Forget the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. The first English people to establish a residence in North America were part of the Virginia Company, and they sailed here on the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed.
Why do we look to Jamestown? Because it is the beginning of America today- it is where a government was to be started. Moreover, it paints a picture of how while the English were trying to situate themselves in a place they knew nothing about and had no business acquiring for themselves, except for the object of business alone, they along with the Algonquians of the area shared the hardships of struggling through a drought.
Exploration of the east coast of what is today America had been going on for at least fifty years before the Virginia Company set sail. The northeast was looked at for fur trading and the southeast was attempted to be the first English settlement at Roanoke, but it failed for unknown reasons. Today Roanoke is believed to have failed due to a drought similar to but more severe than the one the people of Jamestown endured. With St. Augustine in Florida established by the Spanish in 1565, the English needed to gain land as well in order to hold itself in the new enterprises of the global economy.
The people in the Virginia Company, including John Smith, were sent with instructions to set up a fort as their post and look for “riches”, or anything that could be valuable as a trade good for the English. With the little knowledge they had of the indigenous people in the area, they brought goods such as copper scraps and beads to trade for food. What they did not know is that the drought they would suffer through would affect all living in the area, making it more difficult to gain access of food through the Algonquians. In addition, word of the way the English treated the native populations did not aid in their trade expeditions.
John Smith kept a diary of his journeys, detailing everything from day to day life and including his experiences with the chief of the Algonquians’, Powhatan. Smith’s entry about the “starving time” lets historians see how serious and dire the situation became, when the English started eating not only their horses, but some of their own people. To see the beginning of Jamestown is to see what the people were enduring from the beginning, and is why Smith’s entry from 1609 is the first order, primary document.
The second order documents include a map of the locations of Jamestown and Werowocomoco, and archaeological evidence from the starving time. The maps show how close the English resided to the Algonquians and the Algonquian capital of Werowocomoco, where Chief Powhatan lived. These maps were guides for the English and exemplify the trading that took place between the groups, at times peaceful but always strained from aggressive encounters of previous times (which will later lead to a third order document). The artifacts of animal bones (horse) and fish scales can be dated back to when not much was around to eat (i.e. Deer, rabbits and other small game, limited birds) and shows how the English had to survive the drought.
Third order documents of The New World movie from 2005, a New York Times article on tree-ring dating of the contact period, and another entry from John Smith and Chief Powhatan help support the tough times with hunger the Algonquian and English had to face, while examining whom exactly helped whom. Although the movie’s actors and producers went to Jamestown for research, does not mean they got the story right. Smith and Powhatan had civil conversations about living side by side, but both pointed out their fear of the other’s initiation of fighting. The article on dendrochronology will shed light on how serious a problem the drought really was and how it put a strain on all of those living in this part of America at that time.
From exploring the following documents one can see the environmental pressures put on the English and Algonquians, but both also had to adjust to the other in their society. Jamestown was a new beginning for the English and America, but also a new beginning, or ending, for the Algonquians.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
What you need to think about...........
Why did the first permanent English settlement survive in an environment that was literally unhealthy to live in? In what ways did their relations with the Algonquians help them and/or hurt them? How did Jamestown set a precedent for how things were to be done as new people in a new land?
PRIMARY SOURCE ANAYLYSIS SHEETS
Figure 1
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS GUIDE: Print Documents
Copyright Frederick D. Drake, 2001.
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS GUIDE: Print Documents
Copyright Frederick D. Drake, 2001.
