A history of Virginia from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time |
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 | CHAPTER III. A history of Virginia |  |
CHAPTER III.
Smith's excursion up the Chickahominy river—He is captured by the natives—Indian
superstition—The prisoner conducted in triumph through
several tribes—Brought before Powhatan—The Princess Pocahontas—
She saves the life of the captive—Smith's return to Jamestown—Levitical
law—Arrival of Newport—Blue beads and Indian corn—A river of
gold—Sand and cedar—Smith's first voyage of exploration—The Potomac—An
adventure—The second voyage—The Susquehanoc Indians—
Fight with the Rappahannocs—The Nansemonds—Return—Smith made
president—Newport's third arrival—Coronation of Powhatan—Jealousy
and discord among the settlers—Disappointment of the London Council
—Smith's letter—He visits Powhatan—Danger of the English—They
are preserved by Pocahontas—Heroism of Smith—His influence with
the savages—German traitors—Arrival of Argal—Second Charter of
King James—Lord Delaware governor—A fleet for Virginia—A storm
—Sir George Somers wrecked on the Bermuda Islands—He sails for
Virginia—A scene of wretchedness—Materials for the colony—Discord
—Sedition—Accident to Smith—He leaves Virginia—Idleness—Profligacy—Disease—Starvation—Death—Arrival
of Somers—The colonists
abandon the settlement—They meet Lord Delaware in the river—Return
to Jamestown.
The Chickahominy falls into the James, not
many miles above the site of Jamestown. It flows
through a very fertile region, and upon its banks
were native settlements well supplied with the
stores of savage labour.
Up this stream Smith urged his boat with great
perseverance, cutting through trunks of trees and
matted underwood which opposed his progress. At
length, finding the obstacles to increase, he left the
boat in a broad bay, where Indian arrows could not
her, he pressed on, with two Englishmen and two
Indians, eager to penetrate with their canoe the
swamps beyond them.[194] Hardly had he disappeared,
before the disobedient seamen left the boat,
and sought amusement upon the shore. Opecancanough,
an Indian chief of great subtlety and
courage, was near with a lurking band of savages,
and, instantly seizing his advantage, he made prisoner
George Cassen, one of this party, and obtained
from him full information as to the movements
of Captain Smith. The cowardice of Cassen
did not save him. The savages put him to death
with cruel tortures, and then pursued their more
dreaded foe.[195]
Smith had now penetrated twenty miles into the
marshes; and leaving the two Englishmen in the
canoe, he went forward with an Indian guide. The
savages found the two men sunk in stupid slumber
by the side of the canoe, and shot them to death
with arrows ere they could escape. But they had
now to encounter a superior being. Two hundred
savages approaching with fatal intent, caused no
dismay in the heart of Smith. Binding the Indian
guide firmly to his arm, he used him as a shield to
preserve him from the arrows of the enemy, and
with his musket he brought two of them dead to
the ground. He would perhaps have reached
the canoe—the savages fell back appalled by his
middle in a swamp, from which his utmost efforts
could not extricate him. Excessive cold froze his
limbs and deprived him of strength, yet the Indians
dared not to approach until he threw away his arms
and made signals of submission.[196] They then drew
him out, and chafing his benumbed body, speedily
restored him to activity. His self-possession was
never lost for a moment. Discovering that Opecancanough
was the chief, he presented to him a
small magnetic dial, and made the simple savages
wonder at the play of the needle beneath the glass
surface. If they had previously regarded him as
more than human, they were now confirmed in
their belief; and when he proceeded to convey to
them some idea of the spherical form of the earth,
its motion on its axis and round the sun, and the
existence of men standing opposite to them on this
globe, their wonder knew no bounds.[197] Yet the
hope of crushing at once this powerful enemy
seemed to prevail. They bound him to a tree, and
prepared to pierce him through with arrows, when
Opecancanough held up the dial, and every arm
fell;—each spirit was subdued, either by fear of his
power or admiration of his knowledge.[198]
The prisoner was then conducted in triumph to
Chickahominy Marshes, much frequented by Powhatan
and his court for the game which there
abounded. In the march the Indians walked in
single file, their chief in the centre, with the captured
swords and muskets borne before him, and
the captive held by three savages, and watched by
others with their arrows upon the string. Women
and children came forth to meet them, wild with
joy at so strange an occurrence. On arriving, the
whole band performed a dance of triumph around
the captive, yelling and shrieking in the most approved
mode, and decorated with every hideous
ornament that heads, feet, and skins of animals
could supply. After this performance, he was conducted
to a long house, and guarded by thirty or
forty vigorous warriors. Bread and venison in
abundance were brought to him, for which he had
little appetite. The savages never ate with him,
but devoured what he left some hours after; and
this, with other things, caused him to suspect a design
to fatten him for their table.[199] His body was,
however, destined to subserve better purposes than
that of furnishing an Indian ragout. While thus
desolate and chilled, he experienced an instance of
savage gratitude which will not be forgotten. A
native, to whom he had once given some beads and
other toys, brought him his gown, which amply
protected him from the freezing atmosphere.[200]
A danger from superstition now assailed him.
The son of an Indian was dying, and the father
would have slain the captive under the belief that
he had caused this misfortune by his magic arts.
Smith examined the patient, and told the savages
that he possessed at Jamestown a water which
would effect a cure, if they would permit him to go
for it; but the wily natives were not willing to
suffer a prey to escape whom they regarded as so
valuable. They now conceived that in the absence
of the "great captain," they might attack Jamestown
with success; and they held forth to Smith
magnificent offers of as many Indian beauties as he
might select, and as much dower in land as he
would have, if he would aid in their schemes. But
savage sovereignty had few temptations for the
champion of Christendom. To deter them from an
attack, he painted in glowing colours the means of
defence possessed by the English, the cannon, which
could sweep hundreds down by a single discharge,
and the mine of gunpowder, which would instantly
blow a town into the air, and scatter its fragments
in utter devastation.[201]
The Indians were horror-stricken by these accounts;
but some being yet incredulous, Smith
offered to prove his veracity by sending messengers
to the town. Writing a few sentences on a leaf
from his tablets, he delivered it to the wondering
red men, and awaited the result. In accordance
with his directions, the colonists exhibited before
the embassy a display of ordnance and fireworks,
going to a spot already designated, they
found there precisely the articles which their prisoner
had declared he would obtain. A man who
could thus speak by a fragment of paper to people
at a distance, was looked upon by savage eyes as
more than mortal.[202]
The natives were too much impressed with the
importance of their capture to be willing to confine
the wonder to a single tribe. They set forth on a
tour of triumph, conducting Smith successively to
Indian settlements on the Pamunky, the Mattapony,
the Piankatank, the Rappahannoc, and the
Potomac.[203]
Every where the prisoner was looked
upon as a being of supernatural order, and when
finally he was carried to the residence of Opecancanough,
on the Pamunky, a complete system of
conjuration was entered upon to ascertain his nature.
The reverend gentleman who wrote the early
history of our state, seems to look with pious horror
upon "the strange and hellish ceremonies"[204]
used; but a mind less disposed to gravity will read
with amusement of the forms begrimed with coal,
and painted with figures of snakes and weasels,
the grotesque gestures, the furious dancing, the
impassioned discourse, the circles of corn and
meal, and the bundle of mystic rods, which entered
largely into this wondrous incantation.[205]
If
that the captors were not greatly enlightened as to
his designs by these wise ceremonies. But they
were at least as useful as their purpose to plant a
bag of gunpowder obtained from Jamestown, from
which they hoped to derive an abundant crop for
future service.[206]
Finally, the prisoner was conducted to the imperial
seat of Powhatan. The Indian monarch so
little enjoyed the neighbourhood of the English,
that he often withdrew to Werowocomoco, in the
county now known as Gloucester, and not far removed
from the site of the military scenes, which
resulted in the surrender of Cornwallis, in the war
of the Revolution. Here Powhatan received his
captive, and exhibited before him all the savage
splendour that his court could furnish. Two hundred
grim attendants surrounded him. On his
either hand, sat a young girl of sixteen or eighteen
years of age, and on each side of the room was a
row of men, and, behind them, a corresponding
number of savage ladies, with their necks and
shoulders dyed with crimson, their heads bedecked
with the white down of birds, and with
chains of glittering beads around their persons.
The noble captive was received with a shout of
triumph, and Indian courtesy did not refuse him
honour. The Queen of Appamaton, brought him
him a bunch of feathers upon which to dry
them. But among so many who regarded him
with wonder and alarm, there was one heart which
already began to beat with more generous feeling.
Pocahontas, the daughter of the monarch, was
now budding into womanhood, and cotemporary
writers tell us of her beauty, her intelligence, her
sensitive modesty. The noble bearing of the unhappy
stranger filled her with pity and admiration.
The king and his counsellors held the life
of the captive in their hands, and already the voice
of this gentle girl was raised in entreaties for his
safety. But to suffer so formidable a foe to live,
was adjudged imprudent. The sentence was pronounced,
and immediate measures for its execution
were commenced.
Two large stones were brought and placed at
the feet of the Indian monarch. Then as many
as could grasp him, seized the prisoner and forced
him down, with his head upon the fatal resting-place.
