With the enemy in Virginia waters and with messengers riding through the counties to summon men to the colors, the planter dropped the hoe to fasten on the helmet and the breastplate, and take up the fusil, the sword, the halberd, and the pistol. Embarking on shallops, or trudging through the woods and fields the trained bands converged on Jamestown until there were between a thousand and twelve hundred men there ready to defend the little capital.[30] But there was no battle. With the loss of Dennis and Stegg, Curtis, Bennett, and Claiborne alone were left of the Parliamentary commissioners. Since Curtis could be outvoted by the other two, the final settlement was left to all intents and purposes in the hands of the two Virginians. We do not know how Curtis got in touch with them, but they seem to have come aboard the _Guinea Frigate_ to receive their instructions. When they opened them and realized how great was their responsibility, they made up their minds to use every effort to spare the colony the horrors of civil war.[31] Their first step was to distribute papers among the people refuting Berkeley's charges that Parliament meant to enslave them, which they substantiated by copies of private letters. Then, hearing that a council of war was in session at Jamestown, they sent up a summons to the Governor and Council to surrender. At the same time, although they thought their force inadequate to defeat the Virginians, they set sail up the James River. In the meanwhile the Governor and Council had been considering their summons. One wishes a record had been kept of that stormy debate, with Berkeley pleading for resistance to the end, and others pointing out that this meant ruin. In the end they sent a reply which reached the fleet on its way up the river, promising to yield if the government were left in their hands for one more year. The commissioners replied with a conciliatory message, which though refusing this compromise, "produced the calling of an Assembly."[32] The Burgesses fully realized the folly of defying the might of England. Should they succeed in driving off the forces facing them, other and more powerful armies would follow. So they sat "in contemplation of the great miseries and certain destruction which were so nearly hovering over this whole country." When they heard the remarkably liberal terms offered by the commissioners, they yielded.