Why Petersburg?
Petersburg's history goes back to the mid-17th century when the British built Fort Henry at the Appomattox rapids to defend what was in those days the Western frontier. Early explorers hoped to find the Pacific shore not far west of the rapids. The town was established by Colonel William Byrd II, a rich landowner. Expert opinion is that he named it Petersburgh since he had probably met Tsar Peter the Great -- whom he admired -- in Amsterdam, and because the swamps between Petersburg and the Chesapeake Bay reminded him of St. Petersburg and Lake Ladoga. "...we laid the foundations of two large Citys. One at Shacco's, to be called Richmond, and the other at the point of Appamattux River to be named Petersburgh...The Truth of it is, these two places being the uppermost landing of James and Appamattux Rivers, are naturally intended for Marts, where the Traffick of the Outer Inhabitants must Center. Thus we did not build Castles only, but also Citys in the Air." (William Byrd II: "A Journey To The Land of Eden; 1733) Richmond and Petersburg thus provided trade outlets for the highly profitable tobacco, cotton and peanut plantations, and later for Virginia's coal mines.
After the Civil War, Richmond developed rapidly whereas Petersburg gradually declined because its port was too shallow for larger vessels. Petersburg thus lost its rank of second largest (and richest) city in Virginia, and 50th largest in the U.S. Today, Petersburg is small in size but rich in history, museums, opulent architecture, and Civil War sites. For more information, please visit the official Petersburg website, or enjoy reading a description of 19th and early 20th century Petersburg. "Located on the Eastern seaboard, 23 miles south of Richmond, Petersburg originally was settled around the building of Fort Henry in 1645. Right on the Appomattox River, Petersburg thrived first as a strategic port, then as a railroad town, and has a wealth of both Revolutionary and Civil War history. A charming historic district with 18th- and 19th-century buildings, the town is protected by a zoning ordinance that guarantees that its architectural treasures will remain intact. The population of 35,000 drives an economy predominantly sustained by tobacco and livestock trade, but Petersburg has become an attractive home to commuters, as well. Mild winters and cool summers (July's average is 77 degrees Farenheit) add to its appeal. The city has a vibrant cultural scene and even has its own symphony. Petersburg's most famous son is Joseph Cotten, of Citizen Kane fame, who returned to Petersburg and bought one of its finest houses, the Ragland Mansion. Virginia State University, America's first fully state-supported institution of higher learning for blacks, was founded here in 1882. First Baptist Church in Petersburg is home to the oldest African-American congregation in the country." (Digital City:Richmond)
PocahontasOne of the three original settlements that were combined in Petersburg is called Pocahontas, a port at the Appomattox which later became an island in the river when a canal was built. Although it had been an Indian settlement since the Neolithic it is unknown why it had been named "Pocahontas." There is no proof that the legendary Indian princess had ever been there. Another place in Petersburg is attributed to Pocahontas: a large rock located in the central Poplar Lawn Park which looks like a shallow basin and is popularly known as "Pocahontas' bath," again without a shred of proof that she ever used it. And yet, Petersburg is the gateway to some of the places where Pocahontas spent her few years of life. In the beginning, Virginia had only two centers of importance: Wicomico in Gloucester County, the capital of the Powhatan Indians, and Jamestown, the first British settlement. Pocahontas, also known as Matoaka, a daughter of Paramount Chief Powhatan of the Algonquian Indians, was a child of ten or eleven years when in 1607 she first encountered an Englishman. Frequently coming to Jamestown with women who bartered food and furs against tools and trinkets, she ran around naked, and found Captain John Smith's interest who considered the child extremely intelligent, pretty and sweet. For her, Smith was a father figure who was probably the first person to teach her English language and manners. Early on he recognized her value as a friend of the British and a mediator between them and the native Americans. It may be true that she, at one point, saved him from the horror of a mock execution at the court of Powhatan. She mediated between her father's tribes and the English and ensured that the latter received food from the Indians when suffering famine due to an unusual series of cold and wet years. In 1610, after Smith --badly blessed-- had returned to England (and she was made to believe he was dead), she was kidnapped by the British to be exchanged against some captives held by the Indians, plus ransom. She was taken to a new settlement, Citie of Henricus, situated some 12 miles from Petersburg where the Dutch Gap meets the James River. Henricus, considered a safer and healthier place than Jamestown, was expected soon to eclipse the latter. The first brick church, the first hospital and the first college in America were being built at Henricus. Here, Pocahontas met in July 1613 John Rolfe, the first English planter who had smuggled seeds of the sweet Spanish Varina tobacco variety out of Bermuda. The princess, now probably 18 years old, fell in love with Rolfe. In April 1614, after Pocahontas had been baptized and released from captivity, her father Powhatan and the British governor agreed that Rolfe and Pocahontas could marry. In 1622, Henricus Citie was destroyed by Indians but it is being rebuilt today and well worth visiting. (Access from Jeff Davis highway near Chester, or from I-295 near Varina) The couple had a son, Thomas, and moved to Rolfe's tobacco plantation which he called Varina Farms, located some 20 miles from Petersburg in Henrico County, and still existing as a private plantation that can be seen from the I-295 James River bridge. Rolfe's tobacco proved very successful in Britain and promised to make the new colony not only viable but rich. From his father-in-law Powhatan Rolfe had received, as a wedding