The clubs of the savages were raised, and
another moment would have closed the life of a
hero. But at this critical instant, Pocahontas,
with a cry which thrilled through the assembly,
threw herself upon the prostrate captive, and
clasped her arms around his neck. Her own head
was interposed to receive the threatened blow, and
raising her eyes, which spoke the eloquence of
mercy, to her father's face, she silently awaited
the result. The bosom of the monarch relented.
He could not take the life of one for whom the
was raised from the ground and kept alive to minister
to the pleasure of the generous girl who had
thus preserved him.[207]
There must have been something in the appearance
and character of this great man, strongly attractive
to a sensitive nature. He has himself, in
manly terms, told us of his gratitude to woman
for the love she had so often shown him;[208]
and
after Pocahontas saved his life, her brother Nantaquas,
"a youth of the comeliest and most manly
person, and of the highest spirit and courage," devoted
himself to him with much warmth of affection.
Two days after the incident above narrated,
Powhatan gave his captive an imposing spectacle
of savage rites, urged him to send him from Jamestown
two great guns and a grindstone, and then
suffered him to proceed in safety to the English
settlement.
Thus, after a captivity of seven weeks, Captain
of savage life and manners. He treated his
Indian guides with great kindness, and gave them
two heavy guns and a millstone for the monarch.
But the present was too heavy for their strength,
and when one of the cannons was discharged among
the boughs of a tree, and the crashing of wood and
ice was heard, the timid natives declined any farther
interference with agents so formidable.[209]
The absence of Smith had caused disorder and
insubordination in the colony. The pinnace had
again been seized, and again he was obliged to
level the guns of the fort against her and compel
submission. He was now personally assailed by a
charge replete with stupid malignity. Some, who
believed themselves skilled in the Levitical Law,
accused him of being the cause of the death of
Emry and Robinson, the two unfortunate men
whom the Indians had slain, and with this pretext,
they clamoured for capital punishment.[210]
To their
insane charge Smith replied by taking the accusers
into custody, and by the first vessel he sent
them for trial to England. By his courage, his
address, and his firmness, he now wielded great
influence with the Indians, and proved the salvation
of the settlement.
Early in the winter Newport arrived again from
England, in one of the two ships despatched by
settlers. The other bark was the Phenix,
under Captain Nelson, who by heavy gales was
driven off the coast, and compelled to refit in the
West Indies. Newport was eager to rise in the
esteem of the savages, and sought to gratify his
vanity by a grand trading excursion up the York
River. Smith accompanied the bark to the royal
residence, and watched with care the progress of
the negotiations. The wily old monarch made a
pompous speech to Newport, in which he told him
it was beneath his dignity as a king, to trade in
the manner of pedlers for trifles, and proposed that
they should at once balance all the commodities on
each side. The result was so managed that the
English received about four bushels of corn for
what they had expected to produce at least twenty
hogsheads.[211] But a keener mind soon restored the
equilibrium. Smith passed before the eyes of his
savage majesty a string of glittering beads of the
deepest blue colour, and inflamed his great soul
by telling him that, in the "far country," such
were never worn except by the mightiest of kings.
Instantly Powhatan determined to obtain them at
any price, and so adroit was the English trader,
that for a few pounds of blue beads he obtained
several hundred bushels of corn, and yet they parted
in perfect amity.[212] Whether the maxim "caveat
emptor" will justify such proceedings, we will
not pretend to decide; but it is certain that these
at the courts of Werowocomoco and Pamunky,
that none but princes and nobles might venture
to wear them; and it is equally certain, that in real
value they were equivalent to a crown of gold or a
tiara of jewels.
(Dec.) About this time, a conflagration broke
out in Jamestown, and swept before it almost every
house, with much clothing and provision. This
disaster, together with the rigour of the season and
the meagre food to which they were driven, caused
many deaths and infinite suffering. But to give
illusory comfort, a bright phantom rose before
them, and delighted for a time, only to cover them
at last with disappointment and shame.
(1608.) In the neck of land in the rear of Jamestown,
they found a stream of water which sprang
from a sand-bank, and bore along its channel a
shining dust of most auspicious appearance.
Forthwith uprose in the hearts of the starving
settlers, the hopes of a golden harvest, or rather of
a Pactolus, in the wilds of Virginia. All were now
active in loading the ship with this valueless dirt.
Visions of exhaustless wealth flitted before their
eyes; and men now clothed in tatters, shivering
with cold and attenuated by famine, were enjoying,
in fancy, estates of princely proportions.[213]
In
the mean time the Phenix arrived from the West
Indies, and her commander generously imparted
was madly bent on loading her also with the newly
discovered treasure; but the remonstrances of
Smith prevailed, and she sailed with a cargo of
cedar wood. When these ships returned to England
they carried back Wingfield and Archer; and
if they brought to the mother country, as the first
fruits of the settlement, nothing more valuable than
dust and cedar, they at least relieved the colony
from a mass of "admirals, recorders, chronologers,
and justices of common pleas," all of which titles
had been assumed by these two seditious idiots.[214]
The ruling powers in England had given positive
orders that war should not be made on the natives,
and that they should be treated with uniform
kindness. These commands, good in themselves,
were liable to abuse; for the savages were treacherous,
and often needed chastisement. When Newport
was about to sail, Powhatan sent him twenty
turkeys, and demanded as many swords, which
were immediately given to him; but having made
a similar demand of Smith, he met with a prompt
refusal.[215]
This so irritated the natives, that they
grew daily in fraud and insolence, seizing violently
upon swords wherever they could find them. Martin
bore all with cowardly patience; but Smith instantly
fell upon them,—and capturing seven, gave
them such admonition by whipping and imprisonment,
that they confessed their fault, and Powhatan
was well pleased to send his gentle daughter to
On the 2d of June, Nelson dropped down the
river in the Phenix. Smith had now resolved on
a general cruise of exploration among the islands
and rivers of Virginia. He embarked in an open
boat of three tons burden, and was accompanied by
thirteen men, as well as by Walter Russel, a physician
of high character and courage, who has given
us a full account of their performances. Accompanying
the Phenix to the capes, Smith then bade
her adieu, and stretched across the outlet to the
group of islands that have since borne his name.
It would be interesting to accompany this undaunted
navigator in the two voyages which he
successfully accomplished, and which occupied
him almost constantly from early in June until the
10th of September. It would be pleasing to follow
him into every creek—to land upon every island—
to mark each green valley, and study the nature of
each unknown vegetable—to commingle with the
natives, and learn their manners and language;—to
see his firmness in repressing their attacks, and his
gentle demeanour in asking their confidence—all
this would afford a theme of genuine interest; but
a minute account would be inconsistent with the
due proportion of history. In an open boat, exposed
to wind and weather, governing a crew of
insubordinate spirits, and surrounded by treacherous
enemies, he accomplished a voyage of nearly
three thousand miles;[216]
and in its progress he gathered
all that has since been learned of the natural features
of our beautiful state. He penetrated each
river to its falls—every where encountered the
natives—awed the warlike by his courage—conciliated
the peaceful by his gentle manners—discovered
the exhaustless resources of the land, and
made surveys from which he afterwards prepared
a map of astonishing accuracy and extent.[217] A
spirit of hardy romance is diffused throughout the
whole enterprise, and adds to our esteem for its
heroic projector.
Sailing high up the bay, they coasted along the
shore from the mouth of the Patuxent to the Patapsco
River. The coast was well watered, though
mountainous and barren,—but ever and anon a
verdant valley refreshed their eyes, and the forests
abounded with wolves, bears, deer, and other wild
creatures. Here the spirits of the men began to
fail under fatigue and exposure. To encourage
them Smith made a speech, which Dr. Russel has
preserved in full, and which is a fine specimen of
manly admonition.[218]
He reminds them of Ralph
Lane's party in Carolina, who had persevered
while yet a dog and sassafras leaves remained for
food; and, telling them of his willingness to share
their greatest hardships, he urges them to resolute
conduct. But some fell sick, and he was obliged
expanse of the Potomac invited them to enter; and
as they sailed up towards the falls, the richness of
the country on either bank filled them with delight.
In one part they found the fish so abundant that
they were packed together with their heads above
water; and having no nets, the voyagers attempted
to take them in a frying-pan—an instrument which
would have been more appropriately used after the
capture.[219]
While in this river they were repeatedly
assailed by large bodies of Indians, frightfully
painted, and yelling like demons from the world of
despair; but the steady discharge of muskets, and
the glancing of balls from the water, damped their
enthusiasm, and compelled them to surrender hostages
to the voyagers. From these they gathered
the fact that they were urged on by Powhatan, and
that this monarch himself was impelled to action
by the discontented in Jamestown, whom Captain
Smith had kept in the country against their wills.
How degraded must have been the population containing
men so deliberate in perfidy![220]
They now desired to explore the Rappahannoc,
but a singular accident deterred them. On entering
its mouth their boat grounded at low tide, and
in the idle hours thus afforded, they amused themselves
by striking with the points of their swords
Smith plunged his weapon into one of peculiar
form, "like a thornback," with a long tail, and from
its midst a poisoned sting, two or three inches long,
bearded like a saw on each side. In taking this
fish from his sword, it drove the sting into his wrist.
No blood appeared, but a small blue spot was seen.
