper & Brothers in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.] PREFACE. The Author does not propose an elaborate explanation, nor an apology of any kind, for the benefit of the following work. If it absolutely requires either, he must even be content to have written it in vain, as no statement or argument can give it any degree of vitality or popularity in the one case or in the other. He has regarded it, historically, as an act of mere Justice to the fame and the memories of many wise, brilliant, brave and generous men,--patriots, orators, warriors and statesmen,--who ruled over barbarian communities, and were indeed themselves barbarians, but whose influence, eloquence and success of every description were _therefore_ but the nobler objects of admiration and the worthier subjects for record. Nor can Philosophy look upon them without predilection. Comparatively unopinionated and unaffected as they were,--governed by impulse and guided by native sense,--owing little to circumstances, and struggling much amidst and against them,--their situation was the best possible for developing both genius and principle, and their education at the sane time the best for disclosing them. Their Lives, then, should illustrate the true constitution of man. They should have, above all other history, the praise and the interest of "philosophy teaching, by example." The strictly moral inducements which have operated on the Author's mind, must be too obvious to require dissertation. We owe, and our Fathers owed, too much to the Indians,--too much from man to man,--too much from race to race,--to deny them the poor restitution of historical justice at least, however the issue may have been or may be with themselves. Nor need it be suggested, that selfishness alone might dictate the policy of a collection such as the Author has endeavored to make this, were it only for the collateral light which it constantly throws on the history and biography of our own nation. Nothing of the same character is before the public. What may be called an Indian Biographical Dictionary has indeed recently appeared, and to that the Author has gladly referred in the course of his researches; but the extreme difficulty of doing justice to any individuals of the race, and at the same time to _all,_ may be inferred from the fact that the writer alluded to has noticed such men as Uncas in some six or eight lines, while he has wholly omitted characters so important as Buckongahelas, White-eyes, Pipe, and Occonoetota. On these, and on all their more eminent countrymen, the Author has intended to bestow the notice they deserve, by passing over the vast multitude distinguished only by detached anecdote, or described only in general terms. In fine, conscious of many imperfections, but also conscious of a strenuous exertion to render them as few and small as might be, the Author submits the Biography to the public, and especially to the candor of those whose own labors, if not the results of them, have shown them the essential fallibility of every composition like this. He will have reason to be satisfied if it do good, as he will assuredly be gratified if it give pleasure. Boston, Sept. 10, 1832. CONTENTS CHAP. I.--The Indian tribes of Virginia at the date of the Jamestown settlement; their names, numbers and power--The Powhatan confederacy--The Indian Village of that name--Powhatan--The circumstances of the first interview between him and the English--Opechancanough, his brother--Opitchipan--Reception of Captain Smith by Powhatan--Interposition of Pocahontas in his favor--Second visit of the colonists--Third visit, and coronation--Entertainment of Smith by Pocahontas--Contest of ingenuity between Powhatan and Smith; and between the latter and Opechancanough--Smith saved again by Pocahontas--Political manoeuvres of Powhatan and Opechancanough--Smith's return to Jamestown. page 9 CHAP. II.--Conduct of Powhatan after Smith's departure for England, and causes of it--Hostilities resumed--Peace finally effected by the capture of Pocahontas--Manner of gaining this point--Marriage of Pocahontas with John Rolfe--Death and character of Powhatan--His person, manner of living, talents, influence. His method and means of warfare--The discipline of his warriors--The manner in which he availed himself of the English arms and science--Causes of his hostility towards the colonists--His dignity--Shrewdness--Independence--Courtesy--Liberality-- Simplicity--Affection for his relatives--A review of various opinions entertained of him by various historians. 40 CHAP. III.--The family of Powhatan--His successor--Sequel of the history of Pocahontas--Her acts of kindness to the colonists at various times, and especially to Smith--His gratitude--Her civilisation, and instruction in Christianity--Her visit to England in 1616--Reception at Court--Interview with Smith--His memorial respecting her to Queen Anne--Her death and character--Her descendants. 66 CHAP. IV.--Sequel of the history of Opechancanough--Renewal, by him and Opitchipan, of the treaty of peace--Finesse by which he extended his dominion over the Chickahominies--Preparations for War--Causes of it--Profound dissimulation under which his hostility was concealed--Indian custom of making Conjurers--Manoeuvres against the English interest--The great massacre of 1622; circumstances and consequences of it--particular occasion which led to it--Character and death of Nemattanow--Details of the war subsequent to the massacre--Truce broken by the English--New exertions of Opechancanough--Battle of Pamunkey--Peace of 1632--Massacre of 1641--Capture of Opechancanough by the English--His death and character. 77 CHAP. V.--Biography of other Virginian chieftains--Opitchipan--Some particulars respecting Tomocomo--His visit to England, interview with Captain Smith, and return to America--Japakaws, chief sachem of the Patowomekes--His friendship for the English--Ill treatment which he received from them--Totopotomoi, successor of Opechancanough--His services--His death in 1656--Notices of several native chiefs of North Carolina--Granganimo who dies in 1585--Menatenon, king of the Chowanocks--Ensenore, father of Granganimo; and Wingina, his brother--Plot of the latter against the Hatteras colony--His death--Comment on the Carolinian Biography. 