 Chapter 1 of Historical Tales, Volume 2, American 2. Historical Tales, Volume 2, American 2, by Charles Morris. Chapter 1, Ponce de Lyon and the Fountain of Youth A Golden Easter Day was that of the faraway year 1513. When a small fleet of Spanish ships sailing westward from the Green Bahamas first came in sight of a flower-lined shore rising above the blue Atlantic waves and seeming to smile a welcome as the mariners gazed with eyes of joy and hope on the inviting arcades of its verdant forest depths. Never had the eyes of white men beheld this land of beauty before. English ships had sailed along the coast to the north finding much of it bleak and uninviting. The caravals of Columbus had threaded the glowing line of tropic aisles and later ships had borne settlers to these lands of promise. But the rich southlands of the continent had never before been seen and well was this unknown realm of beauty named Florida by the Spanish chief. Whether by his name he meant to call it the land of flowers or referred to the Spanish name for Easter, Pasqua Florida. However that be, he was the first of the discoverers to set foot on the soil of the great coming republic of the United States and it is of interest that this was done within the domain of the sunny south. The weight of half a century of years lay upon the shoulders of Juan Ponce de Lyon, the discoverer. But warm hope burned in his heart that of winning renewed boyhood and youthful strength for it was a magic vision that drew him to these new shores in whose depths he felt sure the realm of enchantment lay. Somewhere amid those green copses or along those liquid streams he had been told a living fountain sprang up clear and sparkling from the earth its waters of such a marvelous quality that whoever should bathe in them would feel new life coursing through his veins and the vigor of youth bounding along his limbs. It was the fountain of youth he sought that fabled fountain of which men had dreamed for centuries and which was thought to lie somewhere in eastern Asia. Might not its waters upspring in this new land whose discovery was the great marvel of the age and which men looked upon as the unknown east of Asia? Such was the newcomer's dream. Juan de Lyon was a soldier and cavalier of Spain in those days when Spain stood first among the nations of Europe based in strength and enterprise and daring. Brave as the bravest he had fought with distinguished courage against the moors of Granada at the time when Columbus was setting out on his famous voyage over the unknown seas of the West. Drawn by the fame of the discovery of the new world de Lyon sailed with Columbus in his second voyage and proved himself a gallant soldier in the wars for the conquest of Hispaniola of whose eastern half he was made governor. To the eastward lay another island, the Fair Tropic Island ever since known as Puerto Rico. De Lyon could see from the high hills of Hispaniola the far green shores of this island which he invaded and finally subdued in 1509 making himself its governor. A stern oppressor of the natives he won great wealth from his possessions here and in Hispaniola. But, like many men in his position his heart was sore from the loss of the youthful vigor which would have enabled him to enjoy to the full his newfound wealth. Could he but discover the wondrous fountain of youth and plunge in its life-giving waters? Was not this the region in which it was said to lie? He eagerly questioned the Indians about it and was told by them that they had often heard of such a fountain somewhere not far to the north. It is probable enough that the Indians were ready to tell anything false or true that would rid them of the unwelcome Spaniards but it may be that among their many fables they believed that such a fountain existed. However that may be, De Leon gladly heard their story and lost no time in going forth like a night errant in quest of the magic fountain. On March 3, 1513 he sailed with three ships from Puerto Rico and after threading the Fair Bahama Islands landing on those of rarest tropic charm he came on Easter Sunday, March 27 in sight of the beautiful land to which he gave the name of Florida. Bad weather kept him for a time from the shore and it was not until April 9 that he was able to land. It was near the mouth of the St. John River not far from where St. Augustine now stands that he set foot on shore the first white man's foot to tread the soil of the coming United States since the days of the Northmen five centuries before. He called his place of landing the Bay of the Cross and took possession of the land for the King of Spain setting up a stone cross as a sign of Spain's jurisdiction. And now the eager Cavalier began the search for that famous fountain which was to give him perpetual youth. It is not likely he was alone in this probably most of his followers being as eager as he for in those days magic was firmly believed in by half of mankind and many wild fancies were current which no one now accepts. Deep into the dense woodland they plunged wandering through verdant miles bathing in every spring and stream they met led on and on by the hope that some one of these might hold the waters of youth. Doubtless they fancied that the fountain would have some special marks something to distinguish it from the host of common springs but this might not be the case. The most precious things may lie concealed under the plainest aspect like the fabled jewel in the toad's forehead and it was certainly wisest to let no waters pass untried. Months passed on southward along the coast they sailed landing here and there and penetrating inland still hopeful of finding the enchanted spring but wherever it might lie hidden they found it not for the marks of age which nature had brought clung to them still and a bitterly disappointed man was Juan Ponce de Leon when he turned the prowse of his ships away from the newfound shores and sailed back to Puerto Rico. The will of the wispy sought had baffled him yet something of worth remained for he made a discovery of importance the island of Florida as he called it and thought it to be. To Spain he went with the news of his voyage and told the story of his discovery to King Ferdinand to whom Columbus had told his wonderful tale some twenty years before. The king at once appointed him governor of Florida and gave him full permission to plant a colony in the new land continent or island as it might prove to be. De Leon may still have nourished hopes in his heart of finding the fabled fountain when in 1521 he returned to plant the colony granted by the king but the natives of Florida had seen enough of the Spaniards in their former visit and now met them with arrows instead of flowers and smiles. Fears fights ensued and their efforts to establish themselves on the new shores proved in vain. In the end their leader received so severe an arrow wound that he withdrew and left to the victorious Indians the ownership of their land. The arrow was poisoned and his wound proved mortal. In a short time after reaching Cuba he died having found death instead of youth in the land of flowers. We may quote the words of the historian Robertson in support of the fancy which led De Leon in the path of discovery. The Spaniards at that period were engaged in a career of activity which gave a romantic turn to their imagination and daily presented to them strange and marvelous objects. A new world was opened to their view. They visited islands and continents of whose existence mankind in former ages had no conception. In those delightful countries nature seemed to assume another form. Every tree and plant and animal was different from those of the ancient hemisphere. They seemed to be transported into enchanted ground and after the wonders which they had seen nothing in the warmth and novelty of their imagination appeared to them so extraordinary as to be beyond belief. If the rapid succession of new and striking scenes made such an impression on the sound understanding of Columbus that he boasted of having found the seat of paradise, it will not appear strange that Ponce de Leon should dream of discovering the fountain of youth. All we need say farther is that the first attempt to colonize the shores of the great republic of the future years ended in disaster and death. Yet De Leon's hope was not fully amiss for in our own day many seek that flowery land in quest of youthful strength. They do not now hope to find it by bathing in any magic fountain but it comes to them by breathing atmosphere and basking in its magic climb. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Historical Tales, Volume 2 American 2 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Historical Tales, Volume 2 American 2 by Charles Morris Chapter 2 De Soto and the Father of Waters America was to the Spaniards the land of gold everywhere they looked for the yellow medal more precious in their eyes than anything else the earth yields. The wonderful adventures of Cortez in Mexico and of Pizarro in Peru and the vast wealth in gold found by these sons of fame filled their people with hope and avarice and men of enterprise began to look elsewhere for great and rich Indian nations to subdue and plunder. North of the Gulf of Mexico lay a vast mysterious region which in time to come was to be the seat of a great and mighty nation. To the Spaniards it was a land of enchantment the mystic realm of the unknown perhaps rich in marvels and wealthy beyond their dreams. It was fabled to contain the magic fountain of youth, the hope to bathe in whose pellucid waters lowered Ponce de Leon to his death. Another explorer, De Ion sailed north of Florida seeking a sacred stream which was said to possess the same enchanted powers. A third, De Narvaz went far into the country with more men than Cortez led to the conquest of Mexico, but after months of wandering only a handful of his men returned and not a grain of gold was found to pay for their suffering. But these failures only stirred the Cavaliers of Spain to new thirst for adventure and gain. They had been told of fertile plains of splendid tropical forests of the beauty of the Indian maidens of romantic incidents and hair-bred forests of the wonderful influence exercised by a white man on tribes of dusky warriors, and who knew what fairy marvels or unimagined wealth might be found in the deep interior of this land of hope and mystery. Thus, when Hernando de Sota, who had been with Pizarro in Peru and seen its gold-plated temples called for volunteers to explore and conquer the unknown Northland, hundreds of aspiring warriors flocked to his standard burning with love of adventure and filled with thirst for gold. On the 30th of May, 1539, de Soto, with nine vessels and six or seven hundred well-armed followers, sailed into Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Here they had once landed and marched inland, greedy to reach and grasp the spectral image of gold which floated before their eyes. A daring but a cruel man was this new adventurer. He brought with him bloodhounds the Indians and chains to fetter them. A drove of hogs was brought to supply the soldiers with fresh meat. They were provided with horses, with firearms, with cannon, with steel armor, with everything to overaw and overcome the woodland savages. Yet two things they needed. These were judgment and discretion. It would have been wise to make friends of the Indians. Instead, by their cruelty, they turned them into bitter and relentless enemies. So wherever they went they had bold and fierce foes to fight and wounds and death marked their pathway across the land. Let us follow de Soto and his men into the realm of the unknown. They had not gone far before a strange thing happened. Out of a crowd of dusky Indians a white man rode on horseback to join them making gestures of delight. He was a Spaniard, Juan Ortiz by name, one of the Navias band who had been held in captivity among the Indians for ten years. He knew the Indian language well and offered himself as an interpreter and guide. Heaven seemed to have sent him for he was worth a regiment to the Spaniards. Juan Ortiz had a strange story to tell. Once his captors had sought to burn him alive by a slow fire as a sacrifice to the evil spirit bound hand and foot he was laid on a wooden stage and a fire kindled under him. But at this moment of frightful peril the daughter of the chieftain begged for his life and her father listened to her prayer. Three years later the savage captors again decided to burn him and again the dusky maiden saved his life. She warned him of his danger and led him to the camp of another chief. Here he stayed till the Spaniards came. What became of the warm hearted maiden we are not told. She did not win the fame of the Pocahontas of a later day. Many and strange were the adventures of the Spaniards as they went deeper and deeper into the darkness. Misfortune tracked their footsteps and there was no glitter of gold to cheer their hearts. A year passed over their heads and still the land of gold lay far away. An Indian offered to lead them to a distant country governed by a woman telling them that there they would find abundance of a yellow medal. Inspired by hope they now pushed eagerly forward but the yellow medal proved to be copper instead of gold and their high hopes were followed by the gloom of disappointment But wherever they went their trail was marked by blood and pillage and the story of their ruthless deeds stirred up the Indians in advance to bitter hostility. Fear alone made any of the natives meet them with a show of peace and this they were paid by brutal deeds. One of their visitors was an Indian Queen as they called her the woman chief of a tribe of the south. When the Spaniards came near her domain she hastened to welcome them hoping by this means to make friends born in a litter by