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History of the Jamestown Settlement (1607–1699)
Encyclopedia
Jamestown
was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg
. This article covers the history of the fort and town at Jamestown proper, as well as colony-wide trends resulting from and affecting the town during the time period in which it was capital.
sent an expedition to establish a settlement in the Virginia Colony in December 1606. After an unusually lengthy trip sailing across the Atlantic Ocean
from England
, the three ships, the Susan Constant
(sometimes known as the Sarah Constant), the Godspeed
, and the Discovery
(smallest of the three) reached the New World at the southern edge of the mouth of what is now known as the Chesapeake Bay
. The ships left Blackwall
, now part of London
, with 105 men and boys and 39 crew-members, by Captain Christopher Newport
. The voyage was uncommonly long; one of the passengers was found dead in the Caribbean. From April 6 to 10, 1607, the Godspeed, Susan Constant and the Discovery made four stops in the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico
for provisions on their way to the New World. After more than four months, the 104 men and boys, along with the crew-members, finally arrived at their chosen settlement spot in Virginia; there were no women on the first ships.
Arriving at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay
in late April, they named the Virginia capes after the sons of their king, the southern Cape Henry
, for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
, and the northern Cape Charles
, for his younger brother, Charles, Duke of York
. On April 26, 1607, upon landing at Cape Henry, Chaplain Robert Hunt
offered a prayer and they set up a cross near the site of the current Cape Henry Memorial
. This site came to be known as the "first landing." A party of the men explored the area and had a minor conflict with some Virginia Indians.
were opened which named Captain John Smith
as a member of the governing Council. Smith had been arrested for mutiny on the voyage over by Christopher Newport, and was incarcerated aboard one of the ships. He had been scheduled to be hanged upon arrival, but was later freed by Captain Newport after the opening of the orders. The same orders also directed them to seek an inland site for their settlement, which would afford protection from enemy ships.
Therefore, the English Colonists re-boarded their three ships and proceeded into the Chesapeake Bay
landing again at what is now called Old Point Comfort
in the City of Hampton
. In the following days, the ships ventured inland upstream along the James River
seeking a suitable location for their settlement as defined in their orders. The James River and the initial settlement they sought to establish, Jamestown
(originally called "James His Towne") were named in honor of King James I
.
advised them to select a location that could be easily defended from ocean-going navies of the other European states that were also establishing New World colonies and were periodically at war with England, notably the Dutch Republic
, France
, and especially Spain
. The island fit the criteria, as it had excellent visibility up and down what is today called the James River
, and it was far enough inland to minimize the potential of contact and conflict with enemy ships. The water immediately adjacent to the land was deep enough to permit the colonists to anchor their ships yet have an easy and quick departure if necessary. An additional benefit of the site was that the land was not occupied by the Virginia Indians, most of whom in the area were affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy.
The settlers came ashore, and quickly set about constructing their initial fort. Within a month, James Fort covered an acre on Jamestown Island, although it burned down the following year. The wooden palisaded walls formed a triangle around a storehouse, church, and a number of houses.
Although it is technically a peninsula when thus connected, functionally, in many ways, Jamestown throughout the past 400 years has been an island. Largely cut off from the mainland's typical game and wildlife by natural forces, the shallow harbor afforded the earliest settlers docking of their ships. This was its great attraction, one which came at the price of other far less favorable conditions.
y area, and furthermore, it was isolated from most potential hunting game such as deer and bears which like to forage over much larger areas. The settlers quickly hunted and killed off all the large and smaller game that was to be found on the tiny peninsula. The low, marshy area was infested with mosquito
es (which carried Malaria
which killed over 135 settlers) and other airborne pests, and the brackish water
of the tidal
James River was not a good source of water. Many settlers died from drinking untreated water.
The settlers who came over on the initial three ships were not well-equipped for the life they found in Jamestown. In addition to the "gentlemen", who were not accustomed to manual or skilled labor, they consisted mainly of English laborers. Many suffered from saltwater poisoning which led to infection, fevers and dysentery
. As a result of these conditions, most of the early settlers died of disease and starvation.
Despite the immediate area of Jamestown being uninhabited, the settlers were attacked less than a fortnight
after their arrival on May 14, by Paspahegh
Indians who succeeded in killing one of the settlers and wounding eleven more. By June 15, the settlers finished the initial triangle James Fort. A week later, Newport sailed back for London
on the Susan Constant with a load of pyrite
("fools' gold") and other supposedly precious minerals, leaving the tiny Discovery behind for the use of the colonists. Newport returned twice from England with additional supplies in the following 18 months, leading what were termed the First and Second Supply missions.
Those named for the initial Council were:
The Council received additional members from the First and Second Supply missions brought by Captain Newport. These were:
Also notable among the first settlers was:
Chaplain Hunt gave the first prayer at Cape Henry on April 26, 1607, and held open-air services at Jamestown until shelter and a more appropriate church were built there.
in June 1607 on the Susan Constant with a load of pyrite
("fools' gold") and other supposedly precious minerals, leaving behind 104 colonists, and the tiny Discovery for the use of the colonists.
Newport returned twice from England with additional supplies in the following 18 months, leading what was termed the First and Second Supply missions.
The "First Supply" arrived on January 2, 1608. Again, it contained insufficient provisions and more than 70 new colonists. Likewise, Newport's "Second Supply" brought about 70 more settlers, including some craftsmen and "Eight Dutchmen and Poles" hired in Royal Prussia, but added little to the welfare of the colony.
Despite original intentions to grow food and trade with the Virginia Indians, the barely surviving colonists became dependent upon the supply missions.
and "Mistress Forrest and Anne Burras her maide." Mistress Forrest and Anne Burras
were the first two women known to have come to the Jamestown Colony.
Remains unearthed at Jamestown in 1997 may be those of Mistress Forrest.
On page 151 of the 1907 re-printing of The Travels of Captaine John Smith, the list of passengers on the second supply is provided. In the second column, under the first heading, the last name listed is Thomas Forrest (spelled with two "r"s, unlike later Internet lists). The names are not in alphabetical order. At the bottom of the page, Smith writes "Mistresse Forrest, and Anne Burras her maide;"
On the next page, Smith tells of a confrontation with Powhatan
, noting that there was snow on the ground. Then at the end of the same paragraph, on his return from this confrontation, Smith writes: "About this time there was a marriage betwixt John Laydon and Anne Burras; which was the first marriage we had in Virginia.". This may give a clue as to when Mistresse Forrest died. It is unlikely that a living Mistresse Forrest would have permitted her maid to leave her service and marry, especially as one may reasonably presume that her passage was paid for by Thomas Forrest. However, as Owsley and Bruwelheide note above, Mistresse Forrest " ...had a diet primarily of wheat, rather than corn. This usually indicates a recently landed European.". If she died before the English wheat ran out, then it would be most likely that Thomas Forrest would have released her maid from service, and Anne would either have to return to England or marry. She chose marriage. From this and the forensic evidence of the Smithsonian, one may deduce that Mistress Forrest did not live long in the new colony of Jamestown and perhaps died before Captain Newport sailed for England in December 1608.
Her husband, Thomas Forrest was listed as a shareholder in the Second Charter of Virginia, granted by James I to the London Company of Virginia
on May 23 1609. This was half a year after he was recorded as having sailed on the Second Supply as a gentleman colonist with his wife. The evidence above may be interpreted to suggest that Thomas soon became a widower. Thomas then seems to vanish from the annals of American colonial history until more than a decade later when he and his son Peter are recorded as being in Maryland, where the family became prosperous and well known in American history. The family is known to have thrived, and become prominent in the Maryland colony and then the new nation of the United States (The Statesman and Revolutionary War hero Uriah Forrest
is a descendant of Peter, for example). There are many genealogies on the Internet connected to Peter Forrest, Thomas' son, that seek to claim "first family of Virginia" status through Mistress Forrest. Unfortunately, Captain John Smith's book and the Smithsonian evidence suggests this is a barren hope. The true first family of Virginia would be Anne Burras
, Margaret Forrest's maid, who married fellow-colonist John Laydon, a carpenter. As Smith states, theirs was the first marriage recorded in English colonial America. According to the church records, Peter Forrest was born in Morborne, Huntingdonshire, England in 1601. His mother was Elizabeth Dancastle, born Sept 16. 1570. His father's second wife was Margaret Foxe who he married on August 16, 1605 in St. Giles in the Fields, London, England. Foxe was born in 1576 in St. Giles, London, England, according to the church records. Peter Forrest married Elizabeth Ironmonger in England in 1623 and Elizabeth died in Charles County, Maryland in 1660. Peter died in Maryland in 1665. More search of the records is required to find when they migrated from England.
This next record of Thomas is in May of the next year. 1609, when he shows up as a shareholder in the Second Charter of Virginia, granted by James I to the London Company of Virginia
on May 23 1609. It is possible that he remained in Jamestown and was named by his representatives in England. But the lack of any record of him in Virginia, including the absence of a claim by Forrest and his wife to 100 acres of land each, under the headright system instituted in 1619, suggests he was not there. It is much more likely that with his wife dead, winter coming, supplies thin, Jamestown being a rough place for a manor-born aristocrat, and his six or seven year old son from a previous marriage probably still in England, he may have returned on the same boat that he came to the colony. The final record for Thomas Forrest is his death certificate St. Mary's County, Maryland in 1661, believed to be the same Thomas as the husband of Mistress Forrest (Margaret Foxe).
It should be noted that on page 190 of Smith's book, Capt. Smith writes "Here I cannot omit the courage of George Forrest, that had seaventeene Arrowes sticking in him, and one shot through him, yet lived sixe or seaven dayes, as if he had small hurt, then for want of Chirurgery [Surgery] dyed.". Smith records that George Forrest, Gentleman came over on the third supply. It also would be interesting to know if George and Thomas Forrest were related.
Sir Anthony Forrest of Morborne, Huntingdonshire, was also an investor in the Virginia Company. According to the church records in Morborne, Sir Anthony was Thomas' nephew. Sir Anthony was the first born son of Miles Forrest, the elder brother of Thomas Forrest, husband of Mistress Forrest. Sir Anthony was the first of the Forrests to be knighted (although he descended from Le Sire de Beville of Norman Conquest fame on his great-grandmother's side), but in 1620, Sir Anthony lost to his relation, Sir Robert Beville, the Forrest's Morborne manor (awarded to his great-grandfather "after the Dissolution, the manor of Morborne, with the house and grange of Ogerston in the same parish, lately the property of the Abbey of Crowland, was granted in 1540, with all appurtenances, to Miles Forrest, bailiff of the Abbot of Peterborough at Warmington in 1535. The first Miles Forrest married Sir Robert's ancestor, Catherine Beville).
or German-speakers) and Polish
craftsmen, who had been hired by the Virginia Company of London's leaders to help develop manufacture profitable export products. There has been debate about the nationality of the specific craftsmen, and both the Germans and Poles claim the glassmaker for one of their own, but the evidence is insufficient. Ethnicity is further complicated by the fact that the German minority in Royal Prussia lived under Polish control during this period.
William Volday/Wilhelm Waldi, a Swiss German mineral prospector, was also among those who arrived in 1608. His mission was seeking a silver reservoir that was believed to be within the proximity of Jamestown. Some of the settlers were artisans who built a glass furnace which became the first factory in America. Additional craftsmen produced soap, pitch, and wood building supplies. Among all of these were the first made-in-America products to be exported to Europe. However, despite all these efforts, profits from exports were not sufficient to meet the expenses and expectations of the investors back in England, and no silver or gold had been discovered, as earlier hoped.
They specifically demanded that the colonists send commodities sufficient to pay the cost of the voyage, a lump of gold, assurance that they had found the South Sea, and one member of the lost Roanoke Colony
.
It fell to the third president of the Council to deliver a reply. By this time, Wingfield and Ratcliffe had been replaced by John Smith. Ever bold, Smith delivered what must have been a wake-up call to the investors in London. In what has been termed "Smith's Rude Answer", he composed a letter, writing (in part):
Smith did begin his letter with something of an apology, saying "I humbly intreat your Pardons if I offend you with my rude Answer..." http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/colonial/jamestwn/rude.html, although it should be noted that at the time, the word 'rude' was acknowledged to mean 'unfinished' or 'rural', in the same way modern English uses 'rustic'.
There are strong indications that those in London comprehended and embraced Smith's message. Their Third Supply
mission was by far the largest and best equipped. They even had a new purpose-built flagship constructed, the Sea Venture
, placed in the most experienced of hands, Christopher Newport. With a fleet of no fewer than eight ships, the Third Supply, led by the Sea Venture, left Plymouth
in June, 1609.
