THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512060213
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Alan Flanders
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
FOR MORE THAN 300 YEARS we have grown it, harvested it, cut it and cured it.
Generations of English settlers snuffed it, chewed it and puffed it in pipes followed by generations of Americans who roll it and stuff it in their cigars and cigarettes.
No other single natural product in the British colonies brought such quick wealth as the ``Golden Leaf'' tobacco.
From the establishment of the first permanent colony at Jamestown until the Revolutionary War, a vast majority of the arable land in both Virginia and the Carolinas was dedicated to growing it.
Trading ports like Portsmouth, Norfolk, Hampton and Yorktown owe their very creation to the merchant fleets that formed along their wharves to load a seemingly endless number of hogsheads of tobacco.
There was even a time in Hampton Roads when tobacco was used as currency to pay for wars against the same local Indians who first introduced it to Colonial planter John Rolfe.
But after Rolfe presented it to English society, it became the ``money crop'' of the area and every parcel of land was needed. And a good portion of that land was still under the ownership of the Nansemonds and Chesapeakes.
One of the first records of tobacco as currency comes after the great massacre of 1622 when two pounds of tobacco was levied against any man who did not carry his weapon at all times, including to church.
As the Indian wars continued into the 1630s, Norfolk County was called to furnish men for the militia and all inhabitants were ordered to donate a share of tobacco from which the costs of the war could be offset.
For instance, a Cornelius Lloyd outfitted the local militia with buff coats for which he was paid 250 pounds of tobacco per soldier.
A law was passed in 1644 to finance the Indian wars, which ``provided that six pounds of tobacco should be levied on every tithable person within the several counties.'' So Norfolk County, having 296 ``tithable'' persons, was assessed with 1,776 pounds of tobacco.
Colonial records state that the yearly pay of a commander was fixed at 6,000 pounds of tobacco; that of a lieutenant, at 4,000 pounds; and that of a sergeant at 2,000 pounds.
Even the wounded, and the physicians who cared for them, were compensated with tobacco as was the case of Norfolk County militiamen Robery Davyes and Peter Sexton. Both were severely wounded during a battle on the Pamunkey River against the notorious warrior Opechanough.
In 1645, a formal declaration of war was made against the Nansemonds and neighboring Indians and once again the Norfolk County militia was called into action. And just like today, the cost of war continued to climb as total expenses for the action reached 44,314 pounds of tobacco with three county lieutenants taking home 2,000 pounds each.
Finally, the individual farmers were asked to bear the burden again - each assessed 28 pounds of tobacco to cover the public debt for the war.
As before, tobacco also covered the costs of the wounded and medical expenses. Official accounts note that ``Dr. Christopher Athely was `chirurgeon' for the march, and was allowed 1,000 pounds of tobacco for the voyage, and for the care of Abraham Pitts and him that was hurt by a snake.''
During peace time, several scouts were employed by the county to stand watch or go on patrol daily to make sure the Indians were not on the warpath once again. Each planter was further taxed in tobacco for the support of the scout.
By 1675, a standing militia was formed during the last major war against local Indians. With a fort established on the Nansemond River, local farmers were ordered to shell out ``five bushels of corn, and 60 pounds of pork or 80 pounds of beef per soldier for four months, and so provide every fourth month.''
Col. Lemuel Mason and Maj. Francis Sawyer were commissioned to select persons to draft men into the army. Once again the cost had risen this time with ordinary foot soldiers getting ``1,500 pounds of tobacco and cask for each year's service, and every cavalry for himself and horse, 2,000 pounds and cask.''
Open outrage at the ever increasing tobacco taxes for Indian wars reached a peak in 1754 during the French and Indian War when the cost skyrocketed to prosecute the war far beyond Tidewater.
Records indicate that two Norfolk County men, John McNeil and Simon Frazier, signed on with Governor Dinwiddie's forces for the Ohio expedition.
As a result of the cost of the French and Indian War, taxes were further increased on tobacco and just about everything else, which finally led to the battle cry of American independence:
``No taxation without representation!'' ILLUSTRATION: File photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg
In 1982, tobacco was a key crop when Carter's Grove became a working
plantation again, as it was in Colonial days. Visitors heard the
story of the plant that made many landowners wealthy and in turn
produced a thriving economy in Virginia.
by CNB