Jamestown Part Three

The Indians, however, refused to trade. They said because they were quote so commanded by Pahatton end quote so, threatening to take their corn by force if they refused to bargain. Smith persuaded the nearby Nesseimunds to part with one hundred bushels. But Smith now realized that Wassahonack had ordered an embargo on trade with the English and concluded that the Pahatan chief must be confronted or else the colony would starve.

There was no third option. In fact, Smith had been invited to meet the chief at where Mucoco, where Wassahonik promised he would load the englishman's ship with corn if in return he would send him men to build a house, provide a grindstone, fifty swords, some cannon, copper, and beads. Now. Smith realized that he might be walking into a trap,

but he had little choice but to agree. So he sent along Richard Savage and four German settlers to build the house that Wassahnack had requested, and then he set off in the Pinnacle with two barges and forty six men. In the final days of that calendar year. They finally arrived at where Macoco, the Indian capital, on January the twelfth, sixteen oht nine. The next day, Smith met with Wassahonic. The chief said that he hadn't sent for them and

asked when they planned to leave. He assured Smith that he didn't have any corn to trade, although he would spare forty bushels and the like number of swords. Looking over the goods that the English had brought, he repeated that he was interested in trading for guns and swords only. He said that he valued a basket of corn more highly than a basket of copper, because you could eat

the corn but not the copper. Now, this is a really interesting part because the dialogue between Smith and Wassahonic is actually recorded in its entirety, and it's the most extensive verbatim exchange that we have between the two men. Although we cannot possibly ever know for sure whether the voice of Wassahonic, the Bahatan chief, is authentic, it's the closest that we can come to hearing the chief's words

from his own lips. Smith wanted corn, was Sahonic wanted English weapons, and neither of the two men was prepared to compromise. Smith began the discussion by emphasizing his friendship and then ending with a thinly veiled threat. And this is supposedly Smith's own words here, Powhatten. Though I had many courses to have made my provision, yet believing your promises to supply my wants, I neglected all. To satisfy

your desire and to testify my love. I sent you by men for building, neglecting my own what your people had engrossed, forbidding them our trade. And now you think by consuming the time we shall consume for want, not having to fulfill your strange demands. As for swords and guns, I told you long ago I had none to spare, and you shall know those I have can keep me from want, yet steal or wrong you, I will not nor dissolve that friendship we have mutually promised, except you

constrain me by your bad usage. Now, Walsahonic promised, for his part, that he would supply them with what they could spare within two days, but he made his doubts of the Englishman's intentions clear, saying as follows, Yet, Captain Smith, some doubt I have of your coming hither that makes me not so kindly seek to relieve you, as I would for many to inform me your coming is not for trade, but to invade my people and possess my country.

Who dare not come to bring you corn? Seeing you thus armed with your men to clear of this fear, leave aboard your weapons, for here they are needless. We are all friends and forever Pahadans. The rest of the day was spent in further discussions, and continued into the next when the chief talked at length about war and peace and his fears about why the English had come into his country. Again, here we get the voice of Wassahonic.

Captain Smith, you may understand that I having seen the death of all my people thrice and not one living of those three generations, but myself. I know the difference between peace and war better than any in my country. But this brute rumor from the Nasamund that you are come to destroy my country so much affrightened all my people, as they dared not visit you. What will it avail you to take that perforce that you may quietly have with love, or to destroy them that provide you food?

Well you can get by war when we hide our provision and fly to the woods, whereby you must famish by wronging us your friends? And why you are jealous of our love seeing us unarmed, and both do and are willing still to feed you with that you cannot get but by our labors end quote Now, Smith, just like was Wassahonic, wanted to pose himself as the wronged party, and responded by stressing again his love for the Bahatans despite their failure to supply the colony with food as promised.

