amestown. The old chief, said to be over
100 years, acted the part of Emperor of the Indian confederation with
grave dignity. The historian Robert Beverley tells us that one day the
nearly blind warrior heard "a great noise of the treading of people
about him; upon which he caused his eye-lids to be lifted up; and
finding that a crowd of people were let in to see him, he call'd in high
indignation for the Governour; who being come, Opechancanough scornfully
told him, that had it been his fortune to take Sir William Berkeley
prisoner, he should not meanly have exposed him as a show to the
people." Berkeley accepted the rebuke, and ordered him treated with all
the dignity due his position as the leader of many Indian nations.
Unfortunately the life of Opechancanough was shortly after snuffed out
by one of his guards who shot him in the back, despite his defenseless
condition.

Peace was concluded with Necotowance, Opechancanough's successor, by the
first act of the October 1646 Assembly. The treaty is a document of
historic importance. Under its provisions Necotowance acknowledged that
he held his kingdom from the King of England and that his successors
might be appointed or confirmed by the King's Governors. Twenty beaver
skins were to be paid to the Governor yearly "at the going away of the
geese" in acknowledgment of this subjection. Necotowance and his people
were given freedom to inhabit and hunt on the north side of York River
without interference from the English, provided that if the Governor and
Council thought fit to permit any English to inhabit the lower reaches
of the peninsula, where land grants had been made before the massacre,
Necotowance first should be acquainted therewith. Necotowance in turn
surrendered all claim to the land between the falls of the James and the
York rivers downward to Chesapeake Bay. Indians were not allowed on this
land unless specially designated as messengers to the English. Similarly
it was a felony for an Englishmen to repair to the north side of the
York River except temporarily under special conditions authorized by the
Governor.

The significance of the treaty lies in the fact that the Indians were to
be treated as equals, with equal rights to live on the land with the
English and to enjoy the rights of human beings. They were no longer
considered as vermin to be exterminated whenever the opportunity
presented itself. For the first time in Virginia's history, the Indian
wa