There was a point or two that I failed to make when we talking about the first days, weeks, and months of the Germans at Fort Germanna. Germans could be very resourceful in finding solutions to problems. I give, as an example, the case of the Germans at Schoharie in New York. After the naval stores project on the Hudson River fell apart, several of the Germans decided to move farther west to the area that became Schoharie. The Germans had next to nothing when they went. They wanted to plow ground for crops and a garden but they had no draft animals. They fashioned a plow from a tree trunk and one of its limbs. For power to pull it, they got lots of vines and tied them to the plow. Then they called out the women. A dozen women pulling is equal to one ox. For freedom and independence, people will do a lot of things.
Did the First Colony people go by land or water to the site where Fort Germanna was to be built? I suggested by water as much as possible. From just below the falls on the Rappahannock, the limit of ship travel, to Germanna is just over twenty miles in a line. One reader suggested that they went by wagon from the assumed staging area near Williamsburg to Germanna. I would comment that the roads were just not there for such a trip. When Spotswood left on the trip over the Blue Ridge Mountains, he traveled by chaise for the first part. At Robert Beverley's place, he left the chaise and mounted his horse because he had reached the limit of decent roads. Beverley's Place is just more than one-half of the way from Williamsburg to Germanna so it left a distance of more than fifty miles to go by land.
There was significant difference when the Second Colony arrived on the scene. By then, there were decent roads to Germanna past the limit of water travel. The problem for the Second Colony was organization. Though Spotswood said they were "closely joined" for their safety, they were, in fact, about one-half mile apart. There was one row of homes along the Rapidan River about every one-half mile. Then in back of them, about one-half mile from the river, there was another row of houses. They were spread out about six miles up and down the river, and about one-half mile back from the river. The Indians could easily have attacked any one home.
Again, I must assume that the Germans built their own homes under the guidance of supervisors. Since the supervisors could hardly travel around to the twenty-odd homes to give directions, the Germans must have congregated at one place where they received their instructions. Then, later, they were engaged in several activities which required instructions, especially the naval stores project. They probably had a signaling device to call everyone to a central point. It could be used if the Indians proved menacing or if they were to gather to receive instructions. Then again, on Sundays, it might have served as the call to come together.
We don't know how many supervisors there were on the site, but we do know that there was one for a while at Fort Germanna. This was Francis Hume. He died after about a year, so the supervision may not have been continuous.
(16 Oct 03)
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.