1. Identify the Document
Author(s) or source____________________________________________
Title________________________________________________________
Date________________________________________________________
Type of Document_____________________________________________
Author(s) or source____________________________________________
Title________________________________________________________
Date________________________________________________________
Type of Document_____________________________________________
2. Analyze the Document
Main idea of the document_______________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Relationship to other documents (How does the content relate to the 1st-2nd- and/or 3rd order documents?)_________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Preceding conditions that motivated the author________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Intended audience and purpose____________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Biases of the author_____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Questions to ask the author________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Main idea of the document_______________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Relationship to other documents (How does the content relate to the 1st-2nd- and/or 3rd order documents?)_________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Preceding conditions that motivated the author________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Intended audience and purpose____________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Biases of the author_____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Questions to ask the author________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. Historical Context
Local/Regional: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________
_____________________________________________________________________
National: people, events, and ideas of the time__________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
World: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Conclusions about local/regional, national, and world context at the time______
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Local/Regional: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________
_____________________________________________________________________
National: people, events, and ideas of the time__________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
World: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Conclusions about local/regional, national, and world context at the time______
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
4. Identify the Habit of Mind and Vital Theme and Narrative Represented
Habit of Mind_____________________________________________________
The way you used this Habit of Mind to analyze the document_______________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Vital Theme and Narrative____________________________________________
Evidence the document represents this Vital Theme and Narrative_____________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Evidence the document relates to other documents (1st-/2nd-/3rd order) through this Vital Theme and Narrative______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Habit of Mind_____________________________________________________
The way you used this Habit of Mind to analyze the document_______________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Vital Theme and Narrative____________________________________________
Evidence the document represents this Vital Theme and Narrative_____________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Evidence the document relates to other documents (1st-/2nd-/3rd order) through this Vital Theme and Narrative______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
5. Relationship to a Discipline in the Social Sciences/Social Studies
Discipline_________________________________________________________
Evidence of relationship______________________________________________
NCSS Theme______________________________________________________
Evidence of Relationship_____________________________________________
Discipline_________________________________________________________
Evidence of relationship______________________________________________
NCSS Theme______________________________________________________
Evidence of Relationship_____________________________________________
Figure2
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS GUIDE: Photograph/Image
Copyright Frederick D. Drake, 2001.
PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS GUIDE: Photograph/Image
Copyright Frederick D. Drake, 2001.
1. Identify the Document
Author(s) or source____________________________________________
Title________________________________________________________
Date________________________________________________________
Type of Document_____________________________________________
Author(s) or source____________________________________________
Title________________________________________________________
Date________________________________________________________
Type of Document_____________________________________________
2. Analyze the Document
Main idea of the source__________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What do you see (people or objects) in the image?_____________________
___________________________________________________________________
What are people, if any, doing in this image?__________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Who do you think these people are?__________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
What does this image tell you about ways of living?______________________
______________________________________________________________________
When do you think this image was created?______________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Why do you think this image was created?______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Preceding conditions that motivated the producer of the image_______________
_______________________________________________________________________
Intended audience and purpose________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Relationship to other sources (How does the content relate to the 1st-2nd- and/or 3rd order sources?)_________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Biases of the image’s producer ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Questions to ask the image’s producer___________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Main idea of the source__________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What do you see (people or objects) in the image?_____________________
___________________________________________________________________
What are people, if any, doing in this image?__________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Who do you think these people are?__________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
What does this image tell you about ways of living?______________________
______________________________________________________________________
When do you think this image was created?______________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Why do you think this image was created?______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Preceding conditions that motivated the producer of the image_______________
_______________________________________________________________________
Intended audience and purpose________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Relationship to other sources (How does the content relate to the 1st-2nd- and/or 3rd order sources?)_________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Biases of the image’s producer ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Questions to ask the image’s producer___________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Historical Context
Local/Regional: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________
_____________________________________________________________________
National: people, events, and ideas of the time__________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
World: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Conclusions about local/regional, national, and world context at the time______
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Local/Regional: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________
_____________________________________________________________________
National: people, events, and ideas of the time__________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
World: people, events, and ideas of the time____________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Conclusions about local/regional, national, and world context at the time______
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
4. Identify the Habit of Mind and Vital Theme and Narrative Represented
Habit of Mind_____________________________________________________
The way you used this Habit of Mind to analyze the image__________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Vital Theme and Narrative____________________________________________
Evidence the image represents this Vital Theme and Narrative_____________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Evidence the image relates to other sources (1st-2nd- and/or 3rd order) through this Vital Theme and Narrative__________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Habit of Mind_____________________________________________________
The way you used this Habit of Mind to analyze the image__________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Vital Theme and Narrative____________________________________________
Evidence the image represents this Vital Theme and Narrative_____________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Evidence the image relates to other sources (1st-2nd- and/or 3rd order) through this Vital Theme and Narrative__________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Relationship to a Discipline in the Social Sciences/Social Studies
Discipline_________________________________________________________
Evidence of relationship______________________________________________
NCSS Theme______________________________________________________
Evidence of Relationship_____________________________________________
Discipline_________________________________________________________
Evidence of relationship______________________________________________
NCSS Theme______________________________________________________
Evidence of Relationship_____________________________________________
2nd order documents
The following link shows early maps of Virginia. The initial page opened will show the "capital" of Powhatan's land, the Algonquian territory: Werowocomoco. Other links will lead to maps drawn by John Smith, listing both Jamestown and Werowocomoco. With the English trying to build and reside so close to the chief and within the boundaries of the Algonquian territoy, it was inevitable the two groups had to interact.
