The Jamestown Experiment (6 page)

Meanwhile, the contentious character of the voyage once again surfaced. Either John Smith stirred up more trouble because he could not keep his mouth shut while jailed, or Newport decided that, now that they had made landfall, it was time to execute the insurrectionary. A few of the crew hastily constructed a gallows by which to hang Smith; however, Gosnold and Reverend Hunt intervened and discussed the matter with Newport. They convinced him not to hang Smith for the time being. Smith barely avoided death, but he was still confined.

As part of their island-hopping voyage through the Caribbean for supplies before they resumed their journey of riding the Gulf Stream to Virginia, the fleet anchored at the Virgin Islands, where the men once again stretched their legs and enjoyed some much-needed elbow room. Their Easter dinner consisted of tortoises, fish, and fowl. “On this island we caught great store of fresh fish and abundance of sea tortoises, which served all our fleet three days, which were in number eight score persons. We also killed great store of wild fowl.”
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A few days later they put in at an island between Puerto Rico and Haiti, where they were amazed at the sight of a six-foot iguana that some described as “a loathsome beast like a crocodile” and “in fashion of a serpent and speckled like a toad.”
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The others feasted daily on “iguana, tortoises, pelicans, parrots, and fishes,” John Smith recorded.
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The only fatality of the voyage occurred as a result of heatstroke and lack of water during a six-mile hike in the stifling, humid weather. On another island the adventurers spent a couple of hours lading two boats with waterfowl and eggs “to our great refreshing.”
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The sailors and settlers enjoyed exploring the exotic islands, but they were just brief stops on their way to Virginia.

On April 10 they sailed with eager anticipation from the Caribbean northward toward their final destination. Eleven days went by as
they cruised with happy, refreshed spirits. However, tensions were whipped into a frenzy again by a terrible thunderstorm that struck the fleet off of North Carolina. The storm kept them from landing at their intended destination.

As evening approached, thunderclouds rolled in across the horizon, and the sailors automatically furled their sails and sent everyone below decks. The ships rode out the storm at the mercy of the choppy seas. Blue streaks of lightning flashed across the dark sky, and rain rattled heavily on the upper deck. Passengers jumped with every clap of thunder. After a harrowing night, the next day dawned clearer, but the sailors had lost their bearings. For a few days they wondered why no land was in sight. “We were forced to lie at hull that night because we thought we had been nearer land than we were. The next morning, being the twenty-second we sounded; and the twenty-third and twenty-fourth day, but we could find no ground. The twenty-fifth day we sounded, and had no ground at an hundred fathom.”
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The ill will among some of the leaders again reached a boiling point, although John Smith was not involved. This time, Ratcliffe, who commanded the pinnace
Discovery,
decided to capitulate and “rather desired to bear up the helm to return for England than make further search.” Although they were so close to Virginia, he threatened to terminate the voyage and sail for home when the seemingly fruitless several months at sea had frayed his nerves. The mariners and settlers needed their leaders to demonstrate perseverance and fortitude in accomplishing their mission. Newport persuaded Ratcliffe to complete the voyage.
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John Smith, not a particularly pious man, attributed the storm to “God the guider of all good actions, forcing them by an extreme storm to howl all night, did drive them by his providence to their desired port, beyond all their expectations, for never any of them had seen that coast.” Although this view of the storm reflected a common
view of hurricanes—that God providentially sent storms to punish sin and stilled the winds as a sign of divine mercy—Smith’s words were more a snide comment about the skill of the ships’ captains.
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With the rising sun painting the clouds first a faint pink and then a brilliant orange in the wee hours of the morning of April 26, watchmen atop the masts shouted, “Land, ho!” Ratcliffe and the faint of heart were thus prevented from departing for England. All had arrived at their destination after a four-month winter voyage. They had braved the winter elements to land in Virginia during the spring, a propitious time for planting crops.

