Wyatt was alarmed, but Opechancanough assured him that "he held the peace so firme that the sky should fall ere he dissolved it," so that the settlers again "fed the Indians at their tables and lodged them in their bedchambers."[20] Then like lightning from a clear sky fell the massacre upon the unsuspecting settlers.

The blow was terrible to the colonists: the Indians, besides killing many of the inhabitants, burned many houses and destroyed a great quantity of stock.

At first the settlers were panic-stricken, but rage succeeded fear.

They divided into squads, and carried fire and sword into the Indian villages along the James and the York.

In a little while the success of the English was so complete that they were able to give their time wholly to their crops and to rebuilding their houses.[21] To the company the blow was a fatal one, though it did not manifest its results immediately.