Evidence of starvation period of 1609~1610 is demonstrated in the archaeolocial record. The following link to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) shows examples of the types of remnants found to support how desperate the English were to survive:
3rd order documents
Drought May Have Doomed the Lost Colony
By WILLIAM K. STEVENS
Published: April 24, 1998
The New York Times.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E0DF123FF937A15757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
The role of climatic and environmental change in shaping human events over the last several hundred years has largely been ignored by historians. ''They tend to assume, and I think wrongly, that conditions haven't changed a lot,'' Mr. Blanton said.
Evidence has mounted in recent years that climatic change played a major role in the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, especially in the Middle East and South America. But scarce attention has been paid to its possible role in more recent centuries.
The latest findings add a dimension to the study of early American history, although the authors of the study do not claim that drought was wholly responsible for the misfortunes of Roanoke and Jamestown. ''We don't want to come across as environmental determinists,'' Mr. Blanton said. ''The stories are complex.'' But the revelation about the super-droughts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries casts a new light on what transpired. It also offers something of a cautionary tale about what type of climatic disasters might strike in the future, either from natural causes or as a result of human alteration of the atmosphere.
In fact, said Dr. David W. Stahle of the University of Arkansas, the chief author of the study on Roanoke and Jamestown, the findings grew out of an effort to reconstruct the past climate of the southeastern United States as an aid in producing a baseline against which any climatic changes caused by the emission of waste industrial gases might be gauged.
Dr. Stahle is a dendrochronologist, one of a breed of scientists who have made a speciality of analyzing tree rings. The rings are regarded as highly accurate gauges of climatic conditions in a given year or even in part of a year, since their thickness and consistency vary with soil moisture, and the year can be pinned precisely by using the most recent year's ring as a benchmark.
In this case, the scientists analyzed the rings of bald cypresses growing along the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers in Southeastern Virginia, part of the climatic region that includes Jamestown and Roanoke Island. These trees, which commonly live 600 to 800 years and sometimes reach 1,700 years, are the longest-lived trees in eastern North America.
The ring samplings were taken a decade ago, and Mr. Blanton, as part of a reassessment of the Jamestown site sponsored by the National Park Service, suggested using the samples to investigate the climate of the early colonial period.
[The scientists were astounded by the results. Dr. Stahle, said Mr. Blanton, ''called me back and he was just on top of the table, saying, 'Good God! This is incredible.' '' The analysis showed that the most extreme three-year growing-season drought in 800 years coincided exactly with the period in which the Roanoke colony was established and then vanished. The worst single season occurred in 1587, the year of Virginia Dare's birth.]
It also showed that the worst seven-year drought in 700 years coincided precisely with the foundation and early years of Jamestown.
Both sets of colonists would have been highly vulnerable to drought, the experts say, because they were living off the land and, rather than farming, depended for food on trade with the Indians and on gifts of corn from them. An extreme drought would have cut food supplies sharply, wiping out any surplus the Indians had. The Indians themselves may well have been afflicted by famine and reduced to eating roots and berries, as happened in an earlier drought, from 1562 to 1571, documented in the historical account of a Spanish priest.
Several clashes broke out between the Jamestown colonists and the Indians, and Dr. Billings believes that a conflict over food, brought on by the drought of 1606 to 1612, helps explain the hostility. And the new study suggests that almost certainly, the Jamestown drought contributed directly to the colony's high mortality.
Malnutrition was a leading cause of death at Jamestown, and the number of deaths rose during dry years while dropping off in others. In all, 4,800 of 6,000 settlers sent to Jamestown from 1607 to 1625 died.
Drought might also have contributed to the colonists' ill health, since water quality is poorest then. The brackish James River would have become saltier, and a lowered water table would have made it difficult to dig wells. Mr. Blanton says some colonists might have suffered from salt poisoning.