The fleet sailed into the Chesapeake Bay. They were lucky and thankful to be alive. The men spoke in rhapsodic terms of their first sighting of Virginia. George Percy wrote: “We landed and discovered…fair meadows and goodly tall trees, with such fresh-waters running through the woods, as I was almost ravished at the first sight thereof.”
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The men were not yet out of danger. In fact, in many ways, although the ocean crossing had been completed, the dangers of the New World were just beginning. At Cape Henry, a landing party was organized to begin the first of many exploratory expeditions. They armed themselves and marched out to search the territory. Although they saw no natives, they were being watched. A hunting party saw the Englishmen and tracked them back to the shore. These Indians were skilled archers and deadly accurate, and they could loose several arrows per minute. Suddenly the sky was filled with flying missiles—several of which hit their mark. The discoverers experienced their first attack during their first steps in the New World and suffered two casualties.

At night, when we were going abroad, there came the savages creeping upon all four from the hills like bears, with their
bows in their mouths. They charged us very desperately in the faces. They hurt Captain Gabriel Archer in both his hands, and a sailor in two places of the body very dangerous. After they had spent their arrows, and felt the sharpness of our shot, they retired into the woods with a great noise and so left us.
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John Smith was still confined aboard the
Susan Constant.
He offered a different reason for the attackers’ withdrawal: they had not been frightened off by the powerful English guns, but rather their supply of arrows was spent. The attack itself was a foreboding welcome to Virginia. But if Smith were correct in his assumption that English technology did not simply overawe the Indians, the settlers might be entering a very dangerous situation.

After tending to their wounded and keeping a vigilant eye for further attacks under the cover of darkness, the adventurers’ first order of business was to open their instructions and learn the membership of the first council now that they had landed and Christopher Newport had relinquished his authority. Newport retrieved the box and read the names of those appointed to the council: Bartholomew Gosnold, John Ratcliffe, Edward Wingfield, and himself. John Martin, son of a goldsmith and politician, and George Kendall, a privateer with ties to Sir Edwin Sandys and Lord Salisbury, also joined the council. Most surprising, under the circumstances, was the company’s appointment of the prisoner suspected of mutiny: John Smith. He was, however, not seated, because of the opposition of the other councilors.

The leadership crisis of the venture continued. By failing to seat Smith, the councilors directly disobeyed the orders determined by the Virginia Council in London. If they broke this basic instruction, others might follow. Moreover, as everyone already saw from the
troubles aboard ship, Smith was a self-assured man who would fight for his appointed position on the council and cause trouble until he was seated. Seating Smith, however, presented a danger in that he might seek retribution against his foes on the council, especially after factions formed and divided the leadership of the colony. Few alternatives boded well for the cohesive rule over the colonists in the strange land.

For now, though, there was harmony among the colonists as they explored the area in search of a place to settle that was in accord with the instructions of the Virginia Council. They also assessed the bounty of the land while they sailed around Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. During their exploring, they came into contact with different Indian tribes that were friendlier than the initial confrontation had indicated.

