Moon Time

Photo by Orion 8

In Virginia, on March 22, 1622, and again on April 18, 1644, paramount chief Opechancanough arranged attacks killing several hundred colonists on both occasions. The fact that assaults could be carried out with such devastating consequences on unsuspecting colonists demonstrates Opechancanough's organizational skills. But how did he time his attacks with such precision?

For the most part, the various tribes commonly referred to as the Powhatan lived in towns near water, which could be reached by dugout (a type of canoe). Runners were also common messengers, but the tribal people used the moon as a calendar. Both attacks came one day shy of the third-quarter moon.

Moon cycles have been used for thousands of years to mark the passage of time. Each month the moon cycles has a new moon, first quarter, a full moon, last quarter, then returns to the new moon. The cycle repeats approximately every 29 days. One clergyman wrote that the Powhatan kept track of time by days, moons, and years. In their numbering system, they had specific words for one to ten, after which, according to John Smith, they counted by tens, and they also had a word for a thousand. If necessary, they used notched sticks and knotted strings to keep track of larger numbers.

The people tracked the lunar calendar with seasonal and solar cycles, along with crop and migratory seasons. Little is known about the astronomical knowledge of the Powhatan, but they recognized lunar months, such as "moon of the stags," the "corn moon," and the first and second "moon of cohonks." Cohonk is the Algonquian word meaning Canada goose, and the moons so named occurred in early winter when the geese returned. It was also the beginning of their year. The word itself sounded like a goose honking. Not only that, I recently discovered an interesting tidbit that to honk your car horn is derived from the same Algonquian word.

According to some anthropologists, calendars were developed by women to coincide with not only the lunar cycle, but menstrual cycles as well. Mayan midwives knew that when a woman missed her period a baby would be delivered about 260 days later. Opechancanough most likely timed his attacks using a similar method. In any case, the attacks were timed with precision, taking place just before spring planting and the beginning of the busiest time of year.

Kim Murphy

www.KimMurphy.net

Seventeenth-Century Rape Laws

"Rape is the carnal abusing of a woman against her will. But if the woman conceive upon any carnal abusing of her, that is no rape, for she cannot conceive unless she consent."
Sir Henry Finch, Law or Discourse Thereof (1627)

Finch died in 1625, making his book posthumously published, but his cruel legacy lived on. Most recently, some modern politicians have argued the same point. During the 17th century, scientists debated whether humans were formed from an egg, or if a baby was already fully formed from a man's "seed" merely to grow once inside the womb. In order for a woman to conceive, the belief was held that she must enjoy the sex act. Hence, Finch's law that a woman could not have been raped, if she had conceived.

Later in the century, Sir Matthew Hale uttered his infamous declaration:

"It is true that rape is a most detestable crime, and therefore ought severely and impartially to be punished with death; but it must be remembered, that it is an accusation easily to be made, hard to be proved, but harder to be defended by the party accused, tho innocent."

No words have severely affected modern women more. Even though the crime of rape has been shown to have no more false accusations than any other crime, Hale's statement, warning jurors that women are liars, has been repeated throughout courtrooms for centuries. In the U.S., the words weren't stricken from the courts until the 1970s.

In the 17th century, a woman who brought the charge of rape against a man was automatically regarded with suspicion. A girl's sexuality was controlled by her father, and once she was married that power shifted to her husband. Also according to Hale, a husband could not rape his wife: "But the husband cannot be guilty of rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract." In other words, she was his property, and he was allowed to use his property in anyway he saw fit.

If a woman had been raped, her "protector" would bring the charges to the authorities. Women with no male protector were often looked upon as being unchaste and thought to readily consent their virtues to any man.

The American colonies adopted English Common Law in regard to rape. In Virginia, rape was a capital offense. Unfortunately, most of the colony's records have been lost, but existing General Court records reveal that no conviction for rape or attempted rape were successful before 1670. One record has been uncovered at a county level. Women were hesitant to accuse a white man of rape because they risked losing their homes, places in the community, punishment, or retaliation.

Due to the Quaker influence in Pennsylvania, rape became a noncapital offense in 1682. Men convicted of rape were to be whipped and forfeit one-third of their estate to the victim. Supposedly, they were also to receive a prison sentence for one year with a second conviction carrying a life sentence. In reality, all rape accusations were reduced to lesser crimes until the 18th century.

In Puritan Massachusetts, fourteen men were tried for rape and three men for attempted rape between 1630 and 1692. Like other areas, women were unlikely to report sexual assaults because the patriarchal system frequently blamed the victim. All in all, in many ways, little has changed from the 17th century. Rape survivors rarely reported the attacks, and the assailants, if prosecuted, used the defense that the sexual activity was consensual, and oftentimes, the victim's reputation was brought into question. Even now, many believe Hale's myth that women are liars and therefore, are vindictive. After 400 years, it seems more progress should have been made.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.net

Jamestown

Recently, I visited Jamestown, the first English colony to survive on the North American continent. It had been several years since my last visit and very little had changed. One of the most interesting aspects wasn't a display or anything like that, but some archaeologists who were working on a dig. They took the time to talk with us. Unfortunately, we had missed their big find earlier in the week, when they had uncovered an intact horse skeleton. Also, unfortunately for them, they discovered the horse was from the 18^th century and the Revolutionary War era, not the 17^th century.

On my previous visit, I was most interested in the original Jamestown. Part of the original fort is already underwater, and it's said that with global warming, the rest will eventually follow suit. On this trip, my response was the same as on the previous occasion when I passed the Pocahontas statue. Let me just say, she appears to be attired more like she had belonged to a western plains Indian tribe rather than eastern woodland. But then, I believe the statue was made in the 1930s. It just seems to me a historic site could add a more accurate portrayal.