He ignored the chief's view of the English as adopted Bahattans, and he rejected any suggestion that the English could only survive if they remained unfriendly terms. Sure, the English could take what they wanted by force if they chose, but they preferred to live in peace, Knowing the colony was once again on the brink of starvation. Wassahonic was hardly

persuaded by Smith's assertions. It must have wondered at the Englishman's brazenness in standing before him and making these outrageous claims, or at least outrageous they would have seemed to him, seeing that the English persisted in refusing to lay down their arms. Whiles Ahonic spoke again this time and his disappointment of Smith and his actions. I never used any

of my wear an ox to kindle as yourself. If from you I received the least kindness of any Captain Newport gave me swords, copper cloths, a bed, tools, or what I desired, ever taking what I offered him, and would send away his guns when I entreated him. None does deny to lay at my feet or do what I desire, but only you, of whom I have nothing but what you regard not, And yet you have whatsoever you demand. Captain Newport, you call father, and so you

call me. But I see for us both you will do what you list, and we must both seek to content you. But if you intend so friendly as you said, send hence your arms that I may believe you, or you see the love I bear. You doth cause me thus nakedly to forget myself and quote, now, this is again a tacit effort by Wasashnik to try to get Smith to accept his authority to refer to him as father.

Now Smith refused to acknowledge that, in fact, he didn't even follow the orders of his English father, Captain Newport. But by this time Smith was convinced that the Bahawtans were merely waiting for the opportunity to murder him. He therefore decided to surprise the chief, take him hostage, and make his escape with as much corn as he could carry. Here. Smith replies, quote, well, Houghton, you must know I have

but one god, my honor, but one king. I live not here as your subject, as your friend, to pleasure with what I can. By the gifts you bestow upon me, you gain more than by trade. Yet would you visit me as I do you? You should know it is not our customs to sell courtesy as a commodity. Bring all your country with you. I will not dislike of it as being over jealous, But to content to you tomorrow I will leave my arms and trust to your promise. I call you father indeed, and as father you shall

see I love you. But the small care I had of such a child caused my men to persuade me to shift from myself. Now these were the last words that these two men would ever exchange. Smith was given a bracelet and a chain of pearl and the Indians agreed to load corn onto his barge. But in fact, in reality, Wissahonik had ordered that Smith be murdered that very evening. The plan was to ambush them at dinner time when the guard was down. According to legend, Smith

was once again rescued by young Pocahontas. She came to him and told him of the plot before it was too late. Smith chose not to flee. However, he simply stood there calmly and formed the warriors that he knew why they had come. And so Smith and his men, armed with English weapons, and the Bahatans armed with theirs, simply spent the next several hours watching each other warily, until the Englishmen were able to escape safely on the midnight tide. Rather than return to Jamestown, Smith opted to

head up river and continue his searches for corn. He understood fully well the risk. It was possible that perhaps was Sahnick's brother might be more determined than his brother to rid himself of the tiresome captain, and that was the direction he was going. But Smith knew that he didn't have a choice. The English didn't have sufficient food to get through the winter, and he knew there was

little chance of finding enough food elsewhere. But if he had known about another group that left where Macoco that night, he might have reconsidered his plans. Wassahonic was ready to dispense with Smith because, actually, unbeknownst to Smith, he had succeeded in winning over to his side the Germans sent

to build his house. He had made them substantially the same offer that he had made Smith a little more than a year before, with the exception that he didn't intend to raise any of them to the status of chief. That being said, several of the Germans accepted the offer, and as Smith was sailing upriver, they were actually on their way back to Jamestown, directed by Wassahonic to steal as many weapons as humanly possible and return to him.

But Smith didn't know about any of that, and so he sailed up the river to meet with Wassahonik's brother Apohanock. Abahonic readily agreed to trade and promised to provide ample stores of corn the next day. When the Englishmen returned the following morning, they found four or five Indians with great baskets of food. Still, one of his men, John Russell,

informed Smith that they had been betrayed. In fact, six and seven hundred warriors were surrounding them in the woods, taking a play right out of the Francisco Pizaro playbook. So Smith walked right up to Apahonock and challenged him to single combat, adding the following, Apohanock, you plan to murder me, but I fear it is not as yet Your men are mine, have done no harm. But by

our directions, take there for your arms. You see mine my body shall be as naked as yours, and if you be contented, we shall fight, and the conqueror shall be lord and master over all our men. Otherwise, draw all your men into the field. If you have not enough, take time to fetch more and bring what number you will. So everyone, bring a basket of corn, against which I will stake the value and copper. You see I have but fifteen men and our game shall be the conqueror