four of her subjects the dusky princess alighted before De Soto and came forward with gestures of pleasure as if delighted to welcome her guests. Taking from her neck a heavy double string of pearls she hung it on that of the Spanish leader. De Soto accepted it with the courtly grace of a cavalier and pretended friendship while he questioned his hostess. But he no sooner obtained the information he wanted than he made her a prisoner and at once began to rob her and her people all the valuables they possessed. Chief among these were large numbers of pearls most of them found in the graves of the distinguished men of the tribe. But the plunderers did not gain all they hoped for by their act of vandalism for the poor queen managed to escape from her guards and in her flight took with her a box of the most valuable of the pearls. They were those which De Soto had most prized and he was bitterly stung by their loss. The adventurers were now near the Atlantic a land which had been trodden by whites before and they decided to turn inland and explore the country to the west. After months more of wandering and the loss of many men through their battles with the Indians they found themselves in the autumn of 1540 at a large village called Mavia. It stood where stands today the city of Mobile. Here a large force of Indians was gathered. The Indian chief or Kaseek met De Soto with a show of friendship and induced him and a few of his men to follow with him within the palisades which surrounded the village. No sooner had they got there than the chief shouted some words of insults in his own tongue and darted into one of the houses. A minor chief got into a dispute with a Spanish soldier who in the usual Spanish fashion carried forward the argument with a blow from his sword. This served as a signal for hostilities. In an instant clouds of arrows poured from the houses and before the Spaniards could escape nearly the whole of them were slain. De Soto and a few others got out with their lives from the trap into which they had been guiled. Filled with revengeful rage the Spanish forces now invested and assailed the town and a furious conflict began lasting for nine hours. In the end the whites from their superior weapons and organization won the victory but theirs was a costly triumph for many of them had fallen and nearly all their property had been destroyed. Mavia was burned and hosts of the Indians were killed but the Spaniards were in a terrible situation far from their ships without medicine or food and surrounded by brave and furious enemies. The soldiers felt that they had had enough adventure of this kind and clamored to be led back to their ships. De Soto had been advised that the ships were then in the Bay of Pensacola only six days journey from Mavia but he kept this a secret from his men for hopes of fame and wealth still filled his soul. In the end despite their entreaties he led the men to the north spending the winter in a small village of the Chickasaw Indians. When spring opened the adventurers resumed their journey into the unknown. In his usual forcible fashion De Soto seized on Indians to carry his baggage and in this way he brought on a violent battle in which the whites met with a serious defeat and were in imminent danger of annihilation. Not a man of them would have lived to tell the tale if the savages had not been so scared at their own success that they drew back just when they had the hated Spaniards in their power. A strange looking army was that which the indomitable De Soto led forward from this place. Many of the uniforms of the men had been carried off by the enemy and these were replaced with skins and mats made of ivy leaves so that the adventurers looked more like forest braves than Christian warriors. But onwards still they trudged, sick at heart many of them but obeying the orders of their resolute chief and in the blossoming month of May they made that famous discovery by which the name of Hernando De Soto has ever since been known for they stood on the banks of one of the mightiest rivers of the earth the great father of waters, the Grand Mississippi. From thousands of miles to the north had come the waters which now rolled onward in a mighty volume before their eyes hastening downward to bury themselves in the still distant gulf. A discovery such as this had been enough to satisfy the cravings of any ordinary man but De Soto in his insatiable greed for gold saw in the glorious stream only an obstacle to his course half a leak over. To build boats and cross the stream was the one purpose that fell to his mind and with much labor they succeeded in getting across the great stream themselves and the few of their horses that remained. At once the old story began again. The Indians beyond the Mississippi had heard of the Spaniards in their methods and met them with relentless hostility. They had hardly landed on the opposite shore before new battles began. As for the Indian Empire with great cities, civilized inhabitants and heaps of gold which De Soto so ardently sought it seemed as far off as ever and he was a sadly disappointed man as he led the miserable remnant of his once well-equipped and hopeful followers up the left bank of the great stream dreams of wealth and renown not yet quite driven from his mind. At length they reached the region of the present state of Missouri. Here the simple-minded people took the white strangers to be children of the sun the god of their worship and they brought out their blind hoping to have them restored to sight by a touch from the healing hands of these divine visitors. Leaving after a time these superstitious tribes De Soto led his men to the west lured on still by the phantom of a wealthy Indian realm and the next winter was past near where Little Rock, Arkansas is now built. Spring returned at length and the weary wanderings of the devoted band were resumed. Depressed, worn out, hopeless, they trudged onward hardly a man among them looking for ought but death in those forest wiles. Juan Ortiz, the most useful man in the band, died and left the enterprise still more hopeless. But De Soto, worn, sick, emaciated, was indomitable still and the dream of a brilliant success lingered as ever in his brain. He tried now to win over the Indians by pretending to be immortal and to be gifted with supernatural powers but it was too late to make them credit any such fantastic notion. The band encamped in an unhealthy spot near the Great River. Here, disease attacked the men. Scouts were sent out to seek a better place but they found only trackless woods and rumors of Indian bands creeping stealthily up on all sides to destroy what remained of the little army of whites. Almost for the first time, De Soto's resolute mind now gave way. Broken down by his many labors and cares and failed by the disease that was attacking his men he felt that death was near at hand. Calling around him the sparse remnant of his one-scallant company he humbly begged their pardon for the sufferings and evils he had brought upon them and named Luis de Alvaredo to succeed him in commands. The next day, May 21st, 1542, the unfortunate hero died. Thus passed away one of the three greatest Spanish explorers of the New World, a man as great in his way and as indomitable in his efforts as his rivals, Cortez and Pizarro. They're not so fortunate in his results. For three years he had led his little band through a primitive wilderness fighting his way steadily through hosts of savage foes and never yielding until the hand of death was laid upon his limbs. Fearing a fierce attack from the savages if they should learn that the immortal chief of the whites was dead Alvaredo had him buried secretly outside the walls of the camp but the new-made grave was suspicious. The prowling Indians might dig it up and discover the noted form it held. To prevent this, Alvaredo had the body of De Soto dug up in the night wrapped it in cloths filled with sand and dropped it into the Mississippi to whose bottom it immediately sank. Thus was the great river he had discovered made the famous explorer's final resting place. With the death of De Soto the work of the explorers was practically at an end. To the Indians who asked what had become of the child of the son Alvaredo answered that he had gone to heaven for a visit but would soon return. Then while the Indians waited this return of the chief the camp was broken up and the band set out again on a westward course hoping to reach the Pacific coast whose distance they did not dream. Months more passed by in hopeless wandering then back to the great river they came and spent six months more in building boats as their last hope of escape. On the 2nd of July 1543 the scanty remnant of the once powerful band embarked on the waters of the great river and for 17 days floated downward while the Indians on the banks poured arrows on them incessantly as they passed. Fifty days later a few haggard half-naked survivors of De Soto's great expedition landed at the Spanish settlement of Canucco in Mexico. They had long been given up as lost and were received as men risen from the grave. Chapter 3 of Historical Tales Volume 2 American 2 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Historical Tales Volume 2 American 2 by Charles Morris Chapter 3 The Lost Colony of Roanoke In the year 1584 two wandering vessels like the caravals of Columbus a century earlier found themselves in the vicinity of a new land. Not as in the case of Columbus by seeing twigs and fruit floating on the water but in the more poetical way of being visited while far at sea by a sweet fragrance as of a delicious garden full of perfumed flowers. A garden it was planted not by the hand of man but by that of nature on the North Carolinian shores. For this was the first expedition sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh the earliest of Englishmen to attempt to settle the new discovered continent and it wasn't that season as truly beautiful as the more southern Florida. The ship soon reached shore at a beautiful island called by the Indians Wachokon where the mariners gazed with wonder and delight on the scene that lay before them. Wildflowers whose perfume had reached their senses while still two days sail from land thickly carpeted the soil and grapes grew so plentifully that the ocean waves as they broke upon the strand dashed their spray upon the thick growing clusters. The forests formed themselves into wonderfully beautiful bowers frequented by multitudes of birds. It was like a garden of Eden and the gentle friendly inhabitants appeared in unison with the scene. On the island of Roanoke they were received by the wife of the king and entertained with Arcadian hospitality. When these vessels returned to England and the mariners told of what they had seen the people were filled with enthusiasm. Queen Elizabeth was so delighted with what was said of the beauty of the country that she gave it the name of Virginia in honor of herself as a Virgin Queen. The next year a larger expedition was sent out carrying 150 colonists who were to form the vanguard of the British Dominion in the New World. They found the land all they had been told. Ralph Lane, the governor, wrote home it is the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven the most pleasing territory in the world. The continent is of a huge and unknown greatness and very well peopled in town though savagely. The climate is so wholesome that we have none sick. Virginia had but horses and kind and were inhabited by Englishmen no realm in Christendom were comparable with it. But they did not find the native so kindly disposed as in the year before and no wonder. For the first thing the English did after landing on Roanoke Island was to accuse the Indians of stealing a silver cup for which they took revenge by burning a village and destroying the standing corn. Whether this method was copied from the Spaniards or not it proved the most unwise one surrounded by warlike foes instead of an intercourse with conviting friends. The English colonists had the same fault as those of Spain. The stories of the wonderful wealth of Mexico and Peru had spread far and wide over Europe and the thirst for gold was in all hearts. Instead of planting grain and building homes the newcomers sought the yellow evil far and wide almost as if they expected the soil to be paved with it. The Indians were eagerly questioned and their wildest stories believed. As the natives of Puerto Rico had invented a magic fountain to rid themselves of Ponce de Leon and his countrymen so those of Roanoke told marvelous fables to lure away the unwelcome English. The Roanoke River they said gushed forth from a rock so near the western ocean that in storms the salt sea water was hurled into the freshwater stream. Far away on its banks there dwelt a nation rich in gold and inhabiting a city the walls of which glittered with precious pearls. Lane himself whom we may trust to have been an educated man accepted these tales of marvel as readily as the most ignorant of his people. In truth he had much warrant for it in the experience of the Spaniards. Taking a party of the colonists he ascended the river in search of the golden region. On and on they went finding nothing but the unending forest hearing nothing but cries of wild beasts and the Indian war cries but drawn onward still by hope until their food ran out and bitter famine assailed them. Then after being forced to kill their dogs for food they came back again much to the disappointment of the Indians who fancied they were well rid of their troublesome guests. As the settlers were not to be disposed of by fairy stories of cities of gold the natives now tried another plan. They resolved to plant no more corn so that the English must either go away or starve. Lane made matters worse by a piece of foolish and useless