Jamestown's plight became most critical in the winter of 1609, known as the ''starving time.'' The previous summer's drought probably prevented the colonists from saving any food for winter, Mr. Blanton said, and the winter itself was harsh, aggravating the situation. It was after this winter that the Jamestown settlers packed up and headed for home, only to return when succor arrived.
[The end game on Roanoke Island could have played out in any of several ways, the experts say. The colonists could have been wiped out by the local Indians, the Croatans, in a clash over food. They could have left, sailing north to Chesapeake Bay, their original but never-achieved destination, and perished there or on the way. They could have joined forces with the generally friendly Croatans and moved out of the drought-stricken area, farther south, where today some Indians claim that the blood of Roanoke's settlers flows in their veins.
All that is known is that when ships returned to Roanoke in 1590, they found a single word carved on a tree: ''Croatoan.''
The drought may have ultimately doomed the Lost Colony. But exactly what happened to its members, Dr. Billings said, ''will always be one of the great mysteries.'' ]
Correction: April 25, 1998, Saturday A drawing yesterday showing the Roanoke colony in 1590, with an article about the colony's disappearance, carried a misspelled credit. The source was Corbis-Bettmann, not Bettman.
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“What Can You Get By Warre”: Powhatan Exchanges Views With Captain John Smith, 1608" .
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5838
Captain John Smith was a soldier and adventurer in Europe and Asia before he became involved in the Virginia Company’s plan to establish a settlement in North America. He was aboard one of the three ships that reached Virginia in April 1607. The first settlers, ill prepared for life in the harsh environment, had few useful skills but great expectations of easy profits. They suffered from disease, malnutrition, and frequent attacks by Indians in the early years; over one half died the first winter. Smith took over Jamestown’s government amid this chaos and death; he explored the region and traded for desperately needed supplies with the Indians. Smith recognized the need to establish peaceful relations with the powerful Powhatan Indians of the coastal region, and he traded English manufactured goods for much needed Indian corn. Smith recounted this exchange with the Indian leader Powhatan in his 1624 Historyie.
[Powhatan:]
Captaine Smith, you may understand that I having seene the death of all my people thrice, and not any one living of these three generations but my selfe; I know the difference of Peace and Warre better then any in my Country. But now I am old and ere long must die, my brethren, namely Opitchapam, Opechancanough, and Kekataugh, my two sisters, and their two daughters, are distinctly each others successors. I wish their experience no lesse then mine, and your love to them no lesse then mine to you. But this bruit from Nandsamund, that you are come to destroy my Country, so much affrighteth all my people as they dare not visit you. What will it availe you to take that by force you may quickly have by love, or to destroy them that provide you food. What can you get by warre, when we can hide our provisions and fly to the woods? whereby you must famish by wronging us your friends. And why are you thus jealous of our loves seeing us unarmed, and both doe, and are willing still to feede you, with that you cannot get but by our labours? Thinke you I am so simple, not to know it is better to eate good meate, lye well, and sleepe quietly with my women and children, laugh and be merry with you, have copper, hatchets, or what I want being your friend: then be forced to flie from all, to lie cold in the woods, feede upon Acornes, rootes, and such trash, and be so hunted by you, that I can neither rest, eate, nor sleepe; but my tyred men must watch, and if a twig but breake, every one cryeth there commeth Captaine Smith: then must I fly I know not whether: and thus with miserable feare, end my miserable life, leaving my pleasures to such youths as you, which through your rash unadvisednesse may quickly as miserably end, for want of that, you never know where to finde. Let this therefore assure you of our loves, and every yeare our friendly trade shall furnish you with Corne; and now also, if you would come in friendly manner to see us, and not thus with your guns and swords as to invade your foes. To this subtill discourse, the President thus replyed.
