reference to the Cheskiack Indians, which may be quoted in full: “Considering the use and benefit the country may enjoy from the Cheskoiack Indians being kindly used by us, and being sensible that with the few guns they have amongst them, they cannot prejudice us, being a small, inconsiderable nation, it is ordered, to show other Indians how kind we are to such as are obedient to our laws, that the said Cheskoiack Indians quietly hold and enjoy land they are now seated on and have the free use of guns they now have.”[1]
There are many indications of the justness of the ground on which this apprehension was founded. In 1662, it was stated in an Act of Assembly that the chief cause of all the friction in the relations of the English and Indians arose from the encroachment of the former upon the lands of the latter. The aborigines in retaliation were induced to kill the cattle of the settlers, exasperating them to such a degree that they were ready at any moment to fall upon the depredators. The Assembly acknowledged that the provision requiring all grants of Indian lands to be submitted to itself or the General Court for approval had not accomplished fully the purpose intended, as every device was employed by designing men to obtain the consent of the Indian owners to proclaim in this public manner their desire to part with their grounds. It was now considered to be necessary to apply to all the tribes the regulation which had been put in practice with respect to the aboriginal inhabitants of Accomac. All alienations of soil by them were declared to be without validity. Commissioners were also appointed to view annually the boundary lines between the plantations and the Indian territories, and to prevent any intrusion upon the latter.[2] These provisions were steadily maintained