cruelty. Wisdom should have taught him to plant corn himself but what he did was to invite the Indians to a conference and then to attack them sword in hand and kill the chief with many braves of the tribe. He might have expected what followed. The furious natives at once cut off all supplies from the colonists and they would have died of hunger if Sir Francis Drake in one of his expeditions had not just then appeared with a large fleet. Here ended the first attempt to plant an English colony in America. Drake finding the people in a desperate state had come in his ships and sailed with them for England. Hardly had they gone before other ships came and the missing colonists were sought for in vain. Then fifteen men were left on the island to hold it for England and the ships returned. In 1587 Raleigh's last colony reached Roanoke Island. This time he took care to send farmers instead of gold seekers and sent with them a supply of farming tools but it was not encouraging when they looked for the fifteen men left the year before and only some of their bones while their fort was in ruin and their deserted dwellings overgrown with vines. The Indians had taken revenge on their oppressors. One event of interest took place before the ship returned the birth of the first English child born in America. In honor of the name which the queen had given the land this little way was called Virginia Dare. Now we come to the story of the mysterious fate of this second English colony. When the ships which had born into Roanoke went back to England they found that island in an excited state. The great Spanish Armada was being prepared to invade and conquer Elizabeth's realm and hasty preparations were making to defend the British soil. The fate of the Armada is well known. England triumphed but several years passed before Raleigh who was now deep laden with debt was able to send out a vessel to the relief of his abandoned colonists. When the people sent by him landed on the island they looked around them in dismay. Here were no happy homes, no smiling fields, no bustling colonists. The island was deserted. What had become of the inhabitants was not easy to guess. Not even their bones had been left as in the case of the hapless 15 though many relics of their dwelling places were found. The only indications of their fate was the single word Croaton cut into the bark of a tree. Croaton was the name of an island not far from that on which they were but it was the stormy season of the year and John White the captain made this an excuse for not venturing there so he sailed again for home with only the story of a vanished colony. From that time to this the fate of the colony has been a mystery. No trace of any of its members was ever found. If they had made their way to Croaton they were never seen there. Five times the noble hearted Raleigh sent out ships to search for them but all in vain. They had gone past finding it has been conjectured that they had mingled with a friendly tribe of Indians and become children of the forests like their hosts. Some tradition of this kind remained among the Indians and it has been fancy that the Hatteras Indians showed traces of English blood but all this is conjecture and the fate of the lost colonists of Roanoke must remain forever unknown. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Historical Tales Volume 2 American 2 Chapter 4 The Thrilling Adventure of Captain John Smith For those who love stories of the Indians and the strange and perilous adventures of white men in dealing with the forest tribes we cannot do better than give a remarkable anecdote of life in the Virginia Woodlands three centuries ago. On a day near the opening of the winter of 1608 a small boat in which were several men and a small boat and a small boat and a small boat a small boat in which were several men might have been seen going up the James River under the shadow of the high trees that boarded its banks. They came at length to a point where a smaller stream flowed into the James wide at its mouth but soon growing narrow. Into this the boat was turned and rode briskly onward under the direction of the leader of the expedition. They were soon in the heart of the wildwood whose dense forest growth clustered thickly on either bank of the stream which ran in a narrow silver thread through the green wilderness. The stream they pursued is that now known as the Chickahominy River so called for an Indian tribe of that name the most daring and warlike of all the savages of the region. As they went on the stream grew narrower still and in time became so shallow that the boat could go no farther. As they sat there in doubt debating what had better be done the bushes by the water side were thrust aside and dusky faces looked out upon them through the leaves. The leader of the whites beckoned to them and two men stepped out of the bushy thicket making signs of great friendliness. They pointed to the large boat and indicated by gestures that they had smaller craft near at hand and would lend one to the whites if they wished to go farther up. They would go along with them and show them the way. The leader of the party of whites was named John Smith. This is a very common name but he was the one John Smith who has made the name famous in history. He had met many Indians before and found most of them friendly but he had never seen any of the Chikahomines and did not know that they were enemies to the whites. So he accepted the offer of the Indians. The boat was taken back down the stream to a sort of wide bay where he thought it would be safe. Here the Indians brought him one of their light but strong canoes. Smith wanted to explore the stream higher up and thinking that he could trust these very friendly looking red men. He got into the canoe bidding two of his men to come with him. To the others he said do not leave your boat on any account. These fellows seem all right but they are never to be trusted too far. There may be more of them in the woods so be wide awake and keep your wits about you. The two Indians now got into the canoe with Smith and his men and began to paddle it up the stream keeping on until they were miles from the starting point. Undergrowth rose thickly on the banks and vines hung down in green masses from the trees so that the boat they had left was quickly lost to sight. Soon after that the men in the large boat did a very foolish thing. Heedless of the orders of their leader they left the boat and strolled into the woods. They had not gone far before a party of savages came rushing at them with wild cries and followed them fiercely as they turned and ran back to their boat. One of them was caught by the savages and as the fugitives sprang into their boat they were horrified to see the hapless fellow killed by his captors. This lesson taught them not to leave the boat again. Ignorant of all this Smith went on the boat being paddled here under a low canopy of vines there through open spaces until far up the stream. At length as passage grew more difficult he bad his guides to stop and stepped ashore. Taking one of the Indians with him caught carbine on shoulder saying that he would provide food for the party. He cautioned his two followers as he had done those in the large boat to keep a sharp lookout and not let themselves be surprised. But these men proved to be as foolish and reckless as the others. The air was cool and they built a fire on the bank. Then utterly heedless of danger they lay down beside it and soon were fast asleep. As they lay slumbering the Indians who had started up the stream or at the boat came upon them in this helpless state. They had once killed the foolish pair and then started into the woods on the trail of Smith. Daring and full of resources as Captain John Smith was he had taken a dangerous risk in thus venturing alone into those forest depths peopled only by prowling and hostile savages. It proved to be the most desperate crisis of his life full of adventure as this life had been. As a youthful soldier he had gone through great perils in the wars with the Turks and once had killed three Turkish warriors in single combat between two armies but never before had he been in such danger of death as he was now alone with a treacherous Indian while a dozen or more of others bent on his death were trailing him through the woods. He was first made aware of his danger when a flight of arrows came from the low bushes nearby. Then with fierce war-woops the Indian braves rushed upon him with brandished knives and tomahawks but desperate as was his situation in the heart of the forest far from help surrounded by foes who thirsted for his blood Smith did not lose his courage or his coolness. He fired his pistol at the Indians two of them falling wounded or dead. As they drew back into Smay he seized his guide and tied him to his left arm with his garter as a protection from their arrows and then started through the woods to the new. Walking backward with his face to his pursuers and keeping them off with his weapons he had not taken many steps before he found his feet sinking in the soft soil. He was in the edge of the great swamp still known in that region and before he was aware of the danger he sank into it to his waist and his guide with him. The other Indians held back in fear until he had thrown away his weapons when they rushed upon him drew him out of the mud and his two companions lay dead. Smith's case now seemed truly desperate. He knew enough of the savages to have very little hope of life. Yet he was not inclined to give up while a shadowy chance remained. Taking from his pocket a small compass which he carried to aid him in his forest journeys he gave it to the Indian chief showing him how the needle always pointed to the north. But while the chief was looking curiously at this magic toy as it seemed to him the other Indians bound their captive to a tree and bent their bows to shoot him. Their deadly purpose was prevented by the chief who waved the compass in the air and bade them stop. For the time the mystery of the compass seemed to have saved the captive's life. Smith was now taken through the woods the journey ending at an Indian village called Ora Pakis. Here the dusky women and children took the captive in hand dancing wildly around him with fierce cries and threatening gestures while the warriors looked grimly on. Yet Smith bore their insults and threats with impassive face and unclenching attitude. At length, Ope Cancano the chief pleased to find that he had a brave man for captive, bade them cease and food was brought forth for Smith and his captors. While they were in the village two interesting examples of the simplicity of Indian thought took place. Smith wrote a message to Jamestown the settlement of the Whites sending it by one of the Indians and receiving an answer. On his reading this and speaking of what he had learned from it the Indians looked on it as the work of enchantment. They could not comprehend how paper could talk. Another thing was the following. They showed him a bag of gunpowder which they had somehow obtained saying that they were going to sew it in the ground the next spring and gather a crop of this useful substance. After spending some days in this and other villages the captive was taken into the woods his captors making him understand that they were going on a long journey. Whether he was being taken or what was to be his fate Smith was not aware. The language of gestures which was his only way of conversing with the savages soon reached its limit and he was quite ignorant of what they proposed to do with him though his heart must have sunk as they went on day after day northward through the forest. They were seemingly free in their midst but with a watchful Indian guard close beside him ready to shoot him if he made any effort to escape. Village after village was passed in each of which the women and children danced and shrieked around him as at Orapakes. It was evident they knew the value of their prisoner and recognized that they had in their hands the great chief of the pale faces. In fact the Chickahomani chief felt that his captive was of too much importance to be dealt with hastily bringing him to the village of the great chief Palhattan who ruled like an emperor over a powerful confederation of tribes. In summer his residence was near the falls of the James river but he was in the habit of spending the winter on the banks of York river his purpose being to enjoy the fish and oysters of the neighboring Chesapeake. Wazawa Kamoka was the name of this winter residence and here the captive was at length brought after the long woodland journey. Captain Smith had met the old Indian emperor before at his summer home on the James river near where the city of Richmond now stands. But that was as a freeman with his guard around him and his hands unbound. Now he was brought before him as a captive subject to his royal will or caprice. He found the famous lord of the tribes in his large wigwam with his wives around him and his vigilant guard of warriors grouped on the green sword outside where the Indian lodges stretched a considerable village along the stream. Powhatan wore a large robe made of raccoon skins a rich plume of feathers ornamented his head and a string of beads depended from his neck. At his head and feet sat two young Indian girls, his favorite wives, wearing richly adorned dresses of fur with plumes in their hair and necklaces of pearls. Other women were in the room and a number of the leading warriors who sat around gave the fierce war cry of the tribe as the captain was brought in. The old chieftain looked with keen eyes on his famous prisoner of whose capture he had been advised by runners sent before. There was a look of triumph and malignity in his eyes, but Captain Smith stood before him unmoved. He had been through too