On the subject of the Virginia Company, it is notable that, throughout its existence, Sir Edwin Sandys
, was a leading force. He, of course, also hoped for profits, but also his goals included a permanent colony which would enlarge English territory, relieve the nation's overpopulation, and expand the market for English goods. He is closely identified with a faction of the company led by Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
. Although profits proved elusive for their investors, the visions for the Colony of Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton were eventually accomplished.
and along the various rivers. He is credited by legend with naming Stingray Point
(near present-day Deltaville
in Middlesex County
for an incident there).
Smith was always seeking a supply of food for the colonists, and he successfully traded for food with the Nansemond
s, who were located along the Nansemond River
in the modern-day City of Suffolk
, and several other groups. However, while leading one food-gathering expedition in December 1607 (before his term as colony president), this time up the Chickahominy River
west of Jamestown, his men were set upon by Powhatan Indians. As his party was being slaughtered around him, Smith strapped his Indian guide in front of him as a shield and escaped with his life but was captured by Opechancanough, the Powhatan chief's half-brother. Smith gave him a compass which pleased the warrior and made him decide to let Smith live.
Smith was taken before Wahunsunacock, who was commonly referred to as Chief Powhatan, at the Powhatan Confederacy's seat of government at Werowocomoco
on the York River
. However, 17 years later, in 1624, Smith first related that when the chief decided to execute him, this course of action was stopped by the pleas of Chief Powhatan's young daughter, Pocahontas
, who was originally named Matoaka but whose nickname meant "Playful Mischief". Many historians today find this account dubious, especially as it was omitted in all his previous versions. Smith returned to Jamestown just in time for the First Supply, in January 1608.
In September 1609, Smith was wounded in an accident. He was walking with his gun in the river, and the powder was in a pouch on his belt. His powder bag exploded. In October, he was sent back to England for medical treatment.
While back in England, Smith wrote A True Relation and The Proceedings of the English Colony of Virginia about his experiences in Jamestown. These books, whose accuracy has been questioned by some historians due to some extent by Smith's boastful prose, were to generate public interest and new investment for the colony.
Although the life of Chief Powhatan's young daughter, Pocahontas
, would be largely tied to the English after legend credits her with saving John Smith's life after his capture by Opechancanough, her contacts with Smith himself were minimal. However, records indicate that she became something of an emissary to the colonists at Jamestown Island. During their first winter, following an almost complete destruction of their fort by a fire in January 1608, Pocahontas brought food and clothing to the colonists. She later negotiated with Smith for the release of Virginia Indians who had been captured by the colonists during a raid to gain English weaponry.
During the next several years, the relationship between the Virginia Indians and the colonists became more strained, never more so than during the period of poor crops for both the natives and colonists which became known as the Starving Time
in late 1609 and early 1610. Chief Powhatan relocated his principal capital from Werowocomoco
, which was relatively close to Jamestown along the north shore of the York River
, to a point more inland and secure along the upper reaches of the Chickahominy River
.
In March, 1613, Pocahontas and her husband, Kocoum were residing at Passapatanzy
, a village of the Patawomeck
s, a Powhatan Confederacy tribe which did some trading with Powhatans. They lived in present-day Stafford County
on the Potomac River
near Fredericksburg
, about 65 miles (104.6 km) from Werowocomoco. She was kidnapped by Samuel Argall
, and transported about 90 miles (144.8 km) south to the English settlement at Henricus
on the James River. There, Pocahontas converted to Christianity
and took the name "Rebecca" under the tutelage of Reverend Alexander Whitaker
who had arrived in Jamestown in 1611. She married prominent planter John Rolfe, who had lost his first wife and child in the journey from England several years earlier, which served to greatly improve relations between the Virginia Indians and the colonists for several years. However, when she and John Rolfe took their young son Thomas Rolfe
on a public relations trip to England to help raise more investment money for the Virginia Company, she became ill and died just as they were leaving to return to Virginia.
in the Virginia Colony occurred during the winter of 1609–10. Only 60 of 214 English colonists survived.
The colonists, the first group of whom had originally arrived at Jamestown on May 14, 1607, had never planned to grow all of their own food. Instead, their plans also depended upon trade with the local Virginia Indians to supply them with enough food between the arrival of periodic supply ships from England, upon which they also relied.
This period of extreme hardship for the colonists began in 1609 with a drought which caused their already limited farming activities to produce even fewer crops than usual. Then, there were problems with both of their other sources for food.
An unexpected delay occurred during the Virginia Company of London's Third Supply
mission from England due to a major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. A large portion of the food and supplies had been aboard the new flagship
of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture
which became shipwrecked at Bermuda
and separated from the other ships, seven of which arrived at the colony with even more new colonists to feed, and few supplies, most of which had been aboard the larger flagship.
The impending hardship was further compounded by the loss of their most skillful leader in dealing with the Powhatan Confederacy in trading for food: Captain John Smith. He became injured in August of 1609 in a gunpowder accident, and was forced to return to England for medical attention in October 1609. After Smith left, Chief Powhatan severely curtailed trading with the colonists for food. Neither the missing Sea Venture nor any other supply ship arrived as winter set upon the inhabitants of the young colony in late 1609.
When the survivors of the shipwreck of the Third Supply mission's flagship Sea Venture finally arrived at Jamestown the following May 23 in two makeshift ships they had constructed while stranded on Bermuda for nine months, they found fewer than 100 colonists still alive, many of whom were sick. Worse yet, the Bermuda survivors had brought few supplies and only a small amount of food with them, expecting to find a thriving colony at Jamestown.
Thus, even with the arrival of the two small ships from Bermuda under Captain Christopher Newport, they were faced with abandoning Jamestown and returning to England. On June 7, 1610, both groups of survivors (from Jamestown and Bermuda) boarded ships, and they all set sail down the James River toward the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Shortly after they had abandoned Jamestown, they came upon a fleet of three supply ships arriving from England, commanded by a new governor, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
. The two groups met on the James River on June 9, 1610 near Mulberry Island
(adjacent to present-day Fort Eustis in Newport News).
Included in those returning to Jamestown was a colonist whose wife and child had died during the shipwreck of the Sea Venture and the time at Bermuda. A businessman, he had with him some seeds for a new strain of tobacco and also some untried marketing ideas. That colonist was John Rolfe. Despite his misfortune to that point, history records that he would change the future of the colony as much as Lord Delaware's timely arrival had.
The Sea Venture
was the new flagship of the Virginia Company. Leaving England in 1609, and leading this Third Supply to Jamestown as "Vice Admiral" and commanding the Sea Venture, Christopher Newport
was in charge of a nine-vessel fleet. Aboard the flagship Sea Venture was the Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers
, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates
, William Strachey
and other notable personages in the early history of English colonization in North America.
While at sea, the fleet encountered a strong storm , perhaps a hurricane, which lasted for three days. The Sea Venture and one other ship were separated from the seven other vessels of the fleet. The Sea Venture was deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda
to prevent her sinking. The 150 passengers and crew members were all landed safely but the ship was now permanently damaged.
The Sea Ventures longboat was fitted with a mast and sent to find Virginia but it and its crew were never seen again. The remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and Patience from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture.
Leaving two men at Bermuda to maintain England's claim to the archipelago, the remainder sailed to Jamestown, finally arriving on May 23, 1610. They found the Virginia Colony in ruins and practically abandoned. Of 500 settlers who had preceded them to Jamestown, they found fewer than 100 survivors, many of whom were sick or dying. It was decided to abandon the colony and on June 7, everyone was placed aboard the ships to return to England.
.
On June 9, 1610, Lord De La Warr and his party arrived on the James River shortly after the Deliverance and Patience had abandoned Jamestown. Intercepting them about 10 miles (16.1 km) downstream from Jamestown near Mulberry Island
, the new governor forced the remaining 90 settlers to return, thwarting their plans to abandon the colony. Deliverance and Patience turned back, and all the settlers were landed again at Jamestown.
Then, Sir George Somers returned to Bermuda with the Patience to obtain more food supplies, but he died on the island that summer. His nephew, Matthew Somers, Captain of the Patience, took the ship back to Lyme Regis
, England instead of Virginia (leaving a third man behind). The Third Charter of the Virginia Company was then extended far enough across the Atlantic to include Bermuda in 1612. (Although a separate company, the Somers Isles Company
, would be spun-off
to administer Bermuda from 1615, the first two successful English colonies would retain close ties for many more generations, as was demonstrated when Virginian general George Washington
called upon the people of Bermuda for aid during the American War of Independence). In 1613, Sir Thomas Dale
founded the settlement of Bermuda Hundred on the James River, which, a year later, became the first incorporated town
in Virginia.
to investors financing the new colony kept the project afloat.
, whose wife and a child had died in Bermuda
during passage to Virginia, was just one of the settlers who had arrived in Jamestown following the shipwreck of the Sea Venture
. However, his major contribution is that he was the first man to successfully raise export
tobacco
in the Colony (although the colonists had begun to make glass artifacts to export immediately after their arrival). The native tobacco raised in Virginia prior to that time, Nicotiana rustica, was not to the liking of the Europeans but Rolfe had brought some seed for Nicotiana tabacum
with him from Bermuda.
Although most people "wouldn't touch" the crop, Rolfe was able to make his fortune farming it, successfully exporting beginning in 1612. Soon almost all other colonists followed suit, as windfall profits in tobacco briefly lent Jamestown something like a gold rush atmosphere. Among others, Rolfe quickly became both a wealthy and prominent man. He married the young Virginia Indian woman Pocahontas
on April 24, 1614. They lived first across the river from Jamestown, and later at his Varina Farms
plantation near Henricus
. Their son, Thomas Rolfe
, was born in 1615.
to act as deputy-governor or as high marshall for the Virginia Colony under the authority of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
(Lord Delaware). He arrived at Jamestown on May 19 with three ships, additional men, cattle, and provisions. Finding the conditions unhealthy and greatly in need of improvement, he immediately called for a meeting of the Jamestown Council, and established crews to rebuild Jamestown.
He served as Governor for 3 months in 1611, and again for a two year period between 1614 and 1616. It was during his administration that the first code of laws of Virginia, nominally in force from 1611 to 1619, was effectively tested. This code, entitled "Articles, Lawes, and Orders Divine, Politique, and Martiall" (popularly known as Dale's Code
), was notable for its pitiless severity, and seems to have been prepared in large part by Dale himself.
(also named after King James
) to the area now known as Chesterfield County
.
He was apparently impressed with the possibilities of the general area where the Appomattox River
joins the James River, until then occupied by the Appomattoc
Indians, and there are published references to the name "New Bermudas" although it apparently was never formalized. (Far from the mainland of North America
, the archipelago of Bermuda
had been established as part of the Virginia Colony in 1612 following the shipwreck of the Sea Venture
in 1609).
A short distance further up the James, in 1611, he began the construction of a progressive development at Henricus
on and about what was later known as Farrars Island. Henricus was envisioned as possible replacement capital for Jamestown, and was to have the first college in Virginia. (The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre of 1622
, during which a third of the colonists were killed). In addition to creating the new settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of Bermuda Hundred and "Bermuda Cittie"
(sic). He began the excavation work at Dutch Gap
, using methods he had learned while serving in Holland.
plantation
for a public relations mission to England, where Pocahontas was received and treated as a form of visiting royalty by Queen Anne
. This stimulated more interest in investments in the Virginia Company, the desired effect. However, as the couple prepared to return to Virginia, Pocahontas died of an illness at Gravesend on March 17, 1617, where she was buried. John Rolfe returned to Virginia alone once again, leaving their son Thomas Rolfe
, then a small child, in England to obtain an education.
Once back in Virginia, Rolfe married Jane Pierce and continued to improve the quality of his tobacco with the result that by the time of his death in 1622, the Colony was thriving as a producer of tobacco.
Orphaned by the age of 8, young Thomas later returned to Virginia, and settled across the James River not far from his parents' farm at Varina
, where he married Jane Poythress and they had one daughter, Jane Rolfe
, who was born in 1650. Many of the First Families of Virginia
trace their lineage through Thomas Rolfe
to both Pocahontas and John Rolfe, joining English and Virginia Indian heritage.
An example was Martin's Hundred
, located downstream from Jamestown on the north bank of the James River. It was sponsored by the Martin's Hundred Society, a group of investors in London. It was settled in 1618, and Wolstenholme Towne
was its administrative center, named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors. In 1976, the long-lost site of Wolstenholme Towne at Martin's Hundred was discovered on the grounds of Carter's Grove Plantation near the Grove Community
in southeastern James City County
and has been the location of important archaeological work.
Bermuda Hundred
(now in Chesterfield County
) and Flowerdew Hundred (now in Prince George County
) are other names which have survived over centuries. Others included Berkeley Hundred
, Bermuda Nether Hundred, Bermuda Upper Hundred, Digges Hundred, West Hundred and Shirley Hundred (and, in Bermuda, Harrington Hundreds).
