"The celebration began on a Thursday morning. The armed contingents, on foot as well as on horse, were drawn up in a line. The bishop [Blair?] delivered an oration on the King's death. The soldiers were then drawn into the perimeter of a square with the college being one side. There were about 2000 of them. The college had three balconies with buglers from the ships on the top balcony, then oboes, and then violinists. When one stopped, another would pick up the music. Sometimes, all three played together. When the proclamation of the King's death was to be made, they played very movingly and mournfully. Then the constable appeared with the standard [flag]. The bearers were dressed in mourning and the horses were draped in black. The death of King William was announced by the Secretary. A little later, the Governor ordered the rifles reversed and they marched to the tent where the Bishop had spoken. A touching oration was delivered which caused many people to shed tears. Then the soldiers paraded back and forth and then took up their position before the college. The musicians played lively tunes. It was noon."
"The Governor had changed his clothes and was no longer dressed in mourning. The secretary read publicly the royal letter and edict that the second daughter of the late King James had been chosen and crowned Queen. Then everybody shouted three Hurrah! They gave three salutes with the cannon and with the small arms. The prominent people were invited to lunch with the Governor and everyone received a glass of rum or brandy with sugar."
"That night the Governor entertained again with many toasts and firings of cannons and playing by the buglers. When the time came, the Governor mounted his horse to superintend the fireworks. The fireworks show went very badly, nothing worked as it was supposed to. But most people had never seen a fireworks show and they thought it was good. At eleven o'clock that night I was in the tower of the college where I could see best. Since my house was two miles away, I decided to spend the night in the tower."
"The next day, there were military drills and another lunch for important people. The Governor then arranged a shooting match. After the soldiers, some others shot too. The Indians were the best with both rifles and bows and arrows." [There follow several paragraphs describing the Indians.]
"After the celebration was over, I endeavored to sell, as best I could, whatever remained of my merchandise. I intended to exchange powder and knives to the Indians for skins and baskets which I hoped to take back to England where they would fetch a good price. A Frenchman and I were surprised that two of the Indians could speak English. I asked him where he learned to speak English and he answered that he was not stupid. They listened to the Englishmen and learned that way."
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.