John Smith and the Settlement of Jamestown
[1579-1631]
[Illustration: John Smith.]
About twenty years after the failure of Raleigh's attempt to plant a
settlement in America, another effort was made by a body of merchants
and wealthy men called the London Company. Their purpose was to discover
gold, of which Englishmen were then dreaming, just as the Spaniards had
dreamed years before when they sailed under the leadership of Columbus,
Pizarro, Cortez, and De Soto. As a beginning for the new colony, which
was destined to be the first permanent English settlement in America,
the London Company sent out one hundred and five men, who set sail from
London on New Year's day, 1607, in three frail vessels. They were not
sturdy, self-reliant men such as give strength to a new enterprise. On
the contrary, about half of them were "gentlemen," who felt themselves
above working with their hands. They were coming to America to pick up
a fortune, and then return to England to live at ease the rest of their
lives. As we shall see, such colonists were unfit for the rough and
rugged life which awaited them in the wild woods of a new country.
Instead of sailing straight across the Atlantic they took a very much
longer route, directing their course down the coast of France and Spain
to the Canaries and from these islands to the West Indies. Here they
stopped a long time. The result was that they were about four months on
the tiresome voyage, and had used up nearly all their provisions before
reaching their journey's end.
This was but a beginning of their troubles. Their purpose had been to
land on the deserted site of Raleigh's colony, Roanoke Island, but, a
violent storm having driven them out of their course, they entered
Chesapeake Bay, naming the headlands on either side Cape Charles and
Cape Henry, after the king's sons. Pushing on, they found a quiet harbor
which they fittingly called Point Comfort. After resting here they
sailed up the river and named it the James, after James I., King of
England.
They were delighted with the country, for it was the month of May and
the banks of the river were luxuriant with beautiful trees, shrubbery,
and many-colored flowers. Fifty miles from the mouth of the James the
voyagers landed on a peninsula, which they chose as the place of
settlement because it was within easy reach of the sea.
At once they set to work building dwellings, and a fort in which to
defend themselves against unfriendly Indians. The dwellings at first
consisted of rude cabins roofed with sage or bark, tents made of old
sails, and holes dug in the ground. An old sail served for the roof of
their first church, and a plank nailed up between two trees for a
pulpit.
They did well to found their Church so early, for they soon had need of
its consolations. The intense heat of July and August and the sultry
atmosphere hanging over the swamps and marshes bred disease, and caused
many of the colonists to fall ill of fever. Sometimes three or four died
in a single night. To make matters worse, food was so scarce that each
settler's daily portion was reduced to a half-pint of mouldy wheat and
the same quantity of barley. And, as if these afflictions from climate,
scanty food, bad water, and loss of friends were not enough, the Indians
kept the wretched settlers in constant terror of their lives. Each man
had to take his turn "every third night" lying on the damp, bare ground
to watch against attack, although at times there were not five men
strong enough to carry guns. Their condition was indeed pitiable. Those
in health were not sufficient to nurse the sick, and during the summer
about half of the settlers died.
[Illustration: John Smith and the Indians.
When Smith fully grasped the situation he threatened the Indians with
death, and then finding himself surrounded by hundreds of hostile
warriors, he boldly seized Powhatan's brother by the scalp-lock, put a
pistol to his breast, and cried, "Corn, or your life!"]
All must have perished but for the bravery and strength of one man, John
Smith, who for several years kept the struggling colony alive by his
personal authority and wise treatment of the Indians. Born in England
in 1579, he was at the time of the settlement of Jamestown twenty-eight
years old. While but a boy he was left an orphan, and was early
apprenticed to a trade; but he had such a longing for adventure that he
soon ran away and went to the Continent to seek his fortune.
From that time his life, according to his own story, was full of
stirring incidents, only a few of which we can tell here. While
travelling through France he was robbed and left helpless in a forest on
the highway, where he would have died from exposure and lack of food but
for the kindly aid of a peasant who chanced to find and rescue him.
Going to Marseilles he took passage on a ship with some pilgrims bound
eastward on a journey to the Holy Land. During the voyage a severe storm
arose, which greatly alarmed the pilgrims, and, believing that in some
mysterious way their strange passenger was the cause of their
misfortune, they threw him overboard. Smith managed to save himself from
the sea, however, and a little later fought in a war against the Turks,
three of whose mighty warriors he slew in single combat. Afterward he
was captured and enslaved by the Turks, but he seemed to lead a charmed
life, and with his usual good-fortune again made his escape.