Including the creation of the "hundreds", the various incentives to investors in the Virginia Colony finally paid off by 1617. By this time, the colonists were exporting 50,000 pounds of tobacco to England a year and were beginning to generate enough profit to ensure the economic survival of the colony.
Virginia's population grew rapidly from 1618 until 1622, rising from a few hundred to nearly 1,400 people. Wheat was also grown in Virginia starting in 1618. The labor intensive tobacco plantations led to the importation of the colony's first black "indentured servant
s". In August 1619, 20 black men
were purchased from a passing [Dutch] Privateer ship bound from Luanda, Angola, to Vera Cruz
, Mexico
. However, these may not have been the first; 32 Africans were noted five months earlier in a Virginia census of 1619.
, the first legislature of elected representatives in America, met in the Jamestown Church. Their first law was to set a minimum price for the sale of tobacco and set forth plans for the creation of the first iron
works of the colony. This legislative group was the predecessor of the modern Virginia General Assembly
.
Originally, the colony's Polish craftsmen were barred from participating in the elections, but after the craftsmen refused to work
, colonial leadership agreed to enfranchise them. This may be the first strike in recorded North American history.
s, and pitch/tar/soap-ash makers, who produced some of the colony's first exports of these products. The Italians included a team of glass makers.
Many of the women were not "maids" but widows. Some others were children, for example Priscilla, the eight-year-old daughter of Joane Palmer, who travelled with her mother and her new stepfather, Thomas Palmer, on the Tyger. Some were women who were traveling with family or relatives: Ursula Clawson, "kinswoman" of Ancient Planter
Richard Pace
, traveled with Pace and his wife on the Marmaduke. Ann Jackson also came on the Marmaduke, in the company of her brother John Jackson, both of them bound for Martin's Hundred. Ann Jackson was one of the women taken captive by the Powhatans during the Indian Massacre of 1622
. She was not returned until 1630. The Council ordered that she should be sent back to England on the first available ship, perhaps because she was suffering from the consequnces of her long captivity.
Some of the women sent to Virginia did marry. But most disappeared from the records -- perhaps killed in the massacre, perhaps dead from other causes, perhaps returned to England. In other words, they shared the fate of most of their fellow colonists.
Chief Wahunsunacock of the Powhatan Confederacy had been forced to move west from his original capital at Werowocomoco
(only about 20 miles (32.2 km) from Jamestown) to Orapakes in 1609 for security reasons. However, Orapakes was just a temporary capital. It was in a swamp at the head of the Chickahominy River
, near the modern-day interchange of Interstate 64
and Interstate 295
. It was also too close to other hostile native groups, such as the Monacans. Sometime between 1611 and 1614, he moved the capital of the Confederacy again, this time further north. Ultimately, Wahunsonacock settled at the headwaters of the Pamunkey River
, on the north bank at Matchut. When Wahunsonacock moved to Matchut, his younger brother Opechancanough lived across the Pamunkey River at Youghtanund.
The relations with the Natives took a turn for the worse after the death of Pocahontas in England and the return of John Rolfe and other colonial leaders in May 1617. Disease, poor harvests and the growing demand for tobacco lands caused hostilities to escalate.
After Wahunsunacock's death in 1618, his younger brother, Opitchapam, briefly became chief. However, he was soon succeeded by his own younger brother, Opechancanough. There is speculation, but no confirmation, that Opechancanough may be the same individual known as Don Luis
, a supposed native-convert to Christianity who had been involved with the ill-fated Ajacán Mission
briefly established by Spanish missionaries in 1570. Whether or not there was a connection between the native-convert Don Luis and Opechancanough, there is no doubt that the new Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy was violently opposed to the European settlements. He had been long known as a fierce warrior, and most recently, had been a local weroance
in the area now occupied by the Town of West Point
, where the Pamunkey River joins the Mattaponi River
to form the York River. Opechancanough was not interested in attempting peaceful coexistence with the English settlers. Instead, he was determined to eradicate the colonists from what he considered to be Indian lands.
, and resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists (including men, women, and children) and the abduction of many others.
The Massacre caught most of the Virginia Colony by surprise and virtually wiped out several entire communities, including Henricus
and Wolstenholme Town at Martin's Hundred
.
However, Jamestown was spared from destruction due to a Virginia Indian boy named Chanco
who, after learning of the planned attacks from his brother, gave warning to colonist Richard Pace
with whom he lived. Pace, after securing himself and his neighbors on the south side of the James River, took a canoe across river to warn Jamestown which narrowly escaped destruction, although there was no time to warn the other settlements. Apparently, Opechancanough subsequently was unaware of Chanco's actions, as the young man continued to serve as his courier for some time after.
The reaction to the Powhatan uprising was retaliation, and the English set to with a vengeance. A year later, Captain William Tucker and Dr. John Rolfe
s worked out a supposed-truce with the Pocahontas and proposed a toast using liquor laced with poison. 200 Virginia Indians were killed by the poison and 50 more were slaughtered by the colonists. For over a decade, the English settlers killed Powhatan men and women, captured children and systematically razed villages, seizing or destroying crops.
A letter by Richard Frethorne
, written in 1623, reports, "we live in fear of the enemy every hour."
, which was about 6 miles (9.7 km) wide at that point between Queen's Creek
which fed into the York River
and Archer's Hope Creek, (since renamed College Creek
) which fed into the James River
. The new palisade provided some security from attacks by the Virginia Indians for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point.
Anchored at its center by Middle Plantation
on land patented by Dr. Potts, the palisade is partially described in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge:
Furthermore, the forces of Royal Governor of Virginia William Berkeley captured the old warrior in 1646, variously thought to be between 90 and 100 years old. In October, while a prisoner, Opechancanough was killed by a soldier (shot in the back) assigned to guard him.
(Chief) by Nectowance
and then by Totopotomoi
and later by his daughter Cockacoeske
.
In 1646, the first treaties were signed between the Virginia Indians and the English. The treaties set up reservations, some of the oldest in America, for the surviving Powhatan. It also set up tribute payments for the Virginia Indians to be made yearly to the English.
Only two tribes, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, still maintain the reservations from the 1646 treaty and still make yearly tribute payments as stipulated by the 1646 and 1677 treaties. The other reservations had been lost by the end of the 1800s, though one tribe still had families on theirs until the 1900s.
.
In 1634, the English Crown created eight shire
s (i.e. counties) in the colony of Virginia which had a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. James City Shire
was established and included Jamestown. Around 1642-43, the name of the James City Shire was changed to James City County
.
By the 1650's, the nature of the relationship of indentured servants changed with the lawsuit over the status of John Casor
, who, when declared a slave by the court, helped mark the beginning of slavery in Virginia
.
near Jamestown. In the mid 1670s, a young cousin through marriage, Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., arrived in Virginia sent by his father in the hope that he would "mature" under the tutelage of the governor. Although lazy, Bacon was intelligent and Berkeley provided him with a land grant and a seat on the Virginia Colony council. However, the two became at odds over relationships with the Virginia Indians, which were most strained at the outer frontier points of the colony.
In July 1675, Doeg
Indians crossed from Maryland and raided the plantation of Thomas Mathews in the northern portion of the colony along what became the Potomac River
, stealing some hogs in order to gain payment for several items Mathews had obtained from the tribe. Mathews pursued them and killed several Doegs, who retaliated by killing Mathew's son and two of his servants, including Robert Hen
. A Virginian militia then went to Maryland and besieged the Susquehanaugs (a different tribe) in "retaliation" which led to even more large-scale Indian raids, and a protest from the governor of Maryland colony. Governor Berkeley tried to calm the situation but many of the colonists, particularly the frontiersmen, refused to listen to him and Bacon disregarded a direct order and captured some Appomattoc
Indians, who were located many miles south of the site of the initial incident, and almost certainly not involved.
Following the establishment of the Long Assembly in 1676, war was declared on "all hostile Indians" and trade with Indian tribes became regulated, often seen by the colonists to favor those friends of Berkeley. Bacon opposed Berkeley and led a group in opposition to the governor. Bacon and his troops set themselves up at Henrico
until Berkeley arrived which sent Bacon and his men fleeing upon which Berkeley declared them in rebellion
and offered a pardon to any who returned to Jamestown peaceably.
Bacon led numerous raids on Indians friendly to the colonists in an attempt to bring down Berkeley. The governor offered him amnesty
but the House of Burgesses
refused; insisting that Bacon must acknowledge his mistakes. At about the same time, Bacon was actually elected to the House of Burgesses and attended the June 1676 assembly where he was captured, forced to apologize and was then pardoned by Berkeley.
Bacon then demanded a military commission but Berkeley refused. Bacon and his supporters surrounded the statehouse and threatened to start shooting the Burgesses if Berkeley did not acknowledge Bacon as "General of all forces against the Indians". Berkeley eventually acceded, and then left Jamestown. He attempted a coup a month later but was unsuccessful. In September, however, Berkeley was successful and Bacon dug in for a siege
which resulted in his burning Jamestown to the ground on September 19, 1676. Bacon died of the flux and lice on October 26, 1676 and his body is believed to have been burned.
Berkeley returned, and hanged William Drummond and the other major leaders of the rebellion (23 in total) at Middle Plantation. With Jamestown unusable due to the burning by Bacon, the Governor convened a session of the General Assembly at his Green Spring Plantation
in February, 1677, and another was later held at Middle Plantation. However, upon learning of his actions, King Charles II
was reportedly displeased at the degree of retaliation and number of executions, and recalled Berkeley to England. He returned to London where he died in July, 1677.
, this time in the new College Building
at the College of William and Mary, which had begun meeting there in temporary quarters in 1694.
While meeting there, a group of five students from the College submitted a well-presented and logical proposal to the legislators outlining a plan and good reasons to move the capital permanently to Middle Plantation.
Despite the periodic need to relocate the legislature from Jamestown due to contingencies such as fires, (usually to Middle Plantation), throughout the seventeenth century, Virginians had been reluctant to permanently move the capital from its "ancient and accustomed place." After all, Jamestown had always been Virginia's capital. It had a state house (except when it periodically burned) and a church, and it offered easy access to ships that came up the James River bringing goods from England and taking on tobacco
bound for market. http://research.history.org/Historical_Research/Research_Themes/ThemePossession/MiddlePlantation.cfm However, Jamestown's status had been in some decline. In 1662, Jamestown's status as mandatory port of entry for Virginia had been ended.
The students argued that the change to the high ground at Middle Plantation would escape the dreaded malaria and mosquitoes that had always plagued the swampy, low-lying Jamestown site. The students pointed out that, while not located immediately upon a river, Middle Plantation offered nearby access to not one, but two rivers, via two deep water (6-7' depth) creeks, Queen's Creek
leading to the York River
, and College Creek
(formerly known as Archer's Hope) which led to the James River. Other advocates of the move included the Reverend Dr. James Blair and the Governor, Sir Francis Nicholson
.
Several prominent individuals like John Page
, Thomas Ludwell, Philip Ludwell
, and Otho Thorpe had built fine brick homes and created a substantial town at Middle Plantation. And, there was of course, the new College of William and Mary with its fine new brick building.
The proposal to move the capital of Virginia to higher ground (about 12 miles (20 km) away) at Middle Plantation was received favorably by the House of Burgesses
. In 1699, the capital of the Virginia Colony was officially relocated there. Soon, the town was renamed Williamsburg
, in honor of King William III
. Thus, the first phase of Jamestown's history ended.
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville , California*Williamsburg, Colorado*Williamsburg, Florida*Williamsburg, Dunwoody, Georgia*Williamsburg, Indiana*Williamsburg, Iowa*Williamsburg, Kansas*Williamsburg, Kentucky...
. This article covers the history of the fort and town at Jamestown proper, as well as colony-wide trends resulting from and affecting the town during the time period in which it was capital.
Arrival and First Landing
The Virginia Company of LondonLondon Company
The London Company was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel ...
sent an expedition to establish a settlement in the Virginia Colony in December 1606. After an unusually lengthy trip sailing across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the three ships, the Susan Constant
Susan Constant
Susan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company on the 1606-1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Her keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet...
(sometimes known as the Sarah Constant), the Godspeed
Godspeed (ship)
Godspeed, under Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, was one of the three ships on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:All 39 passengers and 13 sailors she carried on that...
, and the Discovery
Discovery (1602 ship)
Discovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607...
(smallest of the three) reached the New World at the southern edge of the mouth of what is now known as the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
. The ships left Blackwall
Blackwall, London
Blackwall is an area of the East End of London, situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the north bank of the River Thames.The district around Blackwall Stairs was known as Blackwall by at least the 14th century. This presumably derives from the colour of the river wall, constructed in...
