out of the Thames under conditions calculated to create dissensions
from the outset. King James, one of the most feeble monarchs who ever
occupied the English throne, had reserved to himself the right to
select the Council by which the colony should be governed, allowing to
that body the privilege of electing its President. But for some reason,
which it is impossible to surmise, the choice of the monarch was kept
secret and names of the Council enclosed in a box which was to be
opened only when the party reached its destination. Thus they started
upon the voyage without a commander or any recognized authority among
them, and each man of prominence, feeling satisfied that the King could
not have overlooked his superior claims to a place in the Council,
assumed the tone and bearing of an accepted leader whilst resenting
similar action on the part of others.
The need of acknowledged authority was felt from the outset. Newport,
Gosnold, and Ratcliffe, were, for the nonce, merely sailing masters
and had as much as they could well do to fulfill their duties in
that capacity. The expedition emerged from the Thames to encounter
contrary winds and stormy weather, so that it was forced to beat about
off the coast of England for weeks without making any progress. The
emigrants began to quarrel, and among the principal men of the party
there broke out a spirit of jealousy which was never allayed. This was
directed chiefly against Captain Smith. His companions were forced
to admit to themselves that this self-possessed and confident young
man was their superior in all those qualities that would be of most
account in the strange land for which they were destined, and they
had sufficient discernment to realize that no matter who might become
the nominal President of the colony, John Smith would be its master
spirit and actual leader. This was made manifest in these first few
weeks of trying delay. Did one of the ship-captains need assistance?
John Smith was a practical navigator and could both handle a vessel and
read the charts. In the dispositions for defence in case of attack, he
had to be relied upon as the best gunner and leader of fighting men
among them. When the voyagers became troublesome none but John Smith
could effectually quiet them. A few words in his calm firm tones would
quickly quell a disturbance. Some of these men had served under him and
had learned to respect his character. The others instinctively felt
that he was a man of sense and strength--one of those rare creatures
who rise to every emergency and lift their subordinates with them.
Men of broad and generous minds would have rejoiced to think that
they had among them one who was capable of steering them through all
their difficulties and whose experience would help them to avoid many
a pitfall and disaster. There were a few among the gentlemen, such as
George Percy, Parson Hunt and Scrivener, who took this sensible view of
the situation. On the other hand, Wingfield, Kendall, Ratcliffe, Archer
and several more, conscious of their own inferiority, became possessed
by an insane jealousy of our hero. This grew with the progress of the
voyage and constant discussion of their silly suspicions, until at
length they had fully persuaded themselves that Captain John Smith
was a dark conspirator who entertained designs against themselves and
contemplated treason against his King and country. They believed,
or professed to believe, that he had distributed creatures of his
own throughout the three vessels with the intention of seizing the
expedition and proclaiming himself king of the new country as soon
as they should arrive at it. With this excuse they made him a close
prisoner when the vessels were in mid-Atlantic.
When the party charged with this disgraceful office approached him
on the deck of the _Susan Constant_, Smith handed to them his sword
without a word and went below smiling grimly. He had long since
fathomed the weakness and the incompetence of these self-constituted
leaders. He knew that the time would come when his services would be
indispensable to them and he was content to abide it in patience. They
should have realized that, if their suspicions were just, he had but
to raise his voice and the vessels would be instantly in mutiny. But
they had not sufficient intelligence to perceive that if John Smith
was the dangerous character they assumed him to be their best course
was to propitiate him rather than to arouse his enmity. Instead of
being impressed by the self-confident manner in which he yielded to
confinement in the hold they gained courage from the incident and
actually thought that they might go to any extreme without resistance
on his part. So, when the vessels made land at the West Indies, these
masterful gentry erected a gallows for the purpose of hanging our hero,
or, perhaps, of frightening him. Now we know that they could not have
undertaken a more difficult task than that of attempting to strike fear
into the heart of John Smith, and as to actual hanging, whilst he had
a considerable sense of humor, it did not carry him so far as taking
part in a performance of that sort. When they brought him on deck and
solemnly informed him that the gallows awaited him, he laughed in their
faces and told them that it was a shame to waste good timber, for he
had not the remotest thought of using the contrivance. In fact, he
took the matter with such careless assurance that they wisely concluded
to abandon the project and sailing away, left their useless gallows
standing.