many dangers to be easily dismayed and near death's door too often to yield to despair. Powhatan gave an order to a young Indian woman who brought him a wooden basin of water that he might wash his hands. Then she presented him a bunch of feathers to serve as a towel. This done, meat and cornbread were placed before him. As he ate, Powhatan talked with his warriors, consulting with them, the captain feared, upon his fate. But he finished his meal with little loss of appetite, trusting to the providence which had saved him more than once before to come to his aid again. As he ate, his vigilant eyes peedfully around the room. Many who were there gazed on him with interest, and one of them, a young Indian girl of twelve or thirteen years of age with pity and concern. It was evident that she was of high rank in the tribe, for she was richly dressed and wore in her hair a plume of feathers like that of Powhatan, and on her feet moccasins embroidered like his. There was a troubled and compassionate look in her eyes as she gazed on the captive white man, a look he may perhaps have seen and taken comfort from in his hour of dread. No such feeling as this seemed to rest in the heart of the old chief and his warriors. Their conference quickly ended, and though its words were strange to him, the captive could read his fate in their dark and frowning faces. They had grown to hate the whites, and now that their leader was a captive before them, they decided to put him to death. There was no loss of time in preparation for the execution at an order from Powhatan, the captive was seized and securely bound. Then he was laid on the floor of the hut with his head on a large stone brought in from outside. Beside him stood a stalwart savage grasping a huge war club. A word, a signal from Powhatan was alone needed, and the victim's brains would have been dashed out. At this critical moment Smith's good angel watched over him. A low cry of pity was heard, and the young girl who had watched him with such concern sprang forward and clasped her arms about the poor prisoner, looking up at the Indian Emperor with beseeching eyes. It was Pocahontas, his favorite daughter. Her looks touched the old man's heart, and he bade the executioner to stand back, and gave orders that the captive should be released. Powhatan soon showed that he was in earnest in his act of mercy. He treated the prisoner in a friendly fashion and two days later set him free to return to Jamestown. All that he asked in return was that the whites should send him two of their great guns and a grindstone. Smith readily consented, no doubt with a secret sense of amusement, and set out for the settlement led by Indian Guides. Rahunt, a favorite servant of Powhatan, was one of the Guides, and on reaching Jamestown Smith showed him two cannon and a grindstone, and bade him carry them home to his master. Rahunt tried, but when he found that he could stir one of the weighty presents from the ground, he was quite content to take back less bulky presents in their place. So runs the story of Captain Smith's remarkable adventure. No doubt it is well to say here that there are writers who doubt the whole story of Pocahontas and her deed of mercy, simply because Captain Smith did not speak of it in his first book. But there is no very good reason to doubt it, and we know that things like this happened in other cases. Thus, in the story of De Soto, she was told how Juan Hortiz, the Spanish captive, was saved from being burned alive by an Indian maiden in much the same way. Pocahontas, after that, was always a friend of the English, and often visited them in Jamestown. Once she stole away through the woods and told her English friends that Powhatan and his warriors were going to attack them. Then she stole back again. When the Indians came, they found the English ready and concluded to defer their attack. Later, after she had grown up, she was taken prisoner and held in Jamestown as a hostage to make her father quit threatening the English. While there, a young planter named John Rolf fell deeply in love with her, and she loved him warmly in return. In the end, Pocahontas became a Christian and was baptized at Jamestown under the name of Rebecca. Then she and John Rolf were married and went to live in England, where she was known as the Lady Rebecca and treated as if she were indeed a princess. She met John Smith once more and was full of joy at sight of her father as she called him. But when he told her that she must not call him that and spoke to her very respectfully as Lady Rebecca, she covered her face with her hands and began to weep. She had always called him father, she said, and he had called her child, and she meant to do so still. They had told her he was dead and she was very glad to learn that this was false, for she loved him as a father that was her last meeting with Captain Smith. In less than a year afterwards she was taken sick and died just as she was about to return to her beloved Virginia. End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of Historical Tales Vol. 2 American 2 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Historical Tales Vol. 2 American 2 by Charles Morris Chapter 5 The Indian Massacre in Virginia Friday the 22nd of March of the year 1622 dawned brightly over a peaceful domain in Virginia. In the 15 years that had passed since the first settlers landed and built themselves homes at Jamestown, the dominion of the whites had spread until there were nearly 80 settlements, while scattered plantations rose over a space of several hundred square miles. Powhatan, the Indian Emperor as he was called, had long shown himself the friend of the whites and friendly relations with the Indians the friend of the whites and friendly relations grew up between the newcomers and the old owners of the soil that continued unbroken for years. Everywhere peace and tranquility now prevailed. The English had settled on the fertile lands along the bay and up the many rivers. The musket had largely given place to the plow and the sword to the sickle and the hoe and the trustful industry had succeeded the old martial vigilance. The friendliest intercourse existed between the settlers and the natives. These were admitted freely to their houses, often supplied with firearms, employed in hunting and fishing and looked upon as faithful allies, many of whom had accepted the Christian faith. But in 1618 the mild tempered Powhatan had died and Open Chenkano, a warrior of a very different character, had taken his place as chief of the Confederacy of tribes. We have met with the savage before in the adventurous career of Captain John Smith. He was a true Indian leader, shrewd, cunning, cruel in disposition, patient in suffering, skilled in deceit and possessed of that ready eloquence which always had so strong an influence over the savage mind. Jealous of the progress of the whites, he nourished treacherous designs against them, but these were hidden deep in his savage soul and he vowed that the heavens should fall before he would lift a hand in war against his white friends. Such was the tranquil and peaceful state of affairs which existed in Virginia in the morning of March 22, 1622. There was not a cloud in the social sky, nothing to show that the Indians were other than the devoted allies and servants of the whites. On that morning, as often before, many of the savages came to take their breakfast with their white friends, some of them bringing deer, turkeys, fish or fruit, which as usual they offered for sale. Others of them borrowed the boats of the settlers to cross the rivers and visit the outlying plantations. By many a hearth the pipe of peace was smoked, the hand of friendship extended, the voice of harmony raised. Such was the aspect of affairs when the hour of noontide struck on that fatal day. In an instant, as if this were the signal of death, the seeing changed from peace to terror. Knives and tomahawks were drawn and many of those with whom the savages had been quietly conversing a moment before were stretched out at their feet. Neither sex nor age was spared. Wives were felled, weltering in blood before the eyes of their horrified husbands. The tender infant was snatched from its mother's arms to be ruthlessly slain. The old, the sick, the helpless were struck down as mercilessly as the young and strong. As if by magic the savages appeared at every point, yelling like demons of death and slaughtering all they met. The men in the fields were killed with their own hose and hatchets. Those in the houses were murdered on their own hearth stones. So unlooked for and terrible was the assault that in that day of blood 347 men, women and children fell victims to their merciless foes. Not content with their work of death, the savage murderers mutilated the bodies of their victims in the most revolting manner and reveled shamelessly in their crimes. Yet with all their treacherous rage they showed themselves cowardly wherever they were opposed they fled. One old soldier who had served under Captain John Smith was severely wounded by his savage assailants. He clothed the skull of one of them with an axe and the others at once took to flight. In the same way, a Mr. Baldwin whose wife lay bleeding from many wounds before his eyes drove away a throng of murderers by one well-aimed discharge from his musket. A number of fugitive settlers obtained a few muskets from a ship that was lying in a stream near their homes and with these they routed and dispersed the Indians for a long distance round. The principal settlement that of Jamestown was a main point for the proposed Indian assault. Here the confidence and sense of security was as great as in any of the plantations and only a fortunate warning saved the settlers from a far more terrible loss. One of the young converts among the Indians moved by the true spirit of his new faith warned a white friend of the deadly conspiracy and the latter hastened to Jamestown with the ominous news. As a result, the Indian murderers on reaching there found the gates closed and the inhabitants on the alert. They made a demonstration but did not venture on an assault and quickly withdrew. Such was the first great Indian massacre in America and one of the most unexpected and malignant of them all. The Indian leader was the Tien Knoe who had laid his plot and organized the work of death in the most secret and skillful manner. Passing from tribe to tribe he eloquently depicted their wrongs, roused them to revenge, pointed out the defenseless state of the whites and worked on their passions by promises of blood and repine. A complete organization was formed. The day and hour were fixed and the savages of Virginia waited for the killer on its soil and win back their old domain. While they did not succeed in this they filled the whole colony with terror and dismay. The planters who had survived the attack were hastily called into Jamestown and their homes and fields abandoned so that of the eighty recent settlements only six remained. Some of the people were bold enough to refuse to obey the order arming their servants, mounting cannon and preparing to defend their own homes. These bold spirits was a woman but the authorities at Jamestown would not permit this and they were all compelled to abandon their strongholds and unite for the general defense. The reign of peace was at an end, a reign of war had begun. The savages were everywhere in arms with Opa Chenkanao at their head. The settlers as soon as the first period of dread had passed marched against them burning for revenge and relentless slaughter became the rule. It was the first Indian war in the British settlements, but was of the type of them all. Wherever any Indian showed himself he was instantly shot down. Wherever a white man ventured within reach of the red foe, he was slain on the spot or dragged off for the more dreadful death by torture. There was no truce, no relaxation. It was war to the knife. Only when seed time was at hand did necessity demand a temporary pause in hostilities. The English now showed that they could be as their savage enemy. They offered peace to the savages and in this way induced them to leave their hiding places and plant their fields. While thus engaged the English rushed suddenly upon them and cut down a large number including some of the most valiant warriors and leading chiefs. From that time on there was no talk or thought of peace. Alike the plantation buildings of the whites and the villages of the Indians were burned. The swords and muskets of the whites and all the red men were ever ready for the work of death. For ten years the bloody work continued and by the end of that time great numbers of the Indians had been killed. While of the four thousand whites in Virginia only two thousand five hundred remained. Exhaustion at length brought peace and for ten years more the reign of blood ceased. Yet the irritation of the Indians continued. They saw the whites spreading ever more widely through the land and taking possession without regard for the rights of the native owners. And their hatred for the whites grew steadily more virulent. Opachenkina was now a very aged man. In the year 1643 he reached the hundredth year of his age. A gaunt and withered veteran with shrunken limbs and a tottering and wasted form his spirit of hostility to the whites burned still unquenched. Age had not robbed him of his influence over the tribes. His wise counsel the veneration they felt for him the tradition of his valorous deeds in the past gave him unquestioned control and in 1643 he repeated his work of twenty one years before organizing another secret conspiracy against the whites. It was a reproduction of the former plot. The Indians were charged to the utmost secrecy. They were bitten to ambush the whites in their plantations and settlements and at a fixed time