, now part of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with 105 men and boys and 39 crew-members, by Captain Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
. The voyage was uncommonly long; one of the passengers was found dead in the Caribbean. From April 6 to 10, 1607, the Godspeed, Susan Constant and the Discovery made four stops in the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
for provisions on their way to the New World. After more than four months, the 104 men and boys, along with the crew-members, finally arrived at their chosen settlement spot in Virginia; there were no women on the first ships.
Arriving at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
in late April, they named the Virginia capes after the sons of their king, the southern Cape Henry
Cape Henry
Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia north of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Charles...
, for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...
, and the northern Cape Charles
Cape Charles
Cape Charles may refer to:*Cape Charles, Virginia, a town in Northampton County, Virginia*Cape Charles , headland or cape in Northampton County, Virginia...
, for his younger brother, Charles, Duke of York
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. On April 26, 1607, upon landing at Cape Henry, Chaplain Robert Hunt
Robert Hunt (chaplain)
Robert Hunt , a vicar in the Church of England, was chaplain of the expedition that founded, in 1607, the first successful English colony in the New World, at Jamestown, Virginia.-Career in England:...
offered a prayer and they set up a cross near the site of the current Cape Henry Memorial
Cape Henry Memorial
The Cape Henry Memorial commemorates the first landfall at Cape Henry, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, of colonists bound for the Jamestown settlement. After landing on April 26, 1607, they explored the area, named the cape, and set up a cross before proceeding up the James River. A stone cross, set...
. This site came to be known as the "first landing." A party of the men explored the area and had a minor conflict with some Virginia Indians.
Exploration, seeking a site
Sealed Orders from the Virginia CompanyVirginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
were opened which named Captain John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
as a member of the governing Council. Smith had been arrested for mutiny on the voyage over by Christopher Newport, and was incarcerated aboard one of the ships. He had been scheduled to be hanged upon arrival, but was later freed by Captain Newport after the opening of the orders. The same orders also directed them to seek an inland site for their settlement, which would afford protection from enemy ships.
Therefore, the English Colonists re-boarded their three ships and proceeded into the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
landing again at what is now called Old Point Comfort
Old Point Comfort
Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton. It lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States....
in the City of Hampton
Hampton, Virginia
Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
. In the following days, the ships ventured inland upstream along the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
seeking a suitable location for their settlement as defined in their orders. The James River and the initial settlement they sought to establish, Jamestown
Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown Settlement is a name used by the Commonwealth of Virginia's portion of the historical sites and museums at Jamestown. Jamestown was the first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America...
(originally called "James His Towne") were named in honor of King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
.
Selecting Jamestown
Arriving on May 14, 1608, the colonists chose Jamestown Island for their settlement largely because the Virginia CompanyVirginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
advised them to select a location that could be easily defended from ocean-going navies of the other European states that were also establishing New World colonies and were periodically at war with England, notably the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, France
Early Modern France
Kingdom of France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
, and especially Spain
Habsburg Spain
Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
. The island fit the criteria, as it had excellent visibility up and down what is today called the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
, and it was far enough inland to minimize the potential of contact and conflict with enemy ships. The water immediately adjacent to the land was deep enough to permit the colonists to anchor their ships yet have an easy and quick departure if necessary. An additional benefit of the site was that the land was not occupied by the Virginia Indians, most of whom in the area were affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy.
The settlers came ashore, and quickly set about constructing their initial fort. Within a month, James Fort covered an acre on Jamestown Island, although it burned down the following year. The wooden palisaded walls formed a triangle around a storehouse, church, and a number of houses.
Explanation: Island vs Peninsula
Jamestown is often referred to as an island. During periods of the past 400 years, it has been joined by a narrow land bridge (or "isthmus") to the mainland; at other times, the flow and fluctuations of the James River severed and recreated the connection, thus perhaps the confusion in definition.Although it is technically a peninsula when thus connected, functionally, in many ways, Jamestown throughout the past 400 years has been an island. Largely cut off from the mainland's typical game and wildlife by natural forces, the shallow harbor afforded the earliest settlers docking of their ships. This was its great attraction, one which came at the price of other far less favorable conditions.
Challenges of the location
It soon became apparent why the Virginia Indians did not occupy the site, and the inhospitable conditions severely challenged the settlers. Jamestown Island is a swampSwamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
y area, and furthermore, it was isolated from most potential hunting game such as deer and bears which like to forage over much larger areas. The settlers quickly hunted and killed off all the large and smaller game that was to be found on the tiny peninsula. The low, marshy area was infested with mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es (which carried Malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
which killed over 135 settlers) and other airborne pests, and the brackish water
Brackish water
Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. The word comes from the Middle Dutch root "brak," meaning "salty"...
of the tidal
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
James River was not a good source of water. Many settlers died from drinking untreated water.
The settlers who came over on the initial three ships were not well-equipped for the life they found in Jamestown. In addition to the "gentlemen", who were not accustomed to manual or skilled labor, they consisted mainly of English laborers. Many suffered from saltwater poisoning which led to infection, fevers and dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
. As a result of these conditions, most of the early settlers died of disease and starvation.
Despite the immediate area of Jamestown being uninhabited, the settlers were attacked less than a fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
after their arrival on May 14, by Paspahegh
Paspahegh
The Paspahegh tribe were tributaries to the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. The Paspahegh Indian tribe lived in present-day Charles City and James City counties, Virginia...
Indians who succeeded in killing one of the settlers and wounding eleven more. By June 15, the settlers finished the initial triangle James Fort. A week later, Newport sailed back for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on the Susan Constant with a load of pyrite
Pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...
("fools' gold") and other supposedly precious minerals, leaving the tiny Discovery behind for the use of the colonists. Newport returned twice from England with additional supplies in the following 18 months, leading what were termed the First and Second Supply missions.
Original Council, notables of Jamestown in 1607
King James I had outlined the members of the Council to govern the settlement in the sealed orders which left London with the colonists in 1606. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/VAGuide/history.htmlThose named for the initial Council were:
- Bartholomew GosnoldBartholomew GosnoldBartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
, Captain of the GodspeedGodspeed (ship)Godspeed, under Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, was one of the three ships on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:All 39 passengers and 13 sailors she carried on that... - Christopher NewportChristopher NewportChristopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
, Captain of the Susan ConstantSusan ConstantSusan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company on the 1606-1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Her keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet...
, later of the Sea VentureSea VentureThe Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest... - George Kendall
- John MartinJohn Martin (Jamestown)Capt. John Martin was a Councilman of the Jamestown Colony in 1607. He was the proprietor of Martin's Brandon Plantation on the south bank of the James River...
(later founder of Martin's Brandon Plantation) - George PercyGeorge PercyGeorge Percy was an English explorer, author, and early Colonial Governor of Virginia.-Early life:George Percy was born in England, the youngest son of Henry Percy, 2nd/8th Earl of Northumberland and Lady Catherine Neville. He was sickly for much of his life, possibly suffering from epilepsy or...
, later twice president of the council - John Ratcliffe, Captain of the DiscoveryDiscovery (1602 ship)Discovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607...
, second President of the Council - John Smith, third President of the Council, and author of many books from the period.
- Edward Maria WingfieldEdward Maria WingfieldSir Edward Maria Wingfield, sometimes hyphenated as Edward-Maria Wingfield, was a soldier, Member of Parliament, and English colonist in America...
, first President of the Council at Jamestown
The Council received additional members from the First and Second Supply missions brought by Captain Newport. These were:
- Matthew ScrivenerMatthew ScrivenerMatthew Scrivener was an English colonist in Virginia. He served briefly as acting governor of Jamestown, when he was succeeded by Captain John Smith...
(First Supply)yes jamestown people were the first people alive lls
- Peter Winne (Second Supply)
Also notable among the first settlers was:
- Robert HuntRobert Hunt (chaplain)Robert Hunt , a vicar in the Church of England, was chaplain of the expedition that founded, in 1607, the first successful English colony in the New World, at Jamestown, Virginia.-Career in England:...
, chaplainChaplainTraditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
Chaplain Hunt gave the first prayer at Cape Henry on April 26, 1607, and held open-air services at Jamestown until shelter and a more appropriate church were built there.
First and Second Supply missions
A week after the initial Fort at Jamestown was completed, Newport sailed back for LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in June 1607 on the Susan Constant with a load of pyrite
Pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...
("fools' gold") and other supposedly precious minerals, leaving behind 104 colonists, and the tiny Discovery for the use of the colonists.
Newport returned twice from England with additional supplies in the following 18 months, leading what was termed the First and Second Supply missions.
The "First Supply" arrived on January 2, 1608. Again, it contained insufficient provisions and more than 70 new colonists. Likewise, Newport's "Second Supply" brought about 70 more settlers, including some craftsmen and "Eight Dutchmen and Poles" hired in Royal Prussia, but added little to the welfare of the colony.
Despite original intentions to grow food and trade with the Virginia Indians, the barely surviving colonists became dependent upon the supply missions.
First women settlers
On October 1, 1608, a company of settlers arrived aboard the English Mary and Margaret with the Second Supply. The journey took roughly three months. Included in the Second Supply were Thomas Forrest, EsqThomas Forrest, Esq
Thomas Forrest, Esq. , was a gentleman financier in the Virginia Company. On October 1, 1608, what is known as the Second Supply, came to the new colony of Virginia aboard the English ship the Mary and Margaret to resupply the colony at Jamestown, Virginia...
and "Mistress Forrest and Anne Burras her maide." Mistress Forrest and Anne Burras
Anne Burras
Anne Burras was an early English immigrant to Virginia and an Ancient Planter. She was the first English woman to marry in the New World, and her daughter Virginia was the first child of English colonists to be born in the Jamestown colony....
were the first two women known to have come to the Jamestown Colony.
Remains unearthed at Jamestown in 1997 may be those of Mistress Forrest.
On page 151 of the 1907 re-printing of The Travels of Captaine John Smith, the list of passengers on the second supply is provided. In the second column, under the first heading, the last name listed is Thomas Forrest (spelled with two "r"s, unlike later Internet lists). The names are not in alphabetical order. At the bottom of the page, Smith writes "Mistresse Forrest, and Anne Burras her maide;"
On the next page, Smith tells of a confrontation with Powhatan
Powhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
, noting that there was snow on the ground. Then at the end of the same paragraph, on his return from this confrontation, Smith writes: "About this time there was a marriage betwixt John Laydon and Anne Burras; which was the first marriage we had in Virginia.". This may give a clue as to when Mistresse Forrest died. It is unlikely that a living Mistresse Forrest would have permitted her maid to leave her service and marry, especially as one may reasonably presume that her passage was paid for by Thomas Forrest. However, as Owsley and Bruwelheide note above, Mistresse Forrest " ...had a diet primarily of wheat, rather than corn. This usually indicates a recently landed European.". If she died before the English wheat ran out, then it would be most likely that Thomas Forrest would have released her maid from service, and Anne would either have to return to England or marry. She chose marriage. From this and the forensic evidence of the Smithsonian, one may deduce that Mistress Forrest did not live long in the new colony of Jamestown and perhaps died before Captain Newport sailed for England in December 1608.
Her husband, Thomas Forrest was listed as a shareholder in the Second Charter of Virginia, granted by James I to the London Company of Virginia
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
on May 23 1609. This was half a year after he was recorded as having sailed on the Second Supply as a gentleman colonist with his wife. The evidence above may be interpreted to suggest that Thomas soon became a widower. Thomas then seems to vanish from the annals of American colonial history until more than a decade later when he and his son Peter are recorded as being in Maryland, where the family became prosperous and well known in American history. The family is known to have thrived, and become prominent in the Maryland colony and then the new nation of the United States (The Statesman and Revolutionary War hero Uriah Forrest
Uriah Forrest
Uriah Forrest was an American statesman and military leader from Maryland. Forrest was born in St. Mary's County in southern Maryland. During the American Revolutionary War, Forrest was injured and lost a leg in the Battle of Germantown...
is a descendant of Peter, for example). There are many genealogies on the Internet connected to Peter Forrest, Thomas' son, that seek to claim "first family of Virginia" status through Mistress Forrest. Unfortunately, Captain John Smith's book and the Smithsonian evidence suggests this is a barren hope. The true first family of Virginia would be Anne Burras
Anne Burras
Anne Burras was an early English immigrant to Virginia and an Ancient Planter. She was the first English woman to marry in the New World, and her daughter Virginia was the first child of English colonists to be born in the Jamestown colony....