Steering for that portion of the mainland where the former ill-fated
colonies had been planted, the vessels were soon out of their reckoning
and beat about for several days without sight of land. They had been
already four months upon a voyage that should have occupied no more
than two and had made serious inroads into the stock of provisions
which was calculated to furnish the store of the settlers. They began
to grow fearful and discontented. Many wished to put about and sail
homeward, and even Ratcliffe, the captain of the _Discovery_, favored
such a course. Whilst they were debating the proposition, a violent
storm arose and luckily drove them to their destination. On the
twenty-sixth day of April, 1607, they entered the Bay of Chesapeake.
Eager to see the new land of promise, a party of the colonists went
ashore that day. They wandered through forest and glade, cheered by the
genial warmth of the southern clime and delighted with the beautiful
scenery and luxuriant vegetation. But before they returned to the ships
they were reminded that this natural paradise was in possession of a
savage people who could hardly be expected to respect King James’s gift
of their land to strangers. As the exploring party made their way back
to the shore they fell into an ambush--the first of many which they
were destined to experience. They had not seen a human being since
landing, and the shower of arrows that proclaimed the presence of the
Indians came as a complete surprise. Neither redman nor paleface was
quite prepared for intimate acquaintance at this time, and the sound of
the muskets sent the former scurrying to the hills whilst the latter
hurried to the shelter of the ships, carrying two men who had been
severely wounded.
Thus the Jamestown colonists came to America. How little they were
qualified for the work before them we have already seen. As we
progress with our story we shall see how often they brought misfortune
upon themselves and how the wisdom and energy of one man saved the
undertaking from utter failure.
XIV.
POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE
The President and Council are established and a settlement made at
Jamestown--Newport and Smith go on an exploring expedition--They
meet Powhatan, the great Werowance of the country--They are feasted
and fêted by the old Chief--A quick return to Jamestown and a
timely arrival--The Indians attack the settlers and take them
unawares--Gallant stand made by the gentlemen adventurers--The
appearance of Newport and his men prevents a massacre--A fort and
stockade are hurriedly erected--Smith is tried on a charge of treason
and triumphantly acquitted--Captain Newport returns to England with the
two larger ships.
It was, indeed, a fair land to which the white men had journeyed from
over the seas. Smith says of it: “Heaven and earth never agreed better
to frame a place for man’s habitation. Here are mountains, hills,
plains, rivers, and brooks, all running most pleasantly into a fair
bay, compassed, but for the mouth, with fruitful and delightsome land.”
The country was covered, for the most part, with virgin forest. Here
and there a small clearing afforded a site for a cluster of wigwams
around which lay fields of maize or other cereals. The birds and
animals that we prize most highly as table delicacies abounded in the
wilds, and the waters swarmed with fish.
A very small proportion of the land was occupied. The Indian villages
were few and miles apart. The country round about the Jamestown
settlement was in the possession of the Algonquin tribe, divided into
many bands, generally numbering not more than a few hundred souls,
each band under its own chief and all owning allegiance to a king or
werowance named Powhatan. There was constant intercourse between the
villages, and their men joined together for purposes of war, or the
chase. Rough forest trails formed the only roads between the different
centres, whilst blazed trees marked by-paths that led to springs,
favorite trapping grounds, or other localities of occasional resort.