gift, 450 square miles of land, which means that his Varina Farms, the first plantation in British America, comprised the present Henrico County plus the city of Richmond (Janet Chase Stoneman: A History of Varina on the James. Manuscript 1957) In spring of 1616, Governor Sir Thomas Dale took Rolfe, Pocahontas and her child, as well as a dozen Algonquian Indians, to England to drum up support for the Virginia Company. Pocahontas was received with royal honors and was surprised to meet her old friend Smith. Despite her success at court and in the palaces of the rich and famous she was not happy. She complained that London was chaotic, smelly and filthy. In March 1617 John Rolfe decided to take his family back to Virginia but Pocahontas was already lethally ill, probably with tuberculosis, and died in England, only 23 or 24 years old. She is buried at Gravesend. Husband and son returned to Varina Farms. John Rolfe was apparently killed by the Indians in 1622 but his son Thomas later became an important businessman and politician in Virginia. Many historians believe that, without Pocahontas, Jamestown (and with it Virginia) would have become another "lost colony" of the British. There is little doubt that Pocahontas deeply influenced America's history. She helped to establish, at least temporarily, better relations between the colonists and the Indians but she could not save her paternal tribes from their cruel fate. In 1616, Captain Smith wrote: Pocahontas "was the instrument to pursurve this colonie from death, famine, and utter confusion." The memory the world kept of her is arguably stronger than that of any other native American personality. In the few years of her life she -- as a dark-skinned "savage" -- succeeded in rising to a rank equal of European royalty. In retrospect, Pocahontas may somehow have been, for three short years, the only queen America ever had.
Joseph Jenkins Roberts: Petersburg's President---From African American to American African---In the 19th century, when Petersburg was Virginia's second largest city, rivalling Richmond in glamour and importance, it was also distinguished by the fact that it had among its population the largest share of free African American citizens. One of them, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, was to become a politician and leader of international importance.
Born on March 15, 1809 in Pocahontas (Petersburg), Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the son of Amelia and James Roberts who had a shipping business on the James River. (Some believe J.J. was born in Norfolk or Portsmouth but he certainly lived his childhood and teenage years in Petersburg) In 1816, some bigwigs in Washington formed the American Colonization Society for the purpose "to persuade free Negroes and ex-slaves to emigrate to a foreign land and finance them on the voyage to this land."
Some of the supporters of the Society were well-intentioned abolitionists while others were supporters of slavery who wanted to get rid of free African Americans who in their view were a disturbing element. The Society obtained money from Congress and was soon able to send a ship to the West African coast where -- under white leadership -- a new homeland for the African Americans was to be established.(1) The Society called the new country "Liberia", following the tradition of a number of experiments in -- usually short-lived -- utopian republics that had existed in the past. From 1696 to 1725, for instance, an egalitarian republic named Libertatia had been established by an American pirate, Thomas Tew, together with some colleagues, on the east coast of Madagascar. In Libertatia, slaves from Angola were set free and re-hired as "Liberi" against full wages. Later on, the utopian republic morphed into a local kingdom. The first years of the new American colony of Liberia were about as hard as the struggle for survival of the British settlers in Jamestown had been in the early 1600s. Yellow fever, primitive conditions and hostile tribes took a terrible toll among the arriving Americans. No friendly Pocahontas was there to save them. Yet, against all odds, the utopian state survived to this day, mainly because of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, later called "the founder of Liberia." Over a period of 31 years, from 1820 to 1851, the Society sent almost 7,000 emigrants to Liberia; 2,400 of them were African Americans from Virginia, many of them probably from Petersburg. Among the 160 passengers from Virginia on board of the ship Harriet in 1829 were J.J. Roberts, six of his siblings, and their mother Amelia. Shortly before arriving in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, J.J. Roberts celebrated his 20th birthday. Amelia Roberts must have been an extraordinary woman. Realizing that in her lifetime, and in that of her children, free African Americans in Virginia would never have a chance to be more than second class citizens (and might even run the danger of being re-enslaved), she risked her life and that of her seven children in the hope of becoming full citizens in an unknown land somewhere in Africa. Upon arrival, the Roberts brothers built a house on the allotted land and started a successful local trading business. Jointly with his friend and former employer in Petersburg, William N. Colson, J.J. Roberts established a trans-Atlantic trading company and did business with New York, Philadelphia and other American ports. He also started trading successfully with the "natives" of the new colony, which means that he must have been a remarkable linguist because 29 languages are spoken in Liberia. The local tribes resisted the expansion of the settlements, and the British traders and slavers active along the coast instigated the tribes to fight the Americans whose expanding business threatened British interests. The London government generally supported the traders against Liberia. The society in Liberia developed into three segments: The settlers from America; freed slaves from slave ships and the West Indies; and indigenous native people. Two of Joseph's younger brothers achieved success: John Wright Roberts became bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church in Liberia; Henry J. Roberts left Liberia to study