The newest exhibit was the reconstruction of Jane, the girl whose remains had been the first forensic evidence of cannibalism during the Starving Time. As I walked through many of the other exhibits, I grew saddened and disappointed. Nothing showed or explained the original colonization from the Paspahegh point of view. After all, the land belonged to them when the colonists first arrived. In fact, the exhibits seemed to go out of the way to perpetuate the myth of how primitive these people were. But then, the Paspahegh were annihilated because they had resisted English encroachment, and there are no descendants to tell their side of the story.

A few years later, paramount chief Opechancanough organized an attack against the colonists. By that time, Jamestown definitely belonged to the English. The exhibits claimed that a boy by the name of Chanco had saved Jamestown from certain annihilation. In reality, there is no historical evidence that Jamestown was ever threatened. I guess, even now, it may be too much to ask a historic site to tell both sides to a story.

Fortunately for me, my visit was to research how Jamestown had grown in the 1640s. During this time, much of the ship trade had been cut off from England due to the Civil War there. That was another fact that I didn't see mentioned, but the port remained busy because of trade from the Dutch, New England, and the West Indies. I walked the path that the colonists of the era would have walked, and it helped me see and feel what my characters in my upcoming book The Dreaming: Wind Talker would see.

Afterward, I traveled the island by car. Maybe someday I'll return and walk the island. Before leaving, I saw a large bird in a tree. Other observers said that it was a bald eagle. According to most indigenous people, the eagle is a sacred messenger spirit. In that regard, I know the Paspahegh would be pleased.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.net

Cannibalism at Jamestown

(Studio EIS / Don Hurlbert)

In early May 2013, the news hit the wires that cannibalism had been confirmed at Jamestown. A skeleton of a fourteen-year-old girl had been unearthed. In August 2012, the girl's skull, lower jaw, and leg bone were found among those of a horse, dogs, and squirrels. With hacks and breaks that more resembled what someone would do when butchering livestock, the remains had the telltale signs of ax and knife cuts.

While the information is extraordinary, it really isn't as shocking of a find as the news authorities have led us to believe. Among the colonists, the winter during 1609-10 was regarded as the "Starving Time." George Percy, a prominent member of the original Jamestown settlers, wrote about men, women, and children eating horses, dogs, cats, rats, and mice. He also mentioned starving colonists digging up corpses. One man killed his pregnant wife, cut out the unborn child, salted her and ate her. For his crime, he was burned at the stake.

The Starving Time had been brought on by a combination of poor planning, in-group fighting, and dependence on England and the Native people for supplies. At the time, the colony had approximately 200 colonists. Another influx of colonists arrived later in 1609 (the exact date is unknown), which set off class wars. One of the ships, the one carrying the supplies, was lost at sea.

(Smithsonian Institution / Don Hurlbert)

John Smith was a commoner and refused to give up his leadership role. He sent groups both up and downriver before being mysteriously wounded and returning to England in October. When George Percy assumed command, he sent another group downriver to build a fort, which left approximately 120 colonists at Jamestown. By May 1610, only 60 colonists remained.

Not all of these people starved to death. Some were killed by the local Indians. The Paspahegh tribe was their nearest neighbor. The colonists had done much to make enemies of them--by stealing their land, food, etc. Is it really any wonder they would fill the colonists full of arrows when they used the latrines (which were unwisely built outside the fort)? Yet, "many" of the colonists ran off to join the Indians.

So yes, cannibalism did indeed exist during the Starving Time, but the press release sensationalized the first forensic evidence of an already known circumstance.

Kim Murphy

www.KimMurphy.net

Bacon's Castle

Recently I attended a seminar on 17^th-century architecture in Surry, Virginia. Bacon's Castle was built by Arthur Allen, a wealthy merchant, in 1665. It's the oldest documented brick building in Virginia, and one of only three surviving structures of Jacobean architecture (named after King James I of England) in the western hemisphere. Allen died in 1669, and his son Major Arthur Allen II inherited the property.

During the era, there was a bit of a stigma against native-born Virginians, and Major Allen was educated in England. He returned to his home and built English-style gardens and became a member of the House of Burgesses (elected representatives of the English colonists).

About September 1676, the house was seized by Nathaniel Bacon's men during Bacon's Rebellion and fortified. The men retained control of the house for over three months until their cause waned, but the occupation is how the house gained its name. Bacon never lived there, nor was he known to have visited.

For the seminar, I attended a slide presentation by Nick Luccketti on historic structures. Mr. Luccketti is an archaeologist for the James River Institute for Archaeology and had participated in excavations of Bacon's Castle in the past. He later sifted through a box of treasures, showing us some of the finds they had uncovered during their excavations, which included of all things a couple of 17^th-century eggs among the pieces of jugs and wine bottles.

Ed Chappell, an archaeologist with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, led us on a tour around the house, pointing out the details of the unique architecture. A couple of the notable features include the triple-stacked chimneys, and the compass roses (a design that displays the cardinal directions) carved into many of the cross beams. As we went through the rooms, our guide pointed out where walls had been added during the 18^th century.

My favorite room was a particular one with a distinctive 17^th-century look. It had a larger fireplace than the modernized 18^th-century rooms, a canopied bed, and opaque windows. The entire environment gave me many ideas for my upcoming novel, The Dreaming: Wind Talker. I also seemed to have been the only person in attendance scribbling away in a notebook throughout the seminar.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.net

In Search of the Appamattuck Indians

In Virginia and for those who study the American Civil War, Appomattox usually means the town where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, ending a long and bloody war. However, the name of the town comes from an Algonquian speaking Indian tribe that lived nearby. While writing the sequel to The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist, I began a quest in search of the tribe. In the first book, I had a little easier time locating the modern day areas of the tribes mentioned because both tribes, the Paspahegh and Arrohatteck, had a re-creation of their towns near where they had lived at Jamestown Settlement and Henricus Historical Park.

