In 1644, Opechanako, the Indian chief, led a sudden attack on the Virginia settlements killing 300 settlers. On the second day of the massacre Dr. John, who was returning home from a visit to a patient, was killed within sight of his house. Mr. Ligon, a shoe- maker who happened to be at the home, and Sara Woodson defended the house with great courage. They hid the Woodson's two little boys at the first alarm. John was hidden under a tub and Robert in a potato hole. Ligon grabbed the old family gun and killed seven Indians at the first fire and two at the seventh. Two Indians came down the chimney into the rude log cabin. Brave Sara scalded one with a pot of boiling water and, seizing the roasting pit, she brained the other. The howling mob took flight. The sons were thereafter called "Potato Hole" and "Tub" Woodson. The gun which was enormous, seven feet long, is at the Virginia Historical Society. It seems a shame that nothing more is known of the brave Sara.

This story can be found on Personal Collection of Virginia Martin Brown Page