The royal orders permitted the opening of the box of instructions as
soon as the colonists should have reached Virginia, and they lost
no time in satisfying their anxiety to learn the membership of the
Council. It appeared that the King had selected for that distinction
and responsibility, Edward Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher
Newport, John Ratcliffe, George Kendall and John Smith. The last named
was still in irons and his fellow-councilmen were, with the possible
exception of Newport, unfriendly to him. It was decided that he should
not be admitted to the body, and the remaining members proceeded to
elect Wingfield, Smith’s arch-enemy, to the position of President.
For the next two weeks and more, the colonists remained upon the ships.
Meanwhile they explored the surrounding country for a favorable site
on which to settle. The Indians with whom they came in contact during
this time treated them with the utmost kindness, freely furnishing food
and tobacco, which latter few of the settlers had ever smoked, although
Raleigh had introduced the leaf into England some years earlier.
Everything was so strange to the adventurers, many of whom were absent
from their native land for the first time, that they forgot for a while
their discontent and jealousies in the interest and wonder excited by
new sights and scenes.
We can imagine, for instance, the mixed sensations of the strangers
when a band of Rappahonacks marched towards them, headed by their chief
playing upon a reed flute. They were all fantastically trimmed, we will
say, for their only dress was a coat of paint. The chief, as befitted
his rank, was the most grotesque figure of all, but the effect was
equally hideous and awesome and the Englishmen were divided between
merriment and fear. On one side of his head the chief wore a crown of
deer’s hair dyed red and interwoven with his own raven locks; on the
other side, which was shaven, he wore a large plate of copper, whilst
two long feathers stood up from the centre of his crown. His body
was painted crimson and his face blue. Around his neck was a chain of
beads, and strings of pearls hung from his ears which were pierced to
hold bird’s claws set in gold. He and his followers each carried a bow
and arrows and a tomahawk with stone head.
At length it was decided to settle upon a little peninsula jutting into
the river. There was a great deal of disagreement about this site.
Smith favored it, mainly because its comparative isolation made it
easier to defend than a location further inland, but he was allowed no
voice in the selection. It was, however, an unfortunate choice, for
the ground was low and marshy and no doubt a great deal of the later
mortality was due to the unhealthy situation of the infant settlement
of Jamestown. Here, however, the colonists landed on the thirteenth
day of May and set up the tents in which they lived for some time
thereafter. There is too much to be done to justify the absence of an
available strong arm and Smith, although virtually a prisoner still,
is allowed to join in the general labor and this he does cheerfully
without any show of resentment on account of his past treatment.
The President gave evidence of his incapacity from the very outset.
Relying implicitly upon the friendly attitude of the Indians he refused
to allow any defences to be considered, and even went so far as to
decline to unpack the arms which had been brought from England,
declaring that to do so would be a display of distrust which the
savages might resent. The latter, who were permitted to go in and out
of the camp with their weapons, were no doubt for a time divided in
mind as to whether the white men were superhuman beings invulnerable to
arrows or only a species of foolish and confiding fellow-creatures such
as they had never known. Wingfield had most of his men busy felling
trees and making clapboards with which to freight the vessels on their
return, for it must be understood that these colonists were practically
employees of the company that had been at the expense of sending them
out and which expected to make a profit on the investment. It was
necessary therefore to secure cargoes for shipment to England, but the
position should have been fortified and houses erected before all else.
Newport was anxious to have more extensive information of the country
to report to his employers who entertained the belief--absurd as it
seems to us--that by penetrating one or two hundred miles farther
westward the settlers would come upon the Pacific and open a short
route to India. Newport therefore organized an expedition to explore
the river. He took twenty men and was glad to include Smith in the
party. There was no opposition on the part of the Council to the
arrangement. Indeed, it was entirely to their liking. None of them was
over keen to penetrate the unknown with its possible dangers and each
was reluctant to leave the settlement for the further reason that he
distrusted his fellow-members of the Council and was jealous of them.
As to Smith, they had made up their minds to send him back to England
a prisoner, to be tried on charges of treason, conspiracy, and almost
anything else their inventive minds could conceive.