The day after the attack, the English launched a shallop, a small open boat, to explore the river system. The shallop crew entered a smaller river and came across a recently deserted plot of land where they found a canoe and some burning brush. In addition, they discovered a “good store of mussels and oysters, which lay on the ground as thick as stones. We opened some, and found in many of them pearls.” While on this march, they saw an “excellent ground full of flowers of diverse kinds and colors, and as goodly trees as I have seen, as cedar, cypress, and other kinds.” They also discovered strawberries “four times bigger and better than ours in England.” Pleased by the bounty of the land, they rowed over to a place they quixotically named Cape Comfort.
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The following day the English settlers assembled for a ceremony led by the council members. Reverend Hunt offered prayers for their endeavor. They “set up a cross at Chesapeake Bay” in honor of their Christian majesty, James I, thereby claiming Virginia for mother England. It was a symbol of their Christian mission to the
Indians as well as their religious and patriotic mission to settle the land before their enemy, Catholic Spain, could. They named the place Cape Henry in honor of the royal prince.
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The explorers went back to Cape Comfort, sailed up the James River the next day, and encountered the Paspahegh Indians, who invited the strangers to their village. The Englishmen were entertained with singing and dancing, along with an oration by the werowance, or king, which of course was incomprehensible to them. The Englishmen took their leave and were then greeted by the Quiyoughcohannocks, whose werowance wore an impressive headdress. The Englishmen were primarily interested in the signs of wealth that he wore. He had a “great plate of copper” on his head, and his face was painted blue and “sprinkled with silver ore.” His ears hung with pearls and a bird’s claw set “with fine copper or gold.” The decorations belied possible sources of great wealth and greatly excited the settlers. They did not hold the Indians in great esteem, condescendingly noting that they gave one of them “trifles which pleased him.” Nevertheless, the tribes would be an invaluable source of knowledge about the mineral wealth of Virginia.
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By May 8 they rowed up the James River as far as Appomattox, where they again encountered the Appomattoc. This time, there were “many stout and able savages to resist us with their bows and arrows, in a most warlike manner, with the swords at their backs beset with sharp stones, and pieces of iron able to cleave a man in sunder.” Having been warned off, the explorers departed peacefully. The mixed reactions of the natives to the English affected their decision of where to settle during their journey along the James. They sought a defensible position against further hostility.
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Meanwhile, the discord among the colonists did not end: they clashed over the best place to erect their settlement. John Smith recounted that when they searched for “a very fit place for the
erecting of a great city, about which some contention passed betwixt Captain Wingfield and Captain Gosnold.” There were too many important tasks to be accomplished once they landed for the friction to persist. The root of their problem was the secretive nature of the council membership. But the pride of the gentlemen adventurers and their individualistic English heritage added to the mix.
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The first month of exploration yielded important clues about the opportunities for riches that Virginia might yield. Mineral wealth, pearls, abundant food, and a plentiful land beckoned them to land and exploit the wealth they claimed. The interactions with the different Indian peoples varied and led the settlers to maintain their vigilance. Disputes among the colonists were perhaps even more unsettling than any external threat. After navigating farther downriver, they finally decided on a marshy peninsula they called Jamestown Island in honor of their king. They landed with great hopes of striking it rich and establishing the first permanent English settlement in America.

Chapter Four

T
he peninsula on the James River seemed the perfect place for the 108 colonists to settle. It seemed to be a bountiful garden that provided all of their needs. Along the banks of the James, they saw “the goodliest woods as beech, oak, cedar, cypress, walnuts, sassafras, and vines in great abundance.” Besides timber to build their grand city and export home, there was a profusion of “many fruits as strawberries, mulberries, raspberries, and fruits unknown.” The variety of game for food and valuable furs included a “great store of deer, both red and fallow. There are bears, foxes, otters, beavers, muskrats, and wild beasts unknown.” The romantic vision of the settlers saw fair meadows on which to raise domesticated cattle as well.
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Besides apparently having everything the colonists needed to survive, the James River also had the essential quality of being a deep enough channel where “ships of great burden may harbor in safety.” As instructed, it was roughly fifty miles upriver to hide its location from prowling Spanish warships. Likewise, the peninsula
offered a defensible position against hostile natives, and the guns of the English ships could easily be brought to bear to thwart an attack. The river also provided a means of launching voyages of discovery for gold and a passage to the Pacific. The river and its branches provided a “great plenty of fish of all kinds, as for sturgeon all the world cannot be compared to it.”
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On May 14, since the spot was as good as any—despite the opposing opinions of some—the men disembarked and unloaded their ships as they set about starting the colony. On that day the leaders of the colony were sworn into their offices. According to their instructions, they elected Edward Maria Wingfield their first president.
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He delivered a speech explaining why John Smith was still not seated with the rest of the council. Smith nevertheless gained his freedom from captivity and escaped execution.
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After the ceremony, all of the men were put to work on building the settlement and fortifications. The members of the council directed the work and determined the shape of the defenses. Several of the men hefted axes and cut down trees, which they “cast together in the form of a half-moon” as ordered by Capt. George Kendall. The fort was not palisaded and not very strong. As work on the defenses progressed, other men cut down trees and cleared brush in order to make an area in which to pitch their tents. Some cut up the trees to “provide clapboard to relade the ships.” Land was cleared to prepare gardens, and the soil was tilled for fields of corn. Meanwhile, sailors mended nets to fish in the river for food. The demanding work continued for weeks.
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During the coming days they had several encounters with some Indians. Both sides proceeded warily with each other because they were still evaluating the other’s intentions. Incredibly, the English left most of their arms packed in crates aboard the
Susan Constant, Godspeed,
and
Discovery.
On the first night, the settlers frightened
off a couple of Indians who were skulking about at midnight near the encampment.

