No very striking event succeeded, in the history of the Virginia colony, till the year 1675, when the Indians again began to rob and murder the colonists. Intestine divisions raged, and they seemed, in their broils, to forget that an enemy lurked around them, who might take fatal advantage of their unguarded and feeble condition. Although the Indians dared not appear, as they had formerly done, in the very heart of the settlements,--for these had increased, and the tribes had been driven back into the interior,--yet they attacked those who dwelt on the frontiers, wasted their fields, burned their houses, and committed other ravages. The colonists were in no condition to avenge themselves of these outrages. Had the Indians, indeed, known the full extent of their weakness, they might have been emboldened to still more daring invasions; but, being successfully attacked by the whites, after a brief conflict, they were glad to accept of peace. The ascendency of the English being once established, the tribes gradually wasted away, and it would now be difficult to find a remnant of the once powerful people by which the eastern portion of Virginia was formerly inhabited.
The tract of country first called Virginia embraced more than is now comprised in the limits of the State; and as a part of North Carolina was included in its boundaries, it may be proper, in this connection, to notice the history of the Indians who occupied this region.
North Carolina was first discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1584. In the account given by him, it seems the Indian name of this region was Wingandacoa, the king being called Wingina. His chief town was six days’ journey from Wococon. His brother, Ganganameo, resided at a village on the Roanoke. The third day after the English arrived, some natives appeared, and one of them went on board of the ships. The English gave him a shirt, some wine, and plenty to eat. He paddled away, and, having laden his boat with fish, returned, and divided them into two parts, meaning one portion for one ship, and the rest for the other. The next day Ganganameo came to see them, with fifty men, spread out his mat on the point, without any apparent fear, and, sitting down, made signs to the English to sit down with him. He then stroked his head and breast, and theirs also in a gentler manner, thus signifying, that, henceforth, their heads and hearts should be one. He made a long speech, and they presented him with some toys, which greatly pleased him. They then opened a trade, and he gave them twenty deer-skins for a pewter basin; a sample of the dealings between the English and natives. The chief made a hole through the basin, and hung it about his neck for a breastplate. He also gave fifty more skins for a copper kettle.