ed with palisades
and redoubts.[491]

When the news of these atrocities reached Sir William Berkeley, hasty
preparations were made for an expedition against the invaders. Sir Henry
Chicheley was put at the head of forces of horse and foot, with orders
to give immediate pursuit to the savages. But just as all was in
readiness and the command to march hourly expected, the Governor decided
that the expedition should be abandoned. Chicheley's commission was
annulled, his forces disbanded and the soldiers sent to their
homes.[492]

What induced Berkeley to take this strange step none could tell. The
murders of the savages were continuing. The frontier was defenseless.
Messages were coming from the exposed plantations imploring aid. Why
should he desert the people and expose them to the fury of the Indians?
It is possible that he detected symptoms of mutiny among the troops and
thought it better to abandon the expedition than to run the risk of a
rebellion. He was well aware of the discontent of the people, and his
letters to England show that he dreaded an insurrection.[493] The
unhappy planters ascribed the Governor's strange conduct to avarice. He
and his friends had a monopoly of the Indian trade, and it was hinted
that he preferred to allow the atrocities to continue rather than
destroy his source of revenue. He was determined, was the cry, "that no
bullits would pierce beaver skins".[494] More probable seems the
explanation that Berkeley hoped to prevent further depredations by the
help of the Pamunkeys and other friendly tribes, and feared that an
invasion of the Indian lands might defeat this purpose.[495]

But an Assembly was summoned in March and instructed by the Governor to
take immediate measures to secure the frontier.[496] Acting, no doubt,
under Berkeley's influence, the Assembly resolved not to carry the
conflict into the enemy's territory, but to wage a defensive war. Forts
were to be erected upon the upper waters of the great rivers, and manned
with regular troops as a protection to the outer plantations. To defray
the cost, new and heavy taxes were put upon the people.[497]

This last act of the Long Assembly caused bitter dissatisfaction. The
border counties had hoped that provision would be made for an expedition
against the Indians. No headway could be made unless the whites took the
offensive and hunted down the savages in their own villages. The
erection of forts was useless.[498] The Indians woul