Late in the summer of 1713, perhaps in the early fall, the Germans from Siegen were in London expecting to meet Graffenried. They also expected him to provide the funds to send them on to America. But, there was no Graffenried. The funds of the Germans were running low and they sought work to supplement the meager resources. Graffenried did appear but he was broke and literally in debt. Professing surprise and shock at the situation, Graffenried recommended that the Germans go home. Having paid for their exit visas from Nassau-Siegen, the Germans were homeless and had no home to which to go. They came to the agreement that they would work four years in America to pay the part of the transport costs that they could not afford.
Graffenried called on several people to see if there was any interest in the Germans' proposal. One of the people, probably a reference given by Spotswood, was Col. Blakiston, the agent for Virginia who was in close contact with Spotswood. Blakiston knew that Spotswood was very excited about a mine for precious metals. Even though the percentage of the mine's output that the crown would want was not yet decided, Blakiston thought the opportunity of getting a batch of "miners" in one fell swoop was too good to pass up. So he committed Spotswood to paying one hundred and fifty pounds sterling toward their transportation costs. Spotswood himself did not know anything about the arrangement. The Germans were on the sea heading toward Virginia before Spotswood learned that he had "hired" forty-odd Germans.
When the Germans arrived, Spotswood was ready with a plan of action. He would settle them on the frontier as a barrier to the Indians. That was the official reason that he sent back to London and is the reason stated in the minutes of the Virginia government. What Spotswood did not mention is that about four miles from the site where he settled the Germans there was a projected silver mine in which he was a part owner. Also Spotswood did not mention that Fort Germanna would be an excellent position from which to launch a land acquisition program. But then, these were private reasons, not official reasons. In everything that Spotswood did in an official capacity one must look behind the official reasons to see what some of the private reasons were. It should be noted that Fort Germanna was an official activity of the Colony of Virginia.
The Germans were appointed Rangers and as such became agents of the colony. It also exempted them from some taxes. Looking at private reasons here, the Germans might be construed as indentured servants of Spotswood. The indenture holder was responsible for the taxes. So this act had its private reasons also, as it relieved Spotswood of any possible obligation to pay taxes for the Germans. In an official act of the colony, an area around Germanna was declared off limits for hunting except by the Germans. Again, was this for the benefit of the Germans or for the benefit of Spotswood? To the extent that the Germans could obtain their own food by hunting, Spotswood was relieved of the need to support them. A special parish was set up around Germanna for the Germans and they did not need to pay tithes to the state church. Again, as indentured servants, Spotswood would have been required to pay the tithes but with this exemption for the Germans he was freed any obligation on this score.
A point to be made is that statements by Spotswood need to be examined on a stated explicit level and on the unstated level. The unstated words are the private reasons. So it not always easy to read the real history merely by seeing what Spotswood said.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.