part the men in
the colony at this time were old soldiers, mechanics, and workmen,
accustomed to labor, we are told that among those who perished through
Dale's cruelty were many young men "of Auncyent Houses and born to
estates of L1000 by the year,"[35] persons doubtless attracted to
Virginia by the mere love of adventure, but included by Dale in the
common slavery. Even the strenuous Captain John Smith testified
concerning Jeffrey Abbott, a veteran of the wars in Ireland and the
Netherlands, but put to death by Dale for mutiny, that "he never saw
in Virginia a more sufficient soldier, (one) less turbulent, a better
wit, (one) more hardy or industrious, nor any more forward to cut them
off that sought to abandon the country or wrong the colony."[36]

To better purpose Dale's strong hand was felt among the Indians along
the James and York rivers, whom he visited with heavy punishments. The
result was that Powhatan's appetite for war speedily diminished; and
when Captain Argall, in April, 1613, by a shrewd trick got possession
of Pocahontas, he offered peace, which was confirmed in April, 1614,
by the marriage of Pocahontas to a leading planter named John Rolfe.
The ceremony is believed to have been performed at Jamestown by Rev.
Richard Buck, who came with Gates in 1610, and it was witnessed by
several of Powhatan's kindred.[37]

Dale reached out beyond the territory of the London Company, and
hearing that the French had made settlements in North Virginia, he
sent Captain Samuel Argall in July, 1613, to remove them. Argall
reached Mount Desert Island, captured the settlement, and carried some
of the French to Jamestown, where as soon as Dale saw them he spoke of
"nothing but ropes" and of gallows and hanging "every one of them." To
make the work complete, Argall was sent out on a second expedition,
and this time he reduced the French settlements at Port Royal and St.
Croix River.[38] On his return voyage to Virginia he is said to have
stopped at the Hudson River, where, finding a Dutch trading-post
consisting of four houses on Manhattan Island, he forced the Dutch
governor likewise to submit by a "letter sent and recorded" in
Virginia. Probably in one of these voyages the Delaware River was also
visited, when the "atturnment of the Indian kings" was made to the
king of England.[39] It appears to have received its present name from
Argall in 1610.[40]

Towards the end of his stay in Virginia, Dale seemed to realize