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April 26, 1607 - 105 men having left London on December 20, 1606 aboard the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery, three ships chartered by the Virginia Company of London, reach the coast of Virginia and cast anchor in a place they name Cape Henry in honor of the crown prince of England.
This expedition had been backed by a group of merchants and investors of London by virtue of a charter granted on April 10, 1606 by King James 1. Its main mission was to found a sustainable settlement on the North American coast with the aim to find the mythical passage towards Pacific Ocean and Asia.
The Susan-Constant, a 120-ton vessel captained by Christopher Newport, carried 71 passengers; the 40-ton Godspeed was
captained by Bartholomew Gosnold and carried 52 passengers. Under captain John
Ratcliffe, the Discovery, a 16-ton
flyboat , carried 21 persons.
According
to the agreements, Edward Maria Wingfield, one of the leaders of the
expedition, claims the new land on behalf of the crown of England and unseals
the instructions of the Company previously kept secret.
He is
elected first President of the council for one year. [05/14/1607]
The
Royal Charter
On April
10, 1606, Sir Edward Wingfield, Sir Richard Hakluyt, Sir Thomas Gates and Sir
George Somers, representing the Virginia Company of London received from King
James 1 a charter authorizing them to found a colony in Virginia. Among the
four beneficiaries, Wingfield would be the only one to take part in the first trip across the ocean.
The king had entrusted the members of the Company with the right to risk their life but also to enjoy all freedom to secure the settlement of new colonies and plantations with the aim of enlarging the Kingdom of England.
He had set out the boundaries within which
should live the colonists, between 34th and 38th parallels, an area equivalent to the coast of Virginia.
He also clarified related activities and rights granted to them in particular with regard to the
" lands, forests, soils, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, ponds, waters and
fishing ".
The charter also included a religious mission.
King James got along well to spread Christianity within these new British colonies by converting those who " lived in the darkness
and the ignorance of the true
knowledge and the work of God and
to return to the human civilization the unfaithful and the savages who lived on
these lands and to establish a peaceful government there".
The charter secured finally to all those who
might be born in colonies the same rights as for English subjects in a way
that they were protected or compensated in case of spoliation.
Edward Maria Wingfield (Stonely Priory
(Huntingdons.) 1550 - 1631)
This soldier, become a member of the English
Parliament in 1593, was somehow the first president elected by what would become the United States.
Captain John Smith stated in his memoirs that
Wingfield had been from the years 1602-1603 one of the first investors to get
really involved in the Virginia colonizing project. He was, as such,
one of the four beneficiaries of the charter granted in 1606 to the Virginia
Company of London and one of its most important backers. With the help of his
cousin captain Bartholomew Gosnold, he recruited approximately 40 among the 105 men
who made the first trip. Once in America, he was elected, by his peers,
president of council on May 13, 1607. He chose the site of Jamestown to settle
the new colony, considering that this island formed a strong defensive
position, and oversaw the building of the fort which was completed on summer
eve. [06/15/1607].
Problems did not yet delay piling up in the
new colony. It was fast necessary to impose a food rationing and to build palisades because of the hostility of the Indians. The settlers started getting sick, developing fever and dysentery. Discontent grew over the weeks and
Wingfield was quite naturally given responsibility for the situation. He
was thus deposed by the Council and placed under arrest while waiting for his fate to be decided. Sent back to England on April 10, 1608 with the supply
ship, he had to answer charges of atheism and Spanish sympathies. These
ultimately proved unfounded and he was able to find his place within the
Virginia Company where he remained until 1620.
He was given a key role in the first stage of
the English settlement, being obvious that during the years 1605-1608, without
his numerous contacts and his stubbornness, Virginia might as well been
colonized by Spain or France.
Historians however blamed him for his
aristocrat manners and his authoritarianism. Maybe he also suffered from the
age difference ? He was 57 years old when he arrived in Virginia while the men
who accompanied him were mostly under 30. He was more confronted with impetuous
and juvenile tempers such as John Smith and George Percy and found soon ostracized, appearing as the perfect scapegoat. It did not mean that his early replacement would solve the serious difficulties facing the colony.