Initially in my search for the Appamattuck, I had two 17^th-century maps. In the beginning, I found it difficult correlating where the tribe had lived to present-day locations. Fortunately, I discovered a couple of historical markers through a web search. Opposunoquonuske was a weroansqua (female chief) in 1610. After the destruction of the Paspahegh, her men ambushed English soldiers. They retaliated by burning her town and seized the land for their own.

The Appamattuck moved their settlement until the English attacked them again, where they relocated yet again to the area along the Appomattox river. A hillside that is now home to Virginia State University was an English fort in the 17^th- century, and nearby, I found a river trail that at one time was the northern most part of a Native American trail that ran all the way to South Carolina. Here, I traveled to find the Appamattuck.

Except for a few birds singing and dragonflies hovering about, the river banks were quiet, but I could easily imagine the mat-covered houses and people bustling with their everyday chores. Because I visited in summer, the men would have likely been hunting or fishing, and the women foraging for greens and berries, unless they were in town weeding.

The scene would have been completely shattered in 1644 when the Powhatan chiefdom was defeated, and the tribes, including the Appamattuck became subjects to the King of England. In 1645, Fort Henry was built across the river from the tribe, and it was the only point where Indians could legally travel eastward into white territory and vice versa. Virginia Indians had to wear a badge of striped cloth to show they had been allowed into the territory or risk being killed.

During Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, the Appamattuck town was once again destroyed, and few of the tribe remained. In 1691 the weroansqua, Perecuta requested permission to live among the English. By 1705 only seven families remained, and the tribe vanished from the historical records.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.net

The First Africans in Virginia

In 1619, the first Africans arrived on a Dutch ship near present-day Hampton, Virgina. About twenty were aboard after having been stolen from a Spanish ship. The crew traded the Africans for food, then set sail. It's unclear whether the first group were indentured servants or slaves. Slave laws had yet to be written, and many of the first arrivals were indentured and given the same opportunities to live as free people after their terms had been served.

Arriving in 1620, Anthony Johnson was one of the first arrivals. He married Mary, and they had four children. By 1635, they had gained their freedom and inherited land as well as indentured servants of their own. In 1665, he moved to Maryland. The land he left behind was seized because he was a "negroe and by consequence an alien."

One of the first records of slaves for life was in 1640 when three indentured servants ran off from a plantation. Two servants were white and one was black. When recaptured, the white servants had four years added to their terms, while the black man, John Punch, was enslaved for life.

Ironically, a black servant of Anthony Johnson's filed suit against him in 1654. Johnson won the case and John Casor's indenture term was extended to life.

Slave laws in the colonies were first written in Massachusetts in 1641. Virginia followed suit in 1661. A year later, Virginia decided that children born to slave mothers would also be enslaved. In 1672, England officially entered the slave trade when the king chartered the Royal African Company. Between 1680 and 1686, the company transported approximately 5,000 Africans a year with most of the them going to the colonies, not just Virginia. In 1698, the average increased to over 20,000 a year.

In 1705, the Virginia General Assembly declared:

"All servants imported and brought into the Country, by sea or land, who were not Christians in their native Country. . . shall be slaves... All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves... within this dominion. . . shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master, or owner, or other person, by his or her order, correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction. . . the master, owner, and every such other person so giving correction, shall be free of all punishment. . . as if such accident never happened."

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

Henry Spelman

In 1609, Henry Spelman, a boy of fourteen, sailed from his home in England to Jamestown. Within two weeks of his arrival, he sailed up the James River with John Smith where his indenture was sold to the paramount chief Powhatan. Basically, Henry's job was to learn the Algonquian language so that he could serve as an interpreter. Such exchanges were not uncommon, and the young boys served as messengers between the two cultures.

In the beginning, Henry was treated well until relations between the Powhatan people and the English disintegrated. A short time later, Henry returned to Jamestown only to be caught in the midst of the "Starving Time." When several Natives brought venison to the fort, Thomas Savage, another English boy interpreter, accompanied them.

Due to lack of food in the colony, Henry was ready to return to the Indians and went with Thomas. He took a hatchet and some copper, a metal highly valued among the Powhatan, and gave them to the paramount chief. The offering eased tensions, and Henry spent about a year and a half among the Natives.

When a local chief of the Patawomeck tribe visited the pararmount chief, Henry, Thomas, and another boy by the name of Samuel, returned with him, without informing Powhatan they were leaving. Thomas had second thoughts and returned, but Powhatan sent a message that Henry and Samuel were also to return. In the dispute, Samuel was killed, and Henry sought refuge among the Patawomeck, living among them for another year as a special guest.

In 1610, Captain Samuel Argall found Henry living with the Patawomeck. With Henry's knowledge of the language and culture, he helped the English and Indians trade. Later, Captain Argall kidnapped Pocahontas, Powhatan's favorite daughter. After she married John Rolfe, there was peace for several years. During this time, Henry served as an interpreter and freely mixed between the cultures.

Over the years, Henry made several trips to England. He rose to the rank of captain and married a Patawomeck woman. In 1619, Samuel Argall had risen to the rank of governor, and another interpreter accused Henry of speaking badly about him to then paramount chief Opechancanough. If he had been found guilty of treason, he would have been executed. Instead, he was convicted of a lesser crime and was sentenced to serve the governor as an interpreter for seven years.