medicine at the Berkshire Medical School in Massachusetts. After graduation he returned to Liberia and established a successful practice in Monrovia. Joseph Jenkins Roberts was in 1833 elected Sheriff of Liberia in charge of controlling the tribes and fighting slavery which some unscrupulous Liberians were carrying on. His success led to his appointment as Lieutenant Governor in 1839. In 1842 he became the first non-white Governor. In 1847, the legislature of Liberia declared itself an independent state, with J.J. Roberts elected as its first President. "J. J. Roberts, Liberia's first President, spent his first year as Liberia's leader attempting to attain recognition from European countries and the United States. England and France were the first countries to accept Liberian independence in 1848. In 1849, Portugal, Brazil, Sardinia, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, and Haiti all formally recognized Liberia. However, the United Stated withheld recognition until 1862, during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, because the U.S. leaders believed that the southern states would not accept a black ambassador in Washington D.C. Roberts was re-elected three more times to serve a total of eight years. During his leadership, an institution of higher learning, later to become Liberia University, was established. By 1860, through treaties and purchases with local African leaders, Liberia had extended its boundaries to include a 600 mile coastline."(2)
"Roberts's genius as a leader lay in his diplomatic abilities: he dealt effectively with African tribes and maneuvered skillfully in the complex field of international law. His leadership in the colony's efforts to secure its sovereignty and independence was subtle and calculated. Even in the 1840s, before the Colonization Society decided that it could not carry its burden of responsibility for the colony's economic well-being, Roberts had begun to argue that Liberia was an independent nation. Its people, he maintained, had gained their sovereignty upon emigrating from the United States." "In 1848, he sailed to Europe to obtain formal recognition for the new republic. He was well received in Europe and made to feel welcome in the courts of Queen Victoria and Napoleon III. Both France and England agreed to recognize Liberian independence. In 1849, Roberts returned to Africa with a gift from Queen Victoria: a four-gun cutter to patrol the coast against slave traders. At ease with the leaders of the most powerful European nations, Roberts also found welcome in the United States and in his native Virginia." (3) He visited the U.S. several times for fund-raising, political and trade talks. After his fourth term as Head of State, Roberts preferred to be elected in 1856 President of Liberia College, his favorite project. In 1861, he was also named Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law, a position held until his death. "After Roberts' death in 1876, the Petersburg INDEX AND APPEAL wrote that his career had been a source of pride to many blacks throughout the country and especially to his friends and relatives in Petersburg." (4) However, despite Roberts' achievements, Liberia's troubles were far from over. "Manufacturing cities in Europe soon became aware of the inexhaustible supply of tropical and subtropical raw products in West Africa, and Liberia with its underdeveloped natural resources offered them a choice temptation. England and France eventually began a campaign against Liberia with the ultimate objective of removing her from the map of Africa. Their main fear was that the free Negroes who were entering the country might find access to British and French possessions and give the native population politically "dangerous" ideas. Consequently, England and France robbed Liberia of thousands of valuable agricultural and forest lands. In 1908 England brought false charges against the country and followed these up with a fruitless attempt to take military possession of Monrovia. The United States, however, intervened in Liberia's favor during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt and prevented further European meddling."(5) In the 20th century, Liberia badly suffered from the Great Depression, and became later dependent on the Firestone Company of America that operated large rubber plantations in the country and obtained mining and planting concessions on 40 percent of Liberia's land. In 1980, Samuel Doe assumed power. Doe was a native Liberian; his bloody coup ended the rule of the Americo-Liberian elite which constitutes only between 2.5 and 5 percent of the population and was accused of having ruthlessly exploited the natives through forced labor and high taxation. (6) However, under Doe's dictatorship things did not improve. The U.S. stopped giving financial support. In 1989, Charles Taylor --a Boston-educated Americo-Liberian who had escaped from prison in Massachusetts-- started an insurrection. After seven years of a cruel civil war, 200,000 people had died and the successful warlord Taylor was elected President. In recent years he was accused of fanning the civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone by financing and arming the rebels in exchange for black-market diamonds sold by the rebel force. He appeared also involved in the civil war in Guinea. (7) Taylor's old and new enemies jointly took up arms. After another episode of civil war, an international action ousted him and efforts are continuing to strengthen a new and more democratic regime. Over 150 years after Liberia became the first independent African country after Ethiopia, and the continent's first free republic, it has ample reason to remember the golden days when the genius of Joseph Jenkins Roberts overcame all challenges. But despite Liberia's current troubles and its democracy in tatters, J.J. Roberts' central achievement remains undisputed: Liberia's statehood and independence. English is still the official language. ________________________________________________ (1) The American Colonization Society (2,3,4,5) Joseph Jenkins Roberts - Founder of Liberia (6) Liberia-Bericht (7) Liberia
Copyright ©1998-2005 by Carl von Loesch. All rights reserved.
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