Bartholomew Gosnold (1572- August 22,1607)
Lawyer, explorer and occasionally privateer, he played a leading role in the foundation of the Virginia Company of London and the Jamestown colony.
Lawyer, explorer and occasionally privateer, he played a leading role in the foundation of the Virginia Company of London and the Jamestown colony.
He had in 1602 completed an expedition to the
New England coast without succeeding in establishing there a sustainable
colony. Back in London, he had some trouble with Sir Walter Raleigh about the
rights on the sassafras roots he had brought back from America, what did not however
prevent him to invest into a new company, once become famous to have been the
first navigator to cross the North Atlantic without going through the
Caribbean. The Earl of Southampton who did not back his first trip was this time ready to get involved in the operation, with the
hope to gain a little fame and gold.
Gosnold spent four years to promote an
ambitious project for Virginia. He received for it the support of his brother
Anthony, his cousin Edward Maria Wingfield, his friend Gabriel Archer and a
young fearless captain named John Smith. He already had the title of
vice-admiral of the London fleet when he was given the command of the
Godspeed, one of the three ships chartered by the Virginia Company of London.
Arrived in Jamestown, he did not approve the chosen location but executed
however the plans of the first fort. Gosnold died from dysentery on August 22,
1607, 4 months only after his arrival. [08/22/1607]
Sailor and English privateer. He is especially known to have captained the Susan Constant, one of the three ships carrying the first settlers to Jamestown in 1607.
During more than twenty years, Newport had
served as privateer alongside Sir Francis Drake to chase the Spanish galleons
sailing in the Caribbean. Plunder seized during his missions was shared by
the merchants of London for whom he worked. Having taken part in the failure of the Spanish Armada, Newport resumed his privateering through the Atlantic Ocean and boarded in August, 1592 the Madre de Dios, a Portuguese ship loaded with five
hundred tons of spices, silk, precious stones and other treasures, a booty considered as the most important of the century.
In 1605, he returned to England after another
mission bringing back with him baby crocodiles and a wild bear intended for
King James, fond of exotic animals.
It was as well his experience as his
renown that allowed Christopher Newport being hired by the Virginia Company of
London when was granted, in 1606,
the King's charter authorizing it to
establish a colony in North America.
Appointed on this occasion Admiral
of Virginia, he left London on December 20, 1606 aboard the Susan Constant and
reached the southern end of Chesapeake Bay after 144 days at sea. Newport and
the members of the expedition started exploring the coastal area before
electing a first council whose primary duty was to set up a court
aiming at judging John Smith, accused to have inspired a mutiny during the trip.
This case had moreover been considered serious enough so that it was a moment
intended to send him back to England for a standing trial.
Yet, it emerged from the
instructions of the Virginia Company, that John Smith had to be especially appointed as one of the future members of the council planned to rule the
colony. He was therefore acquitted. [06/10/1607].
Smith gave soon evidence that he maybe was strong-headed but at first a good topographer. The choice of the Virginia
Company was actually rather wise and he was admitted to the council a few weeks
later.
The first Council consisted of George Kendall,
John Ratcliffe, John Martin, Bartholomew Gosnold and Christopher Newport.
April
26, 1607 - Coming back at night from their first exploration in Chesapeake
Bay, George Percy and his companions are suddenly attacked by Indians who jump aboard while holding their bow between teeth. Gabriel
Archer and a sailor are badly hurt before the English succeed in chasing them away by firing shots and
force them to flee through the woods.
April
27, 1607 - George Percy and captain Newport leave for a new reconnaissance mission.
They surprise Indians roasting oysters and cause them to flee.
They collected a portion of the cooked oysters
and ate them with appetite.
May
4,1607- While exploring the James River, the English meet for the first time
people of the Paspahegh tribe, belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy. They are
greeted by words of welcome from their leader Wowinchappuncke, without
understanding them.
