[Continuing John Fontaine’s account of April 15, 1716.]
"Those twelve men came to the Fort about 12 of the clock, and brought with them several skins, and as soon as they came to the Governor they laid them at his feet, and then all of them as one man made a bow to the Governor, and then desired an interpreter, saying they had something to represent to him. Notwithstanding some of them could speak good English, yet when they treat of any thing that concerns their nation, they will not treat but in their own language, and that by an interpreter, nor will not answer to any question made to them without it be in their own tongue. So the Governor got an interpreter, after which they stood silent for a while, and after they had spit several times upon the ground one of them began to speak and assured the Governor of the satisfaction they had of seeing him amongst them and assured him of the good will they had towards the English and that some of the English had wronged them in some things which they would make appear, and desired he would get justice done to them, that they depended on him for it, which the Governor promised he would, and thanked them for the good opinion they had of his justice towards them. Whereupon they all made a bow and so sat down on the ground all round the Governor.
"The first complaint they made was against another nation of Indians called Genitos, had surprised a party of their young men that had been out a hunting and murdered 15 of them without any reason, and desired the Governor to assist them to go out to war with these Genitoes Indians until they had killed as many of them, but this the Governor could not grant them, but told them he would permit them to revenge themselves, and help them to powder and ball, at which they seemed somewhat rejoiced. They also complained against some of the English, who had cheated them, but the Governor paid them for what they could make out they were wronged of by these English, which satisfied them. Afterwards the Governor made them several presents and so dismissed them.
"About three of the clock came fifty of the young men with feathers in their hair, and run through their ears, and their faces painted with blue and vermillion, and their hair cut in many forms. Some left one side of their hair on, and others had their hair cut on both sides and on the upper part of the head, made it stand like a cock’s comb, and they had blue and red blankets wrapped about them. They dress themselves after this manner when they go to war the one with the other so they call this their war dress, which really is very terrible and makes them look like so many furies. Those young men made no speeches, only walked up and down and seemed to be very proud of their most abominable dress." [The account of April 15 will continue in the next Note.]
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.