The pain was torturing, and in four hours the whole
hand, arm, and shoulder, had swollen so fearfully,
that death seemed inevitable. With heavy hearts,
his companions prepared his grave, in a spot which,
with his accustomed calmness, he pointed out to
them; but in the moment of despair relief was obtained.
Dr. Russel applied the probe, and used an
oil which he had fortunately with him. Entire
success attended this treatment. The pain and
swelling subsided, and the undaunted captain ate
for his supper a fair proportion of the fish that had
threatened his death.[221] The spot near which this
accident occurred was called Stingray Point, a
name which it still retains.
From this first examination they returned to the
settlement the 21st July. As usual, sickness, want,
depression, and turmoil greeted their eyes. The
imbecile Martin had sailed with Nelson in the Phenix.[222]
Ratcliffe was now president, and while all
around him were suffering with disease and privation,
he entertained himself by having erected in
the woods an elegant mansion for his own special
comfort. Popular discontent might have been fatal
Smith. Ratcliffe was instantly deposed, and at
length the only man truly fitted for the office was
made president.[223] Leaving his friend, Matthew
Scrivener, as his deputy, to restore order and continue
the repairs of the town, the indefatigable
captain prepared for another voyage, and sailed
with twelve men on the 24th July.
Proceeding immediately to the head of the bay,
they passed some time in exploring its four principal
inlets. As they crossed a part of its expanse,
they encountered many canoes filled with the warlike
Massawomecs, of whom they had received so
marvellous accounts from the lowland Indians. A
stratagem awed these warriors, and an interchange
of arms and commodities took place.
They had now an opportunity of viewing the
gigantic Susquehanocs, and of making those observations
upon their size, their dress, and their
manners, which have heretofore been narrated.
The simple giants looked with boundless reverence
upon the short religious ceremony with which Captain
Smith invariably accompanied the duties of
the day. The English had "prayer and a psalm,"
and the Susquehanocs forthwith followed up these
Christian rites with a passionate display of worship
after their own manner. Notwithstanding all opposition,
they adored the English commander as a
god: delivering an edifying discourse, with "most
strange furious action and a hellish voice,"[224]
they
around his neck an oppressive ornament of white
beads, weighing at least six pounds, perchance to
remind him of the weighty responsibility they
would fain assign him.[225]
Leaving these people, they next proceeded up
the Rappahannoc. Mosco, an Indian from the Potomac
accompanied them. They supposed him
to be a descendant of some French settler, because
he had a bushy black beard, of which he was extremely
proud, and claiming to be related, he was
pleased to call the English "his countrymen." He
warned them of the warlike habits of the Rappahannocs,
and they quickly found that he spake the
truth. In no part of Virginia did they encounter
more opposition, or meet with greater courage in
the natives, than on the banks of this river. As
they sailed up, a shower of arrows would pour
upon them from bushes on the shores, behind which
the archers had ingeniously concealed themselves,
and nothing but the willow targets they had obtained
from the Massawomecs protected them from
serious injuries.
When they arrived at the falls, they set up
crosses and carved their names upon the bark of
trees. Many of them were rambling carelessly
through the woods, when suddenly they were attacked
by about one hundred Indians, who discharged
their arrows with great precision, and ran
rapidly from tree to tree, to protect their bodies from
half an hour was thus kept up, when the Indians
vanished as mysteriously as they had first appeared.
Looking over the battle-field, they found a single
savage, wounded by a ball in the knee, and lying
as though dead, but he soon revived, and was with
difficulty preserved from the rage of Mosco, who
earnestly asked the privilege of dashing out the
captive's brains.[226]
The voyagers set sail at night, and proceeded
twelve miles down the river, followed all the way
by the natives, who shrieked, yelled, and shot their
arrows with all the energy of savage natures.[227]
Early in the succeeding dawn, they found themselves
in a broad bay, caused by the lowlands
skirting the river; and here they anchored out of
reach of hostile missives.[228]
After making peace with the Rappahannocs,
they sailed towards the south. A terrible storm of
rain, thunder, and lightning, visited them when a
few miles south of York River, and with grateful
hearts they made a point to which the name of
"Comfort" might well be given. They visited
the Chesapeakes and Nansemonds, who lived
around the place now occupied by the town of
with a flight of arrows, shot as fast as they could
draw their bows; but the English replied with
musket-balls, and the natives left their canoes, and
hid behind the trees on the shore. Smith resolved
to burn the canoes and waste the country; but the
Indians, perceiving his design, sued for peace, and
gave their chief's bow and arrows, a chain of pearl,
and four hundred baskets of corn, as the price of
safety.[229]
Returning in triumph from this expedition, the
voyagers, without farther accident, arrived at
Jamestown on the 7th day of September, after an
absence of nearly two months.
On their return, they found Ratcliffe a prisoner
for mutiny, many sick, some dead, Scrivener in
perfect health, managing the government well, and
rejoicing in the new harvest of corn, which had just
been gathered in. This was the first grain produced
by the industry of the colonists themselves,
and might have been serviceable had it not been
injured by rain.[230]
Smith could now no longer refuse the office
which the Council and colonists united in forcing
upon him. On the 10th of September, he was formally
elected president, and commenced vigorous
measures for the welfare of the settlement. The
church was rebuilt, the store-house repaired, a new
building erected for supplies, the fort put in order,
diligently exercised each Saturday, and a martial
spirit began gradually to displace habits of indolence
and insubordination. The Indians often
attended the drills, and looked with awe upon the
firing of musketry, by which a file of soldiers would
shatter with their balls the trunk of a tree at a considerable
distance.[231]
The time of harvest among the natives having
arrived, Lieutenant Percy was sent out with the
boats to trade; but he had not gone far ere he met
Captain Newport with a ship from England, containing
another supply of settlers and provisions.
In every load of colonists that had yet left the native
country, we mark the usual superabundance
of indolent gentlemen and dissipated cavaliers, to
consume food and create sedition. We find few
labourers and fewer mechanics. But in this last
supply, came eight Poles and Germans, skilled in
making tar, pitch, glass, mills, and soap ashes,—
and two females, Mrs. Forrest and her maid Anne
Burras, the first European women who had yet
dared to exhibit their faces upon the shores of the
Chesapeake.
Newport, with all the vanity of a weak and jealous
mind, had obtained from the council in England
instructions authorizing him, in some cases,
to act independently of the council of the colony;
and setting forth three objects, without obtaining
one of which he was not to return to the mother
of the South Sea, or one of the lost colony of Sir
Walter Raleigh.[232] He came also fully prepared to
astound old Powhatan by a profusion of princely
presents, such as a basin and ewer for the royal
face and hands, a bedstead and bed to be substituted
for the tanned hide that formerly subserved
his majesty's purposes; and by express command
of the ignorant English council, he was to convey
a barge above the falls of the river, and penetrate
to the South Sea![233] Smith regarded with ill-concealed
disgust these ridiculous pretensions; but
prepared, in good faith, to aid Newport in his
schemes. The first grand affair to be accomplished
was the coronation of Powhatan, in the name
and by authority of King James of Britain. When
a small party arrived at Werowocomoco,[234] the presents
were spread before the eyes of the king; but
Newport soon found that he had encountered a
soul not to be dazzled by false show. Powhatan,
with haughty coldness, told Smith that "if the
English king had sent him presents, he also was
would wait but eight days for his coming; he desired
not their aid against the savages above the
falls, as he was able to avenge his own injuries;
and as to the stories his people had told about the
salt waters beyond the mountains, they were all
utterly false." Newport now came, and all the
presents, basin and ewer, beds, bedding, and royal
garments, were prepared. The old king was to be
crowned, and we know not whether to be more
amused at the stupid farce arranged by James
Stuart and executed by Christopher Newport, or
struck with the noble independence of the Indian
monarch. He was willing to wear the scarlet
cloak and other regal apparel offered; but stubbornly
refused to kneel, in order that the crown
might be placed upon his head. He had never
bended the knee to mortal man, and should he now
humble himself before the men who had, as he believed,
so deeply injured him? Vain were all protestations,
examples, and persuasive addresses.
Had the Archbishop of Canterbury stood ready
with the anointing oil, the monarch of the forest
would not have bowed before him. We can gather
from the narrative no other inference than this,
that several attendants pressed heavily on the royal
shoulders, and that while he was thus bent by physical
force, three others placed the crown upon his
brow![235]
Immediately a pistol-shot was fired, and a volley
from the boat announced the glorious coronation.
Powhatan started to his feet in terrible fright, and
seized his arms, but finding that this was part of
the ceremony, he became calm, and, by way of
making due return for the honour conferred on
him, he presented to Captain Newport his worn
mantle and his old shoes![236]
Comment on gifts so
dignified and so appropriate, is entirely unnecessary.
Newport now set forth with one hundred and
twenty chosen men, to explore the country above
the falls and discover the South Sea; but after
wandering in the wooded country several days,
exhausting their strength, provoking the natives,
inflating their own light souls with the hope of
having disclosed a silver mine, they returned to
Jamestown, "deluded and disappointed, half sick,
and all complaining, being sadly harassed with toil,
famine, and discontent."[237]
Smith had plainly foretold this result, and he
now exercised his authority as president, in directing
their labour to more profitable ends.
