USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. I > Part 11
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(1610.) Many were so well pleased with the cli- mate and resources of this island that they would willingly have made it their abode. But the ad- miral longed for Virginia. Two vessels were con- structed 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 sea-
Belknap, ii. 125; Jordan's account, in Smith, ii. 122.
168 ARRIVAL OF PART OF THE FLEET. [CHAP. III.
worthy. They were supplied with such provisions 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 disap- pointment awaited them. Instead of plenty and peace, they found starvation and wretchedness-in- stead 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 ;ª and had not the mistake been speedily discovered, the
a Stith, 102; Grahame's Colon. Hist., i. 53.
169
SEDITIOUS COLONISTS.
1609.]
English ships might have received a rude welcome. 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 po- verty by gaming and extravagance, too proud to beg, too lazy to dig-broken tradesmen, with some stigma of fraud yet clinging to their names-foot- men, 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 ;ª-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.
a Those who suspect exaggeration , colonies, was inhabited at first only here may consult Smith, i. 235; by vagabonds, destitute of family New Life of Virginea, 10, vol. i .; Stith, 103; Keith, 116, 117; Bel- knap, ii. 122, 123; Bancroft, i. 154; Beverley, 21, 22. and fortune." Raynal's Indies, vi. 44. I have not examined the ori- ginal, but presume the translator does the learned Abbé no injustice " Virginia, like most of the other in rendering this passage.
170
SEDITIOUS COLONISTS.
[CHAP. III.
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 mis- rule ;ª 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,' declared himself wholly incompetent, and once more the magnani- mous Smith was compelled to assume the office.
West was a man of easy and indolent temper,
a Stith, 103; Hillard's Smith, ii. 339.
b Stith, 104.
171
ACCIDENT TO SMITH.
1609.]
little fitted for struggling with the difficulties of a 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 use- ful. 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 James- town. 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 sup- posed that the helpless state of this brave sufferer would have excited compassion in bosoms of stone.
172
SMITH RETURNS TO ENGLAND. [CHAP. III.
But Ratcliffe and Archer, with others equally dia- bolical, conspired to take his life. A murderer was sent to his bed with a pistol, but in the cri- tical moment his heart failed him, and he suffered his proposed victim to live.ª
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.b
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 con- vince 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
a Narrative, in Smith, i. 239 ; Hil- lard's Smith, ii. 343, 344.
b Stith 109; Hillard's Smith, ii. 344; Smith i. 240.
173
COLONY AT HIS DEPARTURE.
1609.]
hateful to his soul. Thrown in early youth upon 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."a Prompt in decision and formidable in conflict, he was yet gentle in victory, and open to the ap- proaches 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.b
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 al- most 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
a Stith, 112; Burk, i. 156.
b Hillard's Smith, ii. 388.
174
RENEWED TROUBLES.
[CHAP. III.
enough to have satisfied the industrious.ª We shall 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 Pow- hatan, 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 re- creation ; those who were so rash as thus to expose themselves were, with few exceptions, destroyed by the natives. Hemmed in on every side, harass- ed by the Indians, distracted by their own profli- gate disputes, the wretched colonists now began to experience the tortures of famine. Their provi- sions either failed entirely, or were rendered un- wholesome 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
a Smith, i. 240, 241; Stith, 107; Colon. Hist., i. 56; Marshall's Am. Hillard's Smith, iii. 344; Grahame's Colon. 44.
175
STARVATION.
1610.]
their own riotous folly.ª Powhatan lost no op- portunity for an exercise of his treachery and his revenge. By specious promises he tempted Rat- cliffe 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 help- less boy, whom the generous daughter of the king rescued from the hands of the' murderers.b
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 sus- tenance. 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 !! ' Unwilling to believe, we seek for some explanation of this horrible account; but we find nothing to mitigate it, except the fact, that
a Stith, 116; Belknap's Am. Biog., b Stith, 116; Burk, i. 157. ii. 104-106; New Life of Virginea, 10; Force's Tracts, vol. i .; Oldmix- on's Brit. Emp., i. 362.
c. Smith, ii. 2; Stith, 116; Keith,
121; Burk, i. 157, citing Stith.
176
STATE OF THE COLONY.
