LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

water-power which is the source of much of the wealth of Virginia's present capital. The old Indian sachem whose fame is so intertwined with that of Virginia took his name of Powhatan from the river. His original name was Wahunsonacock when the colonists first found him, and he then lived on York River; but it is related that he grew in power, raised himself to the command of no less than thirty tribes, and ruled all the country from southward of the James to the eastward of the Potomac as far as Chesapeake Bay. When he became great, for he was unquestionably the greatest Virginian of the seventeenth century, he changed his name and removed to the James River, just below the edge of Richmond, where, near the river bank, is now pointed out his home, still called Powhatan. It was here that the Princess Pocahontas is said to have interfered to save the life of Captain John Smith. Here still stands a precious relic in the shape of an old chimney, believed to have been originally built for the Indian king's cabin by his colonist friends. It is of solid masonry, and is said to have outlasted several successive cabins which had been built up against it in Southern style. A number of cedars growing alongside, tradition describes as shadowing the very stone on which Smith's head was laid. It may not be generally known that early in the history of the colony Powhatan was crowned as a king, there having been brought out from England, for the special purpose, a crown and "a scarlet cloke and apparrell." The writer recording the ceremony says quaintly: "Foule trouble there was to make him kneele to receive his crowne. At last, by leaning hard on his shoulders, he a little stooped, and three having the crowne in their hands, put it on his head. To congratulate their kindnesse, he gave his old shoes and his mantell to Captaine Newport, telling him take them as presents to King James in return for his gifts."

      THE INDIAN PRINCESS POCAHONTAS.

      The James River carries a heavy commerce below Richmond, and the channel depths of the wayward and very crooked stream are maintained by an elaborate system of jetties, constructed by the Government. Both shores show the earthworks that are relics of the war, and Drewry's Bluff, with Fort Darling, the citadel of the Confederate defence of the river, is projected across the stream. Below is Dutch Gap, where the winding river, flowing in a level plain, makes a double reverse curve, going around a considerable surface without making much actual progress. Here is the Dutch Gap Canal, which General Butler cut through the narrowest part of the long neck of land, thus avoiding Confederate batteries and saving a detour of five and a half miles; it is now used for navigation. Just below is the large plantation of Varina, where the Indian Princess Pocahontas lived after her marriage with the Englishman, John Rolfe. Its fine brick colonial mansion was the headquarters for the exchange of prisoners during the Civil War.

      The brief career of Pocahontas is the great romance of the first settlement of Virginia. She was the daughter and favorite child of Powhatan, her name being taken from a running brook, and meaning the "bright streamlet between the hills." When the Indians captured Captain John Smith she was about twelve years of age. He made friends of the Indian children, and whittled playthings for them, so that Pocahontas became greatly interested in him, and the tale of her saving his life is so closely interwoven with the early history of the colony that those who declare it apocryphal have not yet been able to obliterate it from our school-books. Smith being afterwards liberated, Pocahontas always had a longing for him, was the medium of getting the colonists food, warned them of plots, and took an interest in them even after Smith returned to England. The tale was then told her that Smith was dead. In 1614 Pocahontas, about nineteen years old, was kidnapped and taken to Jamestown, in order to carry out a plan of the Governor by which Powhatan, to save his daughter, would make friendship with the colony, and it resulted as intended. Pocahontas remained several weeks in the colony, made the acquaintance of the younger people, and fell in love with Master John Rolfe. Pocahontas returned to her father, who consented to the marriage; she was baptized at Jamestown as Lady Rebecca, and her uncle and two brothers afterwards attended the wedding, the uncle giving the Indian bride away in the little church at Jamestown, April 5, 1614. A peace of several years' duration was the consequence of this union. Two years afterwards Pocahontas and her husband proceeded to England, where she was an object of the greatest interest to all classes of people, and was presented at Court, the Queen warmly receiving her. Captain Smith visited her in London, and after saluting him she turned away her face and hid it in her hands, thus continuing for over two hours. This was due to her surprise at seeing Smith, for there is no doubt her husband was a party to the deception, he probably thinking she would never marry him while Smith was living. The winter climate of England was too severe for her, and when about embarking to return to Virginia she suddenly died at Gravesend, in March, 1617, aged about twenty-two. She left one son, Thomas Rolfe, who was educated in London, and in after life went to Virginia, where he became a man of note and influence. From him are descended the famous children of Pocahontas—the "First Families of Virginia"—the Randolph, Bolling, Fleming and other families.

      SHIRLEY, BERKELEY AND WESTOVER.

      The winding James flows by Deep Bottom and Turkey Bend, and one elongated neck of land after another, passing the noted battlefield of Malvern Hill, which ended General McClellan's disastrous "Seven Days" of battles and retreat from the Chickahominy swamps in 1862. The great ridge of Malvern Hill stretches away from the river towards the northwest, and in that final battle which checked the Confederate pursuit it was a vast amphitheatre terraced with tier upon tier of artillery, the gunboats in the river joining in the Union defense. Below, on the other shore, are the spacious lowlands of Bermuda Hundred, where, in General Grant's significant phrase, General Butler was "bottled up." Here, on the eastern bank, is the plantation of Shirley, one of the famous Virginian settlements, still held by the descendants of its colonial owners—the Carters. The wide and attractive old brick colonial house, with its hipped and pointed roof, stands behind a fringe of trees along the shore, with numerous outbuildings constructed around a quadrangle behind. It is built of bricks brought out from England, is two stories high, with a capacious front porch, and around the roof are rows of dormer windows, above which the roof runs from all sides up into a point between the tall and ample chimneys. The southern view from Shirley is across the James to the mouth of Appomattox River and City Point.

      The Appomattox originates in the Blue Ridge near Lynchburg, and flows one hundred and twenty miles eastward to the James, of which it is the chief tributary. It passes Petersburg twelve miles southwest of its point of union with the James, this union being at a high bluff thrust out between the rivers, with abrupt slopes and a plateau on the top, which is well shaded. Here is the house—the home of Dr. Epps—used by General Grant as his headquarters during the operations from the south side of the James against Petersburg and Lee's army in 1864–65. Grant occupied two little log cabins on top of the bluff, just east of the house; one his dwelling and the other his office. One is still there in dilapidation, and the other is preserved as a relic in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. A short distance away is the little town of City Point, with its ruined wharves, where an enormous business was then done in landing army supplies. To the eastward the James flows, a steadily broadening stream, past the sloping shores on the northern bank, where, at Harrison's Landing, McClellan rested his troops after the "Seven Days," having retreated there from the battle at Malvern Hill. His camps occupied the plantations of Berkeley and Westover, the former having been the birthplace of General William Henry Harrison, who was President of the United States for a few weeks in 1841, the first President who died in office. The Berkeley House is a spacious and comfortable mansion, but it lost its grand shade-trees during the war. A short distance farther down is the quaint old Queen Anne mansion of red brick, with one wing only, the other having been burnt during the war; with pointed roof and tall chimneys, standing at the top of a beautifully sloping bank—Westover House, the most famous of the old mansions on the James. It was the home of the Byrds—grandfather, father and son—noted in Virginian colonial history, whose arms are emblazoned on the iron gates, and who sleep in the little graveyard alongside. The most renowned of these was the second, the "Honourable William Byrd of Westover, Esquire," who was the founder of both Richmond and Petersburg.

      William Byrd was a man of imposing personal appearance and the highest character, and his full-length portrait in flowing periwig and lace ruffles, after Van Dyck, is preserved at Lower Brandon, farther down the river. He inherited a large landed estate—over fifty thousand acres—and ample fortune, and was educated in England, where

Скачать книгу