Leading a number of gentlemen and cavaliers
into the forest, he set them to work with axes to
fell the trees and prepare boards for building. He
himself joined in the task, and shame drove these
proud spirits forward. It has often been found,
that men of good birth and refined manners, possess
indomitable energy when they can be induced
These gentlemanly wood-cutters soon began
to relish their work, and took great delight in hearing
the thunder of the lofty trees as they fell before
their prowess. But fingers, which in England had
perchance been decked with jewels, were sometimes
blistered by the rough contact of an axe, and
often tremendous oaths at every third blow attested
the pain. Smith corrected this habit by counting
the oaths, and for each one, at the close of the day,
a can of cold water was poured down the sleeve of
the offender.[238]
But, while the president thus incited them to industry
and union, the seeds of discontent were yet
alive in the colony. It could not be otherwise with
a mixed band of adventurers, compounded of every
grade and character. Smith was indefatigable in
endeavours to obtain provision, and exacted it from
the Indians by every means in his power. His
necessities alone can be pleaded in justification of
some of his measures, and these necessities would
not have existed but for the indolence and despicable
jealousy of his companions. Newport envied
his influence, and endeavoured to undermine him;
but Smith finally threatened to send the ship to
England and keep the captain, in order that by
bitter experience he might learn the causes at work
unfavourable to the settlement. This threat so
awed him, that he hastened his departure.
While the ship remained, an active trade was
natives. The savages brought furs, baskets, and
"young beasts," and received in exchange powder,
ball, and arms, as well as axes, hoes, butter, cheese,
oatmeal, and oil. The policy of permitting them
to have arms was strictly forbidden by Smith, and
its fatal effects were made apparent in subsequent
years.[239]
The ship, being at length freighted, sailed under
Newport's command. She left behind, among
other colonists, Captains Waldo and Winne, as
members of the Provincial Council.
Deep disappointment had been felt by the English
council at the result of this enterprise, so far as
it had been carried. Their expectations were extravagant,
and their despondency was proportionably
great. They had hoped for gold and silver,
and they had obtained glittering sand and unwrought
cedar. They had looked for accounts of
abundance and content, and they had learned of
famine and incessant discord. By Captain Newport
they had sent an intemperate letter to Smith,
complaining of the state of things in the colony,
and declaring that, unless the expenses of this ship,
amounting to about two thousand pounds, should
be paid by her return cargo, they would abandon
the settlers to their own resources.
To this ungenerous missive Captain Smith returned
a letter, which has been preserved, and
which is a fair transcript of his own vigorous, acute,
and manly character. He refutes every charge
dissensions of the colonists, he refers them to the
true cause—that is, the character of the persons
who had been sent—dissipated cavaliers and indolent
gentlemen, who did nothing but consume what
the industry of a few provided. He begs for mechanics,
"carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fishermen,
blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of
trees' roots." He lashes with unsparing severity
the valueless beings who had possessed authority.
Newport and Ratcliffe are fearlessly denounced.
Their silly requirements as to the South Sea, the
lump of gold, and Raleigh's company, are treated
with well-deserved freedom; and the scheme of employing
Dutchmen in making glass and pot-ashes
is shown to be false in economy; for these articles
might be obtained on the shores of the Baltic greatly
cheaper than they could then be produced in Virginia.
Altogether this letter is an unanswerable
reply to the complaints that had been made, and
must have convinced the English council that one
mind at least in Virginia was worthy of confidence.[240]
The maiden lady, Anne Burras, who had come
with the last adventurers, did not long pine for a
husband. She was soon united to John Laydon,
one of the original settlers; and this marriage was
the first ever solemnized between Europeans on
the soil of Virginia.[241]
Powhatan was too observant not to perceive the
difference in vigour of mind between the vain-glorious
Newport and the resolute Smith. Some
time after the ship had sailed, he sent a message to
the president, inviting him to pay him a visit, and
promising that if he would send men to build him
a house, and send also a cock and hen, a grindstone,
and other articles, he on his part would grant to the
English a full supply of provisions. Smith resolved
instantly to accept this offer; but knowing
the treacherous arts of the savages, he prepared for
every emergency, and determined, if necessary, to
seize the person of the monarch, and retain him as
a hostage until his demands were complied with.
Sending before him two Englishmen and four
Germans to build the house for Powhatan, he left
Jamestown on the 29th December, with a wellarmed
party of volunteers, who eagerly sought the
service.[242]
(1609, Jan. 12.) On arriving at Werowocomoco,
the wary emperor received them with apparent surprise,
and denied that he had sent any invitation
to Captain Smith,—but when his messengers were
confronted with him, he relaxed his caution, and
attempted to give the affair a ludicrous turn. To
their earnest demand for corn he gave dilatory replies,
and would be satisfied with none of their
commodities except swords and muskets. The
critical and dangerous. They were surrounded by
overwhelming numbers of warriors, who waited but
a signal from the king either to fall openly upon
them, or to cut them off by stratagem. And in addition
to these, a secret foe now threatened them.
The Germans who had been sent to build the king's
house, with perfidy infinitely blacker than that of
the savages, united themselves with the natives,
and sought by a thousand schemes to involve the
English in ruin.[243] Their treachery was not fully
discovered until nearly six months after this time,
and thus their secret plan only rendered them the
more dangerous.
But Smith never for a moment lost his self-possession.
If the savage monarch was skilful in
fraud, able in diplomacy, profound in dissimulation,
and prompt in action, he had opposed to him
one competent to meet him. A most ingenious
system of manœuvres now took place. Powhatan
delivered several long harangues, in which, under
the cover of friendly professions and of kingly dignity,
he veiled a purpose of bloody revenge. He
told the English that he had outlived three generations
of his own people, and now in his age he desired
peace. Why should war exist between them
to keep the settlers in watchful suspense, and the
Indians in fear of death from swords and musket-balls?
He entreated his visiters to lay aside their
partake of his hospitality. But the president was
not thus to be deceived. He sternly reminded the
Indian of his promises, reproached him for his refusal
to perform them, admonished him of his own
power, refused to give him weapons, and threatened
to use them. It was at this stage of their debates
that we are told the baffled emperor heaved a deep
sigh, and uttered words so characteristic, so expressive
both of his own disappointment and of his reluctant
esteem for his adversary, that they merit a
place in history.
"Captain Smith," said Powhatan, "I never used
any werowance so kindly as yourself, and yet from
you I receive the least kindness of any. Captain
Newport gave me swords, copper, clothes, a bed,
towels, or what I desired; ever taking what I
offered him, and would send away his guns when
I entreated him. None doth deny to lie at my
feet, or refuse to do what I desire, but only you, of
whom I can have nothing but what you regard
not, and yet you will have whatsoever you demand.
Captain Newport you call father, and so
you call me; but I see for all, as both, you will do
what you list, and we must both seek to content
you. But if you intend so friendly as you say,
send hence your arms, that I may believe you; for
you see the love I bear you doth cause me thus
nakedly to forget myself."[244]
Determined now to proceed to extremities, Smith
prepared to seize the king, and transport him to
the settlement; but the ever-watchful savage took
the alarm, and fled with his valuables, his women
and children, leaving a few attendants to divert
suspicion. The English commenced loading their
boats with corn. The night approached—a storm
of rain and wind arose and raged without intermission.
A dark plot of death was arranged by the
Indians; and, in the relaxed vigilance of the hour,
the English might all have fallen. But a guardian
spirit was near. Through the gloom of the forest,
and the heavy rain of a rigorous season, Pocahontas
hastened to the cottage where the president
was reposing. Her feelings, long restrained, found
relief in tears, and, with all the sensibility of a
woman, she revealed the intended plot, warned
them to prepare, and told them of her own danger,
should it be discovered that she had disclosed the
scheme of her father and his vindictive warriors.[245]
This generous maiden had not been gone more
than an hour, when eight strong savages arrived
from the king's quarters, bringing professions of
amity, and also platters of venison for the use of
the English. The captain listened coolly to their
insidious request, that the matches for the guns
might be extinguished, made them taste every
platter they had brought, and sent them back to
the king with a message that he was ready to receive
him.[246]
Thus the plot of the savages was
favourite daughter.
We cannot justify Smith in his design to seize
the person of Powhatan. War did not exist between
them, and whatever may be the perfidy of
savages, those who pretend to be Christians can
never make this a plea for fraud and violence. Yet
we find our admiration constantly growing with
each step in the history of this great man. He
was ever watchful, brave, and self-balanced. He
controlled the vicious, awed the turbulent, encouraged
the timid, and roused the indolent. Several
periods occurred in the history of the colonists,
when his genius alone preserved them from death,
either by famine or by savage assault. He visited
Pamunky, the seat of Opecancanough, who was
the first of the native chiefs in active and treacherous
hostility to the English. With sixteen men,
Smith encountered the chief, surrounded by nearly
seven hundred braves, and he terrified them by an
act of heroism which they long remembered.
Seizing Opecancanough in the midst of his army,
he wound his hand in the long lock of hair
that graced his head, and, turning a pistol against
his breast, led him forth in sight of all his followers.
Trembling with fear at this determined
conduct, they threw down their arms, and, after a
speech from the president, in which he threatened
that "if they did not load his boat with corn, he
would load her with their carcasses,"[247]
they professed
their good-will, and complied with every demand.
