Virginia, 1622

March 22, 1622 - Opechancanough, the new leader of the Powhatan people, organized an attack on the English settlements along the James River.

About one mile from the Fort at Henricus was John Proctor's plantation. John Proctor arrived in Virginia in 1610, but returned to England in 1621 for business. He sent his wife, Alice (or Allis), back to Virginia by herself with intentions of following later. On March 22, 1622, surrounding areas at Falling Creek, the College Lands, and Sheffield's Plantation were attacked by the Native warriors and with few survivors, but Alice Proctor and her servants defended the Proctor's plantation for three weeks with no casualties.

Described by John Smith in his 1624 "General Historie of Virginia", he describes:
"Nay, Mistresse Proctor, a proper, civill Gentlewoman did the like, till perforce the English Officers forced her and all them with her to goe with them, or they would fire her house themselves, as the Salvages did when they were gone, in whose despight they had kept it, and what they had moneth or three weeks after the Massacre, which was to their hearts a griefe beyond comparison..."

Alice Proctor and her servants were evacuated to Pace's Paines in Surrey County, VA, where John Proctor arrived later in the year. They rented a farm there, where they are listed in the 1624 muster and court records.

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• Virginia
• colony
• henricus historical park
• proctor
• muskets
• matchlock
• powhatan
• 1622