On the appointed day, the 22d of March, about noon, while the people were at work, and mostly unarmed, the Indians rushed upon them, and at once massacred three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children. So well devised was the plan, that, but for its being betrayed, the whole colony, including Jamestown, must have been cut off at a blow. A Christian Indian, who had been solicited by his brother to kill a Mr. Pace, with whom he then lived, informed him of the plot, and, though not in season to save hundreds from falling victims to the savage enemy, yet intelligence was sent to Jamestown, and the people, in many instances, were seasonably put upon their guard. The Indians, finding they were betrayed, did not attempt an attack upon the town, but plundered and burned the undefended houses, the mills and iron works, and whatever else came in their way. The next autumn, the Virginians, in their turn, attacked the Indians, burned several of their towns, and took many thousand bushels of corn, which they found stored up for the winter. The consequence of this was, that the Indians were greatly distressed, and suffered much for want of food and the necessaries of life. The succeeding July, the war was carried on with still more vigor; four or five separate parties were appointed to attack the Indians at different points, and many were slain, among whom were some of their kings and war-captains. These disasters at once disheartened and weakened them. Still, they continued to seize upon every advantage that offered, and, in 1630, Opechancanough, observing that the colony was in a state of disunion and anarchy, formed a plan for another surprise and massacre. The experience they had so dearly bought should have made the colonists vigilant, and put them upon their guard at all times. But they seem, at this period, to have relapsed into a state of fatal confidence or indifference. The Indians fell upon the settlers, principally on the south side of James River, and at the head of York River, and so carefully had they concealed their design, so well was it arranged, and so resolutely executed, that they cut off five hundred of the colonists at a blow. This was a dreadful event to the infant settlement, and seems, at first, to have almost entirely disheartened the survivors. A long and bloody war followed, with various results, till, finally, the Indians being defeated, and tired of the strife, a peace was once more made, which continued unbroken for many years. The death of Opechancanough, the master spirit of the savages, and the implacable foe of the colony, doubtless contributed to this end. Every contest also taught the Indians the power of European discipline, and they at last learned that the field of battle was the grave of their warriors, and that even a successful war always resulted in a diminution of their strength.