Part 2

On arrival in Virginia the resident councilors, as outlined in their orders, met and named one of their number as president. Real power was with the council, however, and the president was without actual independent authority. This was a serious defect (corrected in the second company charter in 1609) which prevented a well-directed and coordinated program at Jamestown during the first 3 years. As the first summer wore on it was natural that hostility should develop toward the titular head of the colony. Had the first president, Edward Maria Wingfield, been a stronger, more adventurous, and more daring man, conditions might have been a little better, despite his lack of real authority. He was not the leader, however, to act and to reason later. Consequently, opinion was arrayed against him and charges, some unjust no doubt, were formed that led to his deposition and replacement in one of the two celebrated jury trials which occurred at Jamestown about mid-September. His successor, perhaps no more able, was John Ratcliffe who continued for about a year until deposed and replaced by Matthew Scrivener, one of those who came over with the first supply. It was a little later, in 1608, that Capt. John Smith took the helm as chief councilor, which was what the president really was. It was under the presidency of Ratcliffe, however, that Smith emerged as an able, experienced leader, who preferred action to inaction even though it might be questioned later. His work and his decisions, sometimes wise, sometimes not so wise, did much to insure the survival of the colony.

When the first cool days of approaching autumn touched Jamestown in 1607, spirits rose and hopefulness supplanted despair. Disease, which had reduced the number to less than 50 persons, subsided; the oppressive heat lessened; and Indian crops of peas, corn, and beans began to mature. Friendlier relations were established with the natives, and barter trade developed. As the leaves fell, game became easier to get, ducks multiplied in the ponds and marshes, and life in general seemed brighter. Work was resumed at Jamestown in preparation for the coming winter, and exploration was undertaken. It was in December, while investigating the Chickahominy River area, that Smith was taken by the Indians. He was eventually carried before Powhatan who released him, some say through the intercession of the young Pocahontas. This incident Smith did not mention in his detailed account of the events of the Colony written several months later. It was not until a number of years later, in fact, that this romantic story evolved in its present form.

THE FIRST SUPPLY.

Upon returning to Jamestown, Smith was caught in the meshes of a feuding council. All was forgotten early in January, however, when Newport reached Jamestown with the first supply for the settlers. He brought food, equipment, instructions, and news from home. His cargo was not sufficient, but for the moment this was overlooked. The two ships of the supply had left England together, but the second did not reach Virginia until April.

Shortly after Newport’s arrival in January, disaster came to Jamestown. Fire swept through the fort, consuming habitations, provisions, ammunition, and even some of the palisades. This was a serious blow in the face of winter weather. With the help of Newport and his sailors, the church, storehouse, palisades, and cabins were partially rebuilt before he sailed again for England early in April. Much more could have been done had he not consumed so many days in a pompous visit and lengthy negotiations with the wily Powhatan. Then, too, the ships had to be loaded for the return voyage, for the London backers were loudly calling for profitable produce. The first of the spring months were spent in cutting cedar logs and preparing “clapboards” for sale in England, and a little later there seems to have been a mild “gold rush” at Jamestown as some hopeful looking golden colored soil was found. This all delayed early spring clearing and planting, and boded ill for the coming summer when Ratcliffe wasted precious days building a house suitable to his position and Smith engaged in important, yet not particularly pressing, explorations.

THE FIRST MARRIAGE AT JAMESTOWN.

It was in September 1608 that Smith became president in fact and inaugurated a program of physical improvement at Jamestown. The area about the fort was enlarged and the standing structures repaired. At this point, in October, the second supply arrived, including 70 settlers, who, when added to the survivors in Virginia, raised the over-all population to about 120. Among the new arrivals were two women—Mistress Forrest and her maid. Several months later, in the church at Jamestown, the maid, Ann Burras, was married to one of the settlers, John Laydon, a carpenter by trade. This marriage has been ranked as “the first recorded English marriage on the soil of the United States.” Their child, Virginia, born the next year, was the first to be born at Jamestown. Here was the beginning of family life in the new colony. Soon other women would arrive to help continue, or to establish, new homes.

THE SECOND SUPPLY AND EARLY INDUSTRY.

With the second supply came workmen sent over to produce glass, pitch, soap ashes, and other items profitable in England. These men, including some Poles and Dutchmen, were quickly assigned to specific duties. So rapidly did they begin that “trials” of at least one product, glass, were sent home when Newport left Jamestown before the end of the year. As usual, in addition to settlers and supplies, Newport brought more instructions from the company officials. The colony was not succeeding financially, and it was urged that the council spend more time in the preparation of marketable products. It was urged, too, that gold be sought more actively; that Powhatan be crowned as a recognition befitting his position; and that more effort be expended in search of the Roanoke settlers. These things were all desirable, but, at the moment, impracticable. No one understood this better than did Smith, who spoke his mind freely in a letter he wrote for dispatch to the authorities at home. Nevertheless, these projects were emphasized, and the more pressing needs of adequate shelter and sufficient food were neglected.

In the interval from about February to May 1609, Smith reported considerable material progress in and about Jamestown. Perhaps 40 acres were cleared and prepared for planting in Indian corn, the new grain that fast became a staple commodity. A deep well was dug in the fort. The church was re-covered and 20 cabins built. A second trial was made at glass manufacture in the furnaces built late in 1608. A blockhouse was built at the isthmus which connected the island[1] to the mainland for better control of the Indians, and a new fort was erected on a little creek across the river from Jamestown. Smith was now in command, as his fellow councilors either had returned to England or were dead. About this time there came a new disaster. With all attention centered on the numerous construction projects, insufficient protection was given the meager supply of grain. When discovered, rats had consumed almost all of the corn stores. Faced with this situation, Smith found it necessary to scatter the settlers, sending some to live with the Indians and some to eat at the oyster banks where the unbalanced oyster diet is reported to have caused their skin “to peel off from head to foot as if they had been fleade.” Only “a small guarde of gentlemen & some others [were left] about the president at James Towne.”

In midsummer of 1609, conditions at Jamestown were not good, although it is doubtful that they were any worse than during the two previous summers. The settlers were becoming acclimated, and they were learning the ways of the new country. Supplies were low, yet the number of colonists was small, and a good harvest and a good autumn might have improved matters had not some 400 new, inexperienced settlers sailed into the James without their leaders, without instructions, and with damaged supplies. To add to other complications, they brought fever and plague. In the selection of prospective settlers for the voyage the standards had been low, and too many ne’er-do-wells, and even renegades, had been included. This was the third supply, and it reached Jamestown in August 1609.

THE SECOND COMPANY CHARTER AND THE THIRD SUPPLY.

The company had received a new charter in May 1609 which corrected some of the defects of the old and made provision for a strong governor to rule in the Colony. Despite discouraging news from Virginia, the supporters of the enterprise did not abandon their plans to maintain the colony. The second charter, as this was called, was subscribed and incorporated by 56 companies of London and 659 persons, of whom 21 were peers, 96 knights, 11 doctors, ministers, etc., 53 captains, 28 esquires, 58 gentlemen, 110 merchants, 282 citizens, and others not classified. Altogether they represented a cross section of English life in that period.

It was resolved to send a much larger expedition to Virginia than the three sent prior to this date. It went out in June under Sir Thomas Gates and with him were Sir George Somers and Captain Newport. There were 9 ships and about 500 settlers. The voyage was uneventful until they ran into a stiff hurricane that broke up the fleet and cast ashore in the Bermuda Islands the flagship with its three commanders. The rest of the fleet, except one small ship lost at sea, limped into the James and went on to Jamestown.

Returning to Virginia in the third supply were several men who had been earlier leaders in the colony and who were now all hostile to Smith—Archer, Ratcliffe, and Martin. A confusing scene developed over command. The old leaders, particularly Smith, refused to give way to the new in the absence of Gates, the appointed governor, and his instructions. There was considerable bickering which led to an uneasy settlement, leaving Smith in charge for the duration of his yearly term, now almost expired.

It was obvious to everyone that there were too many men for all to remain at Jamestown. John Martin was sent to attempt a settlement at Nansemond, on the south side of the James below Jamestown, while Capt. Francis West, brother of Lord Delaware, was sent to settle at the falls of the James. Returning to Jamestown after an inspection tour at the falls, Captain Smith was injured by burning gunpowder and incapacitated. The implication in the documents of the period is that Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin used this opportunity to depose him and to compel him to return to England to face their charges against him. These three men, failing to agree on a replacement from their own number, persuaded George Percy to accept the position of president. Percy was in command during the terrible winter that followed.

THE “STARVING TIME.”

The winter of 1609-10 has been described through the years as the “starving time”—seemingly, an accurate description. It saw the population shrink from 500 to about 60 as a result of disease, sickness, Indian arrows, and malnutrition. It destroyed morale and reduced the men to scavengers stalking the fort, fields, and woods for anything that might be used as food. When spring came there was little spirit left in the settlement. It would seem unjust to attribute the disaster to Percy, who did what he could to ameliorate conditions by attempting trade and keeping the men busy. The “starving time” appears to have been caused by an accumulation of circumstances.

There was the matter of the third supply which arrived in such poor condition very late in the season. Bickering prevented measures that could have been taken to prepare for the winter. Dissension continued even after Smith’s departure. Then, too, the Indians knew of conditions at Jamestown, for they actually kept scouts in the fort much of the time. They were learning the ways of the white man and had come to see that he was most vulnerable in the winter season. Heretofore they had supplied him corn—by gift, by trade, or unwillingly through seizure. In the winter of 1609-10, they had a good opportunity to make him suffer, and throughout this period the Indians were openly hostile. Perhaps the increasingly heavy use of force and armed persuasion in dealing with them had resulted in this attitude which, from their point of view, proved highly effective. In the fall of 1608, they had forced the settlers in from Nansemond and the falls. Then, in the winter of 1609-10, Powhatan captured and killed Ratcliffe who had gone to trade with him. All through that winter it was dangerous to be alone far from the fort.

Not having sufficient stores set aside, not able to deal with the natives, and without the use of the resources of the countryside, there is small wonder that conditions became serious, even desperate, for the settlers. Those few men fortified on Hampton Roads under Capt. James Davis (after Captain West, perhaps under threat from the crew, left Virginia for England in the colony’s best ship) fared far better than did those at Jamestown. Even the coming of spring failed to restore full hope and vitality to the survivors, yet certainly it must have been good to know that winter was over.

VIRGINIA ALMOST ABANDONED.

In May 1610, the hearts of the weary settlers were gladdened when Sir Thomas Gates, their new governor, sailed into the James. For about a year he and the survivors of the wreck of the _Sea Venture_ had labored in Bermuda to make possible the continuation of their voyage to Virginia. The last part of the journey was made in two boats built by them in Bermuda—the _Patience_ and the _Deliverance_, names suggestive of their thankfulness for survival. It was not a pleasant sight that greeted them at Jamestown. Ruin and desolation were everywhere. Gates, with his Council, on July 7, 1610, wrote that Jamestown seemed

raither as the ruins of some auntient [for]tification, then that any people living might now inhabit it: the pallisadoes he found tourne downe, the portes open, the gates from the hinges, the church ruined and unfrequented, empty howses (whose owners untimely death had taken newly from them) rent up and burnt, the living not hable, as they pretended, to step into the woodes to gather other fire-wood; and, it is true, the _Indian as fast killing without as the famine and pestilence within_.

Gates promptly distributed provisions, such as he had, and introduced a code of martial law, the code that was strengthened later by Delaware and made famous by its strict enforcement under the governorship of Sir Thomas Dale. After surveying the condition of the settlement and realizing that the supplies he had brought would not last 3 weeks, Gates took council with the leaders. They decided to abandon the settlement. On June 7, 1610, the settlers, except some of the Poles and Dutchmen who were with Powhatan, boarded the ship, left Jamestown, and started down the James.

The next morning, while still in the river, advance word reached Gates that Lord Delaware had arrived at Point Comfort on the way to Jamestown and was bringing 150 settlers and a generous supply. The bad news carried to England by the returning ships of the third supply, late in 1609, had caused considerable stir in Virginia Company circles and had resulted in Delaware’s decision to go to Virginia. Learning of the new supply, Gates hastened back to Jamestown. The new settlement had been saved in a manner that was recognized at that time as an act of “Providence.”

LORD DELAWARE REACHES JAMESTOWN.

On June 10, Delaware reached “James Citty” and made his landing. He entered the fort through the south gate, and, with his colors flying, went on to the church where Rev. Richard Buck delivered an impressive sermon. Then his ensign, Anthony Scott, read his commission, and Gates formally delivered to him his own authority as governor. Delaware’s speech to the assembled colonists cheered them, advised them, warned them, and reproached them. Thanks to the pen of William Strachey, we have a good account of these events, including the best description of the fort, church, and cabins that is now known to have been preserved. With the arrival of Delaware, the settlement was given new life and new hope. Lean times lay ahead, yet the most difficult years lay behind. Virginia now had a government that made for stability under the governor, and the old settlers, who, a little later, came to be called “Ancient Planters,” had learned well by experience.

Gates, after dealing with the Indians, left for England. Delaware, who continued to live aboard ship for a time, called a Council, reorganized the colonists, and directed operations to promote the welfare of the colony, including the construction of two forts near Point Comfort. He fell sick, however, and, after a long illness, was forced to leave Jamestown and Virginia in March 1611, leaving the now veteran administrator, George Percy, as governor in charge. With Delaware went Dr. Lawrence Bohun, who had experimented extensively with the curative powers of plants and herbs at Jamestown.

SIR THOMAS DALE AND MILITARY LAW.

In May, Sir Thomas Dale, on military leave from his post in the Low Countries, arrived as deputy governor of Virginia. He proceeded to give form and substance to the martial law which had been evoked by his predecessors. It led to rather complete regimentation, and he was severely criticized for it later, particularly by those hostile to his administration. He began by posting proclamations “for the publique view” at Jamestown. Later, he thoroughly inspected suitable settlement sites and surveyed conditions generally. He wrote, on May 25, 1611, that on arrival at Jamestown he found “... no corn sett, some few seeds put into a private garden or Two; but the cattle, cows, goats, swine, Poultry &c to be well and carefully on all hands preserved and all in good plight and likeing.” To get things in order at the seat of government, one party was designated to repair the church, another to work on the stable, another to build a wharf. When things were reasonably well in hand at Jamestown, he made plans to push the decision to open a new settlement above Jamestown which would become the real center of the colony. The reasons for such a removal of the seat of government are well known—not sufficient high land, poor drinking water, too much marsh, and a location not far enough upstream to be out of reach of the Spanish.

JAMESTOWN, 1611-16.

Under Dale, from May 1611 to 1616, and under Gates who replaced him for several years, beginning in August 1611, the emphasis was away from Jamestown, but the capital was not actually moved.

In 1612, “Master George Percie ... [was busy] with the keeping of Jamestown” while much of the colony had been “moved up river.” The first settlement was then looked upon as chiefly a place of safety for hogs and cattle. In 1614, it was made up of “two faire rowes of howses, all of framed Timber, two stories, and an vpper Garret or Corne loft high, besides three large, and substantiall Storehowses ioyned togeather in length some hundred and twenty foot, and in breadth forty ... this town hath been lately newly, and strongly impaled, and a faire platforme for Ordnance in the west Bulworke raised.” Without the town “... in the Island [were] some very pleasant, and beutifull howses, two Blockhouses ... and certain other farme howses.” In 1616, it was a post of 50 under the command of Lt. John Sharpe, who was acting in the absence of Capt. Francis West. Thirty-one of these were “farmors” and all maintained themselves with “food and rayment.”

The Gates-Dale 5-year administration (1611-16) actually saw Virginia established as a going concern. The role of Dale in all of this seems to have been a heavy one. Martial law brought order and uniformity in operations and compelled the people to go to work. Dale saw to it that corn was planted and harvested and that the laws were observed. He made peace with the Indians.

So effective were Dale’s measures that one of his contemporaries, John Rolfe, wrote “whereupon a peace was concluded, which still continues so firme, that our people yearlely plant and reape quietly, and travell in the woods a fowling and a hunting as freely and securely from danger or treacherie as in England. The great blessings of God have followed this peace, and it, next under him, hath bredd our plentie....” All this was accomplished when the fortunes of the Virginia Company were at a low point and little support was being sent to the colony. John Rolfe then went on to predict that Dale’s “worth and name ... will out last the standing of this plantation....”

Martial law, strictly administered at first, was gradually relaxed in application as conditions stabilized, and within a few years Dale took the step of granting 3-acre plots to private men for their enjoyment outside of the common store. This was a big step in the evolution of the private ownership of land. In the beginning, ownership was communal and company controlled. In 1609, a future division of both land and profits was anticipated, but it was about 1619 before individual grants were made. A part of this evolution was the headright system of acquisition, whereby persons were rewarded for venturing to Virginia themselves, or their capital. Dale’s grants of a semiprivate nature, about 1615, were a step in this evolution as well. The headright system which developed at Jamestown and on the banks of the James was later adapted in other colonies and continued in use for generations.

Gates and Dale in their administration had the help of other enterprising and daring early Virginians. There was Capt. Samuel Argall whose later work as governor of the colony has sometimes been criticized, especially his handling of the company finances. This should not becloud his earlier helpfulness in getting Virginia established. He pioneered in making a direct crossing of the Atlantic to save time and to avoid the Spanish, who now were fearful that the Virginia enterprise might succeed and were sending spies to Virginia. (Some of these spies were captured and interned at Jamestown.) Argall led in exploration, both in Virginia waters and northward along the coastline. He was adept at shipbuilding and in the Indian trade. It was evidently he who discovered the best fishing seasons and the fact that the fish made “runs” in the bay and in the rivers. He made an open attack on the French settlements to the north in New England and Nova Scotia, returning to Jamestown with his captives.

POCAHONTAS.

While on a trading expedition on the Potomac, Argall captured Pocahontas and brought her as a prisoner to Jamestown in an attempt to deal with her father, Powhatan. Pocahontas was no stranger at Jamestown. She had often visited there before, once in the spring of 1608 to seek some of her countrymen held as hostages in the fort.