, Margaret Forrest's maid, who married fellow-colonist John Laydon, a carpenter. As Smith states, theirs was the first marriage recorded in English colonial America. According to the church records, Peter Forrest was born in Morborne, Huntingdonshire, England in 1601. His mother was Elizabeth Dancastle, born Sept 16. 1570. His father's second wife was Margaret Foxe who he married on August 16, 1605 in St. Giles in the Fields, London, England. Foxe was born in 1576 in St. Giles, London, England, according to the church records. Peter Forrest married Elizabeth Ironmonger in England in 1623 and Elizabeth died in Charles County, Maryland in 1660. Peter died in Maryland in 1665. More search of the records is required to find when they migrated from England.
This next record of Thomas is in May of the next year. 1609, when he shows up as a shareholder in the Second Charter of Virginia, granted by James I to the London Company of Virginia
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
on May 23 1609. It is possible that he remained in Jamestown and was named by his representatives in England. But the lack of any record of him in Virginia, including the absence of a claim by Forrest and his wife to 100 acres of land each, under the headright system instituted in 1619, suggests he was not there. It is much more likely that with his wife dead, winter coming, supplies thin, Jamestown being a rough place for a manor-born aristocrat, and his six or seven year old son from a previous marriage probably still in England, he may have returned on the same boat that he came to the colony. The final record for Thomas Forrest is his death certificate St. Mary's County, Maryland in 1661, believed to be the same Thomas as the husband of Mistress Forrest (Margaret Foxe).
It should be noted that on page 190 of Smith's book, Capt. Smith writes "Here I cannot omit the courage of George Forrest, that had seaventeene Arrowes sticking in him, and one shot through him, yet lived sixe or seaven dayes, as if he had small hurt, then for want of Chirurgery [Surgery] dyed.". Smith records that George Forrest, Gentleman came over on the third supply. It also would be interesting to know if George and Thomas Forrest were related.
Sir Anthony Forrest of Morborne, Huntingdonshire, was also an investor in the Virginia Company. According to the church records in Morborne, Sir Anthony was Thomas' nephew. Sir Anthony was the first born son of Miles Forrest, the elder brother of Thomas Forrest, husband of Mistress Forrest. Sir Anthony was the first of the Forrests to be knighted (although he descended from Le Sire de Beville of Norman Conquest fame on his great-grandmother's side), but in 1620, Sir Anthony lost to his relation, Sir Robert Beville, the Forrest's Morborne manor (awarded to his great-grandfather "after the Dissolution, the manor of Morborne, with the house and grange of Ogerston in the same parish, lately the property of the Abbey of Crowland, was granted in 1540, with all appurtenances, to Miles Forrest, bailiff of the Abbot of Peterborough at Warmington in 1535. The first Miles Forrest married Sir Robert's ancestor, Catherine Beville).
First Non-English settlers
Also included on the Second Supply were the first non-English settlers. The company recruited these as skilled craftsmen and industry specialists: soap-ash, glass, lumber milling (wainscot, clapboard, and ‘deal’ — planks, especially soft wood planks) and naval stores (pitch, turpentine, and tar). Among these additional settlers were eight "Dutch-men" (consisting of unnamed craftsmen and three who were probably the wood-mill-men — Adam, Franz and Samuel) "Dutch-men" (probably meaning GermanGerman American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
or German-speakers) and Polish
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
craftsmen, who had been hired by the Virginia Company of London's leaders to help develop manufacture profitable export products. There has been debate about the nationality of the specific craftsmen, and both the Germans and Poles claim the glassmaker for one of their own, but the evidence is insufficient. Ethnicity is further complicated by the fact that the German minority in Royal Prussia lived under Polish control during this period.
William Volday/Wilhelm Waldi, a Swiss German mineral prospector, was also among those who arrived in 1608. His mission was seeking a silver reservoir that was believed to be within the proximity of Jamestown. Some of the settlers were artisans who built a glass furnace which became the first factory in America. Additional craftsmen produced soap, pitch, and wood building supplies. Among all of these were the first made-in-America products to be exported to Europe. However, despite all these efforts, profits from exports were not sufficient to meet the expenses and expectations of the investors back in England, and no silver or gold had been discovered, as earlier hoped.
Jamestown under John Smith's leadership
Virginia Company of London's unrealistic expectations
The investors of the Virginia Company of London expected to reap rewards from their speculative investments. With the Second Supply, they expressed their frustrations and made demands upon the leaders of Jamestown in written form.They specifically demanded that the colonists send commodities sufficient to pay the cost of the voyage, a lump of gold, assurance that they had found the South Sea, and one member of the lost Roanoke Colony
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
.
It fell to the third president of the Council to deliver a reply. By this time, Wingfield and Ratcliffe had been replaced by John Smith. Ever bold, Smith delivered what must have been a wake-up call to the investors in London. In what has been termed "Smith's Rude Answer", he composed a letter, writing (in part):
- "When you send again I entreat you rather send but thirty Carpenters, husbandmen, gardiners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons and diggers up of trees, roots, well provided; than a thousand of such awe have: for except wee be able both to lodge them and feed them, the most will consume with want of necessaries before they can be made good for anything." http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/VAGuide/history.html
Smith did begin his letter with something of an apology, saying "I humbly intreat your Pardons if I offend you with my rude Answer..." http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/colonial/jamestwn/rude.html, although it should be noted that at the time, the word 'rude' was acknowledged to mean 'unfinished' or 'rural', in the same way modern English uses 'rustic'.
There are strong indications that those in London comprehended and embraced Smith's message. Their Third Supply
Third Supply
The Third Supply was the first truly successful wave of colonization in the first English settlement in the Americas, at Jamestown. It also resulted in the settlement of Bermuda ....
mission was by far the largest and best equipped. They even had a new purpose-built flagship constructed, the Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
, placed in the most experienced of hands, Christopher Newport. With a fleet of no fewer than eight ships, the Third Supply, led by the Sea Venture, left Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
in June, 1609.
On the subject of the Virginia Company, it is notable that, throughout its existence, Sir Edwin Sandys
Edwin Sandys (American colonist)
Sir Edwin Sandys was an English politician, a leading figure in the parliaments of James I of England. He was also one of the founders of the proprietary Virginia Company of London, which in 1607 established the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States in the colony of...
, was a leading force. He, of course, also hoped for profits, but also his goals included a permanent colony which would enlarge English territory, relieve the nation's overpopulation, and expand the market for English goods. He is closely identified with a faction of the company led by Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley , 3rd Earl of Southampton , was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, Countess of Southampton, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montagu...
. Although profits proved elusive for their investors, the visions for the Colony of Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton were eventually accomplished.
Smith's role
In the months before becoming president of the colony for a year in September 1608, Captain John Smith did considerable exploration up the Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
and along the various rivers. He is credited by legend with naming Stingray Point
Stingray Point
Stingray Point is a small community on the Chesapeake Bay near the village of Deltaville in Middlesex County, Virginia. It is located at the eastern terminus of State Route 33. It is populated by fewer than 250 full time residents; however, during summer months that population surges as tourists...
(near present-day Deltaville
Deltaville, Virginia
Deltaville is a small unincorporated community on the eastern tip of Middlesex County in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. It is known for being a vacation spot for those looking for sailing, fishing, and other activities associated with the water...
in Middlesex County
Middlesex County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,932 people, 4,253 households, and 2,913 families residing in the county. The population density was 76 people per square mile . There were 6,362 housing units at an average density of 49 per square mile...
for an incident there).
Smith was always seeking a supply of food for the colonists, and he successfully traded for food with the Nansemond
Nansemond
The Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
s, who were located along the Nansemond River
Nansemond River
The Nansemond River is a tributary of the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia. The Nansemond River Bridge crosses the river near its mouth. Both it and the former State Route 125 bridge, demolished in 2008, were once toll bridges. The river begins at the outlet of Lake Meade north of...
in the modern-day City of Suffolk
Suffolk, Virginia
Suffolk is the largest city by area in Virginia, United States, and is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,585. Its median household income was $57,546.-History:...
, and several other groups. However, while leading one food-gathering expedition in December 1607 (before his term as colony president), this time up the Chickahominy River
Chickahominy River
The Chickahominy is an river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river rises about northwest of Richmond and flows southeast and south to the James River...
west of Jamestown, his men were set upon by Powhatan Indians. As his party was being slaughtered around him, Smith strapped his Indian guide in front of him as a shield and escaped with his life but was captured by Opechancanough, the Powhatan chief's half-brother. Smith gave him a compass which pleased the warrior and made him decide to let Smith live.
Smith was taken before Wahunsunacock, who was commonly referred to as Chief Powhatan, at the Powhatan Confederacy's seat of government at Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco was a village that served as the political center of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, a grouping of about 30 Virginia Indian tribes speaking an Algonquian language...
on the York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
. However, 17 years later, in 1624, Smith first related that when the chief decided to execute him, this course of action was stopped by the pleas of Chief Powhatan's young daughter, Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, who was originally named Matoaka but whose nickname meant "Playful Mischief". Many historians today find this account dubious, especially as it was omitted in all his previous versions. Smith returned to Jamestown just in time for the First Supply, in January 1608.
In September 1609, Smith was wounded in an accident. He was walking with his gun in the river, and the powder was in a pouch on his belt. His powder bag exploded. In October, he was sent back to England for medical treatment.
While back in England, Smith wrote A True Relation and The Proceedings of the English Colony of Virginia about his experiences in Jamestown. These books, whose accuracy has been questioned by some historians due to some extent by Smith's boastful prose, were to generate public interest and new investment for the colony.
Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, would be largely tied to the English after legend credits her with saving John Smith's life after his capture by Opechancanough, her contacts with Smith himself were minimal. However, records indicate that she became something of an emissary to the colonists at Jamestown Island. During their first winter, following an almost complete destruction of their fort by a fire in January 1608, Pocahontas brought food and clothing to the colonists. She later negotiated with Smith for the release of Virginia Indians who had been captured by the colonists during a raid to gain English weaponry.
During the next several years, the relationship between the Virginia Indians and the colonists became more strained, never more so than during the period of poor crops for both the natives and colonists which became known as the Starving Time
Starving Time (Jamestown)
The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610....
in late 1609 and early 1610. Chief Powhatan relocated his principal capital from Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco was a village that served as the political center of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, a grouping of about 30 Virginia Indian tribes speaking an Algonquian language...
, which was relatively close to Jamestown along the north shore of the York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
, to a point more inland and secure along the upper reaches of the Chickahominy River
Chickahominy River
The Chickahominy is an river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river rises about northwest of Richmond and flows southeast and south to the James River...
.
In March, 1613, Pocahontas and her husband, Kocoum were residing at Passapatanzy
Passapatanzy, Virginia
Passapatanzy is a census-designated place in King George County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 1,283....
, a village of the Patawomeck
Patawomeck
The Patawomeck tribe of Virginia Indians is based in Stafford County, Virginia, along the Potomac River . It is one of Virginia's 11 recognized American Indian tribes. It is not federally recognized...
s, a Powhatan Confederacy tribe which did some trading with Powhatans. They lived in present-day Stafford County
Stafford County, Virginia
Stafford County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state, and just across the Rappahannock River from the City of Fredericksburg. As of the 2000 census, the population was 92,446, increasing to 128,961 in 2010.. Its county seat is Stafford. In 2006, and again in 2009,...
on the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
near Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
, about 65 miles (104.6 km) from Werowocomoco. She was kidnapped by Samuel Argall
Samuel Argall
Sir Samuel Argall was an English adventurer and naval officer.As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown, and made numerous voyages to the New World...
, and transported about 90 miles (144.8 km) south to the English settlement at Henricus
Henricus
The "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
on the James River. There, Pocahontas converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and took the name "Rebecca" under the tutelage of Reverend Alexander Whitaker
Alexander Whitaker
Alexander Whitaker was a Christian theologian who settled in North America in Virginia Colony in 1611 and established two churches near the Jamestown colony, and was known as "The Apostle of Virginia" by contemporaries....
who had arrived in Jamestown in 1611. She married prominent planter John Rolfe, who had lost his first wife and child in the journey from England several years earlier, which served to greatly improve relations between the Virginia Indians and the colonists for several years. However, when she and John Rolfe took their young son Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virginia.-Early Life:Thomas Rolfe was born in Virginia...
on a public relations trip to England to help raise more investment money for the Virginia Company, she became ill and died just as they were leaving to return to Virginia.
The Starving Time
What became known as the "Starving Time"Starving Time (Jamestown)
The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610....
in the Virginia Colony occurred during the winter of 1609–10. Only 60 of 214 English colonists survived.
The colonists, the first group of whom had originally arrived at Jamestown on May 14, 1607, had never planned to grow all of their own food. Instead, their plans also depended upon trade with the local Virginia Indians to supply them with enough food between the arrival of periodic supply ships from England, upon which they also relied.