95 CHAP. VI.--Synopsis of the New England Indians at the date of the Plymouth settlement--The Pokanoket confederacy--The Wampanoag tribe--Their first head-Sachem known to the English, Massasoit--The first interview between him and the whites--His visit to Plymouth, in 1621--Treaty of peace and friendship--Embassy sent to him at Sowams, by the English--Anecdotes respecting it--He is suspected of treachery or hostility, in 1622--His sickness in 1623--A second deputation visits him--Ceremonies and results of the visit--His intercourse with other tribes--Conveyances of land to the English--His death and character--Anecdotes. 115 CHAP. VII.--Massasoit succeeded by his son Alexander--The occasion of that name being given by the English--History of Alexander previous to his father's death--Covenant made with Plymouth in 1639--Measures taken in pursuance of it, in 1661--Anecdote illustrating the character of Alexander--Notice of the charges made against him--Examination of the transaction which led to his death--Accession of Phillip--Renewal of the treaty by him--Interruption of harmony--Supposed causes of it--Measures taken in consequence--Philip's submission--Letter to the Plymouth Governor--Second submission in 1671--Remarks on the causes of Phillip's War. 141 CHAP. VIII.--Preparations for war between Philip and the Colonies--Great excitement of the times--Deposition of Hugh Cole--Immediate occasion of hostilities--Commencement of them, June 24th, 1675--Summary sketch of the war--Consequences to the parties engaged--Exertions, adventures and escapes of King Philip--His death--Anecdotes respecting him--Observations on his character--His courage, dignity, kindness, independence shrewdness, and self-command--Fate of his family--Defence of his conduct. 159 CHAP. IX.--The Narraghansett tribe; territory and power--Chief Sachems at the date of the English settlements in New England--Canonicus associates with himself Miantonomo, his nephew--Their treatment of Roger Williams in 1634--Hostility to the Plymouth Colony--Invited by the Pequots to fight the English--Treaty negotiated at Boston, in 1636, by Miantonomo--War with the Pequots and result of it--Subsequent hostility between Miantonomo and Uncas--Sequassen--Battle of the Sachem's-Plain--Capture of Miantonomo--Sentence of the English commissioners upon him--Execution of it. 177 CHAP. X.--Consideration of the justice of the Commissioners sentence upon Miantonomo--Their reasons, as alleged--The charge against him of ambitious designs--Of employing the Mohawks--Of breaking the league of 1638--"Concerning the Pequot squaws"--Of hostility to the English--Of peculation--Proofs of his fidelity and friendship--Causes of complaint by him and Canonicus against the English--Character of both Sachems--Their treatment of Roger Williams--Letters of that gentleman--Anecdotes--Death of Canonicus. 198 CHAP. XI.--Canonicus succeeded by Pessacus--Mexhan--Ninigret, Sachem of the Nianticks--Proposals made by them to the English, and by the English in return--They commence hostilities against Uncas--The English resolve to make war upon them--They make concessions--Their visits to Boston--Subsequent movements against Uncas. An armed party sent against Ninigret and Pessacus--They are accused of a league with the Dutch against the English. 210 CHAP. XII.--Sequel of the lives of Ninigret and Pessacus, from 1653--Various accusations, deputations, and hostile movements between them and the English--Controversy between Ninigret and Harmon Garrett--Application for justice in 1675--Conduct of Ninigret in Philip's War--Consequences of it--His death--Death of Pessacus--Some of the charges against the former considered--His hostility to Uncas, and the Long Islanders, and "League with the Dutch"--Remarks on his character. 231 CHAP. XIII.--The Pequot tribe--Their first chief-sachem known to the English, Pekoath--succeeded by Sassacus--An embassy sent to Boston in 1631--Residence and strong-hold of Sassacus--His earliest intercourse with the English--Murder of Captain Stone--Justification of it by Sassacus--He proposes a treaty of peace in 1634--Sends deputies to Boston twice--Treaty concluded--Anecdotes--His wars with the Narraghansetts--Fresh controversy with the English--They send an armed party to demand damages--Conduct of the party, and consequences of it--War with the Pequots in 1636--Political movements of Sassacus--English expedition against him in 1637--He is defeated--Driven from his country--Killed by the Mohawks--The English policy in his case briefly considered. 250 CHAP. XIV.--The Pequot territory claimed by Uncas--His tribe, family, and early history--Services in the Pequot expedition rewarded by the English--Effect of their favor--His contest with Miantonomo, and result--Subsequent wars and quarrels with various tribes and chiefs--Assistance rendered him by the English--Complaints brought against him to them--His Christianity considered--His morality--Evidence of his fraud, falsehood, violence, tyranny, ambition--His services, and those of his tribe to the English--Manner in which he met the accusations made against him--Cunning and servility--His treatment of neighboring sachems--Various negotiations with the English--His death--fate of his tribe. 266 CHAP. XV.--Indians who submitted to Massachusetts--The Gortonists--Pomham, Sachem of Shaomet, and Saconoco complain of them--Submit to the Government--Their examination and entertainment--Policy of Massachusetts in the case of Pomham--He and Saconoco much harassed by their neighbors--Subsequent history--Pomham takes part in Philip's war, and is killed--Canonchet, son of Miantonomo--His agreement of October, 1675--Weetamore Squaw-Sachem of Pocasset--Canonchet's career during Philip's war--Particulars of his surprisal and death--His character--Anecdotes--His reputation with the English--Defence of his conduct. 295 CHAP. XVI.