Could his commanding spirit have been every
where, much grief might have been saved to the
settlers. During his absence, a melancholy event
had resulted from the folly of one in whom he had
felt some confidence. Matthew Scrivener had received
letters from England, which encouraged
him to hope that he might displace his friend in
the presidency, and determined him to be "either
Cæsar or nothing."[248]
In order to gain celebrity,
he prepared for an excursion to Hog Island, which
lies in the river, not far from Jamestown. Neither
his own want of skill, the inclemency of the season,
nor the remonstrances of his companions,
could deter him. He embarked in an open boat,
with ten others, among whom we note the names
of Waldo, a member of the Council, and of Anthony
Gosnold, a brother of the great navigator.
A cold and boisterous day greeted their departure,
and, in the storm which followed, the overladen
boat sank beneath the waters, and not one of her
unhappy crew was ever recovered.[249]
The natives had long been satisfied of the weakness
and incapacity generally prevailing among the
settlers; butin proportion as they scorned the rest, did
they esteem and fear the redoubtable Smith. The
German traitors sought in vain for opportunities to
destroy him; and so anxious was Powhatan on the
subject, that he threatened several of his people
with death if they did not cause that of his most
Poison was resorted to, and the savages of Virginia
proved themselves capable of all the deliberate hatred
common in Eastern despotisms; but they were
not so skilful in chemistry as they were relentless
in revenge. Smith was made sick for a time by
their drugs, but took no farther notice of the attempt,
than by having wholesome flagellation inflicted
upon the poisoners.[251] The president seemed
to bear a charmed life. In one of his excursions,
he was suddenly assailed by a chief of the Pasiphays,
a man of great strength and giant stature,
who first tried to entice him into a snare, and then
drew his bow upon him. When they grappled,
neither was able to use his weapons; the Indian
dragged his foe into the river, and a fearful struggle
for life ensued. Smith seized his antagonist by
the throat, and so firmly retained his grasp that the
Indian sank beneath him, and suffered himself to
be carried a prisoner to Jamestown. This Indian
afterwards escaped; and when the president reproached
two of his tribe, whom he made prisoners,
with the flight of their chief, one, in a strain of
savage oratory, told him he should remember that
"the fishes swim, the foules fly, and the very beasts
strive to escape the snare and live."[252] From these
and other arguments they drew an excuse for their
chief, so stringent, that the president made peace
friends.
Thus the captain retained his influence with the
natives. They began to regard his power with
superstitious reverence, and accident confirmed
their faith. A young Indian having been apprehended
for stealing a pistol, was confined in a
guard-room until the weapon was returned. To
contribute to his comfort during the cold night,
fire and a supply of charcoal were sent in, together
with his food. The unlettered savage knew little
of carbonic acid gas, and for the sake of humanity
it is to be hoped that his captors knew not much
more. The fumes of the burning charcoal soon
deprived the hapless prisoner of consciousness, and
when a companion, who brought back the pistol,
found him, he was stretched, as though lifeless,
upon the ground. The others commenced a grievous
lamentation. The president arrived, and immediately
directed the strongest brandy and vinegar
to be applied, and used other remedies so
successfully, that ere morning the patient was perfectly
restored.[253]
Nothing more was necessary to
the reputation of Captain Smith among the savages;
he might have been made a king or a god at his
pleasure. He who could give life to the dead was
worthy of the worship of mortals.
The natives now desired peace, and used all
means to conciliate the settlers. Stolen property
was returned; arms were no longer snatched with
who were detected in theft were apprehended by
Powhatan and sent for punishment to Jamestown.[254]
Thus the colonists became secure in their persons
and property, and had the fairest opportunity for
improvement in their general prospects. The president
was untiring in energy, prudent in every
undertaking; the arts were encouraged; glass, tar,
and soap-ashes were tried; a well of excellent water
was opened; twenty houses were built; the church
was newly covered; nets and weirs were provided
for fishing; fowls were domesticated, and increased
with astonishing rapidity; Hog Island was peopled
with its appropriate inhabitants.
Matters began to wear a bright appearance, and
but two causes operated against their prosperity:
the one was unavoidable, as it came in the form of
innumerable rats, who destroyed vast quantities of
their grain; the other was their own "insufferable
sloth and unreasonable perverseness,"[255]
which often
bade defiance to every exertion of the president, and
plunged them again in distress and famine. The
river abounded in sturgeon, which were caught by
the lazy settlers, and eaten, sometimes alone, sometimes
compounded with the esculent grasses of the
soil around them. Rather than work, many were
so mean in spirit as to permit themselves to be billetted
upon the Indians, who fed their valueless
bodies with great hospitality.[256]
We can hardly attribute to the English council
motives of pure philanthropy, for their desire to
obtain some knowledge of the fate of Walter Raleigh's
unhappy colony. It is more probable they
were excited by the hope, that these men, by their
communion with the natives, had secured some
knowledge of the gold and silver mines supposed
to be in the country, or, perchance, of that South
Sea, which constantly rolled before the eyes of
European fancy. But whatever may have been
their motives, Smith did not neglect the duty imposed
upon him. He had despatched Michael
Sicklemore, a hardy and gallant soldier, with a
small party, to the Chowan River, to seek acquaintance
with the natives, and make inquiries about
the lost settlers. Sicklemore returned at this time,
having zealously fulfilled his duties, explored the
country, ascertained its resources, and conciliated
the natives, but without having gathered even a
savage rumour concerning the abandoned colony.
He was equally unsuccessful in his search for silk-grass,
which had been assigned as one of the objects
of his inquiries.[257]
The treason of the Germans had now been fully
developed. They were afraid to encounter the
just indignation of the English settlers, and remained
among the Indians in a state of mind and
body sufficiently comfortless. Traitors themselves,
they could hope for little countenance, even from
the men to whom they had sold their honour.
William Volday, a Swiss by birth, was employed
misguided foreigners, with the hope of regaining
them to the colony. But this messenger of peace,
with doubly-refined treachery, united with the
Dutchmen, and endeavoured to lead the Indians
in a body against the unsuspecting settlement.
When this plot was revealed at Jamestown, the
utmost indignation prevailed, and a deliberate proposal
was made to go to the native quarters and
cut down these traitors in the very sight of Powhatan.
This bold scheme was not accomplished;
but the Indian monarch, finding he could no longer
hope for advantage from his allies, disclaimed their
attempt, and ever afterwards regarded them with
an evil eye.[258]
And now an unexpected arrival took place. Captain
Samuel Argal entered the bay with a single
ship, drawn by the hope of gain from the fishery
of sturgeon and traffic with the colony. The laws
indeed forbade the fishery, except to the settlers;
but Argal was a kinsman of Sir Thomas Smith,
the Treasurer of the London Company, who connived
at the expedition.[259]
The colonists were well
pleased with the wine and good provisions he
brought, and the adventurer himself was not of a
character to be deterred by mere legal obstacles.
From him the Virginians obtained the first intelligence
of proceedings in England which deeply
give due attention.
The London Company had been greatly disappointed
in their hopes with regard to the colony.
Gold and silver had flowed in continuous streams
from the mines of South America to the coffers of
Portugal and Spain, and English avarice demanded,
why had not equal wealth been drawn from
the bosom of the northern continent? Had their
wisdom borne any proportion to their cupidity,
the adventurers might have seen in the feeble settlements
they were now establishing, the germ of
lasting wealth and of happiness, which the richest
minerals could not purchase; but their insatiate
desires craved instant gratification, their hunger
for riches called continually for sustenance, and
they were at first better pleased with hopes of gold
from a sand-bank, or of silver from shining dust
on the shores of the Potomac,[260]
than with the most
intelligent efforts for successful colonizing. It has
been happy for Virginia that the gold she really
possesses was not discovered in any quantity until
long years of industry had established the tenants
of her soil. Had the mines now open in the counties
of Orange, Culpeper, Louisa, Fauquier, Stafford,
and Buckingham,[261]
been even suspected to
have existed in the days of the London corporation,
it is not probable that Thomas Jefferson would
ever have written the charter of American freedom,
or that Washington would have gained a ratification
of that charter in the trenches of Yorktown.
advantage rather than for colonial extension. Two
years had now passed away, and they found not
one of their brilliant dreams realized. No gold had
brought sudden wealth; no precious wood had returned
to repay the contributions of the motherland;
no boat had penetrated to the South Seas, to
connect the riches of the Indies with the ports of
Britain. Forests had been felled, vegetation had
been encouraged, only to bring disease and death
to the settlers; Indian hostilities had raged with
few intermissions; discord had distracted the counsels,
and indolence had paralysed the strength of
the colonists. These evils were too apparent to be
longer neglected, nor can we censure the council
for desiring to find a remedy; but we can note their
blindness to their own faults, and their unworthy
attack upon the only man who really merited praise
at their hands.
Smith's administration had been firm and consistent.