In 1622, Opechancanough led an organized attack against the English, killing many of the colonists. In the aftermath, Henry attempted to renew an English alliance with the Patawomeck, but a year later when he agreed to take a group of men to trade for corn, in the area of present day Washington, D.C., his party was attacked by a group of Anacostan Indians. According to Chief Robert Green, of the modern day Patawomeck tribe, Henry had been mistaken for a Patawomeck himself. Henry's manuscript Relation of Virginia is the only written account by an Englishman who spent a great length of time living with Indians.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

The Dreaming

Several years ago I read a story about witch trials in Virginia. Surprisingly, most of the trials predated Salem. Except for some people who live in the coastal region of the state, few realize that Virginia was the first to hold witch trials on the North American continent.

Those stories became a journey for me. One that I had no idea where it might lead, but I think that's true with most writers. Not only were the Virginia trials overshadowed by Salem, but few records have survived to modern times. Thanks to the American Civil War, many of the 17^th-century records were burned during the 19^th century (another area of history that I know very well!).

Unlike Salem, only one woman was recorded to have been executed. But how many records were lost? No one will ever know. The journey of writing my story led me to read more about England where the colonists originated from. Fellow Hoyden, Mary Sharratt shared some of her research and introduced me to Emma Wilby and her wonderful book Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic.

With an anthropology degree, I have always been intrigued by shamans. Wilby's book hit an instant chord with me, but historians disagree whether the cunning folk ever reached the American shores. I dug deeper. Two of the Virginia trials sounded very much like the accused were cunning women. Between that possibility and the fact that cunning folk were very common in the 17^th century, I had a basis for my story. Yet, something was missing.

When the colonists first arrived on the Virginia shores, the land was already inhabited. Besides the John Smith/Pocahontas myth, I knew nothing about the Powhatan people. In my pursuit to learn more, not only did I read books, but I visited the historic sites. Jamestown is the original site where the colonists made the first permanent English settlement in North America, and Jamestown Settlement is a living history park where the 17^th century comes alive. The Citie of Henricus is also a living history park portraying the second English settlement. Like Jamestown Settlement, it includes how the Indians of the time lived, but unlike Jamestown, Henricus did not survive Opechancanough's organized attacks in 1622. Also on my stops, I included visits to the Pamunkey and Mattaponi museums. The paramount chief Powhatan was a member of the Pamunkey tribe, and his daughter, Pocahontas was Mattaponi (the Algonquian speaking tribes of Virginia traced their lineage through the women). These two tribes were part of the Powhatan chiefdom and still live on reservations in Virginia to this day.

After four years of researching and writing, I was drawn into a world that I could have never imagined. In my story, The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist I have blended modern times with fantasy and the 17^th century. As many of the tribal people teach, my path has taken me along a circle, leading me home. Now my journey is complete.

I look forward to seeing where my next journey leads.

Kim Murphy

www.KimMurphy.Net

LIVING HISTORY MUSEUMS

Portals to the Hidden Histories of Early America





Abby Sullivan portraying Sabilla Jackson, indentured servant on the Godiah Spray Plantation, Saint Mary's City, Maryland.

This article of mine originally appeared in the November 2006 issue of SOLANDER MAGAZINE, published by the Historical Novel Society.


In popular imagination, historical fiction seems to focus on novels illuminating famous figures of the past, such as Robert Graves’s I, Claudius and Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl. While countless readers, myself included, enjoy the vicarious delights of reading about emperors and queens, historical fiction can also be used as a tool for exploring the hidden lives of common folk who contributed just as much to the fabric of our history. Eminent historical novelist, the late Mary Lee Settle wrote, “Recorded history is wrong. It’s wrong because the voiceless have no voice in it.” The voiceless in history include most women, most people of non-European ancestry, and people of the servant and peasant classes. Some of the freshest and most moving historical fiction is written about historical underdogs, including Settle’s own classic Beulah Land Quintet. Charles Frazier’s recent novel, Thirteen Moons, depicts the fight to save Cherokee homeland, while Lalita Tademy’s epic novels, Cane River and the Red River, are based on the struggles of her African American ancestors in the 19th century.

What research tools exist for historical novelists who wish to give voice to neglected histories? When I was researching the lives of women, small planters, and indentured servants of the Colonial Chesapeake settlements for my novel The Vanishing Point (Mariner 2006), I discovered that my best sources were living history museums. At Mount Vernon, George Washington’s birthplace, I learned about spinning wool and flax, and how even women of the wealthy elite spent their “leisure” hours spinning to keep their families clothed. In Colonial Williamsburg, I spent an entire day talking to various re-enactors about everything from tanning leather to period cures for consumption – cantering around on horseback was believed to be quite efficacious. The re-enactors at these museums don’t deal in dry facts or dates, but an entire way of life. This article will focus on the two museums that had the biggest impact on me: Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and Historic St. Mary’s City in Maryland. Both these sites provide excellent inspiration for historical novelists and history lovers who would like to know more about the diversity of lives in Early America, not just the lives of “great men,” such as Washington and Jefferson.


Historic St. Mary’s City

How do you recreate a place that disappeared centuries ago? Historical novelists try to do this with research and imagination. Historic St. Mary’s City, tucked away in a remote corner of Southern Maryland, has recreated Maryland’s first capital through archaeology and primary sources. Researchers have used clues from ancient foundations and fragments of glass to reconstruct historic buildings and give visitors an idea of what life here was like in the years spanning 1634, when the settlement was founded, to 1695, when St. Mary’s City was abandoned for the present Maryland capitol of Annapolis.