So Captain Newport and his party proceeded slowly up the river in their
shallop, greeted kindly by the Indians in the various villages along
the banks and feasted by them. The travellers in their turn bestowed
upon their entertainers presents of beads, nails, bottles, and other
articles, trifling in themselves but almost priceless to the savages
who had never seen anything of the kind. At length the party arrived
at a village named Powhatan. It was located very near the present
situation of Richmond, and perhaps exactly where the old home of the
Mayo family--still called “Powhatan”--stands. This village was governed
by a son of the great Werowance. The capital of the latter was at
Werowocomico, near the mouth of the York River, but he happened to be
at Powhatan at the time of Newport’s arrival. I say that he happened to
be there, but it is much more likely that he had been informed of the
expedition and had gone overland to his son’s village with the express
intention of meeting the strangers, about whom he must have been keenly
curious.
Powhatan was the chief of all the country within a radius of
sixty miles of Jamestown, and having a population of about eight
thousand, which included two thousand or more warriors. Although over
seventy years of age, he was vigorous in mind and body. His tall,
well-proportioned frame was as straight as an arrow. His long gray hair
flowed loose over his shoulders and his stern and wrinkled countenance
expressed dignity and pride. The English learned to know him for a keen
and subtle schemer, to whom the common phrase, “simple savage,” would
be altogether misapplied. He was sufficiently sagacious to realize from
the first that in the white men he had a superior race to deal with and
he made up his mind that the most effective weapon that he could use
against them would be treachery.
On this occasion, he dissembled the feelings of anger and fear that
he must have felt against the intruders and received them with every
sign of amity. To his people, who began to murmur at their presence and
displayed an inclination to do them harm, he declared:
“They can do us no injury. They desire no more than a little land
and will pay us richly for it. It is my pleasure that you treat them
kindly.”
In the meanwhile, his keen penetrating glance was taking in every
detail of his visitors’ appearance, scrutinizing their weapons and
dress, and closely examining their faces as they spoke, for the
settlers had picked up a little of the language.
When the voyagers, after being feasted and fêted at the village of
Powhatan, continued their journey up the river, the “Emperor,” as the
early writers call him, furnished them with a guide, whose chief duty
doubtless was to act as spy and report their movements to him. Newport
proceeded up the river until it became too shallow to admit of further
progress. He then turned and commenced the descent. He had not gone
many days’ journey when he began to notice a change in the attitude of
the Indians which prompted him to hasten on to the settlement with all
speed. It was well that he did so for the settlers were in a critical
situation.
We have seen that Wingfield altogether neglected to place the colonists
in a position to defend themselves from attack. During the absence
of the exploring expedition he had so far departed from his foolish
attitude as to permit Captain Kendall to erect a paltry barricade of
branches across the neck of the little peninsula, but this was the
only measure of safety he could be induced to take. The Indians were
permitted to come and go as freely as ever and the arms were left in
the packing cases. Of course it was only a matter of time when the
Indians would take advantage of such a constantly tempting opportunity
to attack the newcomers.
One day, without the slightest warning, four hundred savages rushed
upon the settlement with their blood-curdling war-whoop. The colonists
were utterly unprepared and most of them unarmed. Seventeen fell at
the first assault. Fortunately the gentlemen habitually wore swords,
these being part of the every-day dress of the time, and many of them
had pistols in their belts. They quickly threw themselves between the
unarmed settlers and the Indians and checked the latter with the fire
of their pistols. Wingfield, who though a fool was no coward, headed
his people and narrowly escaped death, an arrow cleaving his beard.
Four other members of the Council were among the wounded, so that only
one of them escaped untouched.
The gallant stand made by the gentlemen adventurers only checked the
Indians for a moment, and there is no doubt that every man of the
defenders must have been slain had not the ships created a diversion
by opening fire with their big guns. Even this assistance effected but
temporary relief, for the Indians would have renewed the attack at
nightfall, with complete success in all probability, but the appearance
of Newport at this juncture with his twenty picked and fully armed
men put a different complexion on affairs. The reinforcement sallied
against the attacking savages and drove them to retreat.
