The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 2 of 2: or, The Recluse of Jamestown; An historical romance of the Old DominionCaruthers, William Alexander
History
The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 2 of 2: or, The Recluse of Jamestown; An historical romance of the Old Dominion
Caruthers, William Alexander
Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Fiction
Our hero was not deceived in his supposition, that the savage tribes
inhabiting the Peninsula would make a desperate effort to retain
possession of a country so admirably adapted to their mode of life. Two
noble rivers, one on either hand, abounding with a variety of fish, and
a fertile soil, yielding its treasures with little culture, were
considerations in the eyes of these ignorant but not misjudging sons of
the forest, not to be surrendered without a struggle.
As the army of the colonists pursued its march toward the point already
indicated as the rendezvous of the again confederated tribes, it was
constantly harassed with alarms--signal fires and flying bodies of
mounted warriors, first cutting off their communication with the
river--now assailing the vanguard, and then hovering upon the rear.
Three weeks and more were thus consumed in partial and unsatisfactory
engagements; the skirmishers first approaching one river, upon the
representation of some treacherous savage, and then hurrying back in the
opposite direction to meet some illusive demonstration made by the
cunning enemy. The youthful commander soon perceived that this mode of
warfare was the one exactly suited to the nature and condition of his
foes, and the least adapted to the impetuous courage of his own troops.
He saw too, that the savages had the double design of wearying out their
invaders in the manner we have described, and of collecting and
concentrating their forces, at some point where their own mode of
warfare could be rendered available, without exposing themselves to the
destructive discharges of artillery which they still held in
superstitious terror. A very little reflection satisfied him that there
would be no immediate danger in pursuing the direct route between the
Powhatan and Chickahominy rivers, toward the falls of the former, where
he had already some intimation that the enemy were collecting in great
force. He was well satisfied that the tribes already dislodged had
removed all their winter provisions, and their wigwams being destroyed,
there could be little hazard to the city in disregarding their daily
demonstrations in his front, flank, and rear. Accordingly his troops
were concentrated in a solid column, and marched directly toward the
falls, entirely disregarding the petty annoyances which had already
detained them so ingloriously in the Peninsula.
While they were marching toward the scene of the great and final
struggle for supremacy between their own race and the Aborigines, in
this narrow neck of land, which had so long been the scene of
contention, we will retrace our steps for a short space, in order to
bring up the proceedings at Jamestown to the point at which we have just
arrived.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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