The most remote part of the museum is Master Spray’s Plantation, a working colonial farm situated away from the other sites and also from Maryland Route 5 and most signs of modern civilization. “It’s easier to suspend disbelief and imagine you are in the 17th century,” Public Programs Director, Dorsey Bodeman explains. Spray’s Plantation is a first person site with interpreters in period costume and in character. “We give visitors the opportunity to step into their lives,” says Bodeman. “They will come upon interpreters doing tasks people would have done in the 17th century.” These interpreters include Master and Mistress Spray, and their indentured servants. Their tasks deal with home and hearth – things that that twenty-first century people can relate to. “Master Spray will talk about what he’s doing in the tobacco field,” Bodeman says. “This serves as an entry to the visitors asking him questions. It’s much easier to ask the interpreter questions than asking the same questions in a lecture hall. The discussion can then develop into a more in-depth discussion about, for example, the economies of tobacco planting.” Bodeman believes that visitors will have an easy time connecting with the interpreters, who are trained to make them feel at home. Other exhibits include Smith’s Ordinary, the reconstructed State House of 1676, and the Maryland Dove, a replica square-ribbed ship that brought colonists to the New World. Buildings recreated on the historical model are being added to the site each year. The rebuilt print house will open next spring and in the following year, the chapel will be finished.

Visitors can also learn about the ongoing archaeological sites. Archaeologists aren’t present year round, but interpreters are on hand to talk about the archaeological background. “Visitors are very interested in behind-the-scenes information about how we know about a place that disappeared off the face of the earth,” Bodeman states. She admits that it is difficult to reconstruct people’s daily lives from archaeological artifacts alone. “Archaeology doesn’t find many life-way things.” The only artifacts that survive in the ground for 400 years are things like stone, bone, metal tools, oyster shells, and glass. Some artifacts found on site, however, do open a window into lost lives. One is a container with small holes in it and a bone stopper. The container was probably filled with a noxious substance and worn to banish fleas in an era when whole families shared the same bedding, as did travellers at inns and ordinaries.

The museum is not focused exclusively on the lives of European settlers. At the Indian Village Site, staff in contemporary dress, who are not necessarily Native American themselves, discuss the lives of Native Americans in the 17th century. These interpreters practice what Bodeman calls “experimental archaeology.” Since very little about Native American history was written down, interpreters don’t just learn from books but from living on site and building Native American-style huts by trial and error. “The staff are out there living the life, learning to make fishhooks from the toe bones of a deer.” Bodeman adds that these were inspired by deer bone fishhooks found by archaeologists.

African-American history is not interpreted at the museum, because there would have been very few, if any, enslaved Americans present in the original settlement. Slavery did not become a major institution before the 1660s. Throughout most of the 17th century, European indentured servants were much cheaper and more readily available.

There were also very few European women. Bodeman states that in 1650, the white population in the colony numbered about 600 and fewer than 200 of those people were women. Even at the end of the 17th century, there were still three men for every woman. The bulk of people coming to the colony were male indentured servants. A handful of wealthy men, such as the Calverts, came over to get the colony started. Malaria took a huge toll on the population and high death rates impacted both sexes. This, coupled with the scarcity of women and with high infant mortality, meant that immigration contributed more to the white population than live births. Moreover, indentured servants would be around 30 by the time they were free to marry and this also served to curb the birth rate. Yet court records of the period prove that some female indentured servants had children out of wedlock. Their masters would then seek to prolong their indenture to cover the costs of feeding the child. Court records of midwives provide a further glimpse into these early women’s histories.

What does Bodeman hope visitors will gain from a day at St. Mary’s? “A connection to the people who came before us,” she says. “I hope they would go away not with just bits and pieces of factual information, but a connection to what life was like 400 years ago. What motivated people then – things like getting clothes, food, and shelter – wasn’t different from what motivates people now. But how hard people had to work to get these things was very, very different.”

Those who are unable to visit St. Mary’s in person can take a virtual tour via the website.


Colonial Williamsburg

In contrast to St. Mary’s serene backwater, Colonial Williamsburg is comprised of a monumental 301-acre Historic Area surrounded by a 3,000 acre greenbelt to help keep out 21st century intrusions. From 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg, Virginia was the capital of England’s oldest, largest, wealthiest, and most populous colony in the Americas. Named in honor of King William III and designed by Royal Governor Francis Nicholson, Williamsburg is one of America’s oldest planned communities. The restored city features no fewer than 88 original buildings and hundreds of others that have been reconstructed, most on their original foundations. Colonial Williamsburg portrays the capital during the years 1774-1781, the critical formative period of the American Republic. Also on site are Bassett Hall and the Wallace Gallery, which form the Museums of Williamsburg. The huge stores of collections include everything from period farm instruments to portraiture.

“The most unique thing about Williamsburg is our setting,” says Dr. Rex Ellis, vice president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. “It’s like a stage set to tell a three-dimensional story. It allows us to take in the good, the bad, and the ugly. The buildings and reconstruction, the collections and reproductions build and design and acknowledge history in a different way than a textbook. We use a variety of ways to tell the story of history.”

The diversity of Early American experience is in evidence from sites ranging from the Governor’s Palace, the seat of British authority in the colony, and the Capital, the seat of colonial power and home of Virginia’s vote for independence, to Great Hopes Plantation, a working farm, which invites guests to become part of the experience of 1770s-era enslaved Americans and middling white planters. In contrast, the Peyton Randolph House examines urban slave life through participatory programs.