This period of extreme hardship for the colonists began in 1609 with a drought which caused their already limited farming activities to produce even fewer crops than usual. Then, there were problems with both of their other sources for food.
An unexpected delay occurred during the Virginia Company of London's Third Supply
Third Supply
The Third Supply was the first truly successful wave of colonization in the first English settlement in the Americas, at Jamestown. It also resulted in the settlement of Bermuda ....
mission from England due to a major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. A large portion of the food and supplies had been aboard the new flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
which became shipwrecked at Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
and separated from the other ships, seven of which arrived at the colony with even more new colonists to feed, and few supplies, most of which had been aboard the larger flagship.
The impending hardship was further compounded by the loss of their most skillful leader in dealing with the Powhatan Confederacy in trading for food: Captain John Smith. He became injured in August of 1609 in a gunpowder accident, and was forced to return to England for medical attention in October 1609. After Smith left, Chief Powhatan severely curtailed trading with the colonists for food. Neither the missing Sea Venture nor any other supply ship arrived as winter set upon the inhabitants of the young colony in late 1609.
When the survivors of the shipwreck of the Third Supply mission's flagship Sea Venture finally arrived at Jamestown the following May 23 in two makeshift ships they had constructed while stranded on Bermuda for nine months, they found fewer than 100 colonists still alive, many of whom were sick. Worse yet, the Bermuda survivors had brought few supplies and only a small amount of food with them, expecting to find a thriving colony at Jamestown.
Thus, even with the arrival of the two small ships from Bermuda under Captain Christopher Newport, they were faced with abandoning Jamestown and returning to England. On June 7, 1610, both groups of survivors (from Jamestown and Bermuda) boarded ships, and they all set sail down the James River toward the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Shortly after they had abandoned Jamestown, they came upon a fleet of three supply ships arriving from England, commanded by a new governor, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
. The two groups met on the James River on June 9, 1610 near Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island is located along the James River in the city of Newport News, Virginia, in southeastern Virginia at the confluence of the Warwick River on the Virginia Peninsula.- History:...
(adjacent to present-day Fort Eustis in Newport News).
Third supply
With the new supply mission, Governor West, known in modern times as "Lord Delaware", brought additional colonists, a doctor, food, and much-needed supplies. He also was of a strong determination that Jamestown and the colony were not to be abandoned. He turned the departing ships around and brought the entire group back to Jamestown. This was certainly not a popular decision at the time with at least some of the group, but Lord Delaware was to prove a new kind of leader for Virginia.Included in those returning to Jamestown was a colonist whose wife and child had died during the shipwreck of the Sea Venture and the time at Bermuda. A businessman, he had with him some seeds for a new strain of tobacco and also some untried marketing ideas. That colonist was John Rolfe. Despite his misfortune to that point, history records that he would change the future of the colony as much as Lord Delaware's timely arrival had.
The Sea Venture
The Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
was the new flagship of the Virginia Company. Leaving England in 1609, and leading this Third Supply to Jamestown as "Vice Admiral" and commanding the Sea Venture, Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
was in charge of a nine-vessel fleet. Aboard the flagship Sea Venture was the Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers
George Somers
This article is about the English naval hero. For the American football player, see George Somers Admiral Sir George Somers was an English naval hero. Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the son of John Somers, his first fame came as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston against the Spanish...
, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates
Thomas Gates
Thomas Gates may refer to:*Sir Thomas Gates , of the Virginia Company, an early leader and governor of the Colony of Virginia*Thomas Sovereign Gates , U.S. educator, first president of the University of Pennsylvania...
, William Strachey
William Strachey
William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...
and other notable personages in the early history of English colonization in North America.
While at sea, the fleet encountered a strong storm , perhaps a hurricane, which lasted for three days. The Sea Venture and one other ship were separated from the seven other vessels of the fleet. The Sea Venture was deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
to prevent her sinking. The 150 passengers and crew members were all landed safely but the ship was now permanently damaged.
The Sea Ventures longboat was fitted with a mast and sent to find Virginia but it and its crew were never seen again. The remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and Patience from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture.
Leaving two men at Bermuda to maintain England's claim to the archipelago, the remainder sailed to Jamestown, finally arriving on May 23, 1610. They found the Virginia Colony in ruins and practically abandoned. Of 500 settlers who had preceded them to Jamestown, they found fewer than 100 survivors, many of whom were sick or dying. It was decided to abandon the colony and on June 7, everyone was placed aboard the ships to return to England.
Renewed interest, Lord De La Warr and more supplies
During the same period that the Sea Venture suffered its misfortune and its survivors were struggling in Bermuda to continue on to Virginia, back in England, the publication of Captain John Smith's books of his adventures in Virginia sparked a resurgence in interest in the colony. This helped lead to the dispatch in early 1610 of additional colonists, a doctor, supplies, and a new governor, Thomas West, Baron De La WarrThomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
.
On June 9, 1610, Lord De La Warr and his party arrived on the James River shortly after the Deliverance and Patience had abandoned Jamestown. Intercepting them about 10 miles (16.1 km) downstream from Jamestown near Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island is located along the James River in the city of Newport News, Virginia, in southeastern Virginia at the confluence of the Warwick River on the Virginia Peninsula.- History:...
, the new governor forced the remaining 90 settlers to return, thwarting their plans to abandon the colony. Deliverance and Patience turned back, and all the settlers were landed again at Jamestown.
Then, Sir George Somers returned to Bermuda with the Patience to obtain more food supplies, but he died on the island that summer. His nephew, Matthew Somers, Captain of the Patience, took the ship back to Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset-Devon border...
, England instead of Virginia (leaving a third man behind). The Third Charter of the Virginia Company was then extended far enough across the Atlantic to include Bermuda in 1612. (Although a separate company, the Somers Isles Company
Somers Isles Company
The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles, also known as Bermuda, as a commercial venture. It held a royal charter for Bermuda until 1684, when it was dissolved, and the Crown assumed responsibility for the administration of Bermuda as a royal...
, would be spun-off
Brand extension
Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this strategy to increase and leverage brand equity...
to administer Bermuda from 1615, the first two successful English colonies would retain close ties for many more generations, as was demonstrated when Virginian general George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
called upon the people of Bermuda for aid during the American War of Independence). In 1613, Sir Thomas Dale
Thomas Dale
Sir Thomas Dale was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in Virginia, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the...
founded the settlement of Bermuda Hundred on the James River, which, a year later, became the first incorporated town
Incorporated town
-Canada:Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government.-United States:...
in Virginia.
Expansion beyond Jamestown
By 1611, a majority of the colonists who had arrived at the Jamestown settlement had died and its economic value was negligible with no active exports to England and very little internal economic activity. Only financial incentives including a promise of more land to the west from King James IJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
to investors financing the new colony kept the project afloat.
Tobacco
In 1610, John RolfeJohn Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
, whose wife and a child had died in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
during passage to Virginia, was just one of the settlers who had arrived in Jamestown following the shipwreck of the Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
. However, his major contribution is that he was the first man to successfully raise export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
in the Colony (although the colonists had begun to make glass artifacts to export immediately after their arrival). The native tobacco raised in Virginia prior to that time, Nicotiana rustica, was not to the liking of the Europeans but Rolfe had brought some seed for Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana tabacum, or cultivated tobacco, is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is found only in cultivation, where it is the most commonly grown of all plants in the Nicotiana genus, and its leaves are commercially grown in many countries to be processed into tobacco. It grows to heights between 1...
with him from Bermuda.
Although most people "wouldn't touch" the crop, Rolfe was able to make his fortune farming it, successfully exporting beginning in 1612. Soon almost all other colonists followed suit, as windfall profits in tobacco briefly lent Jamestown something like a gold rush atmosphere. Among others, Rolfe quickly became both a wealthy and prominent man. He married the young Virginia Indian woman Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
on April 24, 1614. They lived first across the river from Jamestown, and later at his Varina Farms
Varina Farms
Varina Farms, also known as Varina Plantation or Varina Farms Plantation or "Varina on the James", is a plantation established by John Rolfe on the James River about 40 miles upstream from the first settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, and across the river from Sir Thomas Dale's 1611...
plantation near Henricus
Henricus
The "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
. Their son, Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virginia.-Early Life:Thomas Rolfe was born in Virginia...
, was born in 1615.
Governor Dale, Dale's Code
In 1611, the Virginia Company of London sent Sir Thomas DaleThomas Dale
Sir Thomas Dale was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in Virginia, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the...
to act as deputy-governor or as high marshall for the Virginia Colony under the authority of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
(Lord Delaware). He arrived at Jamestown on May 19 with three ships, additional men, cattle, and provisions. Finding the conditions unhealthy and greatly in need of improvement, he immediately called for a meeting of the Jamestown Council, and established crews to rebuild Jamestown.
He served as Governor for 3 months in 1611, and again for a two year period between 1614 and 1616. It was during his administration that the first code of laws of Virginia, nominally in force from 1611 to 1619, was effectively tested. This code, entitled "Articles, Lawes, and Orders Divine, Politique, and Martiall" (popularly known as Dale's Code
Dale's Code
In 1611, the deputy-governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale, enacted the “Lawes Divine, Morall, and Martial,” which became known as Dale’s Code. The code, among other things, created a rather authoritarian system of government for the Colony of Virginia...
), was notable for its pitiless severity, and seems to have been prepared in large part by Dale himself.
Henricus
Seeking a better site than Jamestown with the thought of possibly relocating the capital, Thomas Dale sailed up the James RiverJames River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
(also named after King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
) to the area now known as Chesterfield County
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...
.
He was apparently impressed with the possibilities of the general area where the Appomattox River
Appomattox River
The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long, in central and eastern Virginia in the United States, named for the Appomattocs Indian tribe who lived along its lower banks in the 17th century...
joins the James River, until then occupied by the Appomattoc
Appomattoc
The Appomattoc were a historic tribe of Virginia Indians speaking an Algonquian language, and residing along the lower Appomattox River, in the area of what is now Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties in present-day southeast Virginia.The Appomattoc were affiliated...
Indians, and there are published references to the name "New Bermudas" although it apparently was never formalized. (Far from the mainland of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the archipelago of Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
had been established as part of the Virginia Colony in 1612 following the shipwreck of the Sea Venture
Sea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
in 1609).
A short distance further up the James, in 1611, he began the construction of a progressive development at Henricus
Henricus
The "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
on and about what was later known as Farrars Island. Henricus was envisioned as possible replacement capital for Jamestown, and was to have the first college in Virginia. (The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
, during which a third of the colonists were killed). In addition to creating the new settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of Bermuda Hundred and "Bermuda Cittie"
City Point, Virginia
City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia that was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell in 1923. It served as headquarters of the Union Army during the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War.- History :...
(sic). He began the excavation work at Dutch Gap
Dutch Gap
Dutch Gap is located on the James River in Chesterfield County, Virginia near the site of the lost 17th-century city of Henricus.In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, according to a method he had learned while campaigning in Holland, cut a ditch across a portion of land behind town...
, using methods he had learned while serving in Holland.
An investor relations trip to England
In 1616, Governor Dale joined John Rolfe and Pocahontas and their young son Thomas as they left their Varina FarmsVarina Farms
Varina Farms, also known as Varina Plantation or Varina Farms Plantation or "Varina on the James", is a plantation established by John Rolfe on the James River about 40 miles upstream from the first settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, and across the river from Sir Thomas Dale's 1611...
plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
for a public relations mission to England, where Pocahontas was received and treated as a form of visiting royalty by Queen Anne
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
. This stimulated more interest in investments in the Virginia Company, the desired effect. However, as the couple prepared to return to Virginia, Pocahontas died of an illness at Gravesend on March 17, 1617, where she was buried. John Rolfe returned to Virginia alone once again, leaving their son Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virginia.-Early Life:Thomas Rolfe was born in Virginia...
, then a small child, in England to obtain an education.
Once back in Virginia, Rolfe married Jane Pierce and continued to improve the quality of his tobacco with the result that by the time of his death in 1622, the Colony was thriving as a producer of tobacco.
Orphaned by the age of 8, young Thomas later returned to Virginia, and settled across the James River not far from his parents' farm at Varina
Varina, Virginia
Varina is a former unincorporated town and current magisterial district in the easternmost portion of Henrico County, Virginia, United States....
, where he married Jane Poythress and they had one daughter, Jane Rolfe
Jane Rolfe
Jane Rolfe was the granddaughter of Pocahontas and the English colonist John Rolfe, ....
, who was born in 1650. Many of the First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They originated with colonists from England who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and along the James River and other navigable waters...
trace their lineage through Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virginia.-Early Life:Thomas Rolfe was born in Virginia...
to both Pocahontas and John Rolfe, joining English and Virginia Indian heritage.