--Account of the Pawtucket confederacy in New Hampshire--Passaconaway, their Chief Sachem--He is disarmed by order of the Massachusetts Government. His residence, age and authority--He maintains a good understanding with the English--Visits Boston--The Apostle Elliot's acquaintance with and notice of him--His views of Christianity--Festival, and Farewell speech to his tribe in 1660--Death and character--His son and successor, Wonolanset. Anecdotes of the family--Legend of Passaconaway's feats as a Powah. 315 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY. * * * * * CHAPTER 1. The Indian tribes of Virginia at the date of the Jamestown settlement; their names, numbers and power--The Powhatan confederacy--The Indian Village of that name--Powhatan--The circumstances of the first interview between him and the English--Opechancanough, his brother--Opitchipan--Reception of Captain Smith by Powhatan--Interposition of Pocahontas in his favor--Second visit of the colonists--Third visit, and coronation--Entertainment of Smith by Pocahontas--Contest of ingenuity between Powhatan and Smith; and between the latter and Opechancanough--Smith saved again by Pocahontas--Political manoeuvres of Powhatan and Opechancanough--Smith's return to Jamestown. At the date of the first permanent settlement effected within the limits of Virginia, and for an unknown period previous to that date, the country from the sea-coast to the Allegheny, and from the most southern waters of James river to Patuxent river, (now in the state of Maryland) was occupied by three principal native nations. Each of these nations was a confederacy of larger or smaller tribes; and each tribe was subdivided into towns, families or clans, who lived together. [FN] The three general names by which these communities have been ordinarily known, are the Mannahoacks, the Monacans and the Powhatans. * * * * * [FN] Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. The author has apparently intended to use the word _family_ in its most enlarged sense. Of these, the two former might be called highland or mountain Indians. They all lived upon the banks of the various small streams which water the hilly country between the falls of the Atlantic rivers and the Alleghany ridge. The Mannahoacks consisted of eight tribes, five of which were located between the Potomac and Rappahannoc, and three between the last named river and the York. Of the five tribes of the Monacans, [FN] two were between the York and James, and three extended southward from the James to the boundaries of Carolina. The most powerful respectively of the eight and of the five--the Mannahoacks and the Monacans, properly so called--seem to have given their own names to the entire nation or confederacy of which they were members. The former tribe occupied chiefly what are now Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. The latter resided upon James river above the falls. * * * * * [FN] It may be well to take this occasion of observing, that the author's only rule in the orthography of Indian term has been to follow what appears to be the most approved usage. Stith uses Manakins, instead of Monacans. The Powhatan nation inhabited the lowland tract, extending laterally from the ocean to the falls of the rivers, and from Carolina on the south to the Patuxent on the north. This comprised a much larger number of tribes than either of the others. As many as ten of them (including the Tauxenents, whose chief residence was about Mount Vernon) were settled between the Potomac and Rappahannoc. [FN] Five others extended between the Rappahannoc and York; eight between the York and James, and five between the James and the borders of Carolina. Beside these, the Accohanocks and Accomacks, on what is called the Eastern Shore (of Chesapeake Bay) have also been considered a part of this nation. * * * * * [FN] Both these rivers have derived their names from the tribes originally settled on them. The former have been commonly called the Patowomekes. The territory occupied by the whole of this great confederacy, south of the Potomac, comprehended about 8,000 square miles. Smith tells us in his history, [FN] that within sixty miles of Jamestown were 5,000 natives, of whom 1,500 were warriors. Mr. Jefferson has computed the whole number of Powhatan warriors at 2,400, which, according to the proportions between Smith's estimates (being three to ten) would give an entire population of 8,000, or one to each square mile. * * * * * [FN] A work of which the value is well known to all readers of the early American history. The title is--"The Trve Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith in Europe, Asia, Africke and America, beginning about the yeere 1593, and continued to this present 1629." We copy from the London edition of the date last named. This calculation is probably quite moderate enough. It would leave an average of less than one hundred warriors to each of the thirty tribes. But we find it recorded by an early writer, that three hundred appeared under an Indian chieftain in one body at one time, and seven hundred at another; all of whom were apparently of his own tribe. The Chickahominies alone had between three hundred and four hundred fighting men. The Nansamonds and Chesapeaks showed on one occasion a force of four hundred. And when Smith ascended the Potomac, in June 1608, though he saw no inhabitants for the first thirty miles, he had scarcely entered "a little bayed creeke towards Onawmanient (now Nominy) when he found all the woods roundabout layd with ambuscadoes to the number of _three or four thousand_ Savages, so strangely paynted, grimmed and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying as so many spirits from hell could not have shewed more terrible." It is well known that the valiant Captain was wont to express his opinions in strong terms, but he has rarely been detected in any great inaccuracy. And the circumstances of this case are in his favor; for it has been truly remarked, that the Powhatan confederacy inhabited a country upon which nature had bestowed singular advantages. Unlike the natives of more northern region, they suffered little from cold, and less from famine. Their settlements were mostly on the banks of James, Elizabeth, Nansamond, York and