[Illustration: Chipped flint arrow heads.]
[Illustration: Stone Axe.]
[Illustration: Indian Weapons.]
In 1604 he returned to England, at the age of twenty-five, in time to
join the expedition to Virginia. With such a training as Smith had
received in his many strange adventures, he was well equipped for the
various difficulties that had to be met in the unsettled life of the new
colony in the forests of Virginia.
[Illustration: Ruins of Jamestown.]
When the cool weather of the autumn set in, the general health of all
improved and food became abundant, for the streams were alive with
swans, geese, ducks, and various kinds of fish, while game and garden
supplies were plentiful.
As soon as affairs were in a promising condition, Smith started one very
cold December day on a journey of exploration. He sailed up the
Chickahominy River in search of the South Sea, as the Pacific Ocean was
then called. This was generally believed to be just beyond the
mountains. When the stream had become too shallow for the barge, Smith
with his four companions, two men and two Indian guides, continued his
journey in a canoe. Landing near what is now called White Oak Swamp, he
left the white men in charge of the canoe, and with one Indian pushed
his way into the forest. Soon they were set upon by a band of two
hundred Indian warriors, but Smith so bravely defended himself that he
killed two of the warriors, and held out against the entire force until
he sank in the mire and had to surrender. Having tied their prisoner to
a tree, the Indians were about to shoot him with an arrow when he
aroused their curiosity by showing them his pocket-compass and by asking
that he might write a letter to his friends at Jamestown. Granting the
request, they delivered the letter and brought back the articles for
which it called. They were greatly amazed that the white man was able to
make paper talk, and, believing him to be a superior being, they spared
his life.
[Illustration: Jamestown and the Surrounding Country.]
Smith became much interested in the life of the Indians, and left an
account of their customs and habits. According to his description, some
of them lived in rude dwellings made of boughs of trees, some in huts,
and others in wigwams a hundred feet or so in length, which served for
a number of families. The warriors painted their bodies in many colors,
and decorated themselves with beads, feathers, shells, pieces of copper,
and rattles. What clothing they wore was made of skins, and their
weapons were bows and arrows and clubs.
The Indians had many kinds of horrible dances, in the course of which
they yelled and shrieked as if suffering the most painful torture. The
squaws carried the burdens, built the wigwams, and performed the various
necessary duties; and the men did the hunting, the fishing, the smoking,
and especially the fighting.
The Indians took Smith to many of their villages, leading him finally
into the presence of Powhatan, who lived in one of the long wigwams
mentioned above, on the north bank of the York River, about fifteen
miles from Jamestown.
The old chief was tall and stalwart, with a round fat face and thin gray
hair hanging down his back. Dressed in a robe of raccoon skins, he sat
before the fire on a sort of bench covered with mats, with a young
maiden sitting on each side; at his right and left stood the warriors,
and close to the wall on either side a row of squaws.
Presently one of the squaws brought to Smith some water in a wooden
bowl, and another a bunch of feathers upon which to wipe his hands. Then
followed a step in the proceedings that must have caused even a stout
heart to quake. Having placed two stones upon the ground, the grim
warriors seized Smith, laid his head upon the stones, and stood ready to
slay him with clubs. But just at that moment the chief's little
daughter, Pocahontas, about ten years old, fell upon Smith's body, threw
her arms around his neck, and begged her father to spare his life.
Powhatan's heart was so touched that he released Smith and allowed him
to return three days later to Jamestown.
[Illustration: Apache's War-club.]
In the summer of 1609 Smith started out on another expedition in search
of the Pacific. He sailed as before by way of Chesapeake Bay, exploring
far up the Potomac. It is needless to say that he did not reach the
Pacific, but he covered a distance of about three thousand miles, and
made a map of his explorations, which is considered remarkable for its
accuracy.
[Illustration: Sioux Indian Bow and Arrow with Stone Point.]
In the autumn Captain Newport came from England with orders from the
London Company to crown Powhatan. Along with the crown the company sent
gifts, consisting of a bed, a basin, a pitcher, and a scarlet robe.
Powhatan gave token of his appreciation of the gifts by sending in
return to King James a pair of his moccasins and one of his raccoon-skin
blankets, but refused to kneel in receiving the crown, so that Smith
and Newport had to lean on his shoulders to force him down.
[Illustration: Navajo Sling.]