He had laboured ardently for the substantial
welfare of the settlers, knowing that in
their permanent success alone must depend the
final profit of the company. He saw at once that
no precious metals would be found, to meet the importunate
demands of England; but he knew that
the country was rich, its soil was fertile, its forests
were valuable, its natural products were abundant—
and his expanded view enabled him to perceive that
only perseverance was necessary to make Virginia
invaluable to the country that gave her birth.[262]
rigour towards the Indians, attributed to him the
dissensions caused by the vices of the men they
had themselves sent to the colony, and finally determined
to seek an entire change in the government
heretofore existing in Virginia. They accordingly
applied to the King for a new charter,
and on the 23d May he granted to them a patent,
from which they promised themselves all manner
of success.
We must now look to the terms of this second
expression of royal wisdom, and see whether we
can discover in it any thing favourable to the rights
of the settlers themselves.[263]
He who shall hope that
greater privileges were now granted to them, will
be sadly disappointed.
The King erected a gigantic corporation, under
the name and style of the Treasurer and Company
for Virginia. It consisted of more than twenty
peers of the realm, among whom we note the distinguished
names of Robert, Earl of Salisbury,
Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, Henry, Earl of Southampton,
and of the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.
It consisted further of nearly one hundred knights,
among whom we find Sir George Moor, Sir Edwin
Sandys, Sir Dudley Digges, Sir Herbert Crofte,
and Sir Francis Bacon. Leaving the knighted
ranks, the eye then glances along several massive
pages of names, designating every class, from the
stout English gentleman to the most humble trader
We then plunge into a sea of private corporations,
as mercers, drapers, fishmongers, grocers,
goldsmiths, skinners, salters, ironmongers, waxchandlers,
butchers, saddlers, and barber chirurgeons:
and in this we swim, until we begin to believe that
London is about to pour out in full power its artisan
force upon the shores of the new world. All
these are invested with regular corporate privileges,
as the right to fill vacancies, to elect new members,
to have a common seal, and perpetual succession.[264]
Having called this unwieldy monster into being,
the King proceeds to divest himself of the powers
held by the crown under the first charter, and to
vest them in the corporation.[265]
A council was still
to exist in England, to whom was committed absolute
authority in governing the colony abroad.
This council consisted of fifty-two persons, and
was originally appointed by the King, but full
power was given to the company to nominate,
choose, displace, change, alter, and supply the
members of this governing body, as a majority
might see fit.[266]
The council was invested with authority
to appoint all officers necessary to the colony;
and, instead of the former provincial establishment
of a president and council, we find a governor
provided, who, with his counsellors, is invested with
terrific powers in administering the laws enacted
by the council in England, or (such laws not having
to consult his own discretion, even in cases
criminal and capital.[267] In cases of rebellion and
mutiny, the governor is empowered to call to his
aid the arm of martial law, with as full energy as
it might be employed by lieutenants governing
other dependencies of the English realm; and he
is himself to judge of the emergency calling for
this stern exercise of power.
We deem it not necessary to dwell further upon
the provisions of this charter, as many of them are
substantially the same with those previously explained
in speaking of the original patent. The observant
reader will note, with pain, that not one political
right is granted to the colonists, or secured to
their children. They are transferred, without ceremony,
from the grasp of a single hand to the busy
manipulations of a thousand lawgivers, formed into a
great commercial company, and wholly independent
of the choice of the settlers. The power of the governor
was enormous, and after experience proved that
it did not exist in theory alone. The colonists were
indeed mocked with clauses securing to them the
rights of Englishmen, and the enjoyment of the
laws and policy of the mother country;[268]
but these
sounding promises never had any practical operation.
And finally, with many pious wishes breathed
for the conversion of the heathen, and against
the bringing in of Romish superstitions, all intending
a king, better fitted for the metaphysical debates
of the learned host in Pandæmonium,[270] than to give
laws to the visible kingdom of Christ on earth.
Sir Thomas Smith was appointed treasurer. Of
him we have heretofore spoken. He was first a
merchant in London, amassed a large fortune, was
made governor of the East India and Moscovy
Company; sent by James ambassador to Russia;
and was one of Walter Raleigh's assignees.[271]
Much
blame has been cast upon this gentleman for his
administration of some of the affairs of Virginia,
and for the careless manner in which he permitted
his accounts to be kept; yet we must award him
due praise for his zeal, and for the integrity which
he uniformly exhibited.
The company immediately prepared for strenuous
efforts. Thomas West, Lord Delaware, was
elected governor and captain-general of the colony.
This appointment was highly judicious, for
it fell upon a man distinguished in birth, high-minded
and generous in disposition, of commanding
talents, and of peculiar fitness for the duty of
superintending an infant settlement.[272]
Emigrants now offered themselves from every
quarter and of every class. Nine vessels were
equipped, and furnished with every thing necessary
to safety during the voyage, and to the comfort
of the colonists on their arrival. They carried
nearly five hundred settlers, besides their crews,
and set forth under auspices so flattering as to
attract to their enterprise the title of "the Virgine
voyage."[273]
Lord Delaware remained yet in England,
intending to follow them in the course of a
few months. Sir George Somers was appointed
admiral of Virginia, Sir Thomas Gates lieutenant-general,
and Christopher Newport commander of
the fleet; but by a most unwise arrangement, these
three officers all embarked in the same ship, being
unable to determine among themselves the important
question of priority.[274]
They sailed from Plymouth on the 2d day of
June, and notwithstanding their express orders to
proceed immediately westward, they went as far
south as the twenty-sixth degree of latitude, and
paid the penalty of their delay in disease and death
among their crews. But a more imposing danger
now assailed them. On the 24th July, a tremendous
hurricane came on, attended with all the horrors
of a tropical storm. The heavens became gradually
darker, until they assumed a pitchy hue;
seemed to burst immediately above the tops of
their masts; the wind blew with so much fury,
that sails were torn from the yards, masts were
carried away, and the sea, rolling in huge waves
over their decks, swept off every thing that could
be displaced, and entering the holds, it reduced
many of their cargoes to ruin.[275] In this awful
tempest, the ships of the fleet were all separated,
and the ketch, unable to weather the storm, foundered
at sea, and all her crew were lost. Leaving
the other ships for a season, we must now follow
the Sea-Adventure, in which the three principal
commanders had embarked together.
This stout vessel was heavily laden with provisions,
and carried out also the commission for the
new government in Virginia. Her safety was all-important,
but it seemed impossible that she could
survive. A leak admitted streams of water, and
incessant pumping for three days and four nights
could scarcely keep her afloat. During all this
time, the venerable Somers kept the deck.[276]
His
gray locks streamed in the tempest and were saturated
with rain, yet his self-possession never deserted
him. Even when his exhausted crew abandoned
all hope, and, staving the spirit casks, endeavoured
his calmness, and was the first to discover
land. The ship struck the ground about half a
mile from the shore, and was thrown in such a
position between two rocks, that all on board were
easily saved.
The island on which they were wrecked was
one of the well-known Bermuda group, lying in
the Atlantic, about six hundred miles from the
American coast.[277]
They have never been remarkable
for fertility; but their climate is charming.
When approached from the seaboard, they present
a most picturesque appearance; and they have been
invested with peculiar interest by the notice of an
English poet, who once passed a season of his life
within their rocky barrier.
The isle they first reached was uninhabited. It
had previously been visited by Spaniards, and in
1591 an English ship had been cast away upon its
coast, but now none of the human species were
left. It was moreover supposed to be enchanted.
Strange tales of demons and monsters of fantastic
form had been received, and the English sailors
were alive to all the superstitions of their class.[278]
But they had no reason to complain of inhospitable
the heavens were serene—the waters abounded
with excellent fish—the beach was covered with
turtle—birds of many kinds enlivened the forests—
and the whole island swarmed with hogs, which
were so numerous that very little labour sufficed
to procure plenty.
A mid this profusion they remained nine months.
The loveliness of nature had not subdued human
passions. Somers was envied, and the commanders
lived apart; yet the influence of the good admiral
was exerted to have daily worship,—and on Sunday,
divine service was performed, and two sermons
were preached by Mr. Bucke, their chaplain. In
the brief space of this sojourn, one marriage was
celebrated, two children were born and baptized,
five persons died, of whom one was murdered,—
and when they left the island the murderer escaped,
and with another culprit remained, to be afterwards
instrumental in a singular discovery.[279]
(1610.) Many were so well pleased with the climate
and resources of this island that they would
willingly have made it their abode. But the admiral
longed for Virginia. Two vessels were constructed
from the cedar of the isle—the lower seams
were calked with the old cables and other cordage
saved from the wreck—the upper seams were filled
with a mixture of lime and turtle's oil, which soon
became hard as a stone. Sir George Somers had
but one single piece of iron in his bark, a bolt in
her keel,—yet these vessels proved strong and seaworthy.
as they had saved from the Adventure, and with a
large store of pork from the wild hogs of the island,
cured with salt obtained by crystallizing the sea
water on the rocks around them.
(1610.) Thus prepared, they set sail on the 10th
of May, and steered directly for Virginia. Their
vessels bore the appropriate names of Patience and
Deliverance; yet in the brief voyage unexpected
dangers severely tried the one, and threatened the
existence of the other. At length, on the 24th, they
made Point Comfort, and sailed up the river to the
long-sought settlement. But here a heavy disappointment
awaited them. Instead of plenty and
peace, they found starvation and wretchedness—instead
of smiling faces and looks of welcome, they
met gaunt forms and wasted strength—miserable
beings, who with difficulty dragged themselves
forth to receive their countrymen. To explain this
gloomy scene, we must go back to the time when,
during the hurricane, Sir George Somers, in the
Sea-Adventure, was separated from the rest of the
fleet.