Capt. Smiths Reply:
Seeing you will not rightly conceive of our words, we strive to make you know our thoughts by our deeds; the vow I made you of my love, both my selfe and my men have kept. As for your promise I find it every day violated by some of your subjects: yet we finding your love and kindnesse, our custome is so far from being ungratefull, that for your sake onely, we have curbed our thirsting desire of revenge; els had they knowne as well the crueltie we use to our enemies, as our true love and courtesie to our friends. And I thinke your judgement sufficient to conceive, as well by the adventures we have undertaken, as by the advantage we have (by our Armes) of yours: that had we intended you any hurt, long ere this we could have effected it. Your people comming to James Towne are entertained with their Bowes and Arrowes without any exceptions; we esteeming it with you as it is with us, to weare our armes as our apparell. As for the danger of our enemies, in such warres consist our chiefest pleasure: for your riches we have no use: as for the hiding your provision, or by your flying to the woods, we shall not so unadvisedly starve as you conclude, your friendly care in that behalfe is needlesse, for we have a rule to finde beyond your knowledge.
Many other discourses they had, till at last they began to trade. But the King seeing his will would not be admitted as a law, our guard dispersed, nor our men disarmed, he (sighing) breathed his minde once more in this manner.
Source: John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & The Summer Isles (Glasgow, Scotland: James MacLehose and Sons, 1907), Vol. 1: 158–59.
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Movie: The New World, New Line Cinemas: 2005.
By WILLIAM K. STEVENS
Published: April 24, 1998
The New York Times.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E0DF123FF937A15757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
The role of climatic and environmental change in shaping human events over the last several hundred years has largely been ignored by historians. ''They tend to assume, and I think wrongly, that conditions haven't changed a lot,'' Mr. Blanton said.
Evidence has mounted in recent years that climatic change played a major role in the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, especially in the Middle East and South America. But scarce attention has been paid to its possible role in more recent centuries.
The latest findings add a dimension to the study of early American history, although the authors of the study do not claim that drought was wholly responsible for the misfortunes of Roanoke and Jamestown. ''We don't want to come across as environmental determinists,'' Mr. Blanton said. ''The stories are complex.'' But the revelation about the super-droughts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries casts a new light on what transpired. It also offers something of a cautionary tale about what type of climatic disasters might strike in the future, either from natural causes or as a result of human alteration of the atmosphere.
In fact, said Dr. David W. Stahle of the University of Arkansas, the chief author of the study on Roanoke and Jamestown, the findings grew out of an effort to reconstruct the past climate of the southeastern United States as an aid in producing a baseline against which any climatic changes caused by the emission of waste industrial gases might be gauged.
Dr. Stahle is a dendrochronologist, one of a breed of scientists who have made a speciality of analyzing tree rings. The rings are regarded as highly accurate gauges of climatic conditions in a given year or even in part of a year, since their thickness and consistency vary with soil moisture, and the year can be pinned precisely by using the most recent year's ring as a benchmark.
In this case, the scientists analyzed the rings of bald cypresses growing along the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers in Southeastern Virginia, part of the climatic region that includes Jamestown and Roanoke Island. These trees, which commonly live 600 to 800 years and sometimes reach 1,700 years, are the longest-lived trees in eastern North America.
The ring samplings were taken a decade ago, and Mr. Blanton, as part of a reassessment of the Jamestown site sponsored by the National Park Service, suggested using the samples to investigate the climate of the early colonial period.
[The scientists were astounded by the results. Dr. Stahle, said Mr. Blanton, ''called me back and he was just on top of the table, saying, 'Good God! This is incredible.' '' The analysis showed that the most extreme three-year growing-season drought in 800 years coincided exactly with the period in which the Roanoke colony was established and then vanished. The worst single season occurred in 1587, the year of Virginia Dare's birth.]
It also showed that the worst seven-year drought in 700 years coincided precisely with the foundation and early years of Jamestown.
Both sets of colonists would have been highly vulnerable to drought, the experts say, because they were living off the land and, rather than farming, depended for food on trade with the Indians and on gifts of corn from them. An extreme drought would have cut food supplies sharply, wiping out any surplus the Indians had. The Indians themselves may well have been afflicted by famine and reduced to eating roots and berries, as happened in an earlier drought, from 1562 to 1571, documented in the historical account of a Spanish priest.
Several clashes broke out between the Jamestown colonists and the Indians, and Dr. Billings believes that a conflict over food, brought on by the drought of 1606 to 1612, helps explain the hostility. And the new study suggests that almost certainly, the Jamestown drought contributed directly to the colony's high mortality.
Malnutrition was a leading cause of death at Jamestown, and the number of deaths rose during dry years while dropping off in others. In all, 4,800 of 6,000 settlers sent to Jamestown from 1607 to 1625 died.