A few days later a werowance came to Jamestown accompanied by a group of one hundred warriors armed with bows and arrows. The warriors guarded their leader “in a very warlike manner.” The leader demanded that the English lay down what small arms they had, but this order was refused. Tensions reached a fever pitch when one of the visitors stole a hatchet and subsequently had it violently snatched in turn from his hands. “Another savage seeing that came fiercely at our man with a wooden sword, thinking to beat out his brains.” Angry, the Indians departed quickly.
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In a few days a smaller party of Indians came to the settlement. Although they brought a deer to share, another incident occurred between the two peoples. The Indians invited themselves to stay the night, but they were kindly refused since the English “would not suffer them for fear of their treachery.” One of the gentlemen sought to test the Indian weapons and set up a target, thinking that it would resist an arrow. A willing warrior withdrew an arrow, nocked it, and let it fly. Surprisingly, it sank into “the target a foot through or better, which was strange, being that a pistol could not pierce it.” The miffed Englishman then had a bit of fun with the warrior and set up a steel target for the Indian to shoot. When he loosed the arrow, it “burst all to pieces.” The enraged warriors departed in frustration while the settlers howled with laughter. The English did not notice the Indians subtly sizing up their defenses.
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On May 21, Christopher Newport led John Smith, Gabriel Archer, George Percy, and several sailors on an investigation of the James River, seeking any sign or news of mineral wealth or the Northwest Passage waterway to the Orient. They wondered if the James itself were the actual river that connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
England with the wealth of the East. Newport was determined that the party would not return to Jamestown until it found the “head of this river, the lake mentioned by others heretofore, the sea again, the Appalachian mountains, or some issue.” The voyage of discovery was prompted by the Virginia Council as well as the desire of the gentlemen adventurers for great wealth.
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During their journey upriver, they traded and exchanged gifts with various Indian peoples several times. Archer noted, “We went ashore and bartered with them for most of their victuals.” While the party dined with several Indians, they learned of a great king, Wahunsonacock (also known as Powhatan), who was the “chief of all the kingdoms.” They discovered that Wahunsonacock had conquered dozens of local tribes and exacted large tributes from them. His enemies, the Monacans, lived to the west in the mountains. The English inquired “where they got their copper, and their iron,” but they received few answers.
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The English explorers dined with an Indian chief they believed was Wahunsonacock, but it was actually his son Parahunt. They exchanged gifts of friendship, including “knives, sheers, bells, beads, and glass toys.” Parahunt denied any involvement with the attack on the English at Cape Henry and falsely blamed it on the Chesapeakes. He then offered the English a “league of friendship” with ceremonial gestures of goodwill. Little did the explorers know as they took leave of him and proceeded up the river that it was all a ruse.
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Despite their instructions not to fire their weapons too often, lest the natives become accustomed to the shock value of the explosive sound or understand their limitations, Newport yielded to some requests to see the weapons discharged during the voyage. When he fired a musket, the Indians were very frightened. “At the noise [a chief] started, stopped his ears, and expressed much fear…some of his people being in our boat leapt overboard at the wonder hereof.”
The leader was pleased to hear that the English promised to “terrify and kill his adversaries” with the strange weapons, thereby altering the balance of power among the tribes. These were dangerous precedents for Newport to set.
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The small party visited the Pamunkeys and were entertained by King Opechancanough. The colonists were excited to see that the king had a “chain of pearl about his neck thrice double,” which they estimated was worth £300 or £400. Many of his people wore copper jewelry: “They wear it in their ears, about their necks in long links, and in broad plates on their heads.” They also had many “rich furs.” The evidence of such valuable metals and furs was a very welcome sight to the English.
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The explorers were grieved to discover that their dreams of wealth up the James River came to naught. At present-day Richmond, the falls, rocks, and shallow water intervened, making it impassable by any large vessels and “ended…our discovery.” A disappointed Newport consoled their dashed hopes by setting up “a cross with this inscription—Jacobus Rex. 1607. and his own name below.” After they erected the monument, “we prayed for our king and our own prosperous success in this his action, and proclaimed him king, with a great shout.” One of the Indians who was with the English was displeased with the ceremony, so Newport told him, “The two arms of the cross signified King Powatah [Wahunsonacock] and himself, the fastening of it in the middle was their united league, and the shout the reverence he did to Pawatah.” The Indian was apparently satisfied with the explanation.
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The voyage of discovery was frustrating in not living up to the grand expectations of the settlers, but it was not without promise. They might not have discovered the Northwest Passage or lost cities of gold, but there was proof that the land held valuable minerals
and commodities that could be exploited for a return to the investors in England.