The Paspahegh formed a subtribe who lived on the James River banks, near the settlement area of the first colonists in Virginia. Recently belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy, they were among the first tribes to raise weapons against the English but couldn't resist the pressure of the newcomers. Their weroance Wowinchappuncke being considered as a brave warrior, his death led to the dispersal of the Paspahegh within other Indian communities.[05/05/1607]
There was a prominent rivalry between Paspahegh Wowinchappuncke and the weroance of
Rapahanna. This one didn't like that much the reception given to the new settlers the day before
and was eager to invite them in his
turn. He appeared in ceremonial dress in order to impress them. His body was entirely painted in red and his face in blue.
He wore a bead necklace and earrings which could be of copper or
gold. On his head, he wore a crown of red deer hair, on the side a copper plate
and two long feathers looking like horns in sign of his status. [18/05/1607]
May 8,
1607 - The settlers continue to explore the river and reach the Apamatica country. The Natives prove warlike and try to keep them away by pointing
their bows and arrows. Their chief speaks by making gestures asking the
English to leave. These answer by peace signs and the Indians let them land.
They had gone up the James River hoping to find a
passage to the Pacific but a series of waterfalls soon prevented them to go
further.
May 12,
1607 - The settlers stop in a place they name "Archer's Hope ".
"...We found a place we called Archer's
Hope which needed little development to defend us against a possible enemy. The
soil was good and rich in fruit with a quality wood; it also grew quantity of
vines climbing up to the top of the trees; we saw many squirrels, rabbits,
black birds with purple wings and various other games and birds in rich colors
of blue, yellow, green, or red; we found
turkeys nests and many eggs. If there had not been a mooring problem for the
boat, we would have settled there all the colony... " (George Percy,
1606/1607)
We do not know if the name Archer's Hope
referred to a location desired by the
captain or to an old English word meaning small bay or small creek. It hinted
in any case at Gabriel Archer, a prominent member of the expedition. Archer's
Hope was mentioned twelve years later in the deed of transfer " to the
First Planters " as the ninth batch of 100 acres granted to John Johnson
against an annual 2-schilling rent. The plantation was identified by the French
cartographers during their landing on the banks of the James River to join the
armies of Rochambeau, Lafayette and Washington.
After exploring several places along the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, fearing pirates and Spaniards, the settlers had decided to go upriver. The Jamestown site was chosen due to the depth of its waters allowing to anchor boats nearby.
It became however quickly obvious that the
Indians sulked the island due to its particularly hostile environment. Game
was there insignificant. Mosquitoes infested the place and water stagnated.
Mostly used to English weather, the men were not adapted to such harsh
conditions and they began to starve and die of dysentery. Attacks led by the
Indians made on the other hand victims before the settlers had time to finish
the building of the fort. [09/12/1607]
May 18,
1607 - Paspahegh "weroance" Wowichappuncke marches into Jamestown, accompanied with a hundred armed men. He offers a deer to the
newcomers and suggests to give them "as much land as they desire"
when a violent tiff breaks out suddenly about the attempted robbery of an English
hatchet. This incident angers the Indian leader who decides to leave hastily
the settlement.[27/05/1607]
May 19,
1607 - While he has left exploring the nearby woods with 3 settlers, George Percy discovers a Paspahegh village. He is welcomed there and even offered
tobacco before seeing a man leaving hastily in bushes. Thinking that he runs to
warn his leader, Percy and his group return quickly to Jamestown.
May 20, 1607 - About 40 Paspahegh bring a deer to the settlement to feast with the English. They take advantage of it to show their talent in the bow.
It was difficult for the settlers to know what were the Indians' intentions. They seemingly wanted to set with them good relationship and had understood by bringing them food that they were in distress but tensions were high and it was increasingly obvious that inappropriate behavior towards them could be confrontational. By showing their weapons, the Paspaheghs meant that they knew how to use them.
Going upriver, George Percy and his men were much surprised to see at a place named Port Cotage a fair-haired 10-year old boy having white skin, characters quite exceptional among all the Indians.
May 26,
1607 - 200 Indians belonging to the Paspahegh tribe and the Powhatan Confederacy attack the new Jamestown settlement. There are 4 dead whose Eustis
Clovell and 11 wounded. Fearing renewed hostilities, President Wingfield
decides to ration supplies.
The Indians used captain Newport's departure with half the settlers for an away mission to the Weyanocks and
Appamattucks . Despite their numerical superiority, they were repulsed by the English shootings and lamented several victims.
