History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of VirginiaCampbell, Charles
History
History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia
Campbell, Charles
Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Virginia -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
the following day (Sunday) he landed at the south gate of the fort, and
although the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Thomas Gates, with his company,
were drawn up to meet him, he fell on his knees, and remained for some
time in silent prayer. After this he repaired to the church, and heard a
sermon delivered by the Rev. Mr. Bucke. A council was then called, and
the governor delivered an address to the colonists. The hand of a
superintending and benignant Providence was plainly manifested in all
these circumstances. The arrival of Sir Thomas Gates rescued the colony
from the jaws of famine; his prudence preserved the fort at Jamestown,
which the unhappy colonists, upon abandoning the place, wished to
destroy, so as to cut off all possibility of a return; had their return
been longer delayed, the savages might have destroyed the fort; had
they set sail sooner, they would probably have missed Lord Delaware's
fleet, as they had intended to sail by way of Newfoundland, in a
direction contrary to that by which Lord Delaware approached.[99:A]
Lord Delaware, Governor and Captain-General, was accompanied by Sir
Ferdinand Waynman, Master of the Horse, who died shortly afterwards;
Captain Holcroft; Captain Lawson; and other gentlemen. Lord Delaware
was the first executive officer of Virginia with the title of Governor;
and the titles of Governor and Captain-General were ever after given to
the colonial chief magistrates of Virginia. Under Lord Delaware's
discreet and energetic management, discipline and industry were speedily
restored, the hours of labor being set from six o'clock in the morning
to ten, and from two to four in the afternoon. The store of provisions
that he had brought over with him was sufficient to supply four hundred
men for twelve months. He gave orders for repairing the church. Its
length was sixty feet, and its breadth twenty-four, and it was to have a
chancel of cedar and a communion-table of black-walnut, and the pews of
cedar, with handsome wide windows, to shut and open according to the
weather, made of the same wood; as also a pulpit with a font hewed out
hollow like a canoe, with two bells at the west end. The building was so
constructed as to be very light within; and the Lord Governor and
Captain-General caused it to be kept passing sweet, and trimmed up with
divers flowers. There was also a sexton belonging to it. Every Sunday
there were two sermons delivered, and every Thursday one--there being
two preachers who took their weekly turns. In the morning of every day,
at the ringing of the bell at ten o'clock, the people attended prayers;
and also again at four in the afternoon, before supper. On Sunday, when
the Governor went to church, he was accompanied by the councillors,
officers, and all the gentlemen, with a guard of halberdiers in his
lordship's livery, handsome red cloaks, to the number of fifty on each
side, and behind him. In the church his lordship had his seat in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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