Chickahominy rivers, all which abounded with the most delicious fish and fowl. In his Potomac expedition, Smith met with "that aboundance of fish, lying so thicke with their heads above the water, as for want of nets, (our barge driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them _with a frying-pan._" And though the captain naturally enough concluded, after some trials, that this was a poor instrument for his purpose, he persists in adding that "neither better fish, more plentie, nor more varietie for small fish had any of vs euer seene in any place so swimming in the water--but they are not to be caught with frying-pans." He found the stingrays in such abundance among the reeds at the mouth of the Rappahannoc, that he amused himself by nailing them to the ground with his sword: "and, thus," he observes, "we tooke more in owne houre than we could eate in a day." Vast quantities of corn, too, yearly rewarded even the simple agriculture of the Indians, bestowed as it was upon the best portions of a generous soil. "Great heapes" of it were seen at Kekoughtan, "and then they brought him venison, turkies, wild fowle, bread and what else they had." In none of his captivities, or his visits among the natives, did the captain ever suffer from want of food; and he often brought off his boat and his men laden with plenty. The Nansamonds gave him 400 baskets-full at one time. The Chickahominies, though they complained extremely of their own wants, yet "fraughted" him with hundred bushels. The woods furnished another inexhaustible supply both of fruits and game; so that, on the whole, it is very easy to believe, that a considerably greater population than Mr. Jefferson's estimate supposes, might have subsisted without much difficulty on the soil they are known to have occupied. "And now the winter [of 1607--8] approaching," we are informed in another passage, "the rivers became so covered with swans, geese, duckes and cranes, that we daily feasted with good bread, Virginia pease, pumpions and putchamins, [FN] fish, fowle, and diverse sorts of wild beasts, so fast as we could eate them; so that none of our Tuftaffaty humourists desired to go for England." On one occasion, when Smith undertook an exploring tour into the interior, late in the season, a violent storm obliged him and his men to keep Christmas among the savages. "And we were never more merry," he relates, "nor fed on more plenty of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowle and good bread, nor ever had better fires in England." In a peaceful interval of a few months, which occurred during the next season, the Indians are said to have brought into Jamestown more than a hundred deer and other beasts daily for several weeks. * * * * * [FN] A species of indigenous plum, which is elsewhere described as growing to a considerable height, with fruit like a medlar, first green, then yellow, and red when ripe. "If it be not ripe, it will draw a man's mouth awry with much torment. If ripe, it is delicious as an apricot." It is evident, at least, that the Powhatan confederacy must have been among the most numerous on the continent. It was warlike too; and though the situation of the Monacans and Mannahoacks among the hills of the back country protected them in some measure, yet nothing but a union of these two nations could assure them of security against their more powerful neighbors on the coast. The Powhatans proper, who gave their own appellation to the confederacy of which they were leading members, were located in what is now Henrico county, on the banks of the James river, and at the distance of about two days' journey from the English settlement at its mouth. The principal chief--or _emperor,_ as the old historians style him--of the thirty tribes of the nation, was found by the first colonists residing with these Indians, and is believed to have been one of their number by birth. His proper name was Wahunsonacook. He had that of Powhatan, by which he has been generally designated, from the town so called, which was the chief seat and metropolis of his hereditary dominions. This town is described as pleasantly situated on a hill. It consisted of twelve houses; in front of which were three islets in the river, not far from what in modern times has been called Mayo's plantation, and a little below the spot where Richmond now stands. It was considered by the English both the strongest and pleasantest place in the whole country; [FN] and was consequently named _Nonsuch,_ it seems, about two years after the settlement at Jamestown, when it was purchased of the emperor by Smith. "The place is very pleasant," says the captain in his history, "and strong by nature, and about it are many corn fields." * * * * * [FN] Stith's History, p. 105. The occasion of the first acquaintance which the colonists had with Powhatan was as follows. The adventurous and ambitious spirit of Smith had prompted him to make several journeys and voyages along the Virginia coast, and into the interior of the country. Within a few months after the settlement of Jamestown, among other tribes he discovered the Chickahominies, and procured a large quantity of provision from them at a time when the colonists were in great need of it. But with the idle and unruly in the colony, this good fortune served only to produce murmuring. They complained of his having done so little instead of applauding him for having done so much; and some even of the council undertook to say, that he ought to have followed up the Chickahominy river to its source. Smith was not a man to submit tamely to reproach. He set off again, therefore, in the winter of 1607-8, taking with him a crew sufficient to manage a barge and a smaller boat proper for the navigation of the upper streams. He ascended the Chickahominy with the barge, as far as it could be forced up, by dint of great labor in cutting away trees and clearing a passage. Then leaving it in a broad bay or cove, out of reach of the savages on the banks, the captain, with two other whites, and two friendly Indians, proceeded higher up in the smaller boat. Those who were left meanwhile in possession of the barge, were