Assaults were renewed during more than a week
without succeeding to curb the building of the fort.
Powhatan
(meaning "empire") was the name of a Native American tribe and a
powerful Algonquian speaking confederacy which occupied Eastern Virginia when
Europeans landed. At the end of the 16th century, a leader named Wahunsunacock
(c. June 17, 1547 - 1618). founded a powerful empire called Tenakomaka
including in particular Powhatans, Arrohatecks, Appamattucks, Paspaheghs,
Pamunkeys, Mattaponis and Chiskiacks to which were added Kecoughtans from 1598.
This one had to include about 20 000 people in 1607. The capital, Werowocomoco,
in present-day Gloucester County, was about 15 miles north of Jamestown.
Archaeological excavations had however failed to locate the place exactly.
When the first settlers came to Jamestown, their contentiousness and their ceaselessly increasing number on lands that they apropriated shamelessly, caused a series of conflicts which will last during the next 37 years.
The English tried however to have relationship withPowhatan.
Captain Christopher Newport even crowned their leader in Werowocomoco during a ceremony and offered them many gifts including a scarlet cloak sent by King James in order to win their friendship, convinced that it would be essential for the survival of the small colony. This coronation had gone however bad when Powhatan refused to kneel down when receiving the crown, whereas the tribute that paid him the English could not mean for him to become a vassal of the king.
While he
went in search of food together with two other settlers, captain John Smith was
captured by Chief Powhatan's young brother Opechancanough. His men were
killed but he was lucky enough to be saved by a young girl named Pocahontas, as
he was going to be executed.
They
would soon take advantage of this turnaround to use the embargo
as means of pressure.
After
the death of Wahunsunacock in 1618, hostilities resumed under the
leadership of Opechancanough, become the new "weroance". This one tried in vain to
chase away the Europeans during two massacres committed in 1622 and in 1636.
But these actions were followed by so severe retaliation that it led to the
destruction of almost the whole Indian nation. The Powhatan Confederacy had
virtually totally disappeared in 1646 and its last representatives had no other
alternative than their assimilation by European or African populations.
Arrohateck - this tribe attached to the
confederation lived in present-day Henrico County
Appamattucks - this tribe attached to the
confederation lived on the banks of the Appomatox, a river to which they gave their
name. They supplied 60 warriors to Powhatan.
Pamunkeys - this tribe mainly located along the Pamunkey River banks was a part of the Powhatan Confederacy. The Pamunkeys were semi-sedentary. They hunted, fished and farmed. As they did not know soil enrichment,
they were obliged to move their villages every ten years and put new areas in
cultivation. The soil was the tribe's property and the plots allocated were not
transmitted to children. This conception was soon to be a cause of concern with English settlers.
The Pamunkeys had sapling framed "longhouses"
covered by weaved paintings and barks, housing up to 20 persons.
The leader and his council were elected for four years. Chief Powhatan Wahunsunacock and his daughter Pocahontas were both of Pamunkey descent.
Mattaponis - this subtribe coming under the
Powhatan Confederacy, lived upstream Charles River (today York River). It
counted approximately 150 people among whom 40 warriors.
Chiskiaks - This tribe linked to the Powhatan Confederacy was located on the banks of the Charles River, its capital Kiskiak being barely 15 miles from Jamestown. It had however some autonomy and kept away from the first disputes between the English and the neighboring tribes.
Kecoughtan - this tribe dependent on the
Powhatan Confederacy lived at the end of the Virginia peninsula. Its people
were at first friendly to the English but refused to deliver their corn, what
earned them being attacked by John Smith and a company. They were
afterwards quickly absorbed by the colony.
Other tribes were part of the
Confederacy as the Youghtamunds who lived upstream the Pamunkeys and the
Weyanocks who were settled along the
James River upstream to Jamestown.
The south bank of the James River was the
territory of the Nansemonds, an important tribe counting at least 1200 people,
the Warascoyaks and the Quiyoughcohannocks.
