Table Of Contentdeans_pb5.qxd 10/3/08 3:21 PM Page 1
$14.95 • AMERICAN HISTORY
Deans
“Bob Deans roves far beyond Jamestown’s first couple of decades. . . . His succession of
stories brims with drama and vignettes of famous and not-so-famous people.”
—Library Journal
“Bob Deans’s interlineal commentary reflects the zeitgeist’s critical stance toward
America’s origin story, while his fast-moving presentation successfully engages interest
in an overview of Jamestown and its aftermath.” —Booklist
“Bob Deans has written an account of our history that is at once lively, surprising, and
deeply insightful, a powerful book that reveals much about who Americans are and where
we came from.” —Lolis Elie, Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
“A waterway that runs through Virginia also runs through—and nourishes—our identity
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as a nation. This book is the work of a superb journalist and also a masterful storyteller.
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In Bob Deans’s unsparing and riveting narrative, we really get to know characters like
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Captain John Smith, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry and understand why we E
wouldn’t be who we are if they hadn’t been who they were.” E R
—Karen Tumulty, Time Magazine
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“The James is America’s river. It witnessed the birth of English-speaking America in C
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1607, the ‘new birth of freedom’ ushered in by Union victory in the Civil War, and
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Abraham Lincoln’s dramatic visit to the fallen Confederate capital of Richmond on RIVER WHERE
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April 4, 1865. Bob Deans’s eloquent narrative does full justice to the story—both tragic W
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and majestic—of this historic river.”
—James M. McPherson, Princeton University GH
AMERICA BEGAN
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Bob Deansis national correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He grew up in Richmond, NR
Virginia, and now lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his family. E d
A JOURNEY ALONG THE JAMES
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
A wholly owned subsidiary of “Anyone with an interest in early American history should appreciate Deans’s
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. mix of natural and cultural perspectives.” —Publisher’s Weekly
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Distributed by TO
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1-800-462-6420 ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-5173-2 EM
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Cover image: The lower image is courtesy of the Virginia FA
Historical Society, upper image is courtesy of the Library of Congress IEN Bob Deans
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Cover design by Jen Huppert Design D
THE RIVER WHERE
AMERICA BEGAN
THE RIVER WHERE
AMERICA BEGAN
A Journey Along the James
BOB DEANS
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth,UK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS,INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group,Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard,Suite 200,Lanham,Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2007 by Bob Deans
First paperback edition 2009
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any
means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
The hardback edition of this book was previously cataloged by the Library of
Congress as follows:
Deans,Bob.
The river where America began :a journey along the James / Bob Deans.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-7425-5172-5 (cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-7425-5172-5 (cloth :alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-7425-5173-2 (pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-7425-5173-3 (pbk.:alk.paper)
eISBN-13:978-0-7425-6489-3
eISBN-10:0-7425-6489-4
1. James River (Va.)—History. 2. James River Valley (Va.)—History. I. Title.
F232.J2D43 2006
975.5’4—dc22
2006025056
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2)
™The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials,ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For my father
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
1 Headwaters 1
2 Yeokanta 13
3 Lords of Navigation 35
4 Virginia 55
5 Democracy in America 89
6 Wade in the Water 117
7 Liberty or Death 159
8 River of Dreams 217
9 A New Birth of Freedom 249
Epilogue: Undimmed by Human Tears 277
Bibliography 289
Index 299
About the Author 319
vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the time-feathered edges of my earliest memory I am standing by a
creek with an Indian name, a tributary of the James River, anxiously
clutching a fishing rod in both hands and listening to the voice of my fa-
ther. He’s a broad-shouldered man in faded khakis, looming large among
the saplings along the muddy bank.He thinks he’s teaching me how to fish.
Really, he’s beginning to hand over to me his lifelong love for water and
words, a gift I would continue to unwrap, one golden morning at a time,
in the hallowed hours we would spend together during treasured years that
followed, on mist-shrouded rivers, creeks, and ponds with names like
Chickahominy, Tuckahoe, and Powhatan. That’s where, for me, this story
began.
It would never had grown into a book,though,without the able hand
of my agent, Zoe Pagnamenta, who took a more or less raw idea, helped
nurture it through the proposal process,and found it the perfect home with
Rowman & Littlefield, where it came under the care of Laura Roberts
Gottlieb, Niels Aaboe, and Andrew Boney. Many thanks to each of you.
In telling the story, I have drawn inspiration and knowledge from
many and varied streams, beginning with the friends and colleagues I’ve
been privileged to work with during the course of my newspaper career.
Special mention is owed to James Harding, Ken Bacon, Steve Weisman,
April Ryan, Jay Branegan, and Suzanne Malveaux, who took time to talk
with me about the book from its inception,helping me to form its guiding
ideas.
My colleagues at Cox Newspapers provided vital support and I thank
you all. I owe a special debt to my bureau chief, Andrew Alexander, who
has led my career for two decades with his can-do spirit, his demanding
professional ethic, and his unfailing good humor, and to Cox political
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