take all end quote. If Apohonic understood any of this, he could hardly be blamed for ignoring it. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose by accepting. He chose therefore, to try to draw Smith out of the house he was currently in and make him an easy target for his bowman positioned outside. In the heat of the moment, perhaps Smith may not have thought too much about his reaction, but what happened next sealed his own fate among the Pahatans and cast a bloody shadow over

the English colony for years to come. Commanding two of his men to make the house safe and two men to guard the door, Smith grabbed Apahonic by his long scalplock and aimed his pistol directly at his chest, and then he led them out among his people, forced him to surrender his weapons, and made his men do the same. Then he addressed the astonished assembled natives with the usual mixture of threats and fair promises, saying, I see you, paniukis the great desire you have to cut my throat

and my long suffering. Your injuries have emboldened you to this presumption. The cause I have forborne your insolences is the promise I made you before the God. I serve to be your friend, So you give me just cause to be your enemy. If I keep this vow, my God will keep me. You cannot hurt me. If I

break it, he will destroy me. But if you shoot one arrow, to shed one drop of blood of any of my men, or steal the least of these blades or copper, you shall see I shall not cease vengeance if once I begin, so long as I can hear where to find one of your nation that will not

deny your name end quote. Referring then to his capture in the winter of sixteen oh seven, Smith offered in return to overlook the Indians treachery, saying quote, if as friends you will come and trade, I once more promise not to trouble you, except you give me the first

occasion end quote. Incredibly, after the attempts on his life and the terrible personal insult he had just dealt Apahonic, Smith still tried to persuade the natives to remain on friendly terms, and yet the root of Smith's problem ran a lot deeper than the immediate desire to get corn. He had lost now his influence with Wassahonic and Apahonic, and with it the prime advantage that he had with other leaders over the colony since his miraculous return from

captivity in early sixteen oh eight. Nor could he hope any longer for these groups of Indians help in supplying the colonists with food. Smith understood, just as Wassahonic did, the Englishman's dependence on the Pahatans for provisions. If they saw to destroy the natives, than they would surely sarve. Smith in fact wrote quote, then by their loss, we should have lost ourselves end quote. Hence Smith's continued and desperate efforts to avoid conflict. Unfortunately for Smith, the pot

in chief no longer needed Smith. Now that he could depend upon the Germans, he could get whatever he wanted by treachery rather than by trade. Though Smith did not yet know the cause, the balance of power had shifted decisively now toward the Pohatans. He returned to Jamestown in early February with two hundred and seventy nine bushels of corn and other provisions, but unbeknownst to him, the cost of that immediate survival had been enormous. More bad news

awaited Smith back at the forts. A couple of weeks before, Matthew Scribner, a captain named Richard Waldo, both of whom were on the council, and eight others, were drowned during the extreme frozen period that had existed since Smith had left. Meanwhile, as Smith endeavored to find a means of forcing his men to work, two of the Germans still with Wassahonick sent a compatriot back to the fort to find out why they had not been joined by more of the colonists.

News of the Germans return came to the ears of Smith, who sent out a party of twenty men to bring the trader back to the fort. Smith joined in the search, and, passing by the newly constructed glasshouse alone, was suddenly attacked by the chief of the nearby Passaheggs, who hoped to gain favor with Wassahonack by killing the Englishmen. Locked in hand to hand combat, the two men fell into the river nearby, where the Indian tried to drag Smith under

the water, only to be thwarted. When a couple of colonists came to Smith's rescue, This attack persuaded Smith to inflict immediate reprisals against the nearby Natives, and with a small force, he carried out a quick and brutal raid on their village. Smith and his men killed six or seven warriors, took as many prisoners, and burned the Indians' houses,

destroyed their canoes in the process. He then promised to leave the Indians alone if they could only provide him with food, this being the kind of agreement that he had also worked out with the Bahatans. During the next few months, Smith kept his men busy repairing the ford,

producing pitch tar, soap, ashes, and glass. Scarcity of food continued to be a major concern because the corn they had taken from the natives had rotted in the casks or been devoured by rats from the ships, leaving them nothing but what they could scrape out of the nearby woods. Smith was left with little choice but to disburse his men. In May, about a third of the two hundred English were spent twenty miles down river with one of the