The Nansemonds paid a tribute to Chief Powhatan
but were relatively independent. Rather warlike even agressive, they were able tof raise a strength of 200 warriors. In comparison, the Warascoyacks
and Quiyoughcohannocks were thought as peaceful tribes.
Their "weroance" Tathcoope was none other than a son of
Powhatan.
Further north were the Rappahannocks, settled
on the river bank of the same name and the Doeg who occupied the west bank of the Potomac. They grew corn, beans and practiced picking.
Farming was reserved for women while
men hunted, fished and collected shells. Fire was an important agricultural
tool used to clear lands and prepare soil for planting. In a family, each one had his part during the great winter hunts. These took place far from villages
to avoid depleting the stock of animals caught during other times of the year.
Hunting also supplied clothes, most in
buckskin. Women and men wore belted loincloths which stopped at the knee.
Leather leggins and moccasins were used for hiking in the forest. Fur coats
allowed them to face the rigors of winter.
Men kept their hair only on the top of the
head, sides being shaved in order to
facilitate bows handling or for religious reasons, whereas the women wore tattoos.
The English were long amazed at differences
between children's education such as practiced the Indians compared to what was
the rule in England. In both cases, boys and girls were certainly prepared to
perform differentiated tasks but there were irreconcilable differences. Farming
in particular or house buildings were for Native tribes exclusively reserved
for women, the opposite of what was made in Europe. The boys education was as for it only turned to warfare and hunting. From a young age, they
learned to develop their physical abilities and to use a bow. They had to prove
themselves worth to fit into the men's group and were for that subjected
to what they called Huskanaw, a ritual apparently so ruthless that John Smith
was convinced of a practice where children were sacrificed. It was about a rite
of passage during which the young man had to forget everything of his past to
become a new man. Drinks with high hallucinogenic properties and demanding
physical tests were supposed to enable this transformation. The success of this
test allowed to get married and occupy his place among the leader's councilors.
Except Nansemonds, all the peoples in the area
lacked significant military capacities. They had each only a few warriors and
this weakness was one of the reasons why it was ultimately difficult for them to do
without an alliance with the English. [12/10/1607]
May 28,
1607 - Christopher Newport and a party of 24 men return to the village of
Mattica to visit the Appumatucks. They are welcomed with food and tobacco and
get acquainted with the weroansqua Oppussoquionuske, the female chieftain.
Despite this reception, the Appumatuck warriors
continued to harass sporadically the settlers in Jamestown with other Indians
of the area until Powhatan orders a cease-fire.
June 10,
1607 - Placed under arrest since he was accused of trying
to organize a mutiny during the trip, Captain John Smith is released and appointed council member.
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John Smith (Willoughby (Lincolns.) June 6th,
1580 - June, 1631)
Soldier, sailor and writer, he was between 1607
in 1609 captain of the Virginia colony based at Jamestown.
After an adventurous youth where he fought in
particular against the Turks, he responded to the colonizing call of the Virginia Company of London after it was granted a charter from King James 1.
His parents were farmers for Lord Willoughby in
Lincolnshire. In the death of his father, the young John, then aged 16, left
his family to go sailing. He served at first as mercenary against the Spaniards
in the armies of the King of France Henri IV and enrolled in the independence
of Holland. He then left fighting the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea and was
just 20 when he entered the service of the Habsburgs in Hungary and Walachia.
Wounded and taken prisoner, he was sold as slave. Sent to Crimea, he succeeded
in escaping and returned in 1604 in England after a long trip through Russia,
Poland and Central Europe.
Before his capture, Smith allegedly killed
three Turkish commanders during three duels, what had earned him being
knighted by Transylvanian Prince Sigismund BÃ thory.
He was a member of the expedition that left
England on December 20, 1606 and reached Virginia on May 13, 1607.
During the trip, John Smith was apparently
considered as a strong troublemaker unappreciated by his companions. Captain
Christopher Newport who commanded the expedition had even decided to make him
execute for mutiny from his landing in Virginia. But when was opened the box
containing the directives of the Virginia Company, hitherto kept secret, the name of John
Smith appeared on the list of the members of the future Council placed
under the presidency of Sir Edward Maria Wingfield. Newport had to spare him.
