Freeholders and other white inhabitants of King William County ask the legislature to sell fifteen hundred acres on the Pamunky River and other lands that were set apart during the colonial era for the Pamunky Indians. The lands were only "set apart," not "granted away." Now the Pamunkys form only a "small remnant" of the population, having "so largely mingled with the negro race as to have obliterated all striking features of Indian extraction." The lands, the petitioners state, are now inhabited by two "unincorporated bands of free mulattoes in the midst of a large slave holding community." These free people of color might easily be converted "into an instrument of deadly annoyance to the white inhabitants by northern fanaticism." The areas have become resorts for free people of color, "worthless and abandoned whites," and runaway slaves. In short, the tracts are a "harbor for every one who wishes concealment."
Result: Rejected.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
