University of Virginia Library

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH,

Who, by his efficient management of the affairs of the colony, won the
title of "The Father of Virginia," was a soldier, a traveler, and a
statesman. His life is one filled with adventure and daring exploit.
He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1579, and was early apprenticed
to a merchant; but at the age of fifteen he left his master and
went to Holland, served awhile in the Dutch army, then found his way
to Austria, where he enlisted under the flag of that country and engaged
in a war with the Turks. He was, at length, wounded, taken
prisoner, and after his recovery he was carried to Constantinople, where
he was sold as a slave and taken to the Crimea, in Russia, and subjected
to the severest treatment and his life rendered a burden. From such
abject slavery he determined to escape. An opportunity soon presented
itself. He was engaged in threshing wheat about three miles from
home, where his master visited him once a day. Smith watched his
opportunity and dispatched him with a flail; hid his body in the straw,
mounted his horse and fled into the woods. After many days' wandering
he found his way into Poland, thence he traveled through Germany,
France and Spain to Morocco, in Northern Africa, where he remained
some time, then set out for England, where he arrived just as the expedition
was fitting out to colonize the new continent of America. He
immediately attached himself to the expedition and sailed for Virginia,
where he afterward displayed those high qualities of statesmanship which
secured the permanency of the colony.

At the time that Smith began his administration the colony was on
the verge of ruin. Already disease had carried off one-half of the settlers,
among whom was Gosnold, a member of the council and one of the best
men in it, and had not the early frosts of winter put a stop to the ravages
of the pestilence, not one would have survived to tell the fate of the
colony. With the disappearance of disease and the better administration
of Smith, everything began to show signs of improvement. One of
the first acts of the new management was to begin the erection of better
buildings; the fortification was strengthened, a store-house devised, and
other preparations made for the winter. The great object now was to
secure a stock of provisions for the ensuing winter. The Indians had
grown a plentiful harvest, but to secure a portion of it was no easy task.
Smith, however, determined to undertake it, and in company with five
companions he descended the James river as far as Hampton Roads, where
he landed, and went boldly among the natives, offering to exchange
hatchets and coin for corn; but the savages only laughed at the proposal,
and mocked the strangers by offering a piece of bread for Smith's
sword and musket. Smith, ever determined to succeed in every undertaking,
abandoned the idea of barter and resolved to fight. He ordered
his men to fire among the savages, who ran howling into the woods, leaving

CAPT. JOHN SMITH,

After the original in his "General His-
torie," edition of 1629.

their wigwams, filled with corn, to the mercy of the English, not a
grain of which was touched until the Indians returned. In a short time
sixty or seventy painted warriors, at the head of whom marched a priest
bearing an idol, appeared and made a furious attack. The English a
second time opened fire, made a rush, drove the savages back, and captured
their idol. The Indians, when they saw their deity in the possession
of the English, sent the priest to humbly beg for its return, but
Smith stood firm, with his musket across the prostrate image, and dictated
the only terms upon which he would surrender it, viz: that six
unarmed Indians should come forth and load his boat with corn. The
terms were acceded to, the idol given up, and Smith and his party
returned to Jamestown with a boat-load of supplies.

Smith could not remain long inactive. No sooner had he seen the colony
in tolerable condition for this, its first winter in the New World,
than he, in company with six Englishmen and two Indians, embarked in
the pinnace and sailed up the Chickahominy river. The opinion prevailed
at Jamestown, and also with the London Company, that by proceeding
up this stream it was possible to reach the Pacific Ocean, then called the
South Sea. Smith knew the utter absurdity of such an opinion, but
humored it for the purpose of gratifying his desire for making explorations.
He ascended the river as far as possible in the pinnace, then
leaving it, as he thought, in a safe place, he left it in the care of four
Englishmen, and with the remainder of the party the journey was continued
in a canoe, and when they could proceed no further in it, Smith
traveled on foot with only an Indian guide. The men left with the pinnace
disobeyed orders, went on shore, and one of them fell into the
hands of the Indians, who learned from him the direction in which the
captain had gone. Pursuit was made at once, but when they came up
with him they found that he was no easy prey. He defended himself so
bravely that they dared not approach him until he fell into a swamp,
where he was at length forced to surrender. His captors carried him
before their chief, who received him with all the pomp and ceremony
known at a savage court. A long consultation was held to determine
the fate of the distinguished prisoner, and it seemed that the death angel
which had hovered around him all along his journey of life was about
to claim the victory. The consultation terminated unfavorably; the
executioners rushed forward and dragged their prisoner to a large stone
upon which it had been decided his head should be crushed. The awful
moment was come; the club was raised that was to dash out his brains,
and thus end his toils and difficulties, and with them the hope of Virginia.
But an advocate appeared as unexpectedly as would have been
an angel just descended from heaven, to ask his release. It was none
other than Pocahontas, the chieftain's own favorite daughter, who
stepped forth and begged that the prisoner might be spared, and when

she found her entreaties unavailing, she seized his head and placed it
beneath her own to protect it from the fatal blow. Powhatan could not
resist the pleadings of his favorite child, and yielded to her wishes.
Smith was released and allowed to live. In a few days he concluded a
bargain with the old chief by which he was to receive a large tract of
country in exchange for two cannon and a grindstone, which he was to
send back from Jamestown by the Indians who accompanied him home.
When they arrived at Jamestown, Smith, under pretext of instructing the
Indians in the use of the cannon, discharged them into the trees, at which
the savages were so frightened that they would have nothing to do with
them. The grindstone was so heavy that they could not carry it, so they
returned with a quantity of trinkets instead.