Despite his youth, John Smith had a much better experience
of travels to distant lands than most of the men who accompanied
him. He had more an energetic constitution and his crofter origins gave him
certain advantage compared with the present gentlemen whose essentially
military role was not relevant for the development of the new colony.
June 15,
1607 - The settlers complete the building of the fort. The Powhatan leader
decides, at the same moment, on a cease-fire, putting a definitive halt to
attacks against the colony that last for more than two weeks.
George Percy writes " we had built and
finished our fort which was trianglewise, having three bulwarks at every
corner, like a half moon and four or five pieces of artillery mounted on them.
We had made ourselves sufficienly strong for these savages. We had also sown of
our corn on two mountains. "
George Percy (September 4, 1580-1632)
Explorer and English author, he was one of the first governors of Virginia.
Born in Ireland, he was the youngest son of
Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland and Lady Catherine Neuville. He
suffered from a general sickly constitution, probably subject to epileptic seizures
or severe asthma.
Following his graduation from Oxford, he opted, in
1597, for the military career and left in the early 1600's fighting beside the
Dutch in their war for independence against the Spaniards. He also served
in Ireland.
He was part of the 105 would be-settlers who founded the
Jamestown colony and drafted in this occasion a travelogue telling the struggle
of the newcomers to survive in a particularly hostile environment, under the
threat of disease and Powhatan Indians. Although Percy held a far higher social rank than all the settlers, he was, at first, not allowed to serve on the Virginia Council. He held nevertheless his place in the life of the colony by
taking in particular part in a scouting mission to the James River
falls, in May and June, 1607.
He sided with President Edward Maria Wingfield
when he was deposed by John Ratcliffe, Gabriel Archer and John Smith.
This attitude earned him playing only a secondary role in the next two years
where he served under Smith's leadership. It is when the latter had to leave
the colony in September, 1609 that Percy took the presidency. [09/10/1609]
His poor health prevented him however from
filling completely his responsibility and he had to let his privileges to
Ratcliffe, Archer and John Martin. It was during this period when the colonists
starved further to the terrible winter 1609-1610. Percy
achieved only few things during his presidency except the building of Algernon Fort at Point Comfort and he was relieved to give the government of the
colony to Sir Thomas Gates in May 1610. [08/1607]
June 21,
1607 - Founding in Jamestown of the first episcopal Protestant church of
America.
June 22,
1607 - Captain Christopher Newport sets sail to England aboard the Susan
Constant. He transports a load of pyrite and other so-called precious stones.
[01/02/1608]
August
19, 1607 - Foundation in Maine of the Popham Colony, also called Sagadahoc
Colony (now Phippsburg). Having left Plymouth on June 1, 120 would-be settlers sent by the
Plymouth Company, under the leadership of George Popham (1550-1608) and Raleigh
Gilbert (1582-1634), land from the John & Mary and the Gift of God.
It was not the first European settlement on this
coast. Three years earlier, the French had unsuccessfully tried to settle down
not far away, on an island of the Saint Croix River.
Located
near the mouth of the Kennebec River, this English colony experienced ambitious
early days with the building of a church, a fort (Fort St George) armed with nine
cannons and with about fifty houses. Weather conditions being outstanding, most
of the work undertaken was completed late October. The only problem was that
in so short a time, the settlers had harvested nothing for winter and would
have to deal with the Indian neighbors.
Founded
by King James 1, the Plymouth Company (or Virginia Company of Plymouth) was a
corporation aiming at setting up English settlements on the North American coast.
It had received her charter in 1606 as well as the Virginia Company of London the twin sister of which it was somehow. The portion of its granted territory was included between 38th and 45th parallels, the part
located South of the 41th parallel being common to both companies with however
a few constraints.
The
settlers intended to trade precious metals, spices and furs, and to show that
the local forests could be of use to build English boats.
George
Popham, the president of the colony, then aged 57, was the nephew of Lord John
Popham, Minister of Justice of Queen Elizabeth and main backer of the
expedition. Meanwhile, Raleigh Gibert was the son of Sir
Humphrey Gilbert and the half-nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, two precursors of the colonization of North America. Among other backers of the
company was Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the commanding officer of Plymouth. By irony, Sir John Popham had to die on June 10, 1608, ten days after the sailing
of the colonists to North Virginia.
