Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/263

 the wildest fictions of the legendary tale * These peo- ple, too, besides the mischiefs to which they were prompted by their own feelings and habits, were an ever ready and a most terrific scourge, in the hands of any enemy with whom this country might be at variance. Dunmore, although thanked at the time for his services, was afterwards believed by the house of burgesses, to have made use of them in the years 1774-5, in order to draw off the attention of the colonists from the usurpa- tion of the British court: and, in the recent war of the revolution, that merciless enemy had been again let loose upon our frontier, with all the terrors of savage warfare. The return of peace with Britain had given us but a short respite from their hostilities. I perceive by the journal of the house of delegates, that on the 5th of November, 1784, it was, on the motion of Mr. Henry,

" Resolved, That the governor, with the advice of council, be requested to adopt such measures as may be found necessary, to avert the danger of liostiHties with the Indians, and to incline them to treat with the commissioners of congress; and for that purpose

��* The stories of these border skirmishers, which yet live in the traditions of the west, are highly worthy of collection. They exhibit scenes of craft, boldness, and ferocity, on the part of the savag-es, and of heroic and despe- rate defence by the semi-barbarous men, women, and children, who were the objects of these attacks, which mark the characters of both sides in a most interesting" manner. Those tales of the long-, obstinate, and bloody de- fence of log- cabins ; of the almost incredible achievements of women and little boys ; of the sometimes total and sometimes partial havoc of famihes ; of the captivity, tortiu-es, and death, of some ; and the miraculous escape, wanderings, and preservation, of others — would form a book of more interest than any other that could be put into the hands of a Virginian reader ; and would furnish the subject of many a novel, drama, and painting. The ad- venture of captain Smith and Pocahontas, if you put asidq the dignity of their characters, is cold and tame, when compared with .some which are re- lated among the western inhabitants of this state.

�� �