Drought might also have contributed to the colonists' ill health, since water quality is poorest then. The brackish James River would have become saltier, and a lowered water table would have made it difficult to dig wells. Mr. Blanton says some colonists might have suffered from salt poisoning.
Jamestown's plight became most critical in the winter of 1609, known as the ''starving time.'' The previous summer's drought probably prevented the colonists from saving any food for winter, Mr. Blanton said, and the winter itself was harsh, aggravating the situation. It was after this winter that the Jamestown settlers packed up and headed for home, only to return when succor arrived.
[The end game on Roanoke Island could have played out in any of several ways, the experts say. The colonists could have been wiped out by the local Indians, the Croatans, in a clash over food. They could have left, sailing north to Chesapeake Bay, their original but never-achieved destination, and perished there or on the way. They could have joined forces with the generally friendly Croatans and moved out of the drought-stricken area, farther south, where today some Indians claim that the blood of Roanoke's settlers flows in their veins.
All that is known is that when ships returned to Roanoke in 1590, they found a single word carved on a tree: ''Croatoan.''
The drought may have ultimately doomed the Lost Colony. But exactly what happened to its members, Dr. Billings said, ''will always be one of the great mysteries.'' ]
Correction: April 25, 1998, Saturday A drawing yesterday showing the Roanoke colony in 1590, with an article about the colony's disappearance, carried a misspelled credit. The source was Corbis-Bettmann, not Bettman.
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“What Can You Get By Warre”: Powhatan Exchanges Views With Captain John Smith, 1608" .
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5838
Captain John Smith was a soldier and adventurer in Europe and Asia before he became involved in the Virginia Company’s plan to establish a settlement in North America. He was aboard one of the three ships that reached Virginia in April 1607. The first settlers, ill prepared for life in the harsh environment, had few useful skills but great expectations of easy profits. They suffered from disease, malnutrition, and frequent attacks by Indians in the early years; over one half died the first winter. Smith took over Jamestown’s government amid this chaos and death; he explored the region and traded for desperately needed supplies with the Indians. Smith recognized the need to establish peaceful relations with the powerful Powhatan Indians of the coastal region, and he traded English manufactured goods for much needed Indian corn. Smith recounted this exchange with the Indian leader Powhatan in his 1624 Historyie.
[Powhatan:]
Captaine Smith, you may understand that I having seene the death of all my people thrice, and not any one living of these three generations but my selfe; I know the difference of Peace and Warre better then any in my Country. But now I am old and ere long must die, my brethren, namely Opitchapam, Opechancanough, and Kekataugh, my two sisters, and their two daughters, are distinctly each others successors. I wish their experience no lesse then mine, and your love to them no lesse then mine to you. But this bruit from Nandsamund, that you are come to destroy my Country, so much affrighteth all my people as they dare not visit you. What will it availe you to take that by force you may quickly have by love, or to destroy them that provide you food. What can you get by warre, when we can hide our provisions and fly to the woods? whereby you must famish by wronging us your friends. And why are you thus jealous of our loves seeing us unarmed, and both doe, and are willing still to feede you, with that you cannot get but by our labours? Thinke you I am so simple, not to know it is better to eate good meate, lye well, and sleepe quietly with my women and children, laugh and be merry with you, have copper, hatchets, or what I want being your friend: then be forced to flie from all, to lie cold in the woods, feede upon Acornes, rootes, and such trash, and be so hunted by you, that I can neither rest, eate, nor sleepe; but my tyred men must watch, and if a twig but breake, every one cryeth there commeth Captaine Smith: then must I fly I know not whether: and thus with miserable feare, end my miserable life, leaving my pleasures to such youths as you, which through your rash unadvisednesse may quickly as miserably end, for want of that, you never know where to finde. Let this therefore assure you of our loves, and every yeare our friendly trade shall furnish you with Corne; and now also, if you would come in friendly manner to see us, and not thus with your guns and swords as to invade your foes. To this subtill discourse, the President thus replyed.
