The Indian attack of March 22,1622, constituted a watershed in history of the Jamestown settlement. Earlier, beginning in 1618, a faction in the company led by the treasurer Sir Edwin Sandys had steered the company in the direction of integration of Indians into English settlements. Families received houses in the settlements and funds were established for a college for Indian youth to Christianize and civilize them. Most assumed that Openchancanough and the Powhatan nation shared the ideal of an integrated society. Not only had the Indians not agreed to cultural suicide, but as George Thorpe, a supporter of the new policy of integration, observed, most of the English settlers still harbored their contempt for Indians. "There is scarce any man among us," he reported," that doth soe much as afforde them a good thought in his hart and most men with their mouthes give them nothinge but maledictions and bitter execrations."
The silence of the Indians in the face of daily insults of occupation and verbal abuse the English mistook for subservience. By 1622 it was apparent to the Indians that the colonists intended to expand their holdings in Virginia. This physical expansion threatened the Indian way of life. Of even greater concern, perhaps, were the renewed colonial efforts to convert and educate the "savages." Opechancanough's response to the threat of cultural deconstruction was to plan and stage a massive attack on the English settlement as a demonstration of Indian power and in an attempt to drive off the English for good.
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