original settlers to Quote live on oysters end Quote. Twenty went to try their hand at fishing, and a similar number were dispatched upriver to live off the land at the falls. The rest stayed at Jamestown. Despite the settler's desperate situation, however, the majority remained reluctant to do any work. They had signed up as soldiers, not as fishermen and farmers, and rather than find their own provisions, preferred to trade anything and everything to the local natives. Finally, Smith had

no choice. He addressed the company and declared that anyone who did not daily produce as much food from himself would be banished from the fort. Time was running out for John Smith. Many of the men were ready to revolt, and the locals were now openly hostile. Somehow, picking up a rumor that a Spanish assault might be imminent, the renegade Germans planned to join an invading force and drive

the English out for good. Learning of the disarray at Jamestown, they informed Wasahonic at the moment had come to attack, and the plan came to nothing, probably because the Pahatans remained wary of a frontal assault on the fort. Yet, the situation revealed the extent of discontent among the Englishmen, as well as the continued threat posed by settlers who

ran away to the Indians. Yet, for all the challenges Smith faced in the colony, ultimately it was neither his own men nor the Phatans who would cause his downfall, but rather the changing tide of events back in London. As far as the company's sponsors were concerned, the colony had failed to fulfill its expectations and required immediate and thorough reorganization. A new beginning was called for, one that placed the colony on a very different footing from Virginia

all the way back to London. The winter of sixteen oh eight to sixteen oh nine was one of the hardest in living memory. Living in London through that brutal winter was one Sir Thomas Smith. He was the leading merchant of his day. In his youth he had been fascinated by different English schemes to found an English empire in North Atlantic, but luckily for him, he didn't take part in some of the last disastrous voyages. He had been the governor of the East India Company since its founding.

He was a member of Parliament, served as one of the four Principles of the Navy, and personally knew the King's most important ministers. In Smith, it turned out the Virginia Company could not have found a more powerful advocate. Now. Initial steps to reform the colony had begun nearly a year earlier. In the spring of sixteen o eight, Henry Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, who had recently been added to the Virginia Council, urged that several thousand men be sent to

Jamestown as soon as possible to populate the colony. Meanwhile, Sir Thomas Gates, a captain of the English Company in the Netherlands, was commissioned to lead a large scale expedition to the land of Virginia. Gates was an enthusiastic supporter of colonies and a seasoned military commander. He had been foremost in petitioning the King for a charter to colonize America, and was the first name grantee in the letters patent

issued to the London Company by James the First. Rather than accompany the voyage to Virginia, however, at least initially, he had returned to the Netherlands, where he had served with Sir Thomas Gale in South Holland. It was from there that Gates made his way to England in May sixteen oh eight. Upon his return, Gates heard that Newport had arrived from Virginia bringing details of the colonies near

collapse and whigs overthrow. We can confirm this because, writing in late June that year, the ambassador to England and also so secret Spanish spy Zuniga, noted that despite being almost bankrupt the company, the Virginia Company, was preparing to send out another expedition. Zuniga could think of only one possibility for this piracy, he wrote, for the purpose quote carrying on piracy from there, and I mean only the prospect of plunder could explain why this colony that seemed

so hapless could continue to attract settlers. Now, piracy was not at all on the minds of the company's leaders, But as Sir Thomas Smith wrote out purposefully from his house in late January sixteen oh nine, he was already aware that the colony had quote went backwards rather than

forwards end quote. Having read John Smith's long letter criticizing the company's policies, which had arrived from Newport from Virginia a few days before, and having had discussions with John Ratcliffe, also recently returned, and others, it was clear to Thomas and the company that the colony needed to be reorganized

as soon as humanly possible. There and afterwards was a series of meetings during which would occurred, more than anything else, was a perfectly candidate and somewhat unusual appraisal of the problems which had beset the colony from its beginning. A series of orders would go out which would serve as sort of a response to Smiths criticisms. Now, really, what these responses illustrate are the ways that perhaps the company intends to restructure the colony in order to work more efficiently.