ordered on no account to go on shore until his return. The order was disobeyed; for he was scarcely out of sight and hearing, when the whole of the crew went ashore. They were very near forfeiting their lives for their rashness. The Indians, to the number of two or three hundred, lay wait for them among the woods on the bank of the river, under the direction of Opechancanough, Sachem of the Pamunkies and reputed brother of Powhatan. One George Cassen was taken prisoner; and the savages soon compelled him to tell them which way Smith had gone. They then put him to death in a cruel manner, and continued the pursuit. The captain, meanwhile, little dreaming of any accident, had gone twenty miles up the river, and was now among the marshes at its source. Here his pursuers came suddenly upon the two English-men, who had hauled up their boat, and lain down to sleep by a fire on the dry land, (while Smith himself went out some distance to kill game with his musket for a supper.) The unfortunate wretches were shot full of arrows and despatched. The savages then pressed on after Smith, and at last overtook him. Finding himself beset by the multitude, he coolly bound to his arm, with his garters, the young Indian who had attended him as guide, for a buckler--(what had become of the other, does not appear)--and received the enemy's onset so briskly with his fire-arms, that he soon laid three of them dead on the spot, and wounded and galled many others so effectually that none appeared anxious to approach him. He was himself wounded slightly in the thigh, and had many arrows sticking in his clothes; but he still kept the enemy at bay. His next movement was to endeavor to sheer off to his boat; but taking more notice of his foe than his path, as he went, he suddenly slipped up to his middle in an oozy creek. Hampered as he was in this awkward position, not an Indian dared venture near him, until, finding himself almost dead with cold, he threw away his arms and surrendered. Then drawing him out, they carried him to the fire where his men had been slain, carefully chafed his benumbed limbs, and finally restored him to the use of them. The incidents of the ensuing scene are a striking illustration both of the sagacity of the prisoner and the simplicity of his captors. He called for their chief--through the intervention of his Indian guide, we suppose--and Opechancanough came forward. Smith presented him with a round ivory double compass-dial, which he had carried at his side. The savages were confounded by the playing of the fly and needle, especially as the glass prevented them from touching what they could see so plainly. He then gave them a sort of astronomical lecture, demonstrating "by that Globe-like Iewell," as he calls it, the roundness of the earth, the skies, the sphere of the sun, moon and stars; "and how the sunne did chase the night round about the world continually; the greatnesse of the land and sea, the diversitie of nations, varietie of complexions, and how we were to them antipodes, and many other such like matters," his tawny auditors standing all the while motionless and dumb with amazement. But within about an hour they returned to their original purpose of killing him, as they had killed three of his comrades. He was tied to a tree, and the savages drew up in a circle to shoot him. The arrow was already laid upon a hundred bows. But at this moment Opechancanough held up the compass. This was a signal of delay, if not of mercy, and they threw by their arms at once. With great exultation and parade they then conducted the captive to Orapakes, a hunting-residence of Powhatan, lying on the north side of Chickahominy swamp, and much frequented by that Sachem and his family, on account of the abundance of game it afforded. The order of procession was a proper _Indian file._ Opechancanough, marching in the centre, had the English swords and muskets carried before him as a trophy. Next followed Smith, led by three stout savages who held him fast by the arm; while on either side six more marched in file, with their arrows notched, as flank-guards. On arriving at Orapakes, a village consisting of some thirty to forty mat-houses, the women and children flocked out to gaze at a being so different from any they had ever before seen. The warriors, on the other hand, immediately began a grand war-dance, the best description of which is in Smith's own language. "A good time they continued this exercise, and then cast themselues in a ring dauncing in such severall postures, and singing and yelling out such hellish notes and screeches; being strangely paynted, every one his quiver of arrowes, and at his backe a club; on his arme a fox or an otter's skinne, or some such matter for a vambrace; their heads and shoulders paynted red, with oyle and pocones [FN] mingled together, which scarlet-like color made an exceeding handsome shew; his bow in his hand, and the skinne of a bird with her wings abroad dryed, tyed on his head; a peece of copper, a white shell, a long feather, with a small rattle growing at the tayls of their snaks tyed, or some such like toy." Thrice the performers stopped to take breath, and thrice they renewed the dance--Smith and the Sachem meanwhile standing in the centre. The company then broke up; and the prisoner was conducted to a long matted wigwam, where thirty or forty tall stout savages remained about him as a guard. Ere long, more bread and venison was brought him than would have served twenty men. "I thinke," says the captain himself "his stomacke at that time was not very good." He ate something, however, and the remainder was put into baskets, and swung from the roof of the Wigwam over his head. * * * * * [FN] A small root which turned red by being dried and beat into powder. It was used also for swellings, aches, anointing the joints after fatigue and exposure, and painting garments. Beverly calls it _puccoon._ About midnight these liberal provisioners set their fare before him again, never tasting a morsel themselves all the while. But, in the morning, when they brought in a fresh reinforcement, they ate the fragments of former meals, and swung up the residue