First and third person interpreters play a crucial role in bringing history to life. “The buildings are just structures,” says Ellis. “It’s the people that bring life to those things, the people that animate the buildings. The artifacts and collections are just a backdrop.” Interpreters are available throughout the day, and visitors who stick around until the evening can watch performances with scripted presentations.

The African-American experience in colonial Virginia is brought vividly to life by interpreters playing characters such as Lydia Broadnax, cook and slave to George Wythe, who was a mentor to Thomas Jefferson and one of signers of the Declaration of Independence. Wythe eventually freed Broadnax, who chose to remain in his service until his death – one of his heirs poisoned him. Eventually she acquired her own house in Richmond. Another interpreter plays the role of Gowan Pamphlet, a slave owned by entrepreneurial businesswoman Mrs. Jane Vobe, who ran the King’s Arms Tavern. In her service, Pamphlet waited on the likes of William Byrd III and George Washington. Gowan Pamphlet’s spiritual calling, however, steered his life in a completely different direction. He became a preacher, acting in defiance of laws not only forbidding persons of color to preach but also forbidding slaves to hold gatherings. After years of performing his ministry, including baptisms, in secret, he finally got his freedom and founded the First Black Baptist Church. Also interpreted is Ann Wager, a white woman who became mistress of the Bray School for African American children in 1760.

Third-person interpreters include costumed artisans representing the tradesmen and women of their day. These are professional, full-time artisans dedicated to specific trades, including carpentry, culinary arts, brick making, saddlery, apothecary arts, and gunsmithing. Guests can observe the artisans at work and ask them questions about their trade.

One program that Ellis believes no visitor should miss is The Revolutionary City. “This is the newest program we have to interpret history in a more responsible way,” Ellis explains. To convey the series of major events that illustrates Williamsburg’s central role in the American Revolution, each day consists of a two hour interactive program that portrays Colonial Americans’ transition from British subjects to citizens of a newly fledged American nation. This is conveyed in a series of scripted performances, such as a 30-year-old carpenter torn between family and war, and slaves weighing the ironies of the freedom their masters seek while denying the same liberties to them. Visitors will have the chance to connect to the characters’ personal stories. Ellis says he hopes this program will provide insight into the privilege and responsibility of being an American, and also an awareness of the sacrifices made by enslaved Americans, as well as European Americans, in the struggle for independence. “You can’t visit Williamsburg without being struck by the sacrifices made by our ancestors.” The Revolutionary City can also be experienced by video via Colonial Williamsburg’s website, details below.

I recommend devoting at least a full day to Williamsburg. There are plenty of hotels in the area and those who book ahead can enjoy a period meal in one of the taverns in the Historic Area. It’s an interesting experience to walk around the site in the evening after the crowds have gone home.

But even those who cannot manage to visit can learn a great deal through Colonial Williamsburg’s extensive website, which offers a variety of resources including virtual tours, podcasts, articles and online slideshows exploring African American history, children’s programs, an online research library focused on the 18th century and colonial period, and even a source list for 18th century costume design. .


Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center

Close by Williamsburg are two additional living history sites, also superb. Jamestown Settlement has recreated the first English settlement in the Americas. Founded in 1607, Jamestown recently celebrated its 400th anniversary. Visitors can learn about the lives and trades of people in 17th century Virginia, including Powhatan Indians and European and African immigrants. Yorktown Victory Center is a must-visit for American Revolutionary War enthusiasts. The site interprets the lives of the men and women who witnessed the decisive Battle of Yorktown in October, 1781, which ended the six-year struggle for American independence. Information about both Jamestown and Yorktown can be found at the website.

March 22, 1622

In Virginia, the date March 22, 1622, has been given many names. Period sources claim the day was a massacre. Since then, some historians state that it was Opechancanough's uprising or coup with the intent to annihilate the colonists. In my upcoming book, The Dreaming, I call it Opechancanough's organized attacks. Why? Because I show the event from the point of view of the Arrohateck, a tributary tribe of an alliance commonly referred to as the Powhatan.

When the paramount chief Powhatan died in 1618, leadership passed to his brother, Opitchapam. Although second in command, another brother, Opechancanough, soon became the real leader and planned a co-ordinated assault on the encroaching English settlements.

On the day of the attacks, warriors wore no face paint nor carried weapons to give the illusion that it was an ordinary one for work or trade. At the agreed upon time, they turned on the colonists and the bloodshed began, oftentimes using the colonists' own weapons or tools.

By the end of the day, over 300 colonists, equaling a third of the population, were dead. On both sides of the James River, the death toll included women and children. Until the annihilation of the Paspahegh in 1610, such a tactic had been uncharacteristic for Virginia Indians as it had been against the law of nations. The previous hostilities with the colonists had forever changed the nature of their warfare.

Legend states that a Native Christian boy by the name of Chanco saved Jamestown. The story goes that he warned his employer, Richard Pace, of the upcoming assault. Pace lived across the river from Jamestown, so he rowed to the colony to alert them before the impending disaster. As it turns out, there's no historical or archaeological evidence that Jamestown was ever threatened.

To explain the possible reason further, I consulted with a tribal historian and was informed a treaty had been in place since 1614 giving Jamestown to the colonists. During the time of peace before Powhatan's death, the colonists encroached further into Indian territory. Opechancanough's attacks were co-ordinated to enforce the treaty. Essentially it was his way of saying, the land belonged to the Native people, and the colonists needed to live by the rules they had agreed to.

The attacks were carried out in typical Indian fashion of striking as quickly and as hard as possible, then retreat. At that time, the Powhatan had the larger numbers and could have carried out even greater damage had they wished, which makes the treaty explanation very plausible.