The crowning of Powhatan was intended to win his favor, but the
compliment did not make the shrewd old chief altogether friendly to the
white strangers. For he noticed that their numbers were increasing, and
he feared that their coming might in the end bring harm to himself and
his people. He therefore planned to get rid of the Englishmen by
refusing them corn, and in the following winter declined to supply them,
asking in a hostile way when they were going home.
The settlers sadly missed his friendly aid, for the rats that had come
over in the vessels had played havoc with their provisions, and they
were greatly in need of corn, venison, and game, such as Powhatan had
furnished the previous year.
[Illustration: A Pappoose Case.]
But Smith, who knew so well how to manage the Indians, was equal to the
occasion. He used smooth words if they served his purpose; if not, he
used threats or even force. Bent upon gaining their good-will, or at
least determined to secure corn, Smith sailed down the James, around
Point Comfort, and up the York River with about forty men to Powhatan's
home. The old chief pretended to be friendly, but Smith learned from an
Indian informer that the wily savage was planning to murder him and his
men. Little Pocahontas, also, came to Smith in the darkness of night and
told him of the plot, thus proving herself, as on many other occasions,
to be a true friend to the white men. Indeed, it has been said that by
her timely aid the Jamestown settlement was saved from ruin.
When Smith fully grasped the situation he threatened the Indians with
death, and then, finding himself surrounded by hundreds of hostile
warriors, he boldly seized Powhatan's brother by the scalp-lock, put a
pistol to his breast, and cried, "Corn or your life!" The Indians, awed
by Smith's fearlessness, no longer held out, but brought him corn in
abundance.
From the first Smith had been the natural leader of the colony, and in
time was made president of the council. He found the men of his own race
almost as difficult to manage as the Indians. They were so lazy that
Smith was obliged to make a law by which he declared, "He that will not
work shall not eat." The law proved to be a good one, and the idlers
were soon busy making glass, felling trees, and preparing tar, pitch,
and soap-ashes. But they hated rough labor, and were very apt to swear
when it hurt their hands. To put an end to the swearing, Smith required
each man to keep a record of his oaths, and for every offence ordered a
can of cold water poured down the sleeve of the uplifted right arm of
the culprit. By such discipline the settlement was soon put into
excellent working order.
If Smith could have remained at the head of the colony, everything might
have continued to go well. But one day, while out in a boat, he was
wounded so severely by the explosion of some gunpowder that he was
obliged to return to England for treatment. This accident happened in
October, 1609. Five years later he returned to Virginia and explored the
coast to the north, making a map of the region, and naming it New
England. He not only wrote an account of his own life, but also several
books on America. He died in 1632, at the age of fifty-three years.
Without his leadership, the weak and puny colony at Jamestown must have
perished before the end of its first year. But his resolution and
courage held it together until it received from England the help needed
to put it on a firm footing.
REVIEW OUTLINE
THE LONDON COMPANY SENDS TO AMERICA A COLONY IN SEARCH OF GOLD.
THE EMIGRANTS SET SAIL.
THE LONG, ROUNDABOUT VOYAGE.
THE COLONISTS MAKE A SETTLEMENT AT JAMESTOWN IN 1607.
THEIR DWELLINGS AND THEIR CHURCH.
FEVER, HUNGER, AND INDIANS.
JOHN SMITH SAVES THE SETTLEMENT FROM RUIN.
HIS EARLY ADVENTURES.
HE GOES UP THE CHICKAHOMINY RIVER IN SEARCH OF THE PACIFIC.
THE INDIANS CAPTURE SMITH.
THEY SPARE-HIS LIFE.
LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA.
SMITH IS TAKEN TO POWHATAN.
LITTLE POCAHONTAS SAVES JOHN SMITH'S LIFE.
HIS EXPLORATIONS.
THE CROWNING OF POWHATAN.
HE PLANS TO GET RID OF THE WHITE MEN.
HE REFUSES THEM CORN.
THE FRIENDLY AID OF POCAHONTAS.
"CORN OR YOUR LIFE!"
SMITH MADE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND.
TO THE PUPIL
1. Describe the Jamestown settlers. Can you form a mental picture
of their first dwellings?
2. Write an account of Smith's capture by the Indians and of his
later experiences with them.
3. What do you admire in Smith? In Pocahontas? What do you think
of Powhatan?
4. Trace on your map Smith's voyages and explorations.
5. When was Jamestown settled?