William Byrd II is a privileged and educated Virginian living in the colonies in the early 18th Century. Born in Virginia, he is educated in England, as is fashionable among the wealthy colonists. He returns to Virginia as a young man to manage the estates of his family. His first wife dies of smallpox and he remarries, having a total of six children from the two marriages. in 1728, Byrd is appointed as a commissioner of a team charged with surveying the disputed border between Virginia and North Carolina to the south. Byrd is to lead the Virginia commission, which will work alongside a similar commission from North Carolina. The other commissioners are chosen mainly through political considerations, which Byrd describes in his "Secret History of the Line." The narrative is an alternate account of the expedition produced alongside his official report, but including the personal conflicts and sometimes bawdy behavior of his men.
Byrd has a generally superior attitude toward the others in his party, calling all of them by pretend names in his narrative that reflect his opinion of their character. His chief rival with a short temper is called Firebrand, for example, while he calls the dreary minister who accompanies them Dr. Humdrum. His opinion is similarly low regarding his counterparts from North Carolina. Byrd is well versed in the medical practices of the day, which consist largely of inducing vomiting, bleeding or giving laxatives. He regularly recommends and administers these treatments to his men. He is interested in nature, and notes the different topography, plants, and animals that he encounters along the expedition.
