e uncle and godfather of the young soldier, and
the representative of one of the most ancient and affluent families on
James River (for by this trivial name Virginians are content to designate
the noble _Powhatan_), was the eldest of three brothers, of whom the two
younger, as was often the case under the _ancien regime_ in Virginia,
were left, at the death of their parent, to shift for themselves;
while the eldest son inherited the undivided princely estate of his
ancestors. This was at the period when that contest of principle with
power, which finally resulted in the separation of the American Colonies
from the parent State, first began to agitate the minds of the good
planters of Virginia, in common with the people of all the other
colonies. Men had already begun to take sides, in feeling as in argument;
and, as usual, interest had, no doubt, its full share in directing and
confirming the predilections of individuals. These circumstances,--the
regular succession of the eldest-born to the paternal estate, and the
necessity imposed on the others of carving out their own fortunes,--had,
perhaps, their influence in determining the political bias of the
brothers, and preparing them for contention when the increase of party
feeling, and the clash of interests between the government abroad and the
colonies at home, called upon all men to avow their principles and take
their stands. It was as natural that the one should retain affection and
reverence for the institutions which had made him rich and distinguished,
as that the younger brothers, who had suffered under them a deprivation
of their natural rights, should declare for a system of government and
laws more liberal and equitable in their character and operation. At all
events, and be the cause of difference what it might, when the storm of
the Revolution burst over the land, the brothers were found arrayed on
opposite sides--the two younger, the fathers of Roland and Edith,
instantly taking up arms in the popular cause, while nothing, perhaps,
but helpless feebleness and bodily infirmities, the results of wounds
received in Braddock's war, throughout which he had fought at the head of
a battalion of "Buckskins," or Virginia Rangers, prevented the elder
brother from arming as zealously in the cause of his king. Fierce,
uncompromising, and vindictive, however, in his temper, he never forgave
his brothers the bold and active part they both took in the contest; and
it was h