§ 62. Sir William Berkeley, upon his arrival, showed such an opposition to the unjust grants made by Sir John Harvey, that very few of them took effect; and such as did, were subjected to the settled conditions of the other parts of the government, and made liable to the payment of the full quit-rents. He encouraged the country in several essays of potash, soap, salt, flax, hemp, silk and cotton. But the Indian war, ensuing upon this last massacre, was a great obstruction to these good designs, by requiring all the spare men to be employed in defence of the country.
§ 63. Oppechancanough, by his great age, and the fatigues of war, (in which Sir William Berkeley followed him close) was now grown so decrepid, that he was not able to walk alone, but was carried about by his men wherever he had a mind to move. His flesh was all macerated, his sinews slackened, and his eyelids became so heavy, that he could not see, but as they were lifted up by his servants. In this low condition he was, when Sir William Berkeley, hearing that he was at some distance from his usual habitation, resolved at all adventures to seize his person, which he happily effected. For with a party of horse he made a speedy march, surprised him in his quarters, and brought him prisoner to Jamestown, where, by the governor's command, he was treated with all the respect and tenderness imaginable. Sir William had a mind to send him to England, hoping to get reputation by presenting his majesty with a royal captive, who at his pleasure, could call into the field ten times more Indians, than Sir William Berkeley had English in his whole government. Besides, he thought this ancient prince would be an instance of the healthiness and long life of the natives of that country. However, he could not preserve his life above a fortnight. For one of the soldiers, resenting the calamities the colony had suffered by this prince's means, basely shot him through the back, after he was made prisoner; of which wound he died.
He continued brave to the last moment of his life, and showed not the least dejection at his captivity. He heard one day a great noise of the treading of people about him; upon which he caused his eyelids to be lifted up, and finding that a crowd of people were let in to see him, he called in high indignation for the governor, who being come, Oppechancanough scornfully told him, that had it been his fortune to take Sir William Berkeley prisoner, he should not meanly have exposed him as a show to the people.