The "Hundreds"
Once tobacco had been established as an export cash crop, investors became more interested and groups of them united to create largely self-sufficient "hundreds." The term "hundred" is a traditional English name for an administrative division of a shire (or county) to define an area which would support one hundred heads of household. In the colonial era in Virginia, the "hundreds" were large developments of many acres, necessary to support land hungry tobacco crops. The "hundreds" were required to be at least several miles from any existing community. Soon, these patented tracts of land sprung up along the rivers. The investors sent shiploads of settlers and supplies to Virginia to establish the new developments. The administrative centers of Virginia's hundreds were essentially small towns or villages, and were often palisaded for defense.An example was Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred was an early 17th century plantation located along about ten miles of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia...
, located downstream from Jamestown on the north bank of the James River. It was sponsored by the Martin's Hundred Society, a group of investors in London. It was settled in 1618, and Wolstenholme Towne
Wolstenholme Towne
Wolstenholme Towne was a fortified settlement in the Virginia Colony begun with a population of about 40 settlers of the Virginia Company of London which was located about 7 miles downstream from Jamestown. Named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors, it was established about 1618 on a...
was its administrative center, named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors. In 1976, the long-lost site of Wolstenholme Towne at Martin's Hundred was discovered on the grounds of Carter's Grove Plantation near the Grove Community
Grove, Virginia
Grove is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County in the Peninsula subregion of Virginia in the United States. It is located in the center of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, communities linked by the Colonial Parkway; the area is one of the busiest...
in southeastern James City County
James City County, Virginia
James City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the...
and has been the location of important archaeological work.
Bermuda Hundred
Bermuda Hundred, Virginia
Bermuda Hundred was the first incorporated town in the English colony of Virginia. It was founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1613, six years after Jamestown. At the southwestern edge of the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers opposite City Point, annexed to Hopewell, Virginia in 1923, ...
(now in Chesterfield County
Chesterfield County, Virginia
Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...
) and Flowerdew Hundred (now in Prince George County
Prince George County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,047 people, 10,159 households, and 8,096 families residing in the county. The population density was 124 people per square mile . There were 10,726 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile...
) are other names which have survived over centuries. Others included Berkeley Hundred
Berkeley Hundred
Berkeley Hundred in the Virginia Colony comprised about eight thousand acres on the north bank of the James River near Herring Creek in an area then known as Charles Cittie . It was named for one of the original founders, Richard Berkeley, a member of the Berkeley family of Gloucestershire, England...
, Bermuda Nether Hundred, Bermuda Upper Hundred, Digges Hundred, West Hundred and Shirley Hundred (and, in Bermuda, Harrington Hundreds).
Including the creation of the "hundreds", the various incentives to investors in the Virginia Colony finally paid off by 1617. By this time, the colonists were exporting 50,000 pounds of tobacco to England a year and were beginning to generate enough profit to ensure the economic survival of the colony.
1619:First Africans
Virginia's population grew rapidly from 1618 until 1622, rising from a few hundred to nearly 1,400 people. Wheat was also grown in Virginia starting in 1618. The labor intensive tobacco plantations led to the importation of the colony's first black "indentured servant
Indentured servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
s". In August 1619, 20 black men
Black Man
Black Man is a 2007 science fiction novel by Richard Morgan. It won the 2008 Arthur C Clarke Award. It was published as Thirteen in North America. It is not part of the Takeshi Kovacs universe by the same author....
were purchased from a passing [Dutch] Privateer ship bound from Luanda, Angola, to Vera Cruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. However, these may not have been the first; 32 Africans were noted five months earlier in a Virginia census of 1619.
1619:First democratic assembly
On July 30, 1619, the House of BurgessesHouse of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...
, the first legislature of elected representatives in America, met in the Jamestown Church. Their first law was to set a minimum price for the sale of tobacco and set forth plans for the creation of the first iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
works of the colony. This legislative group was the predecessor of the modern Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
.
Originally, the colony's Polish craftsmen were barred from participating in the elections, but after the craftsmen refused to work
1619 Jamestown Polish craftsmen strike
The Jamestown Polish craftsmen's strike of 1619, which occurred in the settlement of Jamestown in the Virginia colony, was the first strike in the recorded history of North America. Polish craftsmen had been brought to the colony by colonial leader John Smith to make glassware, pitch, and tar...
, colonial leadership agreed to enfranchise them. This may be the first strike in recorded North American history.
1620: More craftsmen from Germany and Italy arrive
By 1620, more German settlers from Hamburg, Germany, who were recruited by the Virginia Company set up and operated one of the first sawmills in the region. Among the Germans were several other skilled craftsmen carpenterCarpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
s, and pitch/tar/soap-ash makers, who produced some of the colony's first exports of these products. The Italians included a team of glass makers.
1621: Arrival of marriageable women
During 1621 fifty-seven unmarried women sailed to Virginia under the auspices of the Virginia Company, who paid for their transport and provided them with a small bundle of clothing and other goods to take with them. A colonist who married one of the women would be responsible for repaying the Virginia Company for his wife's transport and provisions. The women traveled on three ships, The Marmaduke, The Warwick, and The Tyger.Many of the women were not "maids" but widows. Some others were children, for example Priscilla, the eight-year-old daughter of Joane Palmer, who travelled with her mother and her new stepfather, Thomas Palmer, on the Tyger. Some were women who were traveling with family or relatives: Ursula Clawson, "kinswoman" of Ancient Planter
Ancient planter
"Ancient planter" was a term applied to colonists who migrated to the Colony of Virginia "before the coming away of Sir Thomas Dale" and who remained in the colony for at least three years. Under the terms of the "Instructions to Governor Yeardley" , these colonists received the first land grants...
Richard Pace
Richard Pace
Richard Pace was an English diplomat of the Tudor period. He was educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton, and later at Padua, at Bologna, and probably at the University of Oxford...
, traveled with Pace and his wife on the Marmaduke. Ann Jackson also came on the Marmaduke, in the company of her brother John Jackson, both of them bound for Martin's Hundred. Ann Jackson was one of the women taken captive by the Powhatans during the Indian Massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
. She was not returned until 1630. The Council ordered that she should be sent back to England on the first available ship, perhaps because she was suffering from the consequnces of her long captivity.
Some of the women sent to Virginia did marry. But most disappeared from the records -- perhaps killed in the massacre, perhaps dead from other causes, perhaps returned to England. In other words, they shared the fate of most of their fellow colonists.
Virginia Indian relations
As the English expanded out from Jamestown, encroachment of the new arrivals and their ever-growing numbers on what had been Indian lands resulted in conflicts with the Virginia Indians which became almost continuous for the next 37 years.Chief Wahunsunacock of the Powhatan Confederacy had been forced to move west from his original capital at Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco was a village that served as the political center of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, a grouping of about 30 Virginia Indian tribes speaking an Algonquian language...
(only about 20 miles (32.2 km) from Jamestown) to Orapakes in 1609 for security reasons. However, Orapakes was just a temporary capital. It was in a swamp at the head of the Chickahominy River
Chickahominy River
The Chickahominy is an river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river rises about northwest of Richmond and flows southeast and south to the James River...
, near the modern-day interchange of Interstate 64
Interstate 64
Interstate 64 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. 40, and U.S. 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange with I-264 and I-664 at Bowers Hill in Chesapeake, Virginia. As I-64 is concurrent with...
and Interstate 295
Interstate 295 (Virginia)
Interstate 295 is an eastern and northern bypass of the cities of Richmond and Petersburg in the U.S. state of Virginia. The southern terminus is a junction with Interstate 95 southeast of Petersburg...
. It was also too close to other hostile native groups, such as the Monacans. Sometime between 1611 and 1614, he moved the capital of the Confederacy again, this time further north. Ultimately, Wahunsonacock settled at the headwaters of the Pamunkey River
Pamunkey River
The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York River it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...
, on the north bank at Matchut. When Wahunsonacock moved to Matchut, his younger brother Opechancanough lived across the Pamunkey River at Youghtanund.
The relations with the Natives took a turn for the worse after the death of Pocahontas in England and the return of John Rolfe and other colonial leaders in May 1617. Disease, poor harvests and the growing demand for tobacco lands caused hostilities to escalate.
After Wahunsunacock's death in 1618, his younger brother, Opitchapam, briefly became chief. However, he was soon succeeded by his own younger brother, Opechancanough. There is speculation, but no confirmation, that Opechancanough may be the same individual known as Don Luis
Don Luis
Don Luís , also known as Paquiquino, was a Native American from Tidewater Virginia who in 1561 traveled to Spain, was baptized in Mexico, and in 1571 returned as a missionary to Virginia, where he apparently participated in the killing of the Jesuits who had accompanied him.Some historians, among...
, a supposed native-convert to Christianity who had been involved with the ill-fated Ajacán Mission
Ajacàn Mission
The Ajacán Mission was a failed attempt in 1570 to establish a Jesuit mission on the Virginia Peninsula. They intended to bring Christianity to the Virginia Indians. The effort to found what was to be called St...
briefly established by Spanish missionaries in 1570. Whether or not there was a connection between the native-convert Don Luis and Opechancanough, there is no doubt that the new Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy was violently opposed to the European settlements. He had been long known as a fierce warrior, and most recently, had been a local weroance
Weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning tribal chief, leader, commander, or king, notably among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the colonists of Jamestown and adjacent area of the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607,...
in the area now occupied by the Town of West Point
West Point, Virginia
West Point is an incorporated town in King William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,867 at the 2000 census.-Geography:West Point is located at...
, where the Pamunkey River joins the Mattaponi River
Mattaponi River
The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States.It rises as four streams in Spotsylvania County, each of which is given a shorter piece of the Mattaponi's name:...
to form the York River. Opechancanough was not interested in attempting peaceful coexistence with the English settlers. Instead, he was determined to eradicate the colonists from what he considered to be Indian lands.
Indian Massacre of 1622
Chief Opechancanough organized and led a well-coordinated series of surprise attacks on multiple English settlements along both sides of a 50 miles (80.5 km) long stretch of the James River which took place early on the morning of March 22, 1622. This event came to be known as the Indian Massacre of 1622Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
, and resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists (including men, women, and children) and the abduction of many others.
The Massacre caught most of the Virginia Colony by surprise and virtually wiped out several entire communities, including Henricus
Henricus
The "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
and Wolstenholme Town at Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred
Martin's Hundred was an early 17th century plantation located along about ten miles of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia...
.
However, Jamestown was spared from destruction due to a Virginia Indian boy named Chanco
Chanco
Chanco is a name traditionally assigned to an Indian who is said to have warned a Jamestown colonist about an impending Powhatan attack in 1622. This article discusses how the Indian came to be known as Chanco...
who, after learning of the planned attacks from his brother, gave warning to colonist Richard Pace
Richard Pace (Jamestown)
Richard Pace was an early settler and Ancient Planter of Colonial Jamestown, Virginia. According to a 1622 account published by the London Company, Richard Pace played a key role in warning the Jamestown colony of an impending Powahatan raid on the colony....
with whom he lived. Pace, after securing himself and his neighbors on the south side of the James River, took a canoe across river to warn Jamestown which narrowly escaped destruction, although there was no time to warn the other settlements. Apparently, Opechancanough subsequently was unaware of Chanco's actions, as the young man continued to serve as his courier for some time after.
The reaction to the Powhatan uprising was retaliation, and the English set to with a vengeance. A year later, Captain William Tucker and Dr. John Rolfe
John Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
s worked out a supposed-truce with the Pocahontas and proposed a toast using liquor laced with poison. 200 Virginia Indians were killed by the poison and 50 more were slaughtered by the colonists. For over a decade, the English settlers killed Powhatan men and women, captured children and systematically razed villages, seizing or destroying crops.
A letter by Richard Frethorne
Richard Frethorne
Richard Frethorne was a seventeenth century New World indentured servant associated with Jamestown, Virginia, though he lived about ten miles away. Between March 20 and April 3, 1623, he wrote a letter to his parents, which still survives and is one of the earliest documents describing...
, written in 1623, reports, "we live in fear of the enemy every hour."
Palisade
By 1634, a palisade (stockade) was completed across the Virginia PeninsulaVirginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
, which was about 6 miles (9.7 km) wide at that point between Queen's Creek
Queen's Creek
Queen's Creek is located in York County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States...
which fed into the York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
and Archer's Hope Creek, (since renamed College Creek
College Creek
College Creek is located in James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States...
) which fed into the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
. The new palisade provided some security from attacks by the Virginia Indians for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point.
