February 23, 2012

Unit 3 – How Jamestown was Settled

Unit Three – How Jamestown was Settled

John Smith After the total disappearance of Raleigh's second colony, many years passed before another attempt was made. In 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold tried to plant a colony on the Island of Cuttyhunk, in Buzzard's Bay. If this had succeeded, New England would have been first settled, but the men that were to stay at the colony went back in the ship that brought them.

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth died, and her cousin, James VI, King of Scotland, came to the throne of England as James I. In 1606, while Raleigh was shut up in the Tower of London, a company of merchants and others undertook to send a new colony to America. Some of the men who had been Raleigh's partners in his last colony were members of this new "Virginia Company."

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Projects 1

Unit 19 - Spirit of Liberty

Unit 18 - Governments

Unit 17 - Canada Falls

Unit 16 - France & Spain

It was in the stormy December of 1606 that the little colony set out. The vessels they had were clumsy, small, and slow and the largest of the three ships that carried out the handful of people which began the first permanent settlement of the United States was named "Susan Constant."

She was a very small ship by most standards. Not many ships so small cross the ocean today. But the "God-speed" which went along with her was only half as big, and the smallest of the three was a little one called "Discovery."

On account of storms these feeble ships were not able to get out of sight of the English coast for six weeks. People in that time were afraid to sail straight across the unknown Atlantic Ocean so they went away south by the Canary Islands and the West Indies, and so made the distance twice as great as it really is.

It took the new colony about four months to get from London to Virginia. They intended to land on Roanoke Island, where Raleigh's unfortunate colonies had been settled, but a storm drove them into a large river, which they called "James River," in honor of the king.

They arrived in Virginia in the month of April, when the banks of the river were covered with flowers. Great white dogwood blossoms and masses of bright-colored redbud were in bloom all along the James River. The newcomers said that heaven and earth had agreed together to make this a country to live in.

John Smith

After sailing up and down the river they selected a place to live upon, which they called Jamestown. They had now pretty well eaten up their supply of food, and they had been so slow in settling themselves that it was too late to plant even if they had cleared ground. One small ladleful of porridge made of worm-eaten barley or wheat was all that was given to a man for a meal.

The settlers were attacked by the Indians, who wounded seventeen men and killed one boy in the fight. Each man in Jamestown had to take his turn every third night in watching against the Indians, lying on the cold, bare ground all night.

The people were forced to drink water from the river, which was bad and so many people became sick, so much so that there were no men left who could defend the colony. Sometimes as many as three or four died in a single night, and sometimes the living were hardly able to bury those who had died.

There were about a hundred colonists who landed at the Jamestown site and one half of these died in the first few months.

All this time the men in Jamestown were living in horrible tents and some of them even in holes dug into the ground. As the sickness passed away, those who remained built themselves better cabins, and thatched the roofs with straw.

One of the most industrious men in the colony at this time was Captain John Smith, a young man who had had many adventures, of which he was fond of boasting. He took the little boat "Discovery" and sailed up and down the rivers and bays of Virginia, exploring the country and getting acquainted with many tribes of Indians.

He would exchange beads, bells, and other trinkets for corn, with which he kept the Jamestown people from starving. In one of these trips two of his men were killed, and he was made captive, and led from tribe to tribe a prisoner. But he managed so well that Powhatan, the head chief of about thirty tribes, set him free and sent him back to Jamestown. It was in this captivity that he made the acquaintance of Pocahontas, a daughter of Powhatan. She was then about ten years old, and Captain Smith greatly admired her. Many years afterward he told a pretty story about her putting her arms about his neck and saving his life when Powhatan wished to put him to death.

John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay in two voyages, enduring many hardships with cheerfulness. He managed the Indians well, put down mutinies at Jamestown, and rendered many other services to the colony. He was the leading man in the new settlement, and became the governor.

But when many hundreds of new settlers were brought out under men who were his enemies, and Smith had been injured by an explosion of gunpowder, he gave up the government and went back to England.