t hopes of a successful assault had to be abandoned.
Nor could breaches be effected, for the allies were not provided with
heavy guns. The moist and swampy ground surrounding the fort made it
impossible to approach by means of trenches.[484]

So the English cast their camp before the fort hoping to starve out the
enemy. Lines were drawn about the place, as closely as the nature of the
ground would permit, while boats patrolled the river to cut off escape
to the Virginia shore. Fearing, no doubt, that lack of provisions would
soon make it necessary for them to come to terms with the besiegers, the
Indians sent out several of their leaders to treat for peace. But so
deep was the animosity aroused by the recent murders, that the white men
violated the flag of truce by detaining these envoys, and finally
beating out their brains.[485] This flagrant act aroused the Indians to
a desperate defense. In numerous sallies they inflicted severe loss upon
the besiegers, and captured enough horses to supply themselves with
food. At last, after six or seven weeks of fighting, they resolved to
effect their escape. On a dark night, when the English were least
expecting it, they sallied forth, bringing with them their women and
children. Awakening the white men with their savage yells, they burst in
among them, killing and wounding many, and before resistance could be
made, were through the lines and gone.[486]

And now the Virginians were made to pay dearly for their part in this
ill-managed affair. Early in January, 1676, the Susquehannocks crossed
the Potomac and came plundering and murdering through the frontier
counties.[487] Separating into small bands, the Indians fell upon the
more isolated plantations, and in a few days had killed no less than
thirty-six persons. Those whose wretched fate it was to be captured,
were put to death with all the tortures that devilish ingenuity could
devise. Some were roasted, others flayed alive. The sufferings of the
victims were long and protracted, while the savages knocked out their
teeth or tore off their nails or stuck feathers and lighted wood into
their flesh.[488]

In terror the people of the frontier began to desert their homes,
seeking shelter in the more populous settlements.[489] In a few weeks
one parish, upon the upper waters of the Rappahannock, was reduced from
seventy-one plantations to eleven.[490] Those that remained were
concentrated upon the largest farms, which they fortifi