Under Dale, from May 1611 to 1616, and under Gates who replaced him for
several years, beginning in August 1611, the emphasis was away from
Jamestown, but the capital was not actually moved.
In 1612, “Master George Percie ... [was busy] with the keeping of
Jamestown” while much of the colony had been “moved up river.” The first
settlement was then looked upon as chiefly a place of safety for hogs
and cattle. In 1614, it was made up of “two faire rowes of howses, all
of framed Timber, two stories, and an vpper Garret or Corne loft high,
besides three large, and substantiall Storehowses ioyned togeather in
length some hundred and twenty foot, and in breadth forty ... this town
hath been lately newly, and strongly impaled, and a faire platforme for
Ordnance in the west Bulworke raised.” Without the town “... in the
Island [were] some very pleasant, and beutifull howses, two Blockhouses
... and certain other farme howses.” In 1616, it was a post of 50 under
the command of Lt. John Sharpe, who was acting in the absence of Capt.
Francis West. Thirty-one of these were “farmors” and all maintained
themselves with “food and rayment.”
The Gates-Dale 5-year administration (1611-16) actually saw Virginia
established as a going concern. The role of Dale in all of this seems to
have been a heavy one. Martial law brought order and uniformity in
operations and compelled the people to go to work. Dale saw to it that
corn was planted and harvested and that the laws were observed. He made
peace with the Indians.
So effective were Dale’s measures that one of his contemporaries, John
Rolfe, wrote “whereupon a peace was concluded, which still continues so
firme, that our people yearlely plant and reape quietly, and travell in
the woods a fowling and a hunting as freely and securely from danger or
treacherie as in England. The great blessings of God have followed this
peace, and it, next under him, hath bredd our plentie....” All this was
accomplished when the fortunes of the Virginia Company were at a low
point and little support was being sent to the colony. John Rolfe then
went on to predict that Dale’s “worth and name ... will out last the
standing of this plantation....”
Martial law, strictly administered at first, was gradually relaxed in
application as conditions stabilized, and within a few years Dale took
the step of granting 3-acre plots to private men for their enjoyment
outside of the common store. This was a big step in the evolution of the
private ownership of land. In the beginning, ownership was communal and
company controlled. In 1609, a future division of both land and profits
was anticipated, but it was about 1619 before individual grants were
made. A part of this evolution was the headright system of acquisition,
whereby persons were rewarded for venturing to Virginia themselves, or
their capital. Dale’s grants of a semiprivate nature, about 1615, were a
step in this evolution as well. The headright system which developed at
Jamestown and on the banks of the James was later adapted in other
colonies and continued in use for generations.
Gates and Dale in their administration had the help of other
enterprising and daring early Virginians. There was Capt. Samuel Argall
whose later work as governor of the colony has sometimes been
criticized, especially his handling of the company finances. This should
not becloud his earlier helpfulness in getting Virginia established. He
pioneered in making a direct crossing of the Atlantic to save time and
to avoid the Spanish, who now were fearful that the Virginia enterprise
might succeed and were sending spies to Virginia. (Some of these spies
were captured and interned at Jamestown.) Argall led in exploration,
both in Virginia waters and northward along the coastline. He was adept
at shipbuilding and in the Indian trade. It was evidently he who
discovered the best fishing seasons and the fact that the fish made
“runs” in the bay and in the rivers. He made an open attack on the
French settlements to the north in New England and Nova Scotia,
returning to Jamestown with his captives.