to river, near two miles in length, guarded with several forts, with a large quantity of corn ground impaled, and sufficiently secured. Besides these precautions, there may still be seen, upon the river bank, within the island, the ruins of a great ditch, now overgrown with large and stately trees; which, it may be supposed, was defended with a palisade, to prevent a surprise on that side, by crossing the river; and for a still further security to the town, he intended, but never quite finished, a palisade on the south side of the river, as a range for the hogs; and he called it Hope in Faith and Coxendale. It was about two miles and a half long, and was secured by five of their sort of forts, called Charity fort, Elizabeth fort, fort Patience, and Mount Malady, with a guest-house for sick people, upon a high and dry situation, and in a wholesome air, in the place where Jefferson church now stands. On the same side of the river also, Mr. Whitaker, their preacher, chose to be seated; and he impaled a fine parsonage, with a hundred acres of land, calling it Rock Hall.” Richmond, the metropolis of Virginia, is situated on the north side of James River, at the Great Falls, distant 117 miles from Washington City, 342 from New York, 557 from Boston, 520 from Cincinnati, 1055 from New Orleans, 423 from Charleston, 351 from Wheeling, 116 from Lynchburg, 62 from Fredericksburg, 106 from Norfolk, 146 from Winchester, and 23 from Petersburg. Although Richmond is comparatively a modern town, yet its site is frequently alluded to in the early history of Virginia. The first mention of it is in 1609, when Master West, in a scarcity of provisions, went up from Jamestown to the Falls of James River, as the place was then called, to procure food, but found nothing edible except acorns. In the same year West was sent with a colony of 120 men, to settle at the falls. Capt. John Smith, then president of the colony, visiting West's settlement found his people planted" in a place not only subject to the river's inundation, but round environed with many intolerable inconveniences." This was, perhaps, where Rockett's now is, just below Richmond. "To remedy these inconveniences, Smith, by means of a messenger, proposed to Powhatan to purchase from him the place of that name.* The settlers, however, disdainfully rejected Smith's plan, and became so mutinous upon the occasion that Smith landed among them and committed the ringleaders to confinement. At length, however, overpowered by their numbers, he being only supported by five, was forced to retire to a vessel in the river. At this time the savages daily supplied Smith with provisions, in requital for which the disorderly English stole their corn, plundered their gardens, beat them, broke into their wigwams and made them prisoners, so that the poor Indians complained to Smith that those whom he had planted there as their protectors were worse than their enemies the Monocans. Smith embarked for Jamestown. No sooner had he sailed, than a handful of Indians assaulted West's people, and slew many of them. However, before Smith had proceeded a mile and a half down the river, his vessel ran aground, whereupon he summoned the malecontents to a parley, and with such a panic were they struck at the assault of a few savages, that they submitted themselves to the president's mercy. He arrested the ringleaders, and established the rest at Powhatan in the Indian palisade fort there, which was so well fortified with poles and bark of trees as to defy all the savages of Virginia. They found, also, there, dry wigwams, and near 200 acres of land ready to be planted. And from the strength and beauty of the place, they called it Nonsuch.' Smith being now on the eve of his departure, West arrived, which renewed all the troubles, and the upshot was that they abandoned Nonsuch and returned to the Falls. Smith, finding all his efforts frustrated, embarked for Jamestown in his boat, for the vessel had sailed two days before." In 1644-5, the Assembly of Virginia ordered a fort to be erected at the Falls of James River, to be called "fforte Charles." In 1646 an act was passed, of which the following is an extract: "And, whereas, there is no plantable land adjoyning to ffort Charles, and therefore no encouragement for any vndertaker to maintaine the same, It is, therefore, thought fitt and inacted, That if any person or persons purchasing the right of Capt. Thomas Harris shall or will seate or inhabitt on the south side of James River right opposite to the said fforte, soe it be done this or the ensueing yeare, That hee or they so vndertakeing as aforesaid shall have and enjoy the houseing belonging to the said ffort for the vse of timber, or by burning them for the nailes or otherwise, as also shall be exempted from the publique taxes for the term of three years, provided that the number exceed not tenn, as also shall have and enjoy the boats and ammunition belonging to the said ffort." * The town where this monarch resided was called after him. Powhatan. It consisted of about a dozen