Anchored at its center by Middle Plantation
Middle Plantation
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony, was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about half-way across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland...
on land patented by Dr. Potts, the palisade is partially described in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge:
- "a strong palisade ... upon a straight between both rivers and ... a sufficient force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of Virginia have a range for their cattle, near forty miles in length and in most places twelve miles (19 km) broad. The pallisades is very near six miles (10 km) long, bounded in by two large Creeks. ... in this manner to take also in all the ground between those two Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country ..."
1644: Second Indian Massacre
On April 18, 1644, Opechancanough again tried to force the colonists to abandon the region with another series of coordinated attacks, killing almost 500 colonists. However, this was a much less devastating portion of the growing population than had been the case in the 1622 attacks.Furthermore, the forces of Royal Governor of Virginia William Berkeley captured the old warrior in 1646, variously thought to be between 90 and 100 years old. In October, while a prisoner, Opechancanough was killed by a soldier (shot in the back) assigned to guard him.
1646: Peace established with the Natives
Opechancanough was succeeded as WeroanceWeroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning tribal chief, leader, commander, or king, notably among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the colonists of Jamestown and adjacent area of the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607,...
(Chief) by Nectowance
Nectowance
Nectowance was the Weroance of the Pamunkey tribe following the death of his uncle Opechancanough. After his death he was succeeded by Totopotomoi as Weroance of the tribe...
and then by Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi was a grandson of a sister of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. He became the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe in 1649 when he succeeded Nectowance as chief sometime after the death of Opechancanough...
and later by his daughter Cockacoeske
Cockacoeske
Cockacoeskie was a 17th century leader of the Pamunkey Tribe of Native Americans in what is now Virginia in the United States....
.
In 1646, the first treaties were signed between the Virginia Indians and the English. The treaties set up reservations, some of the oldest in America, for the surviving Powhatan. It also set up tribute payments for the Virginia Indians to be made yearly to the English.
Only two tribes, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, still maintain the reservations from the 1646 treaty and still make yearly tribute payments as stipulated by the 1646 and 1677 treaties. The other reservations had been lost by the end of the 1800s, though one tribe still had families on theirs until the 1900s.
Royal Colony
Some historians have noted that, as the settlers of the Virginia Colony were allowed some representative government, and as they prospered, King James I was reluctant to lose either power or future financial potential. In any case, in 1624, the Virginia Company lost its charter and Virginia became a crown colonyCrown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
.
In 1634, the English Crown created eight shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
s (i.e. counties) in the colony of Virginia which had a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. James City Shire
James City Shire
James City Shire was formed in the British colony of Virginia in 1634.During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of Jamestown in 1607, English settlers and explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads....
was established and included Jamestown. Around 1642-43, the name of the James City Shire was changed to James City County
James City County, Virginia
James City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the...
.
By the 1650's, the nature of the relationship of indentured servants changed with the lawsuit over the status of John Casor
John Casor
John Casor , a servant in Northampton County in the Virginia Colony, in 1654 became the first person of African descent in the Thirteen Colonies to be declared by the county court a slave for life. In one of the earliest freedom suits, Casor argued that he was an indentured servant who had been...
, who, when declared a slave by the court, helped mark the beginning of slavery in Virginia
History of slavery in Virginia
The History of slavery in Virginia can be traced back to the very founding of Virginia as an English colony by the London Virginia Company. The headright system tried to solve the labor shortage by providing colonists with land for each indentured servant they transported to Virginia...
.
Governor Berkeley, Bacon's Rebellion
In the 1670s, the governor of Virginia was Sir William Berkeley, a scholar and playwright, serving his second term in that office. Berkeley, now in his seventies, had previously been governor in the 1640s and had experimented with new export crops at his Green Spring PlantationGreen Spring Plantation
Green Spring Plantation in James City County about five miles west of Williamsburg, was the 17th century plantation of one of the more popular governors of Colonial Virginia in North America, Sir William Berkeley, and his second wife....
near Jamestown. In the mid 1670s, a young cousin through marriage, Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., arrived in Virginia sent by his father in the hope that he would "mature" under the tutelage of the governor. Although lazy, Bacon was intelligent and Berkeley provided him with a land grant and a seat on the Virginia Colony council. However, the two became at odds over relationships with the Virginia Indians, which were most strained at the outer frontier points of the colony.
In July 1675, Doeg
Doeg (tribe)
The Doeg were a Native American tribe who lived in northern Virginia. They spoke an Algonquian language and may have been a branch of the Nanticoke tribe, historically based on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Nanticoke considered the Algonquian Lenape as "grandfathers"...
Indians crossed from Maryland and raided the plantation of Thomas Mathews in the northern portion of the colony along what became the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, stealing some hogs in order to gain payment for several items Mathews had obtained from the tribe. Mathews pursued them and killed several Doegs, who retaliated by killing Mathew's son and two of his servants, including Robert Hen
Robert Hen
Robert Hen was a citizen of Stafford County, Virginia who was killed by the Doeg Indians in a raid, said to have been the result of an unpaid debt to Thomas Matthew, plantation owner. His death on a Sunday evening July 1675 resulted in a massacre of the Doeg and the capture of the chief's son. ...
. A Virginian militia then went to Maryland and besieged the Susquehanaugs (a different tribe) in "retaliation" which led to even more large-scale Indian raids, and a protest from the governor of Maryland colony. Governor Berkeley tried to calm the situation but many of the colonists, particularly the frontiersmen, refused to listen to him and Bacon disregarded a direct order and captured some Appomattoc
Appomattoc
The Appomattoc were a historic tribe of Virginia Indians speaking an Algonquian language, and residing along the lower Appomattox River, in the area of what is now Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties in present-day southeast Virginia.The Appomattoc were affiliated...
Indians, who were located many miles south of the site of the initial incident, and almost certainly not involved.
Following the establishment of the Long Assembly in 1676, war was declared on "all hostile Indians" and trade with Indian tribes became regulated, often seen by the colonists to favor those friends of Berkeley. Bacon opposed Berkeley and led a group in opposition to the governor. Bacon and his troops set themselves up at Henrico
Henrico County, Virginia
Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
until Berkeley arrived which sent Bacon and his men fleeing upon which Berkeley declared them in rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...
and offered a pardon to any who returned to Jamestown peaceably.
Bacon led numerous raids on Indians friendly to the colonists in an attempt to bring down Berkeley. The governor offered him amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
but the House of Burgesses
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...
refused; insisting that Bacon must acknowledge his mistakes. At about the same time, Bacon was actually elected to the House of Burgesses and attended the June 1676 assembly where he was captured, forced to apologize and was then pardoned by Berkeley.
Bacon then demanded a military commission but Berkeley refused. Bacon and his supporters surrounded the statehouse and threatened to start shooting the Burgesses if Berkeley did not acknowledge Bacon as "General of all forces against the Indians". Berkeley eventually acceded, and then left Jamestown. He attempted a coup a month later but was unsuccessful. In September, however, Berkeley was successful and Bacon dug in for a siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
which resulted in his burning Jamestown to the ground on September 19, 1676. Bacon died of the flux and lice on October 26, 1676 and his body is believed to have been burned.
Berkeley returned, and hanged William Drummond and the other major leaders of the rebellion (23 in total) at Middle Plantation. With Jamestown unusable due to the burning by Bacon, the Governor convened a session of the General Assembly at his Green Spring Plantation
Green Spring Plantation
Green Spring Plantation in James City County about five miles west of Williamsburg, was the 17th century plantation of one of the more popular governors of Colonial Virginia in North America, Sir William Berkeley, and his second wife....
in February, 1677, and another was later held at Middle Plantation. However, upon learning of his actions, King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
was reportedly displeased at the degree of retaliation and number of executions, and recalled Berkeley to England. He returned to London where he died in July, 1677.
The capital moves from Jamestown to high ground
On October 20, 1698, the statehouse (capitol building) in Jamestown burned for the fourth time. Once again removing itself to a familiar alternate location, the legislature met at Middle PlantationMiddle Plantation
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony, was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about half-way across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland...
, this time in the new College Building
Wren Building
The Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's Historic Campus....
at the College of William and Mary, which had begun meeting there in temporary quarters in 1694.
While meeting there, a group of five students from the College submitted a well-presented and logical proposal to the legislators outlining a plan and good reasons to move the capital permanently to Middle Plantation.
Despite the periodic need to relocate the legislature from Jamestown due to contingencies such as fires, (usually to Middle Plantation), throughout the seventeenth century, Virginians had been reluctant to permanently move the capital from its "ancient and accustomed place." After all, Jamestown had always been Virginia's capital. It had a state house (except when it periodically burned) and a church, and it offered easy access to ships that came up the James River bringing goods from England and taking on tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
bound for market. http://research.history.org/Historical_Research/Research_Themes/ThemePossession/MiddlePlantation.cfm However, Jamestown's status had been in some decline. In 1662, Jamestown's status as mandatory port of entry for Virginia had been ended.
The students argued that the change to the high ground at Middle Plantation would escape the dreaded malaria and mosquitoes that had always plagued the swampy, low-lying Jamestown site. The students pointed out that, while not located immediately upon a river, Middle Plantation offered nearby access to not one, but two rivers, via two deep water (6-7' depth) creeks, Queen's Creek
Queen's Creek
Queen's Creek is located in York County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States...
leading to the York River
York River (Virginia)
The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
, and College Creek
College Creek
College Creek is located in James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States...
(formerly known as Archer's Hope) which led to the James River. Other advocates of the move included the Reverend Dr. James Blair and the Governor, Sir Francis Nicholson
Francis Nicholson
Francis Nicholson was a British military officer and colonial administrator. His military service included time in Africa and Europe, after which he was sent as leader of the troops supporting Sir Edmund Andros in the Dominion of New England. There he distinguished himself, and was appointed...
.
Several prominent individuals like John Page
John Page
John Page may refer to:* Johannes Pagus, medieval philosopher* John Page , resident of Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony...
, Thomas Ludwell, Philip Ludwell
Philip Ludwell
Philip Ludwell of Richneck Plantation in James City County, Virginia is best known for being governor of the British Colony of Carolina from 1691–94. From a base in the coastal port city of Charleston, he was governor of the entire Colony of Carolina...
, and Otho Thorpe had built fine brick homes and created a substantial town at Middle Plantation. And, there was of course, the new College of William and Mary with its fine new brick building.
The proposal to move the capital of Virginia to higher ground (about 12 miles (20 km) away) at Middle Plantation was received favorably by the House of Burgesses
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...
. In 1699, the capital of the Virginia Colony was officially relocated there. Soon, the town was renamed Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, in honor of King William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
. Thus, the first phase of Jamestown's history ended.
Further reading
- Jocelyn R. Wingfield, Virginia's True Founder: Edward Maria WingfieldEdward Maria WingfieldSir Edward Maria Wingfield, sometimes hyphenated as Edward-Maria Wingfield, was a soldier, Member of Parliament, and English colonist in America...
and His Times (Booksurge, 2007) ISBN 1-4196-6032-2 - William M. Kelso, Jamestown, The Buried Truth (University of Virginia Press, 2006)
- William M. Kelso, Jamestown Rediscovery II (APVA, 1996)
- William M. Kelso, Nicholas M. Luccketti, Beverly A. Straube, Jamestown Rediscovery III (APVA, 1997)
- William M. Kelso, Nicholas M. Luccketti, Beverly A. Straube, Jamestown Rediscovery IV (APVA, 1998)
- William M. Kelso, Nicholas M. Luccketti, Beverly A. Straube, Jamestown Rediscovery V (APVA, 1999)
- William Kelso, Beverly Straube, Jamestown Rediscovery VI (APVA, 2000)
- David A. Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003)
- Ernie Gross, "The American Years" (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999)
- James Horn, A Land as God Made It (Perseus Books, 2005) ISBN 0-465-03094-7
- ChesapeakeChesapeake (novel)Chesapeake is a novel by James A. Michener, published by Random House in 1978. The story deals with several families living in the Chesapeake Bay area, from 1583 to 1978.-Plot summary:...
, a novel (1978) by author James A. MichenerJames A. MichenerJames Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...
External links
- Geographical coordinates: 37°12′33"N 76°46′39"W
- History Channel Web Site
- APVA web site for the Jamestown Rediscovery project
- Historic Jamestowne
- America's 400th Anniversary
- Jamestown 1607
- National Geographic Magazine Jamestown Interactive
- Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center
- Virtual Jamestown
- National Park Service: Jamestown National Historic Site
- New Discoveries at Jamestown by John L. Cotter and J. Paul Hudson, (1957) at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- First Landing State Park
- State Tourism Website – Virginia is for Lovers
- Jamestown Discovery Trail
- Time Team Special: Jamestown – America's Birthplace
- Jamestown Four-Hundred Years
- The Poles in Jamestown
- Following in Godspeeds Wake
- NBC News Interview with Dr. William Kelso