It is hardly necessary to state that all hands were now engaged with
feverish zeal in erecting a fort and stockade. Some demi-culverins were
carried ashore from the ships and mounted. The arms were uncased and
distributed and certain men were daily drilled in military exercises,
whilst a constant guard was maintained throughout the day and night.
From this time the intercourse between the whites and Indians was
marked on both sides by caution and suspicion.
When the defences had been completed, Captain Newport made preparations
for an immediate departure and then the Council informed Smith that he
was to be returned to England a prisoner for trial. Fortunately for
the future of the colony, our hero rebelled against such an unjust
proceeding, saying, with reason, that since all persons cognizant of
the facts were on the spot, it was on the spot that he should be tried,
if anywhere. His contention was so just, and the sentiment in his favor
so strong, that the Council was obliged to accede to his demand. He
protested against a moment’s delay, declaring that, if found guilty by
a jury of his peers, he would willingly return to England in chains
with Captain Newport and take the consequences.
The trial resulted in a triumphant acquittal. There was not one iota of
real evidence adduced against the prisoner. Wingfield and others had
nothing but their bare suspicions to bring forward. It did transpire,
however, in the course of the proceedings that the President had not
only been moved by malice but that he had endeavored to induce certain
persons to give false evidence against his enemy. On the strength
of these revelations, the jury not only acquitted Captain Smith but
sentenced the President to pay him two hundred pounds in damages, which
sum, or its equivalent, for it was paid in goods, our hero promptly
turned into the common fund.
Smith accepted his acquittal with the same calm indifference that had
characterized his behavior since his arrest and showed a readiness
to forget past differences and encourage harmony among the leaders.
Mr. Hunt also strove to produce peace and goodwill in the settlement
but the efforts were useless. When Newport left them in June, the
colony was divided into two factions, the supporters of Wingfield and
those of Smith, who was now of course free of his seat at the Council
board. And so it remained to the end of our story--jealousy, meanness,
incompetence and even treachery, hazarding the lives and the fortunes
of the little band of pioneers who should have been knit together by
common interests and common dangers.
XV.
TREASON AND TREACHERY
The colonists experience hard times and a touch of starvation--Fever
seizes the settlement and one-half the settlers die--The entire charge
of affairs devolves upon Captain Smith--President Wingfield is deposed
and Ratcliffe appointed in his place--Smith leads an expedition in
search of corn--Returns to find trouble at Jamestown--The blacksmith
to be hanged for treason--At the foot of the gallows he divulges a
Spanish plot--Captain Kendall, a Councilman, is involved--His guilt is
established--He seizes the pinnace and attempts to sail away--Smith
trains a cannon upon the boat and forces the traitor to land--He is
hanged.
Just before the departure of Captain Newport with the two larger
ships--the pinnace, _Discovery_, was left for the use of the
colonists--Mr. Hunt had administered the communion to the company in
the hope that the joint participation in the holy sacrament might
create a bond of amity between them. On that occasion Captain Smith
had modestly addressed the assembled settlers, urging them to forget
past disagreement, as he was ready to do, and address themselves
energetically to the important business of the community.
“You that of your own accord have hazarded your lives and estates in
this adventure, having your country’s profit and renown at heart,” he
said with earnestness, “banish from among you cowardice, covetousness,
jealousies, and idleness. These be enemies to the raising your honors
and fortunes and put in danger your very lives, for if dissension
prevail among us, surely we shall become too weak to withstand the
Indians. For myself, I ever intend my actions shall be upright and
regulated by justice. It hath been and ever shall be my care to give
every man his due.”
The plain, frank speech moved his hearers, but in the evil times that
quickly fell upon them good counsel was forgotten and strife and
ill-nature resumed their sway.