John Smith of Jamestown
John Smith (
1580–
1631) was an
English soldier,
sailor, and
author. He is chiefly remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in
North America, and his brief association with the
Native American girl
Pocahontas. He was the first President of
Virginia and thus the first head of government in Anglo-America. He led an interesting life, although his boastful nature makes it difficult for historians to separate fact from fiction.
Smith was baptized in
Willoughby near
Alford, Lincolnshire where his parents rented a farm from
Lord Willoughby.
Smith left home at age 16 after his father died, and ran off to sea. He served as a mercenary in the army of King
Henry IV of France against the Spaniards and later fought against the
Ottoman Empire. Smith was promoted to captain while fighting for the
Habsburgs in
Hungary, in the campaign of
Mihai Viteazul in
1600-
1601. After the death of Mihai Viteazul, he fought for Radu Serban in
Wallachia against Ieremia Movila, but in
1602 he was wounded, captured and sold as a
slave. Smith claimed the
Turk sent him as a gift to his sweetheart, who fell in love with Smith and inadvertently helped him escape. Smith then traveled through Europe and Northern Africa, returning to England in
1604.
In 1606, Smith became involved with plans to colonize
Virginia for profit by the
Virginia Company of London, which had been granted a charter from King
James I of England. The expedition set sail in three small ships on
December 20,
1606.
Smith was apparently a troublemaker on the voyage, and Captain
Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships) had planned to execute him upon arrival in Virginia. However, upon first landing at what is now
Cape Henry on
April 26,
1607, sealed orders from the Virginia Company were opened, and they designated Smith to be one of the leaders of the new colony, forcing Newport to spare him. After searching for a suitable site, on
May 13, 1607, the settlers landed at
Jamestown.
Harsh weather, lack of water and attacks from
Algonquian tribes of the
Native Americans almost destroyed the colony. In December
1607, Smith was captured and taken to meet the
Chief Powhatan at
Werowocomoco, the chief village of the
Powhatan Confederacy about 15 miles north of Jamestown on the north shore of the
York River. Although he feared for his life, Smith was eventually released without harm and later attributed this in part to the chief's daughter,
Pocahontas, who was between the age of 11 and 13 at the time. He said she threw herself on him to prevent his execution.
Considerable uncertainty arose in the 1860s about the John Smith telling of the Pocahontas story. These doubts have become firmly rooted and have become the common view of John Smith's account of Pocahontas. However, the validity of Smith's Pocahontas accounts have only recently been examined by a scholar, who concludes that the writings of Smith should be held as his honest truth, as opposed to those who sought to color them as opportunistic embellishment.
(Did Pocahontas Save Captain John Smith? by Stan Birchfield of Standford University - http://vision.stanford.edu/~birch/pocahontas.html)
|
Map of Virginia published by John Smith (1612) |
Later, Smith left Jamestown to explore the
Chesapeake Bay region and search for badly needed food, covering an estimated 3,000 miles. He was eventually elected president of the local council in September
1608 and instituted a policy of discipline, encouraging farming with a famous admonishment: "He who does not work, will not eat."
The settlement grew under his leadership. During this period, Smith took the chief of the neighboring tribe hostage and, according to Smith he did, "take this murdering
Opechancanough...by the long lock of his head; and with my pistol at his breast, I led im {out of his house} amongst his greatest forces, and before we parted made him [agree to] fill our bark with twenty tons of corn." A year later full scale war broke out between the Powhatans and the Virginia colonists. Smith was seriously injured by a gunpowder burn and had to return to England for treatment in October
1609, never to return to Virginia.
In
1614, Smith returned to the New World in a voyage to the
Maine and
Massachusetts Bay areas, which he named
New England. He spent the rest of his life writing books until his death in
1631 at age 51.
*John Smith is one of the main characters in Disney's 1995 film
Pocahontas and its straight-to-video sequel
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World in which he is voiced by
Mel Gibson in the first movie and his younger brother Donal Gibson in the sequel.
*Smith and
Pocahontas are also central characters in the
Terrence Malick film
The New World, in which he is portrayed by
Colin Farrell.
*
Charles Dudley Warner,
Captain John Smith, 1881. Repr. in
Captain John Smith Project Gutenberg Text, accessed 4 July, 2006
*Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler,
Captain John Smith: Jamestown and the Birth of the American Dream, Wiley, 2006
*David A. Price,
Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of A New Nation, Alfred A. Knopf, 2003
*James Horn,
A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America, Basic Books, 2005
*Karen Ordahl Kupperman ed.,
John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings, University of North Carolina Press, 1988
*Captain John Smith,
The Generall Historie of Virginia,
*
Captain John Smith Trail in Virginia*
John Smith Water Trail Blog*
The Captain John Smith Water TrailWerowocomoco was located on the North side of the York river about 25 miles from where the river divided at Wrst Point, Virginia, according to Smith. This places ot at present day Wicomoco, not Purtan Bay which is only about 12 miles from West Point.
This is also the location of Powhatan's Chimney, all that remained of the house that Smith built at Werowocomoco for Powhatan. It fell down in 1888 and started the movement that resulted in the formation of the Assocoation for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. This organization rebuilt the chimney in the 1930's