(1609.) Seven vessels rode out the storm, and
arrived, in a shattered condition, in Virginia, during
the month of August. So considerable a fleet
caused alarm; and believing them to be Spaniards,
the president prepared to greet them warmly with
shot from the fort. The Indians came forward, and
offered their aid in defending the settlement;[280]
and
had not the mistake been speedily discovered, the
When the new colonists were landed, it was soon
discovered that the supply of provisions they
brought, with that at the settlement, was hardly
adequate to their wants. But even this was a small
evil, when compared with that flowing from their
own vicious characters. We have heretofore had
occasion to speak of the quality of the material
forming the settlement,—but all that had before
been sent were virtuous in contrast with those of
the late importation. Gentlemen, reduced to poverty
by gaming and extravagance, too proud to
beg, too lazy to dig—broken tradesmen, with some
stigma of fraud yet clinging to their names—footmen,
who had expended in the mother country the
last shred of honest reputation they had ever held—
rakes, consumed with disease and shattered in the
service of impurity—libertines, whose race of sin
was yet to run—and "unruly sparks, packed off
by their friends to escape worse destinies at
home,"—these were the men who came to aid in
founding a nation, and to transmit to posterity their
own immaculate impress;[281] —and, to crown all, the
three men, Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin, who had
been sent away from the colony with the hope that
they were gone for ever, now returned, to present
again a rallying point for insubordinate folly.
Immediately all was confusion and turbulence;
the new officers declared that by the charter every
function of the old government had been destroyed,
and they insisted that the president could no longer
exercise authority. Smith would most willingly
have abandoned the thankless office he held, and
bade adieu to a colony that seemed destined to misrule;[282]
but no higher functionary had yet arrived
to displace him, and he could not calmly view the
ruinous freaks of these arrogant pretenders. Acting
with his usual promptness, he arrested Ratcliffe
and Archer in the full tide of mutiny, threw them
into prison, and kept them closely confined until
he should have time to bring them properly to
trial. This resolute conduct awed the rest, and
reduced them to something like submission; but
knowing that idleness would quickly inflame the
old malady, he sought means of employing them.
He despatched Captain West, with a hundred and
twenty men, to form a settlement at Powhatan, just
below the falls; and sent Martin, with nearly an
equal number, to Nansemond, for a similar purpose.
His year having nearly expired, he resigned the
presidency to the last-named person (whose proper
title seems to have been Sicklemore), but the new
president, after wearing his honours during the
protracted space of three hours,[283]
declared himself
wholly incompetent, and once more the magnanimous
Smith was compelled to assume the office.
West was a man of easy and indolent temper,
new country. The president was obliged to go in
person and purchase from the Indian king a place
for the new settlement. It was not far from the
falls, and possessed so many advantages of nature
that the English called it "Nonesuch," a name
certainly more expressive than elegant. But the
disorderly gang assembled here did nothing useful.
They mutinied against the president, robbed
the savages, broke open their houses, spoiled their
gardens, and in other ways so incensed them that, a
short time after Smith's departure, twelve natives,
well armed, fell upon the hundred and twenty
colonists, killed several as they wandered through
the woods, and kept the whole in mortal fear for
their lives. So thoroughly were they frightened
by this insignificant band, that they sued for peace
with the president, and entreated him to protect
them. He placed some of the most refractory in
confinement; and having by his influence appeased
the Indians, he again left them to return to Jamestown.
But as he passed down the river, a most
unfortunate casualty befell him. While asleep in
the boat, his powder-bag accidentally took fire, and
the explosion tore the flesh from his body, and
inflicted a terrible wound. In the agony of pain
he endured, he plunged into the water, and was
with much difficulty saved from drowning. In
this dangerous condition he was conveyed nearly
one hundred miles to the fort. It might be supposed
that the helpless state of this brave sufferer
would have excited compassion in bosoms of stone.
conspired to take his life. A murderer
was sent to his bed with a pistol, but in the critical
moment his heart failed him, and he suffered
his proposed victim to live.[284]
Unable to procure in the colony such surgical
aid as he needed, Captain Smith determined to
return to England. His purpose was soon made
known; and the better hearts among the settlers,
concurring in his views of the necessity for this
step, took leave of him with unfeigned sorrow,
and elected George Percy president in his stead.
Thus, early in the autumn of 1609, the hero of
Virginia left her shores, never again to return.[285]
It would not be consistent with the purpose of
this work to follow him further in his career. His
active spirit could not remain unemployed; and to
him New England is indebted for much of the
interest which at last drew hardy settlers to her
shores. We shall meet again with Smith under
circumstances honourable alike to his head and to
his heart. We have seen enough already to convince
us that he united in himself rare virtues,
and that his faults were those of an ardent and
generous temperament. Those who knew him
best have borne testimony to his noble character.
Justice was the pole-star of his life; experience
formed the basis of his views; selfishness had no
place in his bosom; falsehood and avarice were
the world, he partook of its excitement without
imbibing its corruption; bred in a camp, he yet
avoided the proverbial vices of the soldier, and
was never a slave to "wine, debts, dice, or oaths."[286]
Prompt in decision and formidable in conflict, he
was yet gentle in victory, and open to the approaches
of confiding dispositions. The savages
themselves, though often foiled by his prudence
and defeated by his courage, respected him as a
friend, and even loved him as a father.
This great man died in London in the year 1631,
at the age of fifty-two. The events attending his
death are obscure, and his own genuine modesty
has concealed many facts which the world would
have rejoiced to learn.[287]
If we needed any proof of the inestimable benefit
that John Smith had conferred on the Virginia
colony, we might find it in the disasters which almost
immediately followed his departure. He left
behind him more than four hundred and ninety
persons,—of whom at least one hundred were well-trained
soldiers,—twenty-four pieces of ordnance, a
large quantity of muskets, firelocks, shot, powder,
pikes, and swords, sufficient for the whole colony;
nets for fishing, tools for labour, clothes to supply
all wants; horses, swine, poultry, sheep, and goats
in abundance; a harvest newly gathered; three
ships, seven boats: every thing, in short, that could
be required for the wants of the idle, and more than
see, with pain, this profusion squandered; these
resources turned to the worst purposes, and these
fair numbers diminished by their own vicious
courses.
George Percy was constantly sick, and could
give no personal attention to the government. Riot
and sedition every where prevailed. The Indians,
emboldened by their discord, and irritated by their
insolence, assailed them on every side; drove in
the feeble settlements at Nansemond and Powhatan,
which West and Martin had planted, and
threatened Jamestown itself with destruction. The
king threw off his apathy and assumed his wonted
power. Plots thickened around them; ambuscades
were prepared in every forest hedge; the settlers
dared not wander forth in search of food or of recreation;
those who were so rash as thus to expose
themselves were, with few exceptions, destroyed
by the natives. Hemmed in on every side, harassed
by the Indians, distracted by their own profligate
disputes, the wretched colonists now began to
experience the tortures of famine. Their provisions
either failed entirely, or were rendered unwholesome
by decay. Diseases spread rapidly
among them, and death commenced his race.
Maddened by suffering, they invoked curses on
the head of Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer in
England, imputing to him a scarcity caused by
for an exercise of his treachery and his
revenge. By specious promises he tempted Ratcliffe
and about forty men within his reach, for the
alleged purpose of trade. The savages suddenly
fell upon them, and not one escaped except a helpless
boy, whom the generous daughter of the king
rescued from the hands of the murderers.[290]
Their misery had now nearly reached its height.
Weakened by disease, and sunk in profound gloom,
one after another the colonists descended to the
grave. Famine, in all its horrors, was among
them. For years, even for centuries afterwards,
this fatal season was spoken of as "The Starving
Time." As their regular food disappeared, they
were driven to the most revolting means for sustenance.
The skins of their horses were prepared
by cooking, and yielded precarious support; and
it is related that the body of an Indian, who had
been slain, was disinterred and eagerly devoured
by these civilized cannibals! The soul sickens at
such recitals, yet are we compelled to go farther.
Several historians relate that one miserable wretch,
in the pangs of hunger, killed his own wife, and
fed upon her body several days before the deed
was discovered!![291]
Unwilling to believe, we seek
for some explanation of this horrible account; but
we find nothing to mitigate it, except the fact, that
gratify his hunger, and that the discovery of her
dismembered body in his house was the means of
his detection.[292]
Of all that Smith had left in Virginia, sixty persons
only now survived; and these maintained a
feeble existence upon roots, herbs, and berries, with
a few fish taken from time to time in the river.
(1610, May 24) Ten days more would probably
have closed the scene, and Somers and Gates, on arrival,
would have found the settlement tenanted only
by the dead. The view really presented was indeed
little more cheering. Weak, pallid, emaciated, with
feelings made callous by suffering, and selfish from
the very intensity of misery, the survivors received
their countrymen in hopeless gloom. To remain
longer upon this fatal soil, was a thought they did
not encourage for a moment; and even had they
desired it, the provisions brought by the ships
would not have supplied their wants. With difficulty
the two commanders could gather from the
confused accounts of the settlers, some notion of
their sufferings, and of the causes that produced
them. It was determined that all should embark,
and sailing first to the banks of Newfoundland for
a supply of food, that they should then proceed
immediately to England.