houses, and stood about two miles below the site of Richmond. Five hundred men were In March, 1675-6, war was declared against the Indians. ordered to proceed to the frontier, and eight forts garrisoned. James City county to be garrisoned neare the ffalls of James River, at Captain Byrd's, or at one ffort or place of defence over against him at Newletts, [or Howletts,] of which fforte Coll. Edward Ramsay be captaine or cheife commander." In 1676, a party of Indians, evacuating a fort on the Potomac where they had been besieged by the colonists, "took their route over the head of that river, and thence over the heads of Rappahannock and York Rivers, killing whom they found of the upmost plantations, until they came to the head of James River, where (with Bacon and others) they slew Mr. Bacon's overseer, whom he much loved, and one of his servants, whose blood he vowed to avenge, if possible "* "Bacon's Quarter Branch and Bloody Run, near Richmond, still call to mind Bacon and his rebellion. The term Bacon's Quarter, indicates that his plantation lay there. Bloody Run, according to tradition, is so called from a bloody battle Bacon fought there with the Indians. We have not been able to find any thing in the history of those times to confirm this tradition, and it would seem more probable that Bloody Run derived its name from the battle in which Hill was defeated, and Totopotomoi slain. The stream is a small one, and is said during the battle to have run blood."+ In 1679, certain privileges were granted Capt. Wm. Byrd, upon the condition that he should settle fifty able-bodied and well-armed men in the vicinity of the falls, to act as a protection to the frontier against the Indians. In the Westover mss. Col. Byrd mentions his plantations at the falls, as follows: "September 18th, (1732,) for the pleasure of the good company of Mrs. Byrd and her little governor, Iny son, I went about half-way to the falls in my chariot. There we halted not far from a purling stream, and upon the stump of a propagate oak picked the bones of a piece of roast beef. By the spirit which it gave me, I was the better able to part with the dear companions of my travels, and to perform the rest of my journey on horseback by myself. I reached Shacco's before two o'clock, and crossed the river to the mills. I had the grief to find them both stand as still for the want of water, as a dead woman's tongue for want of breath. It had rained so little for many weeks above the falls, that the Naiads had hardly water enough left to wash their faces. However, as we ought all to turn our misfortunes to the best advantage, I directed Mr. Booker, my first minister there, to make use of the lowness of the water for blowing up the rocks at the mouth of the canal. * The water now flowed out of the river * so slowly, that the miller was obliged to pond it up in the canal, by setting open the flood-gates at the mouth, and shutting those close at the mill. By this contrivance, he was able at any time to grind two or three bushels, either for his choice customers or for the use of my plantations. Then I walked to the place where they broke the flax, which is wrought with much greater ease than the hemp, and is much better for spinning. From thence I paid a visit to the weaver, who needed a little of Minerva's inspiration to make the most of a piece of cloth. Then I looked in upon my Caledonian spinster, who was mended more in her looks, than in her humor. On the next day, after I had swallowed a few poached eggs, we rode down to the mouth of the canal, and from thence crossed over to the broad-rock island in a canoe. Our errand was to view some iron ore, which we dug up in two places. That on the surface seemed very spongy and poor, which gave us no great encouragement to search deeper, nor did the quantity appear to be very great. However, for my greater satisfaction, I ordered a hand to dig there for some time this winter. We walked from one end of the island to the other, being about half a mile in length, and found the soil very good, and too high for any flood less than Deucalion's to do the least damage. There is a very wild prospect both upwards and downwards, the river being full of rocks, over which the stream tumbled with a murmur loud enough to drown the notes of a scolding wife. This island would make an agreeable hermitage for any good Christian, who had a mind to retire from the world." Richmond was established a town by law in the reign of George II., May, 1742, on land belonging to Col. William Byrd, who died in 1744. The locality was anciently called Byrd's Warehouse. That gentleman, at the time, had a warehouse near where the Exchange Hotel now is. The seat of a Col. Byrd is thus described in Burnaby's Travels in North America in 1759-60. He" has a small place called Belvidere, upon a hill at the lower end of these falls, (James River,) as romantic and elegant as any thing I have ever seen. It is situated very high, and commands a fine prospect of the *T M.'s account of Bacon's Rebellion. From mss. of Charles Campbell, Esq. |