In April of 1714, the Germans arrived. Spotswood moved them to a simple fort on the frontier, giving as his (public) reason that they would serve as a barrier to the Indians in that area. In fact, since they were to be performing a public good, he was not hesitant to ask the Council if the Colony of Virginia should not underwrite some of the expense. They agreed. There was a private reason for picking the site that he did for the Germans. The new fort was only about three or four miles from his silver mine.
One of the things that one learns in studying Spotswood's actions is that there are usually public reasons and unstated private reasons which must be inferred. But they seem obvious. The location of Fort Germanna very close to his silver mine was one example (actually the silver mine was a partnership in which Spotswood was the largest partner).
Normally when a person had indentured servants, he had to pay their tithe (church tax). In the case of the Germans, Spotswood tried to claim they were not indentured servants. But he protected himself in other ways. He had the Council declare that an area extending five miles around Fort Germanna would be the old parish of St. George. Anyone, who lived in this area and had their own minister, would not have to pay the tithe. Since the Germans did have a minister, they were exempt. Or was it Spotswood who was exempt?
To minimize his expenses in supporting the Germans, Spotswood also got the Council to declare that hunting by non-Germans would not be allowed. The public reason was that the Germans arrived so late in the year they could not grow any crops so hunting was to be a major source of foods. To help insure that there was an ample supply of game, others were forbidden to hunt. Again, was this a measure to aid the Germans or to aid Spotswood?
One quickly learns that most actions of Spotswood had two interpretations. One of them is publicly stated and the other is unstated. The latter usually came in the category of helping Spotswood. He bent or set public policy in ways to insure that he benefited.
The Germans were anxious to be at work and within the month of their settlement at Fort Germanna they had a look at the silver mine. Spotswood was able to write to the Lord Commissioners of Trade on 21 Jul 1714 that there was a good appearance of silver ore. The Germans hedged their evaluation and said it would be necessary to dig some depth into the earth to find out. Spotswood told them not to do this and told the Commissioners that it was:
".....a liberty that I shall not give them until I receive an Answer to what I represented to your Lo'ps concerning y'r Ascertaining her Maj't's share."
Queen Anne died before Spotswood's letter got to the Commissioners. Even two years later, the Crown's share was not determined. Meanwhile, the Germans did no work for Spotswood privately, but they maintained the peace on the frontier which was the official reason they were there.
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.