of the last one as before. So little reason had the captain to complain of famine, that he began seriously to believe they were fatting him for the slaughter. He suffered occasionally from the cold, and would have suffered more but for an unexpected relief. An Indian, named Mocasseter, brought him his _goune,_ as Smith calls it--perhaps a fur mantle, or a blanket--and gave it to him, professedly in requital of certain beads and toys which Smith had given _him_ at Jamestown, immediately after his arrival in Virginia. [FN] * * * * * [FN] A fine illustration of that principle of gratitude which is proverbially characteristic of the Indians as their revenge, for similar reasons. No favor is wasted upon them, and no injury or insult is forgiven. The anecdote following this in the text is an instance in point. Two days afterwards, he was violently assaulted, and but for his guard would have been killed, by an old Indian whose son had been wounded in the skirmish which took place at his capture. They conducted him to the death-bed of the poor wretch, where he was found breathing his last. Smith told them he had a kind of water at Jamestown which might effect a cure, but they would not permit him to go for it, and the subject was soon forgotten. Within a few days, they began to make great preparations for assaulting the English Colony by surprise. They craved Smith's advice and assistance in that proceeding, offering him not only life and liberty for his services, but as much land or a settlement and as many women for wives as he wanted--such an opinion had they formed of his knowledge and prowess. He did every thing in his power to discourage their design, by telling them of the mines, the cannon, and various other stratagems and engines of war, used by the English. He could only succeed in prevailing upon several of them to carry a note for him to Jamestown, (under pretence of getting some toys,) in which he informed his countrymen of his own situation and the intention of the savages, and requested them to send him without fail by the bearers certain articles which he named. These were to be deposited at a particular spot in the woods near Jamestown. The messengers started off, we are told, in as severe weather as could be of frost and snow, and arrived at Jamestown. There, seeing men sally out from the town to meet them, as Smith had told them would be the case, they were frightened and ran off. But the note was left behind; and so coming again in the evening, they found the articles at the appointed place, and then returned homeward in such haste as to reach Orapakes in three days after they had left it. All thoughts of an attack upon the colony being now extinguished in the astonishment and terror excited by the feats of Smith, they proceeded to lead him about the country in show and triumph. First they carried him to the tribe living on the Youghtanund, since called the Pamunkey river; then to the Mattaponies, the Piankatunks, the Nantaughtacunds on the Rappahannoc, and the Nominies on Potomac river. Having completed this route, they conducted him, through several other nations, to Opechancanough's own habitation at Pamunkey; where, with frightful howlings and many strange ceremonies, they "conjured" him three days in order to ascertain, as they told him, whether he intended them well or ill. [FN] An idea may be formed of these proceedings, which took place under Opechancanough's inspection, from the exercises for one day as described the captive himself. * * * * * [FN] Stith, p. 53. Early in the morning, a great fire was made in a long house, and mats spread upon each side of it, on one of which the prisoner was seated. His bodyguard then left the house, "and presently came skipping in a great grim fellow, paynted over with coale, mingled with oyle; and many snakes and wesels skinnes stuffed with mosse, and all their tayles tyed together, so as they met on the croune of his head in a tassell; and round about the tassell was a coronet of feathers, the skinnes hanging round about his head, backe and shoulders, and in a manner covered his face; with a hellish voyce and a rattle in his hand." This personage commenced his invocation with a great variety of gestures, postures, grimaces and exclamations; and concluded with drawing a circle of meal round the fire. Then rushed in three more performers of the same description, their bodies painted half red and half black, their eyes white and their faces streaked with red patches, apparently in imitation of English whiskers. These three having danced about for a considerable time, made way for three more, with red eyes, and white streaks upon black faces. At length all seated themselves opposite to the prisoner, three on the right hand of the first named functionary (who appeared to be the chief priest, and ringleader) and three on the left. Then a song was commenced, accompanied with a violent use of the rattles; upon which the chief priest laid down five _wheat-corns,_ [FN] and began an oration, straining his arms and hands so that he perspired freely, and his veins swelled. At the conclusion, all gave a groan of assent, laid down three grains more, and renewed the song. This went on until the fire was twice encircled. Other ceremonies of the same character ensued, and last of all was brought on, towards evening, a plentiful feast of the best provisions they could furnish. The circle of meal was said to signify their country, the circles of corn the bounds of the sea, and so on. The world, according to their theory, was round and flat, like a trencher, and themselves located precisely in the midst. * * * * * [FN] An inadvertency, we presume; or the words may be used rather loosely to signify what had as yet no distinctive name. Indian corn must be meant. After this, they showed Smith a bag of gun-powder, which had probably been taken from the boat, and which they were carefully preserving till the next spring, to plant with their corn--"because they would be acquainted with the nature of that seede." Opitchipan, another brother of Powhatan--of whom we have here the first mention--invited him to his house, and treated him