One of the most famous people associated with the Jamestowne Colony in Virginia was Captain John Smith, an explorer, adventurer and military man who is best known today as the man with whom the Indian princess Pocahontas formed a close relationship (and was one of the main characters in the Disney film, Pocahontas!).
Smith’s brief tenure as Governor of the Jametowne Colony (1608-09) was a checkered one: he was a strong leader at a critical time, but also was heavy-handed at times, and imposed harsh discipline on the Jamestowne colonists when necessary. We honor him this day on the anniversary of his death on June 21, 1631.
Before Smith’s arrival at Jamestowne Colony, he had led a largely military life back in Europe, starting with her service as a mercenary for the French army, and later for the Austrian army. During the 1590s and the first few years of the 1600s, he was essentially a soldier, until he was captured in 1602 during a battle with the Crimean Tatars, and sold as a slave and sent to Constantinople. While enslaved, he killed his slavemaster, escaped, and found his way back to England in 1604.
With his extensive military background, Smith was recruited to serve in the first voyage to Virginia in 1607. On the voyage over, however, he was accused of mutiny and imprisoned while the ship was still en route to Virginia. Despite the accusation, when the fleet finally arrived in Virginia he was released, and named to serve as one of the members of the governing council. The first Governor of the colony, Edward Maria Wingfield, did not see eye-to-eye with Smith, and before long Wingfield had become a scapegoat for the initial problems the Colony encountered (lack of food, disease, etc). After barely a year in office, Wingfield returned to England in the Spring of 1608. Smith was named Governor in September 1608, but his tenure only lasted until October 1609, when he returned to England after being injured as a result of a gunpowder explosion (with some suspicion voiced afterwards that perhaps the explosion was intentional, and that certain colonists had attempted to kill him).
During his one-year governorship, Smith led a number of expeditions into the back-country, and had several close encounters with the Powhatan tribe, including the famous episode in which Smith was taken captive and was about to be executed, but was supposedly saved by Pocahontas. During this period, the Colony suffered from food shortages, and this is when Smith’s heavy handedness did not sit well with the colonists: he ordered them to work! His famous quote was “he who works not, eats not.” Thankfully for Smith, it was at this point that a supply ship arrived at Jamestowne carrying enough food and other provisions to satisfy the settlers’ immediate needs. But sustaining life at Jamestowne was a constant challenge, and while the colonists sometimes were able to trade with the Powhatan Indians for food (often in exchange for weapons), the colony primarily relied on the Virginia Company to send needed provisions from England, and that support was sporadic at best. Compounding the problem, on a few occasions the Company sent more colonists along with provisions– more mouths to feed, and not enough food to do so. This was not Smith’s fault, but he was blamed nevertheless. It was probably with a sigh of relief that he returned to England in October 1609. Little could he have imagined that the Colony was about to enter the infamous winter of 1609-1610– the “Starving Time,” during which many colonists died of disease and starvation (and in some cases survivors resorted to cannibalism).
After Jamestowne, Smith lived another two decades, during which he engaged in several major expeditions. One of the more famous of them was his voyage to New England in 1614, during which he mapped the coastline that proved to be heavily used by later expeditions—including the Mayflower voyagers in 1620. The Pilgrims called the area in which they settled “New England,” the name that Smith himself had coined during his 1616 expedition. He also penned one of the leading narratives about Virginia, “A True Relation of Virginia,” which was also heavily relied upon by future settlers. Interestingly, Smith did not even mention the incident in which Pocahontas allegedly saved his life in A True Relation. Pocahontas herself never commented the story of her intervention to save Smith’s life, although she was well aware of it. Did it actually happen? Historians continue to question it.
At the Jamestown Fort today, there is a massive statue of Captain Smith, gazing out over the James River. Whatever his shortcomings, we honor him today on the 394th anniversary of his death. He will be forever remembered for his major contributions to the establishment of the first permanent English settlement in North America.