In the end, the colonists responded by increasing their attacks on the indigenous population and seizing more of their land. Although Opechancanough is often portrayed as a villain in modern history books, he remains a hero to present-day Virginia Indians as a defender of their homelands.

Kim Murphy

www.KimMurphy.Net

Did Pocahontas Save John Smith?

From John Smith's The generall historie of Virginia: "...two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could layd hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his braines, Pocahontas the Kings dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death..."

This passage was written in 1624 for an event that Smith claimed to have taken place in 1607. Over the centuries, a general disagreement has rippled throughout the historical community whether he actually spoke the truth. Apparently, Smith's first claim of the now famous rescue was referenced in a letter to Queen Anne in 1617, which would have been before Powhatan's and Pocahontas's deaths.

In the mid-nineteenth century, historians began to question the validity of his report based on the length of time that had passed between the event and Smith's documentation. Later in the century, another historian claimed Smith had lied about his eastern European travels based on Hungarian resources.

Since then, scholars have argued back and forth whether Smith spoke the truth about the Pocahontas rescue. In the 1990s, historian J.A. Leo Lemay wrote that Smith was generally considered to be an honest man and had no reason to lie. This statement is very interesting when Pocahontas, then Rebecca Rolfe, met Smith for the last time in 1617 just before her death. She was upset with him because she had been told that he had died many years before and went on to say "because your countrymen will lie."

While her statement doesn't specifically say that Smith was the one to tell his comrades to fabricate his death, he frequently lied to the Powhatan people during his time in Virginia. True, he was a military person and some would argue his misstatements were necessary for strategy.

Interestingly enough, Smith had more than his fair share of romantic adventures. When fighting the Turks in Hungary, he was captured and sold into slavery. Smith claimed "the beauteous Lady Tragabigzanda" had fallen in love with him and helped him escape. Lady Callamata gave him "succor" after his flight from captivity, and Lady Chanoyes "bountifully assisted" him when he had escaped pirates and was driven ashore in France.

Some historians say Smith may have told the truth about Pocahontas, but believe it may have been a ritual that he misunderstood. Anthropologist Helen Rountree, one of the leading scholars on Powhatan culture, gives credible arguments that Pocahontas, a girl of approximately eleven, was never at the event where Smith alleged she rescued him as it was an adult affair. She contends that Smith's life was never in danger. The Mattaponi, Pocahontas's tribe, also claim through their oral history that Pocahontas was never present for the same reasons.

Since there will never be any way to prove or disprove the argument (barring time travel), each person will have to arrive at his/her own conclusion. I think it's quite obvious which side of the argument I believe.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

The Chickahominy

During September 2009, I had the honor of attending the Chickahominy powwow. Chickahominy translates to coarse-pounded-corn people, and powwow comes from the Algonquian word pau wau, which describes the spiritual leader. The English of the 17^th century thought the word referred to the event and over time, Indian tribes have come to accept the definition. Non-native people may think of a powwow as entertainment, but the event is very sacred to Native people.

Before a powwow begins, the dance circle is blessed and becomes sacred ground for the duration of the event. Anyone entering the sacred circle walks or dances in a clockwise direction, and exits in the same place as their entrance. This action shows respect. During portions of the powwow, picture taking and sound recordings are not allowed due to the sacred ceremonies. For that reason, I have not included pictures out of respect because I did not ask for permission during the parts that allowed photography.

After a Grand Entry procession, Chief Stephen R. Adkins greeted dancers and attendees, much in the way the Chickahominy have greeted travelers for over 400 years. In the 17^th century, the tribe was allied with but independent of the Powhatan chiefdom. Although culturally they were very similar, at the time of the arrival of the English colonists, the Chickahominy were governed by a council of eight elders or religious leaders, called the mungai (great men).

During the first few winters of Jamestown, the tribe aided the colonists by trading food for other goods. They also helped teach them how to plant and grow crops. As the colonists' settlements expanded, the Chickahominy became displaced, and tensions grew. In 1610, when the Paspahegh were virtually annihilated, the Chickahominy were also raided. Some say the remaining members of the Paspahegh were taken in by the Chickahominy.

In 1614, the tribe signed a treaty with Sir Thomas Dale, Governor of Jamestown. The Chickahominy agreed to provide corn to feed the colonists and send warriors to defend the settlement in return for keeping their own government. The following year, disease and drought were prevalent. The tribes' harvest was poor, and the colonists took their corn by force.

Over the years, the Chickahominy have lost more and more of their land, but unlike the Paspahegh, the tribe has survived to modern day. Now, along with five other Virginia tribes, they are trying to achieve Federal recognition as sovereign Indian nations, like some of the better known Western tribes. Their rallying cry has been, "First to greet. Last to be recognized." As Chief Adkins eloquently stated, "400 years is long enough."

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

The Paspahegh

Early in May 1607, the English explored the James River in present-day Virginia and first contacted the Paspahegh (possibly pronounced pa-spa-hay), a Native tribe that was a tributary to the paramount chief Powhatan. They were greeted by the werowance (translates to chief; not understanding chiefs' roles, the colonists referred to them as kings) Wowinchapuncke with a speech.

Continuing on with their exploration, the English sailed up the river into Appamattuck territory before returning downriver a couple of weeks later. On Jamestown Island, they began building a fort. At that moment in history, the Paspahegh became the first Native tribe to fall victim to English expansion in the Chesapeake area of Virginia.

While erecting the fort, the colonists were observed by scouts. The Paspahegh resisted the encroachment, setting the stage for back and forth fighting between the groups. In spring 1610, a new governor arrived in Virginia, Lord De La Warr, upping the stakes even further.

