The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-11
BY A. E. CAFFEE.

CTS. Never did he forget his own personal wrongs and humiliation, for he was the same Opechancanough who planned the assassinat ton of the heroic Smith, and who in the midst of the chieftian's seven hundred warriors. clutched Openchan- canaugh by his long hair ane led him forcibly from village to village, to the amazement of both Aboriginees and whites, and which is beyond doubt the most superb single exhibition of intrepid courage ever witnessed by man. But Opechancanough knew the inferiority in arms and in the arts of war of his coun- trymen to the civilized white man, and he buried deep in his bosom all traces of the deathless rage with which his fierce soul was agitated and concluded to employ stratagem instead of open force. He simulated friendship on all occasion for the doomed settlers The was the constant theme of haisdrdlua was the constant theme fhaisdrdua was the constant theme of his admira- tion when talking with the white man, but his wounded heart. in the gloom and silence of the dark forest, or the inac- cessible swamp, gave utterance to the sorrows and indignation of his agitated bosom. With the native oratory of his people he painted with the strength and brilliancy of savage coloring the tyranny, rapacity and cruelty of the English, whilst he mournfully and drama tically pictured the unalloyed happiness of tkeir former lives before the strangers entered their hosptabe doors. He colored up their present abject and degraded con- dition under their hard andpitiless task masters. Independence is the prime bless ing of the savage state. Bereft of this, life is a barren and comrortless possess sion, and at the end of his superb DOT trayals of their wrongs and his fiery in- vective against their enemies he was greeted with the allegorlcal war-song and the heart t-piercing war-hoop-break ing like thunder from the fierce and bar barous multitudes that listened to him: mingling with the chatter of their shields and emphasized by the frightful demon- like gestures of the -dance-thus pro- claiming to their leader their determina- tion to die with him or wipe from their land the last vestige of the human slav- cry that had shackled them Thus was matched in darkness and secrecy and put Into execution the most stupendous, bar barous and bloodt hirsty massacre that ever mortified the civil world
 This willy savage diplomat. with equal address allayed the storm which his fierce invective had conjured up in the breasts of his war-men by assuring them that secrecy and caution were absolutely the only means by which this bloody am bush could be successfully carried out. He was nearly four years In planning and maturing this mighty deed of blood, and during that long peried not enc 1n- dian of the thirty nations ever violated the terrible secret.
 Everything being at length ripe for execution. the several nations of Indians were secretly drawn together and sta tioned at several points of attack with celerity and precision unparalleled in his tory Although some of the detachments had to march from great distances, and through a continued forest. guided only by the stars and the dubious light of the moon, no instance of mistake or dis order took place. The Indian mode of march is by single files. They follow one after the other in profound silence, tread ing as nearly as possible in the steps of each other, and adjusting the long grass branches which they have dis placed" (Burkes history, ?. 239 A. D. 1S0D.
 So perfect was the cunning and dis stimulation of Opechancanough that on the very morning of this fatal day, he conducted the English in safety through the forests to their settlements, and he sent wild fowl and vension as presents to the governor and counse.iors-with expressions of regard and friendship The willy chieftain said on that fatal day, Sooner shall the sky fall than the peace shall be violated on my part"
 The fatal hour arrived. At blazing mid- day the omnous war-whoop rent the air and froze the heart. From every point of attack covering a radius of many miles the fierce. painted demons burst upon the defenceless people. massacreing all they met without distinction of age or sex, and according to custom, mutilating the dead bodies in a shocking manner. The onset was so sudden and unexpected that little resistance was made. In one hour three hundred and forty seven men, wo- men and children fen to appease the wrath of a bloodthirsty savage whom captain Smith had, single-handed drag ged by the hair in the midst of his 7CO warriors Chance alone saved the colony rom extrpation utterly. A converted Indian who loved his master slept with his brother the night before. and ms brother disclosed to this converted h. dian-chance. and he carried the heart