But as always, it's one thing when you're actually on the moment, another thing when you are giving directions from the safety of earth. Oftentimes the colony and the company are going to see things differently based on where they are in the ground. Theoretically, maybe things in Virginia look better than they actually are, despite the worrying words that

come in. So, according to the company in London, all of the problems were reduced to really two quote the form of government and the length and danger of the passage by the southerly course of the Indies end quote.

To counter the first, it was agreed that the King should be petitioned quote for a special charter with such ample and large privileges and powers as what enabled them to reform and correct those errors already discovered, and to prevent such as in the future might threaten them end quote.

To deal with the second problem, that is the long course of the southerly route, the company decided to employ one Captain Samuel Argyle, to find a shorter passage to the Chesapeake by sailing directly from the Canaries in a straight westerly course, avoiding the Spanish possession and keeping way of piracy. Now, this overall charter proposed important changes to the way the company and colony had been run and

structured for the last several years. A new Virginia Council would be created, made up of men drawn up from adventurers nominated by the Company rather than by his King and his ministers, and the council's jurisdiction would be limited only by the restriction that such ordinances and whatever it passed couldn't be contrary to the quote laws, statute, government and policy in England end quote. So obviously this is

pretty broad. Powers to do whatever you see fit. All aspects of policy and administration of the colony were firmly located in the company's hands in London. But to butcherss All this there'd be a principal offer in Virginia, and then a new position called the Governor would be created,

and this position would have extensive powers. In fact, the governor would have the right to enforce martial law if he saw a fit, and though he'd be assisted in Virginia by the Advisory Council, he could not be overruled or ousted by them under any circumstances. He was in effect an authoritarian government and an autocrat. Even so, the company appointed Sir Thomas Welst, the twelfth Baron de la War, a high ranking nobleman and soldier, the colony's first Lord governor.

Significant proposals were also made to greatly expand the colony's territory. Henceforth, not only were the bounds north and south of the original settlement increased fifty to two hundred miles inland, the colony was extended from quote c to sea west and northwest end quote that is, what they assumed was from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The choice of two hundred miles north and south of Cape Comfort at

the mouth of the James wasn't arbitrary. It was based upon information from John Smith's explorations and claims to a greater Virginia that included Roanoke Island to the south and lands as far as the head of the Chesapeake Bay to the north, just as an extension of territories from sea to sea reflected the continuing hope of finding a river passage somewhere near the head of the bay that would ultimately lead to the Pacific in the far east.

If the company wasn't all critical of Captain Smith's vigorous style of leadership, it clearly recognized the potential value of his recent discoveries, and they were determined to protect them from anyone else who may show up. At the same time all of this was going on, Sir Thomas Smith was out there desperately trying to raise as much money and as many settlers as he possibly could for the ordeal.

He organized as a joint stock venture individual subscribers, companies and corporations who purchase shares, and this would prove to be the major source of capital for the company. In return, those who bought a ship would get a portion of the land minerals or other profits according to the size of

the investment. Seven years after the adoptment of the Charter Bills of Adventure, these were the shares could be purchased for as little as twelve pounds ten pence each, or an individual could volunteer to join the expedition for an equivalent of his or her rank. Efforts were made to sign up skilled artisans from abroad, glass makers from Italy, mill rights from Hamburg to establish sawmills, Polish workers to

oversee the production of pitch tar Pottish soap ash. And if the appeal to potential investors in colonists was broad based, so was the vision of this colony's future. In an ambitious piece of propaganda titled Nova Britannia also intended to attract investors and settlers, Robert Johnson, merchant and deputy treasurer

of the company, described the natural resources of Virginia. The air climate claimed were quote most sweet and wholesome, much warmer than England, and very agreeable to our natures end quote. He wrote further that the country itself quote large and great, with excellent harbors, of which the world affords no ship of all burdens end quote. Those who took the trip would find out that that was a tad bit of

an overstatement. In addition to this new mercantile argument, there was a new emphasis being placed on the reason to travel to the New World for a new settlers, and that was quote advancing the Kingdom of God end quote. The idea was to bring the Protestant faith to the Indian peoples. Now, this had long been an aspect of Catholic of Spanish and Portuguese colonization abroad, at least in theory.