A first
attempt occurred the previous year but it had dramatically
failed. The ship commanded by captain Henry Callons who carried a hundred persons had been captured by the Spaniards and all passengers sold as
slaves.
George
Popham had also brought with him two Indians captured by captain Weymouth and brought to England two years earlier. These were Skidwarres and Nahanada, two
members of the Wawenoc tribe living near Pemaquid. He hoped to use them to make
relationship easier with the neighboring American Natives but once landed, both captives
did not delay disappearing.
[05/12/1607]
August,
1607 - In Jamestown, weather conditions turn out more and more testing. The
summer drought destroys plantations, sources are drying up. The men begin to
get sick.
The
daily food rations consist of wheat infested with maggots and a half-pint of
hardly boiled water. Famine and disease cause the death of 13 men.
On August 6, John Asbie died from the
dysentery; 9, George Flowre died from an oedema; 10, William Bruster died from
an injury caused by the "Savages".
Virginia actually experienced in the early 17th
century an unprecedented drought. This exceptional situation would contribute
to increase tensions between the Indians of the area and the English settlers.
Their arrival had to generate an imbalance in the crops and reserves management, giving rise among Powhatans to a real rejection problem. The constant needs
for provisions of these unwanted
"newcomers", in a context of general shortage, was inevitably
likely to generate a climate of mistrust and violence.
[22/08/1607]
August
22, 1607 - The explorer Bartholomew Gosnold who had been a major promoter of
the colonization of Virginia dies from dysentery in Jamestown.
September
10, 1607 - Accused to sow the discord within the colony, the blacksmith and
former councilor George Kendall is locked up aboard the Discovery. They are
this day only 46 surviving settlers.
[12/09/1607]
September
12 1607 - Considered primarily responsible for the lack of food and the relentless
attacks of the Indian tribes, Edward Maria Wingfield is arrested and dismissed of the
presidency of Jamestown. John Ratcliffe is elected on his place.
Rather slim, the reasons to be upset less
resulted of the harsh living conditions imposed by Wingfield to his men
than difficult relationship with John Smith, rebel of
the colony. Wingfield was dismissed from his post, accused of atheism and
agreement with the Spanish enemy, two serious enough offences to send him to London to be tried. [04/10/1608]
Their living conditions remaining quite so insecure, the worried settlers did not delay turning around against new president John Ratcliffe, considering him unable to solve problems. Kendall, Smith and Percy decided then to send discreetly the blacksmith James Reed on the pinasse where Wingfield was kept, offering him being reinstated in his duties, but Ratcliffe was informed about this plan and Reed suffered a public punishment.
John Ratcliffe (died in September, 1609)
He had captained the Discovery, one of the three ships having left England on December 19, 1606 to settle a colony in Virginia.
He had captained the Discovery, one of the three ships having left England on December 19, 1606 to settle a colony in Virginia.
He belonged to the first 13-member-council responsible for leading Jamestown under President Edward Maria Wingfield.
Strifes arisen in summer, due to stringent living conditions, caused early
September, the arrest of George Kendall, blamed for feeding the discord,
followed shortly after by Wingfield's dismissal. Ratcliffe was elected
on his place but did not show a true competence.
He asked John Smith to have trade
relationship with the Indians, what he apparently did remarkably well before to be captured in December by Powhatan and released a few weeks later thanks
to the intercession of young Pocahontas, the daughter of the tribe's leader.
Ratcliffe was captured and tortured to death 2 years later by the Powhatans with 30 of his men while trying to deal the
supply of reserves for winter. [07/22/1608]
Relationship soon degraded between the leaders
of the colony and the settlers themselves, quarrelsome and little brave. None
of them was more prepared to face rigors of winter. Relationship with the
nearby Wavenock tribe
were tinged with a same distrust and could any
time turn into confrontation, what would not have failed to seed chaos.