to fall upon them and to spare none that they could kill. The conspiracy was managed as skillfully as the former one. No warning of it was received and at the appointed hour the work of death began. Before it ended five hundred of the settlers were ruthlessly slain. They were principally those of the outlying plantations. Wherever the settlers were in a position for effective resistance the savages were routed and driven back to their forest lurking places. Their work of death done the red-skinned murderers at once dispersed knowing well that they could not withstand their foes in open fight. Sir William Berkeley the governor of Virginia hastily called out a strong force of armed men and marched to the main seat of the slaughter. No foes were to be found. The Indians had vanished in the woodland wilderness. It was useless to pursue them farther on foot and the governor continued the pursuit with a troop of cavalry sweeping onward through the tribal confines. The chief result of the expedition was the capture of the organizer of the conspiracy the horary leader of the tribal confederacy who was found near his place of residency on the Pamunkey. Too feeble for hasty flight his aged limbs refusing to bear him and his weakened sight to aid him he was easily overtaken by the pursuers and was carried back in triumph to Jamestown as the very central figure of Indian hostility. It was the clement purpose of the governor to be achieved to England as a royal captive there to be held in honorable custody until death should close his career. But this purpose was not to be achieved. A death of violence awaited the old Indian chieftain. A wretched fellow of the neighborhood one of the kind who would not have dared to face an Indian in arms slipped secretly behind the famous veteran and shot him with his musket through the back inflicting a deadly wound. Aged and infirm as Opa Chikano was the wound was not instantly mortal. He lingered for a few days in agonizing pain. Yet to the last moment of his life his dignity of demeanor was preserved. It was especially shown when a crowd of idlers gathered in the room to sate their unfeeling curiosity on the actions of the dying chief. His muscles had grown so weak that he could not raise his eyelids without aid. And on hearing the noise around him he motioned to his attendants to lift his lids that he might see what it meant. When he saw the idle and curious crowd a flash of wounded pride and just resentment stirred his vanished powers. Sending for the governor he said with a keen reproach that has grown historic. Had I taken Sir William Berkeley prisoner I would not have exposed him as a show to my people. Closing his eyes again in a short time afterward the Indian hero was dead. With the death of Opa Chicano the Confederacy over which Powhatan and he had ruled so long came to an end. It was now without a head and the associated tribes fell apart. How long it had been in existence before the whites came to Virginia we cannot say. But the tread of the white man's foot was fatal to the Indian power. And as that foot advanced in triumph over the land the strength of the red men everywhere waned and disappeared. Chapter 6 of historical tales volume 2 American 2 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Historical tales volume 2 American 2 by Charles Morris Chapter 6 The Great Rebellion in the Old Dominion The years ending in 76 are remarkable in America as years of struggle against tyranny and strife for the right. We shall not soon forget the year 1776 when the famous rebellion of the colonies against Great Britain reached its climax in the Declaration of Independence. In 1676 a century before there broke out in Virginia what was called the Great Rebellion a famous movement for right and justice. It was brought about by the tyranny of Sir William Berkeley the governor of the colony of Virginia as that of 1776 was by the tyranny of George III the King of England. It is the story of the first American Rebellion that we are about to tell. Sir William had ruled over Virginia at intervals for many years. It was he who took old Opa Chikeno prisoner after the massacre of 1643. In 1676 he was again governor of the colony. He was a man of high temper and revengeful disposition but for a long time he and the Virginians got along very well together he was greatly liked the grand style in which he lived on his broad estate of green springs with his many servants and rich silver plates and costly entertainments and stately dignity. They lived much that way themselves so far as their means let them and were proud of their governor's grand display. But what they did not like was his arbitrary way of deciding every question in favor of England and against Virginia and the tyranny with which he enforced still less were they pleased with the fact that when the Indians in the mountain district began to attack the settlers and put men, women and children to death the governor took no steps to punish the savage foe and left the people to defend themselves in the best way they could. A feeling of panic like that of the older times of massacre ensued. The exposed families were forced to abandon their homes and seek places of refuge. Neighbors banded together for work in the field and kept their arms close at hand. No man left his door without taking his musket. Even Jamestown was in danger for the woodland stretched nearly to its dwellings and the lurking red men stealing with noiseless tread through the forest shades prowled from the mountains almost to the sea like panthers in search of prey. At that time there was a man of great influence in Virginia named Nathaniel Bacon. He was a newcomer who had been in America less than three years but he had bought a large estate and a member of the governor's council. He was a handsome man and a fine speaker and these and other qualities made him very popular with the planters and the people. Bacon's plantation was near the falls of the James River where the city of Richmond now stands. Here his overseer to whom he was much attached and one of his servants were killed by the Indians. Highly indignant at the outrage Bacon made up his mind that something must be done. He called a meeting of the neighboring planters and addressed them hotly on the delay of the governor incoming to their defense. He advised them to act for themselves and asked if any of them were ready to march against the savages and whom they would choose as their leader. With a shout they declared that they were ready and that he should lead. This was very much like taking the law into their own hands. If the governor would not act they would. As a proper measure however Bacon sent to the governor as captain of the force of planters. The governor received the demand in an angry way. It hurt his sense of dignity to find these men acting on their own account and he refused to grant a commission or to countenance their action. He went so far as to issue a proclamation in which he declared that anyone who did not return to their homes within a certain time would be held as rebels. This so scared the planters that the most of them went home were seven of them remaining with their chosen leader. With this small force Bacon marched into the wilderness where he met and defeated a party of Indians killing many of them and dispersing the remainder. Then he and his men returned home in triumph. By this time the autocratic old governor was in a high state of rage. He denounced Bacon and his men as rebels and traitors and gathered a force to punish them. But when he found that the whole colony was on Bacon's side he changed his tone. He had Bacon arrested, it is true, when he came to Jamestown as a member of the House of Burgesses. But this was only a matter of form to save his dignity. And when the culprit went down on one knee and asked pardon of God, the king, and the governor Berkeley was glad enough to get out of his difficulty by forgiving him. But for all this fine show of forgiveness Bacon did not trust the old tyrant and soon slipped quietly out of Jamestown and made his way home. He was right. The governor was making plans to seize him and hold him prisoner. He had issued secret orders and Bacon had got away in good time. Very soon he was back again, this time at the head of four hundred planters. As they marched on others joined them and when they came into the old town and drew up on the state house green there were six hundred of them, horse and foot. The sight of this rebel band threw old Berkeley into a towering rage. He rushed out from the state house in front of his council and tearing open his ruffled shirt cried out in a furious tone, Here, shoot me, for God, fair mark, shoot! No, said Bacon, may it please your honour we will not hurt a hair of your head nor of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from the Indians, which you have so often promised. And now we will have it before we go. Both men were in a violent rage walking up and down and gesticulating like men distracted. Soon Sir William withdrew with his council to the office in the state house. Bacon followed, his hand now touching his hat in deference now his sword held as anger rose in his heart. Some of his men appeared at a window of the room with their guns cocked and ready, crying out, We will have it, we will have it. This continued till one of the burgesses came to the window and waved his handkerchief calling out, You shall have it, you shall have it. Hearing this the men drew back and rested their guns on the ground. And Bacon left the chamber and joined them. The matter ended in Bacon's getting his commission as general and commander-in-chief, while an act was passed by the legislature justifying him in all he had done and a letter to the same effect was written to the king and signed by the governor, council and assembly. Bacon had won in all he demanded. His triumph was only temporary. While he was invading the country of the Pamunky Indians, killing many of them and destroying their towns, Berkeley repudiated all he had done. He proclaimed Bacon a rebel and traitor and issued a summons for the train bans to the number of twelve hundred men, bidding them pursue and put down Bacon the rebel. The men assembled, but when they heard for what they were wanted they broke out into a shout of Bacon, Bacon, Bacon and dispersed again, leaving the old tyrant and his attendants alone. News of these events quickly reached Bacon and his men in the field. He at once turned and marched back. While I am hunting wolves which are destroying innocent lambs he exclaimed indignantly, here are the governor and his men after me like hounds in full cry. I am like one between two millstones which will grind me to powder if I do not look to it. As he came near Jamestown, the governor fled, crossing Chesapeake Bay to a comic and leaving Bacon A new house of burgesses was called into session and Bacon's men pledged themselves not to lay down their arms. Sir William had sent to England for soldiers they said and they would stand ready to fight these soldiers as they had fought the governor. A paper to this effect was drawn up and signed, dated August 1676. It was the first American Declaration of Independence. The tide of the rebellion was now in full flow. The movement against the Indians had, by the unwarranted behavior of the governor, but converted into a civil war, nearly the whole colony supporting Bacon and demanding that the tyrant governor should be deposed. But while this was going on the Indians took to the warpath again and Bacon at once marched against them leaving Sir William to his own devices. His first movement was against the Appomattox tribe which dwelt on the river of the same name where Petersburg now stands. Taking them by surprise he burned their town, killed many of them and dispersed the remainder. Then he marched south and attacked other tribes, driving them before him and punishing them so severely as quite to cure them of all desire to meddle with the whites. From that time forward Eastern Virginia was free from Indian troubles and Bacon was looked upon as the deliverer of the colony. But lack of provisions forced him to return and disband his forces only a few men remaining with him. He soon learned that he had a worse enemy than the Indians to fight at home. Some of his leading supporters in Jamestown, Lawrence, Drummond, Hansford and others came hastily to his camp saying that they had been obliged to flee for safety as Sir William was back again with 18 ships in the river and 800 men he had gathered in the eastern counties. The affair had now come to a focus. It was fight or yield and be treated as a traitor. Bacon resolved to fight and he found many to back him in it for he soon had a force collected. How many there were we do not know? Some say only 150 some say 800, but however that be he marched with them on Jamestown bringing his Indian captives with him. Rebels and royalists the two parties were now called people and tyrant would have been better titles for Bacon was in arms for the public right and had the people at his back. The old governor was ready while in a comic he had taken and hung two friends of Bacon who had gone there to try to capture him. He asked for nothing better than the chance to serve Bacon in the same way. His ships armed with cannon now lay in the river near the town. A palisade ten paces wide had been built across the neck of the peninsula in which Jamestown stood. Beyond it lay a strong body of armed men. Berkeley felt that he had the best of the situation and was defiant and he chose. It was at the end of a September day when Bacon and his small army of rebels arrived. Springing from his horse he led the tired men up to the palisades and surveyed the governor's works of defense. Then he ordered his trumpeter to sound defiance and his men to fire on the garrison. There