One of the reasons that the Pope divided the world between the Portuguese and the Spanish was that they were going to expand the Catholic faith. England was actually the first Protestant nation to say, well, actually, we could take that ideology and we could do that. And so now the Virginia Company for the first time is putting this

into their ideology for expansion. The idea was that settlement would be clear evidence of the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy, whereby the true faith and by of course, which they mean the Protestant faith would be transferred around the globe

in ways and in numbers, never before seen now. As preparations for the expedition to leave for Jamestown went ahead through the spring and early summer of sixteen oh nine, Don Pedro de Zuniga again and passer to Spain slash secret spy in the court of James the First, for Philip the Third of Spain was becoming increasingly alarmed. He realized that Lord de la War was about to leave for the New World from England with six or seven hundred men quote, a great part of them gentry and

some women end quote. He reported this directly to Philip the Third, and he would soon be followed dayla War, that is, by Sir Thomas Gates, with another four or five hundred men and at least one hundred women. The Spanish ambassador became convinced, in fact, remained so that the colony was to primarily serve as a base for pirate fleets, as a base whereby the English could prey on the Spanish treasure fleet as it hoovered up the gold and silver from the New World and moved it over to

the Old. It was as though the Spanish were saying, Hey, that's my treasure. We write stole it. You don't get to steal it from us. This would be done on a scale Zuniga believed that would effectively just cut off the flow of silver from the Indies and ruin trade, obviously forcing Philip a Third into bankruptcy earlier than he's going to be. And that moreover, Zuniga pointed out that he believed for the first time that the English monarch

James the First had a direct hand in this. So if it wasn't the English directly striking out at the Spanish, they were doing so at the very least indirectly in a way that should be obvious to just about anyone. Zuniga ended the letter back to Philip the Third with one piece of what we call stern device. He needed to quote quickly command the expiration of these insolens end quote, presumably before it was too late. The Spanish had to

stamp out the embers before it had become a fire. Now, you may remember, multiple episodes back, the Spanish had previously wiped out a settlement of men, women and children French Huguenots on the north coast of what is today Florida, a lot closer to them in Virginia, obviously, but it set the precedent that the Spanish weren't about to just look the other way when it came to perceptive threats

on their New World expansions. And so the company then issued Gates confidential instructions before the expedition was about to leave London in May. And the goal here was how could we turn this colony as profitable as possible, as quickly as possible, and see to its defense in the event that there is a Spanish attack. Now here were the different They called them four principal ways of enriching the colony was written quote. The first is the discovery

of either the South seas or the royal mines. Thereby they mean gold, nothing new there, right. The second is trade, whereby you recover all the commodities of those country that lay far off and yet are accessible by water. The third is tribute, and the fourth is the labor of your own men in making wines, pitch, sorrow, soap, ashes, steel, so on and so forth. Now what's interesting, of course about this list is that we have to get to step four before the colonists are actually going to do

anything productive. Step one and two is still let's either look for gold to try to take it from the natives, and step three is some interesting form of tribute system. Now, the more interesting parts of this order about what the company now expected to do with Jamestown. Jamestown itself was to be reduced to a small garrison. It wasn't going

to be a city anymore. Instead, when they got there, Gates at All were supposed to select a site for the colony's chief new seat, away from major rivers, accessible only by small boats or from overland. The company had a new proposal for the site of the new capital, one that conjured up a radically different vision of the colony to that projected by John Smith's voyages of discovery around the Chesapeake Bay the year before Gates was informed.

Quote four days journey from your fort southwards is a town called Ahanahan, seated on where the river of the Chikaniki divideth itself into three branches and falleth into the Sea of Roanoke. Further inland at Akanahan was a brave and beautiful country, well watered and every way accessible by a stranger enemy end Quote. Nearby, at least in theory, were rich copper mines that could be taken advantage of

by the settlers without doubts. The passage in Gates Instructions detailing lance to the south of Jamestown was somewhat ironically derived in part from James john Smith's sketch of map and description in sixteen oh eight. So the very man who would have told them that this was a fool's errand that there weren't rich copper minds of the South was, interestingly enough, the one who provided the inspiration for yet

