Falling upon the frontier plantations, they took ample revenge for the murder of their "great men." In a few days they had wiped out a number of families. Dragging off their miserable captives to secluded spots in the forest, they staged scenes of horror that would have staggered the imagination of a Dante. Some they roasted alive and cut off pieces of their flesh, which they offered to their other victims. Others they bound to stakes, pulled their nails off, stuck feathers in their flesh, ripped them open and wound their entrails around the trunks of trees.[31] Memories of the days when he led his men to victory over Opechancanoe must have come to Sir William, but he was now too old to take the field. But he collected a strong force to go out against the Indians, and gave the command to Sir Henry Chicheley. Then, to everyone's amazement, he changed his mind and disbanded the soldiers.[32] This he seems to have done for fear Chicheley might not be able to discriminate between friendly and unfriendly Indians. He stated that he planned to use the Pamunkeys and Appomatox to be his "spies and intelligence to find out the more bloody enemies." Unfortunately, these tribes were no longer friendly. The gradual encroaching on their lands by the frontier families had forced them to "live remote in the woods," and caused them to harbor a deep sense of injustice. But even after Berkeley finally came to realize this, and admitted that the neighboring tribes were aiding the Susquehannocks, he kept reverting to this policy. So, when the savages renewed their raids, he called the Assembly together and pushed through legislation for a defensive war. It called for the erection of forts on the frontier, the enlistment of five hundred men, and the use of friendly Indians.[33] To the exposed families this seemed mere folly. Is it not easy for the Indians to sneak in between forts to fall upon us and commit their devilish murders? they asked. We are already burdened enough with taxes without having more piled on for works which give us no protection. What is needed is a large mobile force to seek out the enemy and destroy them. When petition after petition reached Berkeley, asking him to send a leader, it merely aroused his brittle temper. As one group stood humbly before him, they spoke of themselves as "Your Honor's subjects." "Why you are a set of fools and loggerheads. You are the King's subjects, and so am I. A pox take you."[34]