He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.

Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for