With that association of thought and feeling so
proposed to burn their ancient home, and thus
sweep away at once the vestiges of their misery;[293]
but Sir Thomas Gates steadily resisted this barbarous
design.
Having buried their ordnance at the gate of the
fort, they prepared for their departure. The drum
beat a melancholy measure, and, at its sound, the
colonists embarked in four pinnaces, and, on the
7th of June, turned their backs upon the deserted
settlement. The Virginian who loves his state,
cannot look, without deep feeling, upon this sad
page in her history. Twenty-five years had passed
away since the first feeble colony of Raleigh had
gained the shores of North Carolina. Brave hearts
had been called into action, noble lives had sunk
in death under the influence of the climate, and
now at last it seemed as though the last effort had
been made and had failed. The beautiful country
was to be deserted; the houses, which English art
had built, where Christian rites had been solemnized,
and where some of the sweet pleasures of
civilized life had been tasted, were soon to be over-topped
by the weeds of the field, or converted to
the purposes of savage superstition. But the Author
of good willed it not so.
On the morning of the 8th, the vessels had been
wafted by the ebb tide to Mulberry Island Point,
and, while awaiting the turn of the flood, they discovered
a boat approaching from below. In one
and aroused even the desponding minds aboard,
by information that Lord Delaware had arrived
from England with three ships and an ample supply
of provision, and that hearing at Point Comfort
of the proposed abandonment of the colony,
he had sent this boat before him to encourage
them and prevent their departure. Instantly, as
if by magic, a load of depression was rolled from
the hearts of the colonists, hope once more dawned
upon them, gloom deserted their countenances—a
leader had arrived, able to minister to their necessities
and to govern their counsels. Spreading
their canvass to a fair easterly wind, the whole
fleet sailed up the river, and, on Sunday, the 10th
of June, they came to anchor at the very spot
which, two days before, they had left, with a stern
resolve never to return.[294]
The winter of 1607 was remarkable
for its severity. Stith, 51. This
was noted not only in America, but
in Europe. Belknap's Am. Biog.,
ii. 54; Burk's Va., i. 106.
Smith, i. 159; Burk, i. 107.
The fly he could not force to stay,
He deemed it some magician's charm,
That might defend his land from harm;
And instant, with commandment loud,
He bade desist the frantic crowd."
The reader will perhaps not object
to see here a brief specimen of
the poetry with which the writers in
Captain Smith's history have plentifully
besprinkled their narratives.
"They entertained him with most
strange and fearefull conjurations:
Amongst the Devils to dwell."
This scene, which rivals the
most romantic passages in the history
of the world, is perfectly well
authenticated.—See Smith, i. 162;
Stith, 55; Beverley, 26; Keith, 70;
Campbell, 39; Drake's Amer. Indian
Biog., b. iv., c. i.; Grimshaw's
U. S., 29; Frost's Pictor. Hist., i.
90; Marshall's Am. Colon., 35, in a
very eloquent passage; Burk's account,
i. 113, 114, is inflated and declamatory;
Mr. Bancroft, i. 147,
arms the executioners with tomahawks
instead of clubs.
His eye awaits the coming shock
Of that dread club, upwhirl'd in air,
With muscle strained, and looks that glare.
A shriek arrests the downward blow,
And Pocahontas shields the foe
`Father,' in shuddering agony she cries,
`Oh, spare this bosom, or thy daughter dies.' "
The only passage which gives
the shadow of foundation for such a
charge is in Numbers xxv. 22, 23,
where killing by accident and without
malice is made punishable, unless
the homicide fled to one of the
cities of refuge.
Raynal's Indies, vi. 36; Bancroft's
U. S., i. 148; Grahame's Colon.
Hist. i. 45. "There was no
talke, no hope, no worke, but dig
gold, wash gold, refine gold, load
gold." Smith, i. 169.
This map is now before me, in
Smith, i., opposite page 149; it may
also be seen in Purchas, iv., opposite
1691.
Stith's Va., 64; Russel's Narrative,
in Smith, i. 178. Those who
have seen the enormous quantities of
herrings caught each spring on the
fishing shores of the Potomac, will
not think this account exaggerated.
"Never was dog more furious
against a beare, than Mosco was to
have beat out his brains." Smith,
i. 186.
The author, in his boyhood, has
often wandered amid the scenes
where Captain Smith's fight with
the Rappahannocs is supposed to
have taken place. It was probably
near the present site of the town of
Fredericksburg; but various indications
prove that, during the past two
centuries, the river has changed its
bed at this spot.
Smith, 194, 195, gives an entertaining
account of a masquerade
which Pocahontas caused to be exhibited
before him on his arrival at
Werowocomoco. Indian maidens,
very nearly in the decorations of
nature, were the "dramatis personæ;"
but if the Captain was himself
the author of this short narrative,
he could not have thought very
highly of these damsels. He calls
them "fiends," speaks of their "hellish
shouts and cryes," and bitterly
complains of their tormenting him
by "crowding, pressing, and hanging
about him, most tediously crying,
`Love you not me? love you
not me?' "
The full account is in Smith, i.
196; Stith, 78, 79; Hillard's Smith,
ii. 285; Keith, 84. Mr. Burk's Irish
bosom swells with pride in telling of
Powhatan's obstinacy, and with his
bosom swells his language, i. 129.
Smith, i. 204; Stith, 84; Burk,
i. 130. Beverley, 19, erroneously
dates this marriage in 1609, as doth
also Oldmixon, Brit. Empire, i. 359.
When he and Beverley agree, they
are generally both wrong.
Burk, i. 132; Hillard's Smith,
ii. 297; Smith, i. 205; Stith, 85. A
strange anachronism occurs in the
original account in Smith. They
are said to have left Jamestown on
the 29th December, and yet we are
told afterwards that they spent their
Christmas among the Indians!
Purchas, iv., 1721, 1725. "Those
damned Dutchmen," they are elegantly
styled by the writer in Purchas.
Stith, 89. See "Powhatan's
Chimney," S. and W. Lit. Mess. for
Sept., 1846, 539.
The speech is given as in the
text in Smith, i. 210; Stith, 88, preserves
the substance, but changes
slightly the phraseology; Purchas,
iv. 1721.
This account I find in a writer
in Smith, i. 225, 226. It is repeated
in Stith, 96; Keith, 113; Hillard's
Smith, ii. 323.
Stith, 100; Hillard, ii. 332; Belknap,
ii. 148, says, "a kinsman of
Sir Thomas Dale;" but Stith is the
best guide.
This charter may be read in full
in Hening's Stat. at Large, i. 80-98,
in Stith's Appen., No. ii. 8-22, and
in Hazard, i. 58-72.
Of Providence, foreknowledge, will and fate,
Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end in wandering mazes lost.
* * * * * Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy!"
New `Life of Virginea, ii., in
Force's Hist. Tracts, vol. i.; Belknap's
Am. Biog., ii. 115; Hubbard's
note.
Smith, i. 234; Belknap, ii. 120;
New Life of Virginea, 9. The names
of the vessels were "the Sea-Adventure,
the Diamond, the Falcon,
the Blessing, the Unity, the Swallow,
the Lion, with a ketch and a
pinnace." Belknap, ii. 120.
Purchas, iv. 1735, 1736. The
account of this storm in Purchas, is
given by one who deals largely in
extravagant rhetorical figures; but
his imagination was evidently heated
to intensity by the recalling this
fearful scene. Smith, i. 235; Belknap,
ii. 121.
"At the time of his appointment
to be admiral of Virginia, he was
above sixty years of age." Belknap,
ii. 117.
Murray's Encyc. Geog., iii. 296;
Raynal's Indies, v. 65-68.
That happy island! where huge lemons grow,
And orange trees, which golden fruit do bear,
Th' Hesperian garden boasts of none so fair;
Where shining pearl, coral, and many a pound,
On the rich shore, of ambergris is found.
English Poets, viii 47.
Purchas, iv. 1737; Henry May's
Nar., in Smith, ii. 117, and post, 121;
Belknap, ii. 124; Jordan's News
from Bermudas, 1613, in Belknap.
Those who suspect exaggeration
here may consult Smith, i. 235;
New Life of Virginea, 10, vol. i.;
Stith, 103; Keith, 116, 117; Belknap,
ii. 122, 123; Bancroft, i. 154;
Beverley, 21, 22.
"Virginia, like most of the other
colonies, was inhabited at first only
by vagabonds, destitute of family
and fortune." Raynal's Indies, vi.
44. I have not examined the original,
but presume the translator
does the learned Abbé no injustice
in rendering this passage.
Smith, i. 240, 241; Stith, 107;
Hillard's Smith, iii. 344; Grahame's
Colon. Hist., i. 56; Marshall's Am.
Colon. 44.
Stith, 116; Belknap's Am. Biog.,
ii. 104-106; New Life of Virginea,
10; Force's Tracts, vol. i.; Oldmixon's
Brit. Emp., i. 362.
| CHAPTER III. A history of Virginia | |