was no return fire. Sir William knew that the assailants were short of provisions and trusted to hunger to make them retire. The man was versed in the art of foraging. At Green Spring three miles away was Governor Berkeley's fine mansion and from this the invading army quickly supplied itself. The governor afterwards bitterly complained that his mansion was almost ruined. His household goods and others of great value totally plundered that he had not a bed to lie on, two great beasts, 300 sheep, 70 horses and mares, all his corn and provisions taken away. Evidently the rebels knew something about the art of war. This was not all, for their leader adopted another stratagem not well in accordance with the rules of chivalry. A number of the loyalists of the vicinity had joined Berkeley and Bacon sent out small parties of horse which captured the wives of these men and brought them into the camp. Among them were the lady of Colonel Bacon, Madame Bray, Madame Page and Madame Ballard. He sent one of these ladies to the town with a warning to the husbands not to attack him in his camp or they would find their wives in front of his line. What Bacon actually wanted these ladies for was to make use of them in building his works. He raised by moonlight a defensive work of trees, brushwood and earth around the governor's outwork of palisades, placing the ladies in front of the workmen to keep the garrison from firing on them. But he had the chivalry to take them out of harm's way when the governor's men made a sortee on his camp. The fight that took place may have been a hard one or a light one. We have no very full account of it. The most we know is that Bacon and his men won their victory and that the governor's men were driven back leaving their drum and their dead behind them. Whether hard or light his repulse was enough for Sir Williams Valor. Well entrenched as he was and superior in numbers his courage suddenly gave out and he fled in haste to his ships which set sail in equal haste down the river their speed accelerated by the cannonballs which the rebels sent after them. Once more the dowdy governor was a fugitive and Bacon was master of the situation. Jamestown, the original Virginia settlement was in his hands. What should he do with it? He could not stay there for he knew that Colonel Brent with some 1200 men was marching down on him from the Potomac. He did not care to leave it for Berkeley to return to. In this dilemma he concluded to burn it. To this none of his men made any objection. Two of them indeed Lawrence and Drummond who had houses in the place set fire to them with their own hands. And thus the famous old town of John Smith and the early settlers was burned to the ground. Old as it was we are told that it contained only a church and 16 or 18 houses and in some of these there were no families. Today nothing but the ruined church tower remains. Bacon now marched north to York River to meet Colonel Brent and his men but by the time he got there the men had dispersed. The news of the affair at Jamestown had reached them and they concluded they did not want to fight. Bacon was now master of Virginia with the power though not the name of governor. What would have come of his movement had he lived it is impossible to say for in the hour of his triumph he was no more than Sir William Berkeley was near at hand. While directing his men in their work at the Jamestown trenches a fever had attacked him and this led to a dangerous dysentery which carried him off after a few weeks illness. His death was a terrible blow to his followers for the whole movement rested on the courage and ability as a leader of this one man. They even feared that vindictive Berkeley would attempt some outrage upon the remains of the rebel leader in his place. Some traditions assert that he was dealt with as De Soto had been before him his body being sunk in the bosom of the majestic York River where it was left with the winds and the waves to chant its requiem. Thus ended what Sir William Berkeley called the Great Rebellion. Its leader dead there was none to take his place. In despair the men returned to their homes many of them made their way to North Carolina in which new colony was formed. A few kept up a show of resistance but they were soon dispersed and Berkeley came back in triumph his heart full of revengeful passion. He had sent to England for troops and the arrival of these gave him support in his cruel designs. All the leading friends of Bacon whom he could seize were mercilessly put to death. Some of them with coarse and aggravating insults. The wife of Major Cheeseman one of the prisoners was the husband's life but all she got in return from the old brute was a vulgar insult. The Major escaped the gallows only by dying in prison. One of the most important of the prisoners was William Drummond a close friend of Bacon. Berkeley hated him and greeted him with the most stinging insult he could think of. Mr. Drummond said he with a bitter sneer you are very welcome I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia. And he was. His property was also seized but when the king heard of this he ordered it to be restored to his widow. God has been inexpressibly merciful to this province, wrote Berkeley with sickening hypocrisy after one of his hangings. Charles II the king took a different view of the matter saying that old fool has hung more men in that naked province than I did for the murder of my father. More than twenty of Bacon's chief supporters were hung and the governor's revenge came to an end only when the assembly met and insisted that these executions should cease. We have told how Bacon came to his end. We must do the same for Berkeley, his foe. Finding that he was hated and despised in Virginia he sailed for England many of the people celebrating his departure by firing cannon and illuminating their houses. He never returned. The king was so angry with him that he refused to see him in the light which affected the old man so severely that he soon died of a broken heart, it is said. Thus ended the first rebellion of the people of the American colonies. End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of Historical Tales, Volume 2 American 2 This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Historical Tales, Volume 2, American 2 by Charles Morris Chapter 7 Chevalier LaSalle The Explorer of the Mississippi There are two great explorers whose names have been made famous by their association with the mighty river of the west the Mississippi or father of waters De Soto the discoverer and LaSalle the explorer of that stupendous stream. Among all the rivers of the earth the Mississippi ranks first. It has its rivals in length and volume but stands without a rival as a noble channel of commerce the pride of the west and the glory of the south. We have told the story of its discovery by De Soto the Spanish adventurer we have now to tell that of its exploration by LaSalle the French Chevalier. Let us say here that though the honor of exploring the Mississippi has been given to LaSalle he was not the first to traverse its waters. The followers of De Soto descended the stream from the Arkansas in 1542. Father Marquette and Jolie the explorer descended from the Wisconsin to the Arkansas in 1673. In 1680 Father Hennepin a Jesuit missionary sent by LaSalle ascended the stream from the Illinois to the Falls of St. Anthony. Thus white men had followed the great river for nearly its whole length but the greatest of all these explorers and the first to traverse the river the greater part of its course was the Chevalier Robert de LaSalle and to his name is given the glory of revealing this grand stream to mankind. Never was there a more daring and indefatigable explorer than Robert de LaSalle. He seemed born to make new lands and new people known to the world. Coming to Canada in 1667 he began his career by engaging in the fur trade on Lake Ontario but he could not rest while the great interior remained unknown. In 1669 he made an expedition to the west and south and was the first white man to gaze on the waters of the swift Ohio. In 1679 he launched on the great lakes the first vessel that ever spread its sails on those mighty inland seas and in this vessel the Griffin he sailed through lakes Erie Huron and Michigan. LaSalle next descended the Illinois river and built a fort where the city of Peoria now stands. But his vessel was wrecked and he was forced to make his way on foot through a thousand miles of wilderness to obtain supplies at Montreal. Such was the early record of this remarkable man and for two years afterward his life was full of adventure and misfortune. At length in 1682 he entered upon the great performance of his life his famous journey upon the bosom of the waters. It was midwinter when LaSalle and his men set out from the lakes with their canoes. On the 4th of January 1682 they reached the mouth of the Chicago river where its waters enter Lake Michigan. The river was frozen hard and they had to build sledges to drag their large and heavy canoes down the ice closed stream. Reaching the portage to the Illinois they continued their journey across the bleak and snowy waste and finally dragging canoes, baggage and provisions to the other stream. Here too they found a sheet of ice and for some days longer trudged down the channel of the silent and dreary stream. Its banks had been desolated by Indian wars and where once many flourishing villages rose there were to be seen only ashes and smoke blackened ruins. About the 1st of February they reached Creuve Coeur the fort LaSalle had built more than 30 years earlier. Below this point the stream was free from ice and after a weeks rest the canoes were launched on the liquid surface. They were not long in reaching the point where the Illinois buries its waters in the mighty main river the grave of so many broad and splendid streams. Past the point they had now reached the Mississippi poured swiftly downward its waters swollen and bearing upon them great sheets of ice the contribution of the distant north. There was a safe channel for their frail birch bark canoes and they were obliged to wait a week till the vast freightage of ice had run past. Then on the 13th of February 1682 they launched their canoes on the great stream and began their famous voyage down its mighty course. A day's journey brought them to the place where the turbulent Missouri pours its contribution gathered from thousands of miles of mountain and prairie into the parent forest and roar of a rapid through a channel half a mile broad and quickly converting the clear Mississippi waters into a turbid yellow torrent thick with mud. LaSalle like so many of the early explorers was full of the idea of finding a short route across the continent to the Pacific ocean and he found the Indians at the mouth of the Missouri ready to tell him anything he wanted to know. They said that by sailing 10 or 12 days up the stream through villages of their people he would come to a range of mountains in which the river rose and by climbing to the summit of these lofty hills he could gaze upon a vast and boundless sea whose waves broke on their farther side. It was one of those imaginative stories which the Indians were always ready to tell and the whites as ready to believe and it was well for LaSalle that he did not attempt the fanciful adventure. Savage settlements were numerous along the Mississippi as De Soto had found a century and more earlier. About 30 miles below the Missouri they came to another village of peaceful natives whose souls they made happy by a few trifling gifts which were of priceless worth to their untutored minds. Then downward still they went for a hundred miles or more farther to the mouth of another great stream this one flowing from the east and as noble in its milder way as the Missouri had been in its turbulent flow. Unlike the latter this stream was gentle in its current and its waters were of crystal clearness. It was the splendid river which the Indians called the Wabash or beautiful river and the French by the similar name of La Belle Rivière. It is now known as the Ohio. The Indian name being transferred to one of its tributaries. This was the stream on whose waters LaSalle had gazed with admiration 13 years before. The voyagers were obliged to proceed slowly. Unable to carry many provisions in their crowded canoes they were often forced to stop and fish or hunt for game. As the Indians told them they would find no good camping grounds for many miles below the Ohio they stopped for ten days at its mouth hunting and gathering supplies. Parties were sent out to explore in various directions and one of the men Peter Prudhomme failed to return. It was feared that he had been taken captive by Indians, traces of whom had been seen nearby, and a party of Frenchmen with Indian guides was sent out on the trails of the natives. They returned without the lost man and LaSalle at length reluctantly giving him up, prepared to continue the journey. Just as they were entering the canoes the missing man reappeared. For nine days he had been lost in the forest vainly seeking his friends and wandering hopelessly. His gun, however, had provided food and he reached the stream just in time. Once more the expedition was launched on the swift-flowing current, eight or ten large birch canoes filled with Indians and Frenchmen and Indian garb, and laden with supplies. The waters bore them swiftly onward there was little labour with the paddles the wintry weather was passing and the air growing mild the sky, sunny and the light-hearted sons of France enjoyed their daily journey through new and strange scenes About one hundred and twenty miles below the Ohio they reached the vicinity of the Arkansas River the point near which the voyage of Marquette had ended and that of the followers of De