Page:Bruton parish church restored and its historic environments (1907 V2).djvu/19



English colonies in Virginia extended first along the line of the great rivers which flow into the Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries, and in this territory we find most of our colonial churches. Between the James River and the York, lies the Peninsula of Virginia, which is about twelve miles wide from Jamestown, on the north bank of the James, to Gloucester County, on the north bank of the York, where was situated the ancient seat of King Powhatan. Though small in compass, this Peninsula is Virginia's richest historical possession. Here was cradled the infant republic. Here one called, by those who conquered him, Bacon the rebel, marshalled the patriots of 1676, who enlisted to protect their homes against the Indians, and fought, when forced to, against Sir William Berkeley, the Governor, to maintain their liberty as freeborn Englishmen.

Down the road which runs upon the crest of the Peninsula, parallel with the present line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, marched the armies of the Revolution, led by Lafayette, Washington, and Lord Cornwallis, and in later years, the great armies of Johnston and passed over this road on the way to Richmond.

The soil is blood stained and thronged with sacred and stirring memories. Here was not only the Cradle of the Republic, but the birthplace of her liberty. The foundation stones alone remain of the buildings where, in 1619, the first representative Legislative Assembly held in America met at Jamestown, and where, in later years, in the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, the eloquence of Patrick Henry kindled in Virginia the flames of the American Revolution: