The Jamestown Experiment (21 page)

After the impromptu religious service, the governor held another ceremony in which his commission was read and President Percy surrendered his authority. Gates learned the story of what had happened as he surveyed the rest of the settlement. The new governor walked around the shattered colony and noted its fallen buildings. He only “found some three-score persons living.”
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The irony of the scene played out in the minds of the newly arrived settlers. They had crossed the Atlantic, barely survived a hurricane at sea, spent almost a year on the Isle of Devils, rebuilt their ships, and finally reached their destination by a pure act of perseverance. They had come to get wealthy and have a better life. Instead, they found all their troubles were for naught and their dreams dashed in an instant.

A disconsolate Thomas Gates had to admit that he did not know the solutions to what seemed insurmountable difficulties. He did not expect these problems and was having trouble discerning the same innovative ideas that had helped the castaways survive in Bermuda
and
get off the island. “In this desolation and misery our governor found the condition and state of the colony and which added more to his grief,” Gates had “no hope how to amend it or save his own company.”
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Gates crushed the hopes of the starving people who thought he had enough food for their immediate needs and long-term survival. He shared a gloomy truth with the starving colonists. With a heavy heart and a great deal of reticence, he informed them that the ships
“had brought from the Bermudas no greater store of provision (fearing no such accidents possible to befall the colony here) than might well serve one hundred and fifty for a sea voyage.”
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A hasty count of the provisions revealed that they only had about sixteen days of food for everyone. Nor was there any real possibility of securing an adequate supply of provisions. “It was not possible at this time of the year to…have little more than from hand to mouth, it was now likewise but their seedtime and all their corn scarce put into the ground.” The hostile Indians who had surrounded the fort during the starving time and killed scores of colonists could not be counted on for trade or gifts. “The Indians were themselves poor [and] were forbidden likewise by their subtle King Powhatan at all to trade with us.” There was also no “means to take fish, neither sufficient seine nor other convenient net, and yet if there had, there was not one eye of sturgeon yet come into the river.” They were about to suffer the same horror again, this time in the unhealthiest part of the year.
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Upon hearing such dreadful news, a man broke into a hysterical fit, understandably blaming God for their suffering. Hugh Price, “in a furious, distracted mood did come openly into the market place blaspheming, exclaiming, and crying out that there was no god.” He alleged, “If there were a God he would not suffer his creatures whom he had made and framed to endure those miseries.” In his despair, Price was driven madly into the woods, where he met his death by the Indians just as surely as famine and pestilence would have claimed him within the settlement.
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Gates promised the settlers in Jamestown that “what provision he had they should equally share with him, and if he should find it not possible and easy to supply them with something from the country by the endeavors of his able men, he would make ready and transport them all into their native country, England,
(accommodating them the best that he could).” His words assuaged the hungry, scared colonists who gave “a general acclamation and shout of joy on both sides.”
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Afterward, Gates drew up and posted some laws to provide the colony with at least a temporary sense of order. “Our governor published certain orders and instructions which he enjoined them strictly to observe, the time that he should stay amongst them, which, being written out fair, were set up upon a post in the church for everyone to take notice of.” Meanwhile, there was work to be done to see if maintaining the permanent settlement would be even remotely possible.
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After two weeks, the situation had not changed. They had no stores of food and little likelihood of adding any. The Indians refused to trade their food and were still a threat to any who sojourned outside the palisade. In fact, a small boat that was sent out for food had many settlers killed. Raising enough crops in time was impossible, and fishing the river was still not fruitful.

Gates consulted with Somers, Newport, Percy, and several other members of the governing council. They came to an inescapable conclusion and sobering consensus. “After much debating it could not appear how possibly they might preserve themselves ten days from starving.” Considering the state of the colony and the dismal prospects for their survival, Gates decided to abandon Jamestown. “In this desolation and misery our governor found…no hope how to amend it or save his own company and those yet remaining alive from falling into the like necessities.” He would not risk the lives of two hundred people in his charge with a vain delusion of his own leadership.
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Even if they set sail, they could never make it to England with their meager food supply, which would last at most a month under
favorable conditions (and Gates knew firsthand that disasters could happen). Their only choice was to sail for Newfoundland, where they could provision themselves through trade and fishing as well as “meet with many English ships into which happily they might disperse most of the company.”
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The English had only recently begun to fish for cod around Newfoundland. Henry VII had sponsored John Cabot’s voyage to the New World, and he reported that the cod in Newfoundland were so plentiful that they practically jumped into the boats. “The sea there is swarming with fish which can be taken not only with the net but in baskets let down with a stone, so that it sinks in the water.”
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Word from another discoverer in New England confirmed Cabot’s account that the Newfoundland coasts were teeming with cod. “In the months of March, April, and May, there is upon this coast better fishing, and in as great plenty as in Newfoundland.” The rocky shores of that northern island seemed to be the Virginia colonists’ salvation.
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On June 7, 1610, the company collected all of the remaining flour and prepared sea biscuits as well as any remaining foodstuffs, which would be evenly distributed to everyone and closely guarded. Even then they only had “not above…sixteen days, after two cakes a day.” They loaded all arms and remaining supplies on their four pinnaces, including the
Deliverance
and
Patience.
Gates had the cannon buried, hopefully for use at some future date by other settlers. He also protected the town, even in its ramshackle state, from arson by the frustrated survivors of the famine. “Because he would preserve the town (albeit now to be quitted) unburned, which some intemperate and malicious people threatened, his own company he caused to be last ashore and was himself the last of them when about noon, giving a farewell with a peal of small shot, we set sail.” None wanted to look back at the source of their misery.
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The Jamestown colony had failed, and the hardy adventurers who had settled the colony were defeated and sailing back to England.

Chapter Fourteen

T
he colonists who were leaving Jamestown for good did not get far. They had sailed down the James and anchored the next morning off Mulberry Island when, to their surprise, they encountered a longboat coming up from Point Comfort.

Aboard the flagship of a three-boat expedition, Lord De La Warr floated from Point Comfort to speak with Thomas Gates. The governor was relieved to see Gates alive, but the wretched condition of the colonists filled him with compassion. De La Warr was “met with much cold comfort as, if it had not been accompanied with the most happy news of Sir Thomas Gates his arrival, it had been sufficient to have broke my heart and to have made me altogether unable to have done my king and country any service.”
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Nevertheless, De La Warr performed his duty and promptly ordered Gates and his forlorn passengers to return to the place of death. Gates obediently sailed his men back to Jamestown and waited.

The colony was not allowed to fail. Lord De La Warr would put the colony back on a proper footing, but he did not offer
the Jamestown colonists any new and innovative leadership ideas. He would rule strictly, as if the authoritarian regimes of John Smith or Thomas Gates were the antidote to the problems that continued to plague the colony since its inception. Discipline and martial rule would supposedly inspire success and work for the collective good.

Two days later, on Sunday, June 10, De La Warr entered the Jamestown palisade with great ceremony. Governor Gates “caused his company in arms to stand in order and make a guard.” An honor guard bore flags flapping in the breeze. De La Warr solemnly “fell upon his knees and before us all made a long and silent prayer to himself.” He marched through the formations into town, wrote William Strachey, “where at the gate I bowed with the colors and let them fall at his lordship’s feet.”
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De La Warr strode into the half-razed church, and Minister Richard Buck delivered a sermon for the Sabbath and the occasion. A gentleman then read the lord’s commission granting him the governorship of the colony. Gates handed over his commission and the council seal with a great deal of relief.

Lord De La Warr stood before he assembled worshipers and dressed them down. He blamed their troubled upon their “many vanities and their idleness, earnestly wishing that he might no more find it so lest he should be compelled to draw the sword of justice to cut off such delinquents, which he had much rather, he protested, draw in their defense to protect them from injuries.”
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After establishing his authority and laying down the tenor of his domineering rule, De La Warr offered them some comforting thoughts. He informed the hungry colonists that he had a “store of provisions he had brought for them, sufficient to serve four hundred men for one whole year.” The members of the congregation smiled, and some cried in relief.

De La Warr then got down to the work of rebuilding Jamestown.
The new governor instituted his regimented government and initiated a series of reforms that he thought would reestablish order. First, on Tuesday, June 12, he chose certain gentlemen to hold office to help him govern, and they elected a council who took an oath of office. Unsurprisingly, Thomas Gates, George Somers, George Percy, Christopher Newport, and William Strachey (as secretary and recorder) comprised the council, with a few others. The governor and council had draconian laws at their disposal to compel obedience and submission to their authority. Crimes such as insubordination, mutiny, trading weapons to the Indians, or murder would receive the death penalty, whereas a host of lesser crimes would earn the whip.

The next thing Governor De La Warr did was to assess the food supply. Even though he had brought enough provisions to last through the winter, he put the men to work to add to the stores to ensure the long-term sustainability of the colony. These men spent their time fishing, although still mostly without success, because they found “in our own river no store of fish.” The governor dispatched a pinnace to fish in the Chesapeake, but this, too, was without a great deal of luck. Nevertheless, they did raise various crops and even planted a vineyard.
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It did not appear that there was “any kind of flesh, deer, or whatever other kind” that could be hunted and killed. Moreover, the Indians “had the last winter destroyed and killed up all the hogs, insomuch as of five or six hundred, there was not one left alive.” Nor was there a “hen or chick in the fort; and our horses and mares they had eaten with the first.” In addition, the expedition had not brought any significant amounts of meat.
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On Wednesday, June 13, the council debated various solutions to the food problem. Somers proposed to sail to Bermuda to “fetch six months’ provision of flesh and fish and some live hogs to store
our colony again.” De La Warr quickly consented to the plan. On June 19, Somers and Samuel Argall set sail in the Bermuda-built
Patience
and
Discovery.
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Next, Governor De La Warr broke the men into groups of fifty, forming them into militia units for discipline and martial deportment. The groups were further split into labor gangs to start rebuilding the colony and followed strict work routines. Their discipline and unity were reinforced by taking their meals together. Their work and meal schedules were organized by ringing bells throughout the day.

The labor gangs first began “to raise a fortress with the ablest and speediest means they could.” It was enclosed by “a palisade of planks and strong posts, four feet deep in the ground.” They built several bulwarks, unburied the cannon, and set up the ordnance for safety and security. The settlers rebuilt their houses and made them more durable.
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Since the church was both “ruined and unfrequented,” the governor ordered it repaired for the spiritual well-being of the colonists. A nicely finished black walnut Communion table and cedar pews and pulpit were crafted. Strict rules of church attendance and prayer were enforced. “Every Sunday we have sermons twice a day, and every Thursday a sermon…and every morning, at the ringing of a bell at ten o’clock, each man prays, and so at four o’clock before supper.” The house of worship was now beautified and well used.
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The governor himself made a public show of attending church services to encourage others to follow his example. “Every Sunday, when the lord governor and captain general goes to church, he is accompanied with all the councilors, captains, other officers, and all the gentlemen, and with a guard of halberdiers in his lordship’s livery, fair red cloaks, to the number of fifty, both on each side and behind him.” De La Warr worshiped grandly on a green velvet cushion.
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De La Warr believed that he had given the colony a proper foundation for its future. He reestablished the rule of law, gave the men stern work rules for discipline, and attended to their spiritual needs. The reigning authoritarian view of administering the colony had failed for several years but still predominated at Jamestown.

One final priority of the governor was the elimination of the Indian threat. As instructed by the Virginia Company, the governor sought to draw “better terms” as well as peacefully convert the native peoples. The company argued that it was lawful to “possess part of their land” as well as “defend ourselves from them,” but it wanted the governor to treat them well.
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As a result, De La Warr sent an embassy of two gentlemen to reestablish relations with Wahunsonacock. The governor acknowledged the strained relations between the two peoples but hoped to set them aright by blaming the violence over the past year on “his worst and unruly people.”
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Wahunsonacock perceived that he had the upper hand and proudly stood his ground. In response to the embassy, he warned the Englishmen that they either “depart the country or confine ourselves to Jamestown only, without searching further up into his land or rivers.” If they refused to heed his warning, “he would give in command to his people to kill us and do unto us all the mischief which they had at their pleasure.” Moreover, he demanded future diplomats greet him in a carriage with three horses, because he understood that European ambassadors were received thus when they went to “visit other great men.” Daily he sent several spies to keep an eye on the settlement as a signal of his hostile intentions.
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Lord De La Warr was not going to allow Wahunsonacock to maintain the advantage he had gained after Smith’s departure and during the starving time. He would not suffer an Indian chief as his
equal, nor did he intend to permit the Indians to keep the English bound to the immediate environs of their fort under the threat of violence. The national vision of the English included colonies that were expansionary, dynamic forces with a burgeoning population and bold attempts to explore an area in order to discover sources of wealth. The attempt by Wahunsonacock to keep them static and restrained to a small geographical area was antithetical to the gentlemen adventurers and the company. It would be not tolerated but met with force. This was now a struggle for supremacy by both peoples, and the impact would be felt for years and would determine the outcome of the colony.

Savagery escalated on both sides as the English took the offensive. After the Kecoughtans killed a colonist attempting to recover a lost boat, Gates led an expedition against them. A drummer played some music to “lure the Indians to come unto him.” When the Kecoughtans emerged, Gates attacked, killing five and wounded many (some of whom later died from bleeding in the woods). The Kecoughtans fled in terror while the English occupied their “town and the fertile ground thereunto adjacent.”
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When the governor demanded missing arms and men from Wahunsonacock, the Indian leader responded with “proud and disdainful answers.” De La Warr ordered Percy to lead seventy men against the Paspaheghs and Chickahominies. On August 9, 1610, Percy’s men sailed in two boats and marched upon the tribes in battle formation. They surrounded the village and attacked when a pistol was fired. The English soldiers killed fifteen or sixteen Indians and put the rest to flight.
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After the bloody battle, Percy reprimanded a soldier for sparing an Indian man, the queen, and her children. He ordered the male Indian beheaded while other Englishmen torched the village and stole their corn. The invaders boarded their ships, and Percy hastily
convened a war council to decide the fate of the remaining prisoners. They decided to toss the children overboard and shoot them. The grisly task was carried out while their mother watched in horror. Their bodies lay floating as the ships pulled away to “perform all the spoil they could.”
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Percy’s force went ashore two miles downriver and were met with a hail of arrows by some warriors who melted into the woods. The Englishmen marched fourteen miles to the Chickahominies’ village and unleashed further savagery. As they rampaged through the countryside, they “cut down their corn, burned their houses, temples, and idols, and amongst the rest a spacious temple.”
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When they returned to Jamestown and disembarked with their lone prisoner, Lord De La Warr was pleased with their safe return, but he reproached Percy for not slaying the queen when she was captured. The governor ordered her execution and thought that Percy should “burn her.” A fatigued Percy pled that he had already seen “so much bloodshed that day, now in my cold blood I desired to see no more.” If it must be done, he preferred to get the grisly deed over with quickly, “by shot or sword.” She was led into the woods where no one would witness her execution.
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The English gained additional firepower when Samuel Argall returned from a failed attempt to reach Bermuda for hogs and fished off the coast of New England. He contributed to the raids, attacking the Warraskoyacks, who were warned by neighboring tribes that the Englishmen’s ships were coming. They fled and escaped the attack, but Argall cut down their corn and burned their houses, leaving a wake of destruction behind him.