Soto began. Here for the first time in their journey they met with hostile Indians. As the flotilla glided on past the Arkansas bluffs on the third of March its people were startled by hearing the yells of a large body of savages and the loud sound of a drum coming from behind the bluff. The natives had taken the alarm supposing that a war party of their enemies was coming to attack them. LaSalle ordered his canoes at once to be paddled to the other side of the stream here a mile wide. The party landing some entrenchments were hastily thrown up for across the river they could now see a large village filled with excited and armed warriors. Preparations for defense made LaSalle advanced to the water's edge and made signs of friendship and amity pacified by these signals of peace some of the Indian chiefs rode across until near the bank when they stopped and beckoned to the strangers to come to them. Father Mambre the priest who accompanied the expedition entered a canoe and was rode out to the native boat by two Indians. He held out to them the Calumé or pipe of peace the Indian signal of friendship and easily induced the chiefs to go with him to the camp of the whites. There were six of them Frank and Cordill in manner and seemingly disposed of friendship. LaSalle made them very happy with a few small presents and at their request the whole party embarked and accompanied them across the river to their village. All the men of the place crowded to the bank to receive their strange visitors women and children remaining timidly back. They were escorted to the wigwams treated with every show of friendship and regaled with the utmost hospitality. These Arkansas Indians were found to be a handsome race and very different in disposition from the northern tribes for they replaced the taciturn and often selen demeanor of the latter with a gay and frank manner better suited to their warmer climb. They were also much more civilized being skilled agriculturists and working their fields by the aids of slaves captured in war. Corn, beans, melons and a variety of fruits were grown in their fields and large flocks of turkeys and other fowls were seen round their dwellings. LaSalle and his party stayed in the village for some two weeks and before leaving went through the form of taking possession of the country in the name of the King of France. This proceeding was conducted with all the ceremony possible under the circumstances a large cross being planted in the center of the village anthems sung and religious rites performed. The Indians looked on in delight at the spectacle and were very ignorant of what it all meant and probably thinking it was got up for their entertainment. Had they known its full significance they might not have been so well pleased. Embarking again on the 17th of March the explorers continued their journey down the stream coming after several days to a place where the river widened into a lake-like expanse. This broad sheet of water was surrounded with villages forty being counted on the east side and thirty four on the west. On landing in this populous community they found the villages to be well built the houses being constructed of clay mixed with straw and covered with dome-like roofs of canes. Many convenient articles of furniture were found within. These southern Indians proved to be organized under a very different system from that prevailing in the north. There each tribe was a small republic electing its chiefs and preserving the liberty of its people. The tribes were absolute monarchies. The head chief or king had the lives and property of all his subjects at his disposal and kept his court with the ceremonious dignity of a European monarch. When he called on LaSalle who was too sick at that time to go and see him the ceremony was regal. Every obstruction was removed from his path by a party of pioneers and the way made level for his feet. The spot where he gave audience was carefully smoothed and covered with showy mats. The dusky autocrat made his appearance richly attired in white robes and proceeded by two officers who bore plumes of gorgeously colored feathers. An official followed with two large plates of polished copper. The monarch had the courteous dignity and gravity of one born to the throne though his interview with LaSalle was conducted largely with smiles and gestures as no word spoken could be understood. The travellers remained among this friendly people for several days rambling through the villages and being entertained in the dwellings and found them far advanced in civilization beyond the tribes of the north. Father Marbre has given the following account of their productions. The whole country is covered with palm trees, laurels of two kinds plums, peaches, mulberry apple and pear trees of every variety. There are also five or six kinds of nut trees some of which bear nuts of extraordinary size. They also gave us several kinds of dried fruit to taste. We found them large and good. They have also many varieties of fruit trees which I never saw in Europe. The season was however too early to allow us to see the fruit. We observed vines already out of blossom. Continuing their journey down the stream the adventurers next came to the country of the Natchez Indians whom they found as friendly as those they had recently left. Lassalle indeed was a man of such genial and kind disposition and engaging manners that he made friends of all he met. As Father Marbre says he so impressed the hearts of these Indians that they did not know how to treat us well enough. This was a very different reception to that accorded de Soto and his followers whose persistent ill treatment of the Indians made bitter enemies of all they encountered. The voyages however were soon to meet savages of different character. On the 2nd of April as they floated downward through a narrow channel where a long island divided the stream their ears were suddenly greeted with fierce war-woops and the hostile beating of drums. Soon a cloud of warriors was seen in the dense border of forest gliding from tree to tree and armed with strong bows and long arrows. Lassalle at once stopped the flotilla and sent one canoe ahead the Frenchman in it presenting the calamé of peace but this emblem here lost its effect for the boat was greeted with a volley of arrows. Another canoe was sent with four Indians who bore the calamé but they met with the same hostile reception. Seeing that the savages were inveterately hostile Lassalle ordered his men to their paddles bidding them to hug the opposite bank and to row with all their strength. No one was to fire as no good could come from that. The rapidity of the current and the swift play of the paddles soon sent the canoes speeding down the stream and though the natives drove their keen arrows with all their strength and ran down the banks to keep up their fire the party passed without a wound. A few days more took the explorers past the site of the future city of New Orleans and to the head of the Delta of the Mississippi where it separates into a number of branches. Here the fleet was divided into three sections each taking a branch of the stream and very soon they found the water salty and the current becoming slow. The weather was mild and delightful and the sun shone clear and warm when at length they came into the open waters of the Gulf and their famous voyage was at an end. Ascending the western branch again until they came to solid ground a massive column bearing the arms of France was erected and by its side was planted a great cross. At the foot of the column was buried a leaden plate on which in Latin the following words were inscribed Louis the Great reigns Robert Cavalier with Lord Taunty, Ambassador Zénobie Mambres Ecclesiastic and 20 Frenchmen first navigated this river from the country of the Illinois and passed through this mouth on the 9th of April 1682. LaSalle then made an address in which he took possession for France of the country of Louisiana of all its peoples and productions in the city of Ohio of all the rivers flowing into the Mississippi from their sources and of the mainstream to its mouth in the sea. Thus according to the law of nations as then existing the whole valley of the Mississippi was annexed to France a magnificent acquisition of which that country was destined to enjoy a very small section and finally to lose it all. We might tell the story of the return voyage and of the fierce conflict which the voyagers had who had attacked them so savagely in their descent. But it will be of more interest to give the account written by Father Mambres of the country through which they had passed. The Banks of the Mississippi he writes for twenty or thirty leagues from its mouth are covered with a dense growth of canes except in fifteen or twenty places where there are very pretty little hills and spacious convenient landing places behind this fringe of marshy land you see the finest country in the world. Our hunters both French and Indian were delighted with it. For an extent of six hundred miles in length and as much in breadth we were told that there are vast fields of excellent land diversified with pleasing hills lofty woods groves through which you might ride on horseback so clear and unobstructed are the paths. The fields are full of all kinds of game wild cattle doze deer stags ferrets quails woodcock wild pigeons and ring doves there are also beaver otters and martens the cattle of this country surpass ours in size their head is monstrous and their look is frightful on account of the long black hair with which it is surrounded and which hangs below the chin the hair is fine and scarce inferior to wool. We observed wood fit for every use there were the most beautiful cedars in the world there was one kind of tree which shed an abundance of gum as pleasant to burn as the best French pasties we also saw fine hemlocks and other large trees with white bark the cottonwood trees were very large of these the Indians dug out canoes forty or fifty feet long sometimes there were fleets of a hundred and fifty at their villages we saw every kind of tree fit for shipbuilding there is also plenty of hemp for quartage and tar could be made in abundance prairies are seen everywhere sometimes they are fifty or sixty miles in length on the river front and many leagues in depth they are very rich and fertile without a stone or a tree to obstruct the plow these prairies are capable of sustaining an immense population beans grow wild and the stalks last several years bearing fruit the bean vines are thicker than a man's arm and run to the top of the highest trees peach trees are abundant and bear fruit equal to the best that can be found in France they are often so loaded in the gardens of the Indians that they have to prop up the branches there are whole forests of mulberries whose ripened fruit we begin to eat in the month of May plums are found in great variety many of which are not known in Europe grape vines and pomegranates are common three or four crops of corn can be raised in a year from all this it appears that the good father was very observant though his observation or the information he obtained from the Indians was not always to be trusted he goes on to speak of the tribes whose people and customs he found very different from the Indians of Canada they have large public squares games and assemblies they seem mirthful and full of vivacity their chiefs have absolute authority no one would dare to pass between the chief and the cane torch which burns in his cabin and is carried before him when he goes out surrounded with some ceremony end of chapter 7 chapter 8 of historical tales volume 2 American 2 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain historical tales volume 2 American 2 by Charles Morris chapter 8 the French of Louisiana and the Natchez Indians the story of the American Indian is one of the darkest plots on the page in the history of civilization of the three principal peoples of Europe who settled the New World the Spanish, the British and the French the Spanish made slaves of them and dealt with them with shocking cruelty and the British were in a different way as unjust and at times little less cruel as for the French while they showed more sympathy with the natives and treated them in a more friendly and considerate spirit their dealings with them were by no means free from the charge of injustice and cruelty this we shall seek to show in the following story when we talk of the Indians of the United States we are very apt to get wrong ideas about them the word Indian means to us a member of the savage hunting tribes of the north a fierce treacherous implacable foe though he could be loyal and generous as a friend a being who made war a trade and cruelty a pastime and was incapable of civilization but this is only one type of the native inhabitants of the land those of the south were very different instead of being rude savages like their northern brethren they had made some approach to civilization instead of being roving hunters they were settled agriculturalists instead of being morose and taciturn they were genial and light-hearted and instead of possessing only crude forms of government and religion they were equal in both these respects to some peoples who are classed as civilized if any feel a doubt of this let them read what LaSalle and the intelligent priest who went with him had to say about the Indians of the lower Mississippi their government, agriculture and friendliness of disposition and their genial and sociable manner it is one of the tribes of southern Indians with which we are here concerned the Naches tribe or nation with whom LaSalle had such pleasing relations it may be of interest to our readers to be told something more about the customs of the southern Indians since they differed very greatly from those of the