sumptuously; but no Indian, on this or any other occasion, would eat with him. The fragments were put up in baskets; and upon his return to Opechancanough's wigwam, the Sachem's wives and their children flocked about him for their portions, "as a due by custom, to be merry with such fragments." At last they carried him to Werowocomoco, where was Powhatan himself. This residence of his, lay on the north side of York river, in Gloster county, nearly opposite the mouth of Green's creek and about twenty-five miles below the mouth of the river. It was at this time his favorite village, though afterwards, not coveting the near neighborhood of the English, he retired to Orapakes. Powhatan, which gave him his name, was sold to the English in 1609. On his arrival in the village, Smith was detained until the emperor (as we shall call him, for convenience,) and his train could prepare themselves to receive their illustrious captive in proper state; and meanwhile more than two hundred of these grim courtiers gathered about him to satisfy their curiosity with gazing. He was then introduced to the royal presence, the multitude hailing him with a tremendous shout, as he walked in. Powhatan--a majestic and finely formed savage, with a marked countenance, and an air of haughtiness sobered down into gravity by a life of sixty years--was seated before a fire, upon a seat something like a bedstead, and clothed in an ample robe of _Rarowcun_ [FN] skins, with all the tails hanging over him. On each side sat a young wench of sixteen or eighteen years old; and along each wall of the house, two rows of women in the rear and two rows of men in front. All had their heads and shoulders painted red. Many had their hair decked with the white down of birds. Some wore a great chain of white beads about their necks. But no one was without ornament of some kind. * * * * * [FN] A variation of Raccoon, perhaps. Soon after Smith's entrance, a female of rank, said to be the queen of Appamattuck, was directed to bring him water to wash his hands; and another brought a bunch of feathers, to answer the purpose of a towel. Having then feasted him (as he acknowledges) in the best barbarous manner they could, a long and solemn consultation was held to determine his fate. The decision was against him. The conclave resumed their silent gravity; two great stones were brought in before Powhatan; and Smith was dragged before them, and his head laid upon them, as a preparation for beating out his brains with clubs. The fatal weapons were already raised, and the savage multitude stood silently awaiting the prisoner's last moment. But Smith was not destined thus to perish. Pocahontas, the beloved daughter of Powhatan, rushed forward, and earnestly entreated with tears that the victim might yet be spared. The royal savage rejected her request, and the executioners stood ready for the signal of death. She knelt down, put her arms about Smith, and laid her head over his, declaring she would perish with him or save him. The heart of the stern Sachem was at length melted. The decree was reversed; and the prisoner was spared for the purpose--as the emperor explained it--of making hatchets for himself, and bells and beads for his daughter. [FN] * * * * * [FN] This celebrated scene is preserved in a beautiful piece of sculpture, over the western door of the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. The group consists of five figures, representing the precise moment when Pocahontas, by her interposition, saved Smith from being executed. Smith is attired in the military dress, reclining on his elbow, his body extended, ready to receive the death-blow from the war-mace of an Indian who stands near his head. This is the work we believe, of Capellano, an Italian pupil of Canova. This was apparently a mere pretext for concealing the emotions which he thought unworthy of his name as a warrior, and for preventing any jealousy on the part of his counselors. And subsequent events would lead to the same conclusion. He detained his prisoner but two days. At the end of that time, he caused him to be conducted to a large house in the woods, and there left alone upon a mat by the fire. In a short time, a horrible noise was heard from behind a wide mat which divided the house; and then Powhatan, dressed in the most fantastic manner, with some two hundred followers as much begrimed and disguised as himself; came in and told Smith that now they were friends; "and presently he should go to Jamestown to send him two great guns and a grindstone, for which he would give him the country of Capahowsick, and forever esteem him as his own son." He was accordingly sent off with twelve guides, to Jamestown. The party quartered in the woods one night, and reached the fort the next morning betimes. The savages were handsomely entertained while they staid. Two demi-culverins and mill-stone were shown them, with other curiosities. They proposed to carry the former to Powhatan; but finding them somewhat too heavy, contented themselves with a variety of lighter presents. They were excessively frightened by a discharge of the culverins.--Smith, who had political as well as personal motives in view, had loaded them with stones, and these he fired among the boughs of a tree covered with huge icicles. The effect may easily be imagined. During the same winter, Smith visited Powhatan, in company with Captain Newport, a gentleman newly arrived from England, who had already sent many presents to the emperor. Attended by a guard of thirty or forty men, they sailed as far as Werowocomoco the first day. Here Newport's courage failed him. He was especially alarmed by the appearance of various bridges they were obliged to pass over in crossing the streams; for these were so loosely made of poles and bark, that he took them for traps set by the savages. But Smith, with twenty men, leaving the boat, undertook to go forward and accomplish the journey. He accordingly went on, and was soon met by two or three hundred Indians, who conducted them into the town. There Powhatan exerted himself to the utmost to give him a royal entertainment. The people shouted for joy to see