Appendix, N 4 



and merciless savages. Every planter of name or reputa- 

 tion became an object of their insidious designs; and as 

 Lord Fairfax had been pointed out to them as a captain or 

 chief of great renown, the possession of his scalp became an 

 object of their sanguinary ambition, and what they would 

 have regarded as a trophy of inestimable value. With this 

 view they made daily inroads into the vicinage of Greenway 

 Court; and it is said, that not less than 3,000 lives fell sacri- 

 fices to their cruel barbarity between the Appalachian and 

 Allegheny mountains.* The most serious apprehensions 

 were entertained for the safety of Lord Fairfax and the 

 family at Greenway Court. In this crisis of danger his 

 lordship, importuned by his friends and the principal gentry 

 of the colony to retire to the inner settlements for security, 

 is said to have addressed his nephew, who now bore the 

 commission of colonel of militia, nearly in the following 



* It was at this crisis that the gentlemen of Virginia associated 

 themselves under the command of Peyton Randolph, Esq., after- 

 wards President of the first Congress, for the protection of the 

 frontiers. The dismay occasioned by the ravages of the Indians 

 was indescribable. Upon one day in particular an universal panic 

 ran like wildfire through every part of Virginia; rumour report- 

 ing that the Indians had passed the mountains, were entering 

 Williamsburg, and indeed every other town at the same moment, 

 had scalped all who came in their way, and that nothing but im- 

 mediate flight could save the wretched inhabitants from destruc- 

 tion. All was hurry and confusion, every one endeavouring to 

 escape death by flying from his own to some other town or planta- 

 tion, where the alarm and consternation were equally great. At 

 length certain information was brought, that the Indians were still 

 beyond the mountains at least 150 miles off: and then, every one 

 began to wonder, as they did in London after the panic during the 

 rebellion of 1745, how it was possible that such an alarm could 

 have arisen; or whence it could have originated. 



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