north and are little known to most readers let us take the Creeks for instance a powerful association made up of many tribes of the Gulf region they had their chiefs and their governing council like the northern Indians but the Miko who took the place of the sachem of the north had almost absolute power and the office was hereditary in his family agriculture was their principal industry the fields being carefully cultivated though they were active hunters also the land was the property of the tribe not of individuals and each family who cultivated it had to deposit a part of their products in the public storehouse this was under the full control of the Miko though food was distributed to all in times of need their religion was much more advanced than that of the northern tribes they had the medicine man and the notions about spirits of the north they also worshiped the sun as the great deity of the universe and had their temples and priests and religious ceremonies one of their great objects of care was the sacred fire which was carefully extinguished at the close of the year and rekindled with new fire for the coming year while it was out serious calamities were feared and the people were in a state of terror there was nothing like this in the north the most remarkable of the United States Indians were the Natchas not only LaSalle but later French writers have told us about them they had a different language and were different in other ways from the neighboring Indians they worshiped the sun as their great deity and had a complete system of temples, priests idols, religious festivals sacred objects and the like the people being deeply superstitious their temples were built on great mounds and in them the sacred fire was very carefully guarded by the priests if it should go out careful misfortunes were expected to ensue their ruler was high priest as well as monarch he was called the sun and was believed to be a direct descendant of the great deity he was a complete autocrat with the power of life and death over the people and his nearest female relative who was known as the woman chief had the same power on his death there were many human sacrifices though it was not his son but that of the woman chief who succeeded to the throne not only the ruler but all the members of the royal caste were called sons and had special privileges under them there was a nobility also with its powers and privileges but the common people had very few rights on the temple of the sun were the figures of three eagles with their heads turned to the east it may be seen that this people was a very interesting one far advanced in culture beyond the rude tribes of the north and it is a great pity that they were utterly destroyed and their institutions swept away before they were studied by the scientists of the land their destruction was due to French injustice and this is how it came about Louisiana was not settled by the French until about twenty years after LaSalle's great journey and New Orleans was not founded until 1718 the French gradually spread their authority over the country bringing the Mississippi tribes under their influence among these were the Natchez situated up the river in a locality indicated by the present city of Natchez the trouble with them came about in 1729 through the unjust behavior of a French officer named Chopin he had been once removed for injustice but a new governor, Monsieur Perrier had replaced him not knowing his character Chopin on his return to the Natchez country was full of great views in which the rights of the old owners of the land did not count he was going to make his province a grand and important one and in the presence of his ambition the old inhabitants must bend the knee he wanted a large space for his projected settlement and on looking about could find no spot that suited him but that which was occupied by the Indian village of the White Apple that the natives might eject to this appropriation of their land did not seem to trouble his lordly soul he sent to the son of the village bidding him to come to the fort which was about six miles away when the chief arrived there Chopin told him, bluntly enough that he had decided to build a settlement on the site of the White Apple village and that he must clear away the huts and build somewhere else his only excuse was that it was necessary for the French to settle on the banks of the rivulet on whose water stood the grand village and the abode of the grand son the son of the apple was taken aback by this arbitrary demand he replied with dignity that his ancestors had dwelt in that village for as many years as there were hairs in his head and that it was good that he and his people should continue there this reasonable answer threw Chopin into a passion and he violently told the son that he must quit his village in a few days or he should repent it when your people came to ask us for lands to settle on said the Indian room in reply you told us that there was plenty of unoccupied land which you would be willing to take the same son you said would shine on us all and we would all walk in the same path before he could proceed Chopin violently interrupted him saying that he wanted to hear no more he only wanted to be obeyed at this the insulted chief withdrew saying with the same quiet dignity as before that he would call together the old men of the village and hold a council on the affair the Indians finding the French official so violent and arbitrary at first sought to obtain delay saying that the corn was just above the ground and the chickens were laying their eggs the commandant replied that this did not matter to him they must obey his order or they should suffer for their obstinacy they next tried the effect of a bribe offering to pay him a basket of corn and a fowl for each hut in the village if he would wait till the harvest was gathered Chopin proved to be as avaricious as he was arbitrary and agreed to accept this offer he did not know the people he was dealing with stung with the injustice of the demand and deeply incensed by the insolence of the commandant the village council secretly resolved that they would not be slaves to these base intruders but we cut them off to a man the oldest chief suggested the following plan on the day fixed they should go to the fort with some corn and carrying their arms as if they were going out to hunt there should be two or three naches for every Frenchman and they should borrow arms and ammunition for a hunting match to be made on account of a grand feast promising to bring back meat in payment the arms once obtained the discharge of a gun would be the signal for them to fall on the unexpected French and kill them all he further suggested that all the other villages should be apprised of the project and asked to assist a bundle of rods was to be sent to each village the rods indicating the number of days of that fixed for the assault that no mistake might be made a prudent person in each village should be appointed to draw out a rod on each day and throw it away this was their way of counting time the scheme was accepted by the council the son warmly approving of it when it was made known to the chiefs of the nation they all joined an approval including the grandson, their chief ruler and his uncle the stung serpent it was kept secret however and from all the women of the noble and royal casts not accepting the women chief this it was not easy to do secret meetings were being held and the object of these the female sons had a right to demand the woman chief at that time was a young princess scarce eighteen and little inclined to trouble herself with political affairs but the strong arm, the mother of the grandson was an able and experienced woman and one friendly to the French her son strongly importuned by her told her of the scheme and also of the purpose of the bundle of rods that lay in the temple strong arm was politic enough to appear to approve the project but secretly she was anxious to save the French the time was growing short and she sought to have the commandant worn by hints of danger these were brought him by soldiers but in his supercilious self-conceit he paid no heed to them but went on blindly towards destruction he went so far as to put in irons seven of those who warmed him out of the peril accusing them of cowardice finding this effort unavailing the strong arm secretly pulled some rods out of the fatal bundle hoping in this way to disarrange the project of the conspirators heedless of all that had been told him Chopin and some other Frenchmen went on the night before the fatal day to the great village of the Natchez on a party of pleasure not returning till break of day and then the worst for his potations in the meantime the secret had grown more open and on his entering the fort he was strongly advised to be on his guard the drink he had taken made a complete fool of him however and he had once sent to the village from which he had just returned bidding his interpreter to ask the grandson whether he intended to come with his warriors and kill the French the grandson, as might have been expected sent word back that he did not dream of such a thing and he would be very sorry indeed for his good friends the French this answer fully satisfied the commandant and he went to his house near the fort disdaining the advice of the informers it was on the eve of St. Andrew's day in 1729 that a party of the Natchez approached the French settlement it was some days in advance of that fixed on account of the meddling with the rods they brought with them one of the common people armed with a wooden hatchet to kill the commandant the warriors having too much contempt for him to be willing to lay hands on him the natives strayed and friendly fashioned into the houses and many made their way through the open gates into the fort where they found the soldiers unsuspicious of danger and without an officer or even a sergeant at their head soon the grandson appeared with a number of warriors laden with corn as if to pay the first installment of the contribution their entrance was quickly followed by several shots this signal agreed on in an instant the natives made a murderous assault on the unarmed French cutting them down in their houses and shooting them on every side the commandant for the first time aware of his blind folly ran in terror into the garden of his house but he was sharply pursued and out down the massacre was so well devised and went on so simultaneously in all directions that very few of the 700 Frenchmen in the settlement escaped a handful of the fugitives alone bringing the rest of the bloody affair to New Orleans the nachas completed their vengeance by setting on fire and burning all the buildings so that of the late flourishing settlement only a few ruined walls remained as may be seen this massacre was due to the injustice and to the subsequent incompetence of one man Chopin the commandant it led to lamentable consequences in the utter destruction of the nachas nation and the loss of one of the most interesting native communities in America no sooner in fact had the news of the massacre reach New Orleans than active steps were taken for revenge a force largely made up of Choctaw allies assailed the fort of the nachas the latter asked for peace promising to release the French women and children they held as prisoners this was agreed to and the Indians took advantage of it to vacate the fort by stealth under cover of night taking with them all their baggage and plunder they took refuge in a secret place to the west of the Mississippi which the French had much difficulty to discover the place found a strong force was sent against the Indians its root being up the Red River then up the Black River and finally up Silver Creek which flows from a small lake near which the nachas had built a fort for defense against the French this place they maintained with some resolution but when the French batteries were placed and bombs began to fall in the fort dealing death to women and children as well as men the warriors horrified at these frightful instruments of death made signals of their readiness to capitulate night fell before terms were decided upon and the Indians asked that the settlement should be left till the next day their purpose was to attempt to escape as they had done before during the night but they were too closely watched to make this effective some of them succeeded in getting away but the great body were driven back into the fort and the next day were obliged to surrender among them were the grandson and the women sons with many warriors women and children the end of the story of the nachas is the only instance on record of deliberate annihilation of an Indian tribe some have perished through the event of war no other through fixed intention all the captives were carried to New Orleans where they were used as slaves not accepting the strong arm who had made such efforts to save the French these slaves were afterwards sent to Saint Domingo to prevent their escape and in order that the nachas nation might be utterly rooted out those of the warriors who had escaped from the fort and others who were out hunting were still at large but there were few women among them and the nation was lost past renewal these fugitives made their way to the villages of the Chickasaws and were finally absorbed in that nation and thus says Duprat the historian of this affair that nation the most conspicuous in the colony and most useful to the French was destroyed Duprat was a resident of New Orleans at the time and got his information from the parties directly concerned he tells us that among the women slaves was the female son called the strong arm who then told me all she had done in order to save the French it appears that all she had done was not enough to save herself End of Chapter 8