Lethal Encounters: Englishmen and Indians in Colonial Virginia

This in-depth narrative history of the interactions between English settlers and American Indians during the Virginia colony’s first century explains why a harmonious coexistence proved impossible.

Britain’s first successful settlements in America occurred over 400 years ago. Not surprisingly, the historical accounts of these events have often contained inaccuracies. This compelling study of colonial Virginia is based upon the latest research, shedding new light on the tensions between the English and the American Indians and clarifying the facts about storied relationships.

In Lethal Encounters: Englishmen and Indians in Colonial Virginia, the author examines why the Anglo settlers were unable to establish a peaceful and productive relationship with the region’s native inhabitants. Readers will come to understand how the deep prejudices harbored by both whites and Indians, the incompatibility of their economic and social systems, and the leadership failures of protagonists like John Smith, Powhatan, Opechacanough, and William Berkeley caused this breakdown.

Draws extensively on primary source materials such as letters, memoirs, legislative proceedings, and court records

Includes John Smith’s 1612 map of Virginia, which identifies the location of Indian settlements