Smith; orations were addressed to him; and a plentiful feast provided to refresh him after the weariness of his voyage. The emperor received him, reclining upon his bed of mats, his pillow of dressed skin lying beside him with its brilliant embroidery of shells and beads, and his dress consisting chiefly of a handsome fur robe "as large as an Irish mantell." At his head and feet were two comely young women as before; and along the sides of the house sat twenty other females, each with her head and shoulders painted red and a great chain of white beads about her neck. "Before these sat his chiefest men in like order in his arbor-like house, and more than fortie platters of fine bread stood as a guard in two pyles on each side the door. Foure or fiue hundred people made a guard behinde them for our passage; and Proclamation was made, none vpon paine of death to presume to doe vs any wrong or discourtesie. With many pretty discourses to renew their old acquaintance, this great King and our captaine spent the time, till the ebbe left our barge aground. Then renewing their feest with feates, dauncing and singing, and such like mirth, we quartered that night with Powhatan." [FN] * * * * * [FN] Smith's History, Richmond Edition, p. 167. The next day, Newport, who had thought better of his fears, came ashore, and was welcomed in the same hospitable style. An English boy, named Savage, was given to Powhatan at his request; and he returned the favor by presenting Newport with an Indian named Nomontack, a trusty and shrewd servant of his own. One motive for this arrangement was probably the desire of gaining information respecting the English colony. During the three or four days more which were passed in feasting, dancing and trading, the old Sachem manifested so much dignity and so much discretion, as to create a high admiration of his talents in the minds of his guests. In one instance, he came near offending them by the exercise of his shrewdness, although that may be fairly considered their fault rather than his. Newport, it seems, had brought with him a variety of articles for a barter commerce--such as he supposed would command a high price in corn. And accordingly the Powhatans, generally of the lower class, traded eagerly with him and his men. These, however, were not profitable customers; they dealt upon a small scale; they had not much corn to spare. It was an object therefore to drive a trade, with the emperor himself. But this he affected to decline and despise. "Captain Newport," said he, "it is not agreeable to my greatness to truck in this peddling manner for trifles. I am a great Werowance, [FN] and I esteem you the same. Therefore lay me down all your commodities together; what I like I will take, and in return you shall have what I conceive to be a fair value." This proposal was interpreted to Newport by Smith, who informed him at the same time of the hazard he must incur in accepting it. But Newport was a vain man, and confidently expected either to dazzle the emperor with his ostentation, or overcome him with his bounty, so as to gain any request he might make. The event unluckily proved otherwise. Powhatan, after coolly selecting such of Newport's goods as he liked best, valued his own corn at such a rate, that Smith says it might as well have been purchased in old Spain; they received scarcely four bushels where they had counted upon twenty hogsheads. * * * * * [FN] A Powhatan term of general signification, answering to Northern _Sachem,_ the _Basheba_ of Maine, and the English _Chief._ It was now Smith's turn to try his skill; and he made his experiment, more wisely than his comrade, not upon the sagacity of the emperor but upon his simplicity. He took out various toys and gewgaws, as it were accidentally, and contrived, by glancing them dexterously in the light, to show them to great advantage. It was not long before Powhatan fixed his observing eye upon a string of brilliant blue beads. Presently he became importunate to obtain them. But Smith was very unwilling to part with these precious gems; they being, as he observed, composed of a most rare substance, of the color of the skies, and fit to be worn only by the greatest kings in the world. The savage grew more and more eager to own such jewels, so that finally a bargain was struck, to the perfect satisfaction of all parties, whereby Smith obtained between two and three hundred bushels of corn for a pound or two of blue beads. A similar negotiation was immediately after effected with Opechancanough at Pamunkey. He was furnished with a quantity of this invaluable jewelry at very nearly the same price; and thus the beads grew into such estimation among the Indians far and near, that none but the great werowances, and their wives and children, dared to be seen wearing them. They were imperial symbols of enormous value. But it was not upon beads only that Powhatan set a high estimate. He perceived the vast advantage which the English possessed over his own men in their weapons; and he became exceedingly anxious to place himself upon equal terms on one side with the colonists, while he should domineer over the less fortunate foreign Indian tribes, as he liked, on the other. When Newport left the country for England, he sent him twenty fine turkeys, and requested in return the favor of as many swords, which that gentleman was inconsiderate enough to furnish him. He subsequently passed the same compliment to Smith; and when the latter gave him no swords in payment, he was highly offended, and is said to have ordered his people to take them wherever they could get them, by stratagem or by force. But Smith soon checked this project in his usual summary manner; and Powhatan, finding that game a desperate one, sent in Pocahontas with presents, to excuse himself for the injury done "by some of his disorderly warriors," and to desire that those who were captive might be liberated for this time on their good behavior. Smith punished them sufficiently, and granted the request of the emperor "for the sake of
{'title': 'Indian Biography; Vol. 1 (of 2) by B. B. Thatcher', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}