[CHAP. III.
the monster slew his wife from hatred and not to gratify his hunger, and that the discovery of her dismembered body in his house was the means of his detection.ª
Of all that Smith had left in Virginia, sixty per- sons 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 ar- rival, 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 diffi- culty 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
a See Belknap's Am. Biog., ii. 106, life he fed upon her remains; but 107; Purchas, iv. 1757. This man his guilt being fully proved, he final- declared that his wife had died of ly confessed the murder, and was hunger, and that to save his own burned to death, according to law.
1610.]
VIRGINIA FORSAKEN. 177
natural, yet so saddening to review, the settlers proposed to burn their ancient home, and thus sweep away at once the vestiges of their misery ;a but Sir Thomas Gates steadily resisted this barba- rous 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 solemn- ized, 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 Au- thor 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 dis- covered a boat approaching from below. In one
a Stith, 117; Belknap's Am. Biog., ii. 127.
VOL. I.
12
178
RENEWAL OF HOPE.
[CHAP. III.
hour, she was alongside the governor's pinnace, and aroused even the desponding minds aboard, by information that Lord Delaware had arrived from England with three ships and an ample sup- ply of provision, and that hearing at Point Com- fort 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 neces- sities 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.ª
a Simmons's Narrative, in Smith, bertson, i. 409. Burk waxes highly ii. 3; Stith, 117; Beverley, 24; Keith, graphic and poetic in writing of this event, i. 160, 161. 122; Belknap, ii. 127, 128; Old- mixon, i. 363; Marshall, 46; Ro-
CHAPTER IV.
Lord Delaware-Death of Sir George Somers-The governor's health fails -Sir Thomas Dale, High Marshal of Virginia-Sir Thomas Smith's martial law-Its expediency-Third Charter of James-The London Company-Seizure of Pocahontas-Her intermarriage with Rolfe- Peace with the Indians-Argal captures Port Royal-Baptism of Poca. hontas-Tobacco-Dale embarks for England, accompanied by Rolfe and Pocahontas-Captain Smith and his preserver-Death of Pocahon- tas-Her descendants- Uttamatomakkin- Argal deputy governor- Death of Lord Delaware-of Raleigh- of King Powhatan- Argal's tyranny-First General Assembly-Convicts sent to Virginia-Dispute with King James concerning tobacco-Negro slaves introduced-Women imported-Sir Francis Wyatt-Opecancanough-Indian massacre-Its disastrous effects-King James oppresses the London Company-Their noble independence-Royal commissioners in Virginia-Writ of quo warranto-Earliest laws of the Assembly-King dissolves the London Company-He prepares to issue new laws for Virginia-His death.
WHEN Lord Delaware landed on the shore at Jamestown, he immediately knelt, and, for a sea- son, continued in silent devotion. Then rising, he attended divine service in the church, and en- deavoured, by his example, to inspire his followers with a sense of gratitude for their late deliverance, and of dependence upon the Supreme Being for future safety.ª From these facts, we obtain some insight into the character of this devout and up- right nobleman. He then read his commission
a Belknap's American Biography, ii. 128; Smith, ii. 4; Dr. Hawks's Ecclesiastical History of Virginia, 22.
.180
FATE OF THE GERMANS.
[CHAP. IV.
and delivered a calm address, admonishing the vicious, encouraging the good, threatening to draw the sword of justice against the intractable, but declaring that it would give him as much pain to shed their blood as his own. General applause followed his speech, and, with cheerful zeal, all prepared for their respective duties. Houses were repaired, defences made good, fields reclaimed after long neglect, and some French vintners, who came over with Delaware, commenced planting vines, in order to a harvest for the next year.ª
It may not be amiss here to notice the unhappy, but well-merited fate of the German traitors, who had given the colony so much annoyance. Few of them died by natural death. One, after return- ing for a time to the English, during their distress, fled again to the Indians, promising them great gain from his influence with Lord Delaware when he should arrive; but Powhatan coldly replied, that as he had endeavoured to betray Captain Smith to the savages, so he would perhaps endeavour to be- tray him to this great lord; and, without farther discussion, caused the traitor's brains to be dashed out by one of his people. Volday, the Swiss, had escaped to England, and there having excited ex- pectations by enormous lies concerning gold mines in Virginia, he was permitted to return with Dela- ware; but his imposture having been discovered,
a Smith, ii. 5; Belknap, ii. 129. now raised in the neighbourhood of Grapes did not immediately prosper Richmond and other places, and good in Virginia, but large quantities are wine is obtained from them.