In August on orders from the new governor, George Percy with the reluctant help of an Indian guide led a party of seventy colonists in the predawn hours to the Paspahegh town. The guide attempted to lead the group in the wrong direction and was threatened to have his head cut off. He then altered his course and took the colonists to the town, where a surprise attack was launched, killing sixteen people of their "deadliest enemies" as they left their houses. The colonists continued by burning houses and cutting down the Paspahegh's corn.

A man, the chief's wife and children were captured. The man was beheaded. A "council" agreed to put the children to death. On the short sailing trip back to Jamestown, soldiers threw the children overboard, then shot them in the head. Later, the children's mother was stabbed to death to "save" her from being burned to death by Lord De Le Warr.

Before this time, the Powhatan people did not kill women or children even in warfare as it was against the law of nations. These actions changed tactics among Virginia Indians. Wowinchapuncke was later killed in an encounter near the Jamestown fort, and in 1611, the Paspahegh town was listed as deserted. Thereafter, sadly, the tribe disappeared from the historical record.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

Agecroft Hall

Along the banks of the James River in Richmond, Virginia, stands a Tudor estate named Agecroft Hall. The house is not a copy, but a manor house actually built in Lancashire, England in the 15th century. Presently, it's recreated to 16th- and- 17th-century décor, making a research trip to Richmond much easier on my budget than a flight across the Atlantic. How did a historic treasure wind up in the heart of Virginia?

During the 19th century, the house fell into disrepair, and in the 1920s, it was sold at auction. Thomas C. Williams, Jr., who became wealthy from tobacco and banking, purchased the house, had it dismantled, crated, shipped across the ocean, and painstakingly rebuilt on the site where it stands today. If he had not transported the house from Manchester, it would have been demolished and lost to history forever. Unfortunately, Mr. Williams only enjoyed his home for a year before his death. His widow, however, lived there for nearly forty years before the upkeep of the house and grounds became too much for her.

Now a museum, Agecroft Hall is open to the public, where writers, like me, can find all sorts of fun details to incorporate into my upcoming novels. After a short film introduction of the manor home's history, I was swept into the 17th century. My first sight was a dead cat (not real!) in the wall to ward off witches. You can bet the cunning woman in my story is less than amused!

Tourists then proceed to the Great Hall with oak-paneled walls, military armor, tapestries, and a hand-carved table with benches. Rushes are off to the side to give a sampling of what life would have been like. The room has a huge leaded-glass window that made the journey from England without a single pane breaking.

In the Great Parlour a lantern clock only shows the hour, and a draught chair has a copy of John Gerard's The Herbal at hand for easy consultation. The dining parlour is where more intimate meals would have been served than the Great Hall. It has cupboards for silver, and samplings of period food, such as dove.

An intricately carved staircase winds the way upstairs. On the second floor are the bed chambers with massive poster beds, again with complex carvings, one that includes gargoyles and angels. Outside the house is the kitchen, complete with cooking pots and period correct bowls and pitchers. There's even a rat in the drain!

After a tour of the house, we strolled the gardens. The sunken garden has an array of flowers with a pond at the center. The herb garden is planted with medicinals known to those living during the 16th and 17th centuries. Nearby stands the still house where the lady of the manor would distill the herbs and make perfume.

Other gardens include the Knot Garden and Tradescant Garden. The latter was named after John Tradescant, a botanist and gardener, who traveled to Virginia in 1637 for the purpose of gathering plants with the intent of introducing them to English gardens. Before leaving the estate, I took a quick walk through the turf maze. Though it wasn't difficult, it was fun nonetheless. All in all, it was an enjoyable and successful research trip.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

Virginia's Other Cash Crop

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

In the early 1600s, the colony of Virginia was on the verge of failing to make a profit until John Rolfe married Pocahontas to gain the secret of growing tobacco. But another important crop, often overlooked in history books, is a plant that has gained a bad reputation in modern times--hemp.

In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale introduced hemp to Virginia. The English navy depended on the crop, but the demand was far greater than the country was able to produce. Hemp was used for paper, cordage, fiber for linen, and of course, medicinal uses. The First Virginia Assembly encouraged colonists to grow hemp, and they received favorable reports from England on the superiority of the colony's crop.

The early years were hampered by shortage of seed and lack of skilled labor to separate the fiber from the woody part of the stalks to make cordage. In 1646, the Virginia Assembly commissioned houses to be built where poor children were taught to card, knit, and spin, thus helping the manufacture of linen. In 1665, the removal of import duties to England stimulated production further.

Less than ten years later, laws were enacted for each county to purchase and distribute hemp seed. Failure to do so resulted in fines. In spite of these encouragements, during the 17th century, hemp production tended to remain limited to self-sufficient farms, never really competing with tobacco until well into the 18th century, where the practice became so common that even founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp.

Hemp's importance went beyond cordage and fiber. Both industrial hemp and what's known today as marijuana are classified as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. According to some sources, many varieties that were grown in North America have been lost. The East Indian variety (marijuana) of hemp was known as "bangue" in the 17th century from the Hindi word "bhang."

Culpeper's Complete Herbal, first published in 1653, states that hemp, "is so well known to every good housewife in the country, that I shall not need to write any description of it." Besides pain relief, Culpeper advised the different portions of the plant to be used for various ailments, such as jaundice, digestive disorders, killing worms, flushing earwigs from the ear canal, and burns.

While hemp has become much maligned in recent years, Virginians of the 17th and 18th centuries held no reservations for making use of its quality fiber or legitimate medical uses.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

Sources

Herndon, George Melvin, "The story of hemp in colonial Virginia." Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, University of Virginia, 1959.

Culpeper, Nicholas. Culpeper's Complete Herbal.