oon as I had the least intelligence that they were our
treacherous enemies I have given out commissions to destroy them all,"
he said. To Colonel Goodrich, when he was about to lead an expedition
up the Rappahannock, he wrote: "I believe all the Indians, our
neighbors, are engaged with the Susquehannocks, therefore I desire you
to spare none ... for they are all our enemies."

Berkeley blamed Bacon and his men for the defection of the allied
Indians. It was they, he said, who had driven them out of their towns
and forced them "to live remote in the woods." It was only then, when
they became desperate through hunger, that they joined in the raids on
the English. One can never be certain which side started hostilities.
Probably both were to blame. But Berkeley did not stop to consider
that the fault was basically his own. Had he not granted all the best
lands in the east to his favorites, poor planters would not have had
to encroach on the Indian reservations, in which case the Indians
might have remained peaceful, and even fought side by side with the
English against the Susquehannocks.

After recalling the expedition under Chicheley, Berkeley remained
inactive until, in February, he received word that the Indians had
made new raids. Then he summoned the Assembly. Several weeks passed
before they convened, since it took time to reach the Burgesses who
lived in the distant counties, and for them to travel, perhaps by
boat, down the Potomac or the Rappahannock, and up the James to
Jamestown. At last, on March 7, the session opened.

Berkeley had determined on a defensive war, and the Assembly
obediently carried out his wishes. So they declared war on all Indians
who were known to have taken part in the murderous raids, provided for
the enlistment of friendly Indians, called out a force of 500 men,
prohibited trade in firearms with the savages, and ordered the
erection of eight forts on the frontiers.

This policy might have been successful had Berkeley made the forts
bases for expeditions against the enemy. The Indians seem to have made
their raids in small parties, and with rangers spying upon them,
forces could have rushed out from the nearest fort to intercept or
pursue them. In fact this seems to have been Berkeley's original plan.
The spread of hostilities "puts us on an absolute necessity not only
of fortifying our frontiers more strongly, but of keeping several
considerable parties of both horse and foot still i