Despite whatever hopes were dashed or encouraged by the journey, they noticed that their Indian guide had begun acting strangely. They began to suspect some artifice, and Newport “made all haste home, determining not to stay in any place as fearing some disastrous happening at our fort.” He made this decision on May 27: a day too late.
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On May 27, between two hundred and four hundred Indian warriors crept stealthily from tree to tree and crawled through the long grass surrounding the small Jamestown settlement. The undermanned English were clearing underbrush and hoeing the ground to plant gardens and crops, until arrows suddenly flew from every direction. It was a frightening surprise attack, and several settlers were wounded from the barrage of arrows. The unarmed and panicked English dropped their tools and broke into a run. They dove for cover in their tents and behind trees.

The colonists were hit randomly during the onslaught or targeted individually. The Indians pressed the attack, coming up “almost into the fort.” They shot their arrows into the tents. The English had few weapons with which to defend themselves; most were still aboard the ships in boxes. Those who had weapons nervously tried to load the powder and balls and then aim with trembling hands. The skirmish “endured hot about an hour” while the men screamed in fright or from their wounds. More than a dozen settlers were struck during the “furious assault.” A boy was killed outright, and one of the wounded men later died. The colony’s leaders were experienced soldiers and did not shy from battle; four members of the council were in front of their men and wounded in the process. President Wingfield, who “showed
himself a valiant gentleman, had one shot clean through his beard, yet escaped hurt.”
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The sailors managed to mount a devastating bombardment from the ships’ cannons in the harbor as the main counterattack. During their most desperate moments, when the raid seemed almost to “endanger their overthrow,” the thunderous cannon fire frightened the Indians, who were driven back into the woods. Adding to the effect, a salvo shattered a large tree branch, raining deadly darts into any warriors in the immediate vicinity. John Smith wrote, “Had it not chanced a cross bar shot from the ships struck down a bough from a tree among them, that caused them to retire.” The Indians gave up the attack and beat a hasty retreat. The English killed a handful of Indians and wounded several.
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Newport, Smith, and the company of explorers were shocked when they returned to Jamestown the following day and saw the effects of the Indian attack. The injured were being tended for their wounds, and the rest were at a high state of alert. Wingfield ordered the men to construct a real fort, with a palisade of wood surrounding it. They sweated while felling trees and cut them into clapboards. The colonists also loaded their weapons and prepared them for firing. Men shouldered muskets and drilled, while others mounted ordnance in the fort.

A colonist described the stronghold as a triangular fortification with “three bulwarks at every corner like a half moon.” Two corners faced the James River because of the greater threat posed by raiding Spanish warships. In each corner, four or five cannons were mounted and pointed outward. The men worked hard, but it took them almost three weeks to erect the much-needed defenses.
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