Capt. Smiths Reply:
Seeing you will not rightly conceive of our words, we strive to make you know our thoughts by our deeds; the vow I made you of my love, both my selfe and my men have kept. As for your promise I find it every day violated by some of your subjects: yet we finding your love and kindnesse, our custome is so far from being ungratefull, that for your sake onely, we have curbed our thirsting desire of revenge; els had they knowne as well the crueltie we use to our enemies, as our true love and courtesie to our friends. And I thinke your judgement sufficient to conceive, as well by the adventures we have undertaken, as by the advantage we have (by our Armes) of yours: that had we intended you any hurt, long ere this we could have effected it. Your people comming to James Towne are entertained with their Bowes and Arrowes without any exceptions; we esteeming it with you as it is with us, to weare our armes as our apparell. As for the danger of our enemies, in such warres consist our chiefest pleasure: for your riches we have no use: as for the hiding your provision, or by your flying to the woods, we shall not so unadvisedly starve as you conclude, your friendly care in that behalfe is needlesse, for we have a rule to finde beyond your knowledge.
Many other discourses they had, till at last they began to trade. But the King seeing his will would not be admitted as a law, our guard dispersed, nor our men disarmed, he (sighing) breathed his minde once more in this manner.
Source: John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & The Summer Isles (Glasgow, Scotland: James MacLehose and Sons, 1907), Vol. 1: 158–59.
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Movie: The New World, New Line Cinemas: 2005.
1st Primary Document
“The Starving Time”: John Smith Recounts the Early History of Jamestown, 1609.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6593
The organizers of the first English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 had visions of easy wealth and abundant plunder. The colonists, a group with little agricultural experience and weighted with gentry, instead found a swampy and disease-ridden site. The local Indians were unwilling to labor for them. Few survived the first difficult winters. Captain John Smith had been a soldier, explorer, and adventurer. With the colony in near chaos, he took over the government of the colony in 1608 and instituted a policy of rigid discipline and agricultural cultivation. When a gunpowder accident forced his return to England in 1608, the colonists faced a disastrous winter known as “starving time.”
... Now we all found the losse of Captaine Smith, yea his greatest maligners could now curse his losse: as for corne, provision and contribution from the Salvages, we had nothing but mortall wounds, with clubs and arrowes; as for our Hogs, Hens, Goats, Sheepe, Horse, or what lived, our commanders, officers & Salvages daily consumed them, some small proportions sometimes we tasted, till all was devoured; then swords, armes, pieces, or any thing, wee traded with the Salvages, whose cruell fingers were so oft imbrewed in our blouds, that what by their crueltie, our Governours indiscretion, and the losse of our ships, of five hundred within six moneths after Captaine Smiths departure, there remained not past sixtie men, women and children, most miserable and poore creatures; and those were preserved for the most part, by roots, herbes, acornes, walnuts, berries, now and then a little fish: they that had startch in these extremities, made no small use of it; yea, even the very skinnes of our horses.
Nay, so great was our famine, that a Salvage we slew, and buried, the poorer sort tooke him up againe and eat him, and so did divers one another boyled and stewed with roots and herbs: And one amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered her, and had eaten part of her before it was knowne, for which hee was executed, as hee well deserved; now whether shee was better roasted, boyled or carbonado’d, I know not, but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of. This was that time, which still to this day we called the starving time; it were too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured: but the occasion was our owne, for want of providence, industrie and government, and not the barrennesse and defect of the Countrie, as is generally supposed; for till then in three yeeres, for the numbers were landed us, we had never from England provision sufficient for six moneths, though it seemed by the bils of loading sufficient was sent us, such a glutton is the Sea, and such good fellowes the Mariners; we as little tasted of the great proportion sent us, as they of our want and miseries, yet notwithstanding they ever over-swayed and ruled the businesse, though we endured all that is said, and chiefly lived on what this good Countrie naturally afforded; yet had wee beene even in Paradice it selfe with these Governours, it would not have beene much better with us; yet there was amongst us, who had they had the government as Captaine Smith appointed, but that they could not maintaine it, would surely have kept us from those extremities of miseries. This in ten daies more, would have supplanted us all with death.
But God that would not this Countrie should be unplanted, sent and Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Sommers with one hundred and fiftie people most happily preserved by the Bermudas to preserve us: strange it is to say how miraculously they were preserved in a leaking ship, as at large you may reade in the insuing Historie of those Ilands.
Source: John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & The Summer Isles (Glasgow, Scotland: James MacLehose and Sons, 1907), Vol. 1: 203–05.
Monday, February 16, 2009
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