Despite their will to keep control over this land, the Wavenocks had tried
to show hospitality towards the newcomers by inviting them to appear before their chief, Basheba, expecting from them some allegiance. These efforts
seemed rather fruitless because of the tensions between the colonists. These
would not need the Indians to tear to pieces. Buildings were there burnt and
a powder barrel stored in the fort exploded incidentally, causing a true
panic.[02/05/1608]
The Wavenocks, whose capital was Pemaquid, controlled the Abenaki federation which occupied in the early 17th century a vast area including Maine, a part of New Hampshire and Vermont,
as well as some Canadian coastal sites. It was strong about 40 000 people among whom half approximately lived in Maine. The Abenaki maintained since
almost a century trade relations with Europeans in particular the French based in the Saint Lawrence valley.
The coasts of Maine had been explored by
Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, then by Samuel Champlain three years later. The
opportunities had seemed there numerous and small seasonal posts already served
there for fishing and fur trade when captain George Weymouth was sent to to conduct a topographic survey with the aim of founding a lasting settlement. It was however without bewaring the response of the French settlers who,
not intending to compete for the control of the pelts trade, did not miss to
urge the Indians to keep away from the English colonists.
The Abenaki would be struck by a terrible disease
in 1617 during which about 80 % of the population had to die.
While searching for food near the Chickahominy
River, John Smith and the two men who accompanied him were attacked by the
Indians.
The only survivor, Smith was captured by Opechancanough, the young brother of the Powhatan leader Wahunsunacock and
dragged to him in the village of Werowocomoco, aout 15 miles
North of Jamestown.
[12/29/1607]
December
29, 1607 - John Smith is unexpectedly saved by Pocahontas.
Sentenced to death by the tribes of the confederacy, he was saved at the last moment by Pocahontas, one of the daughters of the Powhatan leader, then 11-year-old. She protected him with her body just as he was to be executed. Historians discussed afterward around this event that Smith made known only several years later, inaugurating in that way some controversy. He would have, according to a few historians, stretched the facts, embellished the incident, even built a legend to give more importance to Pocahontas during her coming in England. He always stated loud and clear that Pocahontas had saved his life but some contemporary accounts however cast doubt on his interpretations or omissions. Hero or storyteller, to each his own opinion.
Pocahontas
(c.1595 - Gravesend, March 21, 1617) was a Native American of the Powhatan
Confederacy. She was the daughter of Wahunsunacock, the original Pamunkey
leader who ruled almost all the neighboring peoples in an area then called
Tenakomakah.
Her real
names were Matoaka, after her clan, and Amonute, Pocahontas being a childhood
nickname relating to her mischievous nature (in Powhatan language, it means
" little wanton ").
Her life
was the source of many legends. As she never learned to write, all that is told on her was transmitted from generation to generation, so that her thoughts and
real feelings remain largely unknown. We know only few things about her
childhood. She was the daughter of one of the many wives of Chief Powhatan.
According to tradition, her mother had been moved away from her after giving
birth.
The
records of the settlers indicate that Pocahontas maintained some friendship with captain John Smith and maybe saved him from death. The true
nature of their relation is however debated because of the poor quality of
archives and their rarity. Their relation was romanticized with important
additions.
When the English settlers arrived in Virginia in 1607, Pocahontas was aged about 10 or 12 years. One of the newcomers, John Smith, was captured by a group of Powhatan hunters and brought to Werowocomoco, their main village. Smith tells that he had been laid down on a big stone where he was to be executed when Pocahontas threw herself on him to protect him. She convinced her father to grant him safe life and Smith was escorted to Jamestown.
Smith's
version being the only source, its reliability was since questioning.
One reason of this doubt is that despite publishing two books about Virginia, the narrative of Smith's rescue
dates 1616, almost 10 years after it was supposed to take place, in a letter asking Queen
Charlotte to treat Pocahontas with dignity. The elapsed time certainly allowed Smith to amplify or invent this event solely for the purpose of enhancing her image.
Some
experts suggested that Smith had confused his release with an initiation symbolizing his
death and rebirth as member of the tribe. It seems, however, that there was
never any rite of this kind in other Native American peoples.
Anyway,
a friendly relationship existed between John Smith and Pocahontas in Jamestown.
The girl often came to visit the colony and made supply foods or clothes.
[01/07/1608]