181
LORD DELAWARE.
1610.]
he died, laden with the scorn and contempt of all who encountered him.ª
Lord Delaware, in every respect, proved himself well fitted for his arduous task. But a scarcity of provisions soon occurred; and to remedy it, Sir George Somers offered to proceed with a ship to the Bermuda Isles, and bring back a supply of pork procured from the wild hogs there abundant.b (June 19.) His offer was gratefully accepted. He embarked in his own cedar vessel, and Captain Argal accompanied him in a smaller bark. But the latter was soon forced back by heavy weather ; and in order not to lose entirely his expedition, he sailed to the Potomac River-traded with the sa- vages-found among them the boy Henry Spilman, who had been saved by Pocahontas during the starving time,-and by the influence of this media- tor, he obtained a full freight of corn, and returned in good spirits to Jamestown. Meanwhile, Somers had buffeted his stormy way to the Bermudas. Hogs were found in profusion, killed, salted, and packed away for the use of the colony. The brave old knight was preparing to return, when a malady, engendered by the fatigue and exposure he had lately undergone, assailed him, and soon terminated his valuable life.c
His dying admonition to his nephew required
a Stith, 103.
b Stith, 118. c Smith, ii. 6, and 153; Stith, 118, Somers's heart was interred. The 119 ; Belknap's Am. Biog., ii. 131, curious may read the epitaph, p. 132, Hubbard's note. In Smith we 153; or in Belknap, ii. 133. have an account of a monument
afterwards erected in the Bermudas, over the place where Sir George
182
LORD DELAWARE-THE CLIMATE. [CHAP. IV.
that the ship, with her provisions, should proceed to Virginia ; but his orders were disregarded. The bark sailed to England, conveying the body of this venerable man to be deposited at White Church, in Dorsetshire.
While Lord Delaware retained his health, he was ever active and judicious in devising and exe- cuting plans for the welfare of the colony. His treatment of the Indians was more decided and harsh than that of Smith had been; and the savages loved him less, and hardly respected him more.ª But his lordship soon experienced the effects of the Virginia climate. Agues, chills, dysentery, cramp, and gout, successively assailed him, and forced him to fly from a land requiring so severe a process of climatization.b (1611, March 28.) He sailed to the West Indies, enjoyed the mineral baths of the Isle of Mevis, ate oranges and lemons on their na- tive soil between the tropics, and finally went to England, being advised by his physicians not to return to Virginia until his health should be per- fectly restored. Dale and Gates having both gone before him to the mother country, George Percy
a Bancroft's U. S., note, p. 158, the original root, and in this migra- vol. i .; Stith, 120.
b Lord Delaware's discourse of 1611, in Smith, ii. 8, 9 ; new Life of Virginea, in Force, i. 11; Stith, 120. With fear and trembling I have ven- tured to coin the word " climatiza- tion," to express the idea of becom- ing gradually accustomed to a new climate. It springs naturally from
tory age I think our language needs such a word. Of this need the best proof is found in the existence of the words " acclimate, acclimation," which are, I believe, purely Ameri- can ; and which, being gross depar- tures from the rules of etymology, should be at once discarded.
183
SIR THOMAS DALE.
1611.]
was again left at the head of affairs. He was of good birth, of easy disposition, and of pleasing manners; but his body was feeble, and his mind partook of its imbecility.
The council in England, still disappointed and surprised by the continued disasters of their under- taking, questioned Sir Thomas Gates closely as to the evils affecting the colony, and seem at one time seriously to have contemplated its total abandon- ment. But better counsels prevailed. It was clear that the country itself was rich and beautiful; and to suffer it to return to barbarism seemed a retro- grade movement to which the expanding spirit of England could not submit. Again an expedition was prepared. Three ships, filled with men, cattle, and wholesome provisions, were placed under the care of Sir Thomas Dale, who was appointed High Marshal of Virginia. He arrived at the settlement on the 10th of May, and found affairs relapsing into their former confusion. No corn was planted-no ground prepared-houses were neglected-fences destroyed-and the inhabitants, rejoicing in the sweet season which had already covered their land with flowers and fruits, were entertaining them- selves daily with bowling games and other gentle- manly diversions in the streets of the town.ª The Marshal immediately set the idle company to work in felling trees, and preparing pales and posts for a new settlement, which he had determined to com- mence. He selected for its site a neck of land,
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