what would prove to be another English boondoggle. From some source or sources, the company had discovered further information about lands to the south, as well as intelligence regarding the lost colonists, I mean Roanoke's slaughter and demise. But who on earth would have informed the colonists and then the London Company about the killing of the lost Colonists of Roanoke. The most likely candidate is a shadowy Indian figure in

our story called Matschumps. He may have learned of the slaughter from his sister Wassniki, one of Wasahonak's favorite wives, or from other relatives close to the Great Chief. Machumps had been sent to England by Wassahonic in late sixteen oh eight with Newport to see the country, and remained there, we think in London, until returning with gates Fleet the following summer. He was probably the one who spilled the

beans as to what happened. But what had happened to the lost colonists and why was the new information so important to the Virginia Company well. The conventional explanation is that after John White left the colonists in fifteen eighty seven,

they split into two groups. A small group of women, children, and those unable to travel were transported to the nearby island of crow Atoan, where they'd be safe with local friendly peoples, and the main body would move northwards toward the territory of what was the Chesapeake Bay near the entrance, where they would settle down with the Indians. Soon after arrival of the English at Jamestown, Wassahonics sent his men to destroy the Chesapeakes and the colonists still living with them.

The chief was acting on the advice of his priests, who had warned him that quote from the Chesapeake Bay, a nation should arise which would dissolve and give end to his empire end quote. Not one to take any chances, the great Chief ordered the killing of quote, all such who might lie under any doubtful construction of the said prophecy end quote. And so it was Wasahonic who, in one swift, decisive hammer blow, really finished out the first

English colony in the New World. But there is of course an alternative explanation, and to an extent it makes better sense of what little evidence exists this one. The main group of colonists, consisting of about ninety to one hundred men, women and children, moved westward into the Carolina interior, not northwards at all, into the territory of the Chesapeakes.

Setting out in a small ship left by Whight, they followed the Abermeil Sound, the route taken by actually Ralph Lane two years earlier, to the Chotun River, where they planned to winter among the friendly peoples there. Moving fifty miles further into the main to the fertile lands along the Chowan would put them out of the immediate danger

of attack of more hostile groups. The colonists remained there for the next couple of years, simply waiting for White to return, either living with the friendly Chawannox or in a small settlement nearby. But as time passed, it became less and less likely that white was ever going to come back, or that anyone was ever going to come back. They gradually realized that they were never going to be able to get home, they would never see England again, and so they simply did what any of us would

have done. They settled down, They intermarried with the friendly local Indians, and they live their lives here in villages along the Chohen and Roanoke Rivers. Nearly two decades later, the lost colonists, the children, and their Indian allies were tracked down finally slaughtered by Wassahonics warriors. So I guess in either story, Wassahonic it gets the last laugh. But

why did the Pohatans attack them? What possible threat could the colonists posed after settling with the Chawanoks in South Virginia. Wassanok may have believed that the survivors would serve as go betweens in forging alliances between the new English arrivals and the Indian peoples that they the lost colonists lived with, and so they might pose a threat to the chief's influence in the region. There was also the possibility that peoples to the south and west of Wassahonics territories would

ally themselves with the English newcomers. Regardless, Wassahonics killing of the lost colonists and their offspring was not merely a fiction dreamt up by the English to justify later declarations of war against the Bahatans. They almost certainly happened. Regardless, they did force Sir Thomas Smith and his advisers to rethink the colony's fundamental relations with the Bahatans. The most powerful and local tribe, Wassahonic, it was ultimately decided, would

be spared, but never again could he be trusted. The Company's Indian policy premise now on the treachery of Wassahonic and his priests would be at the heart of every foreign policy decision made by the Colony going forward until such time as Wassahonic and his priests could be removed. The English were advised by the Company to proceed cautiously. Alliances were to be made only with peoples outside the

region that were hostile to the Bahatans. Thus, company plans, as relayed to gast at least, rested on two basic assumptions. Number One, Wassahonic and his priests were to be dealt with. The people would embrace English rule once that happened, and

would willing render tribute to the English. And Second, if some of the lost colonists who had survived the Phatan slaughter in the Piedmont to the west of Roanoke Island could be found, then it could be them that was the key to the survival of the colony, because they would have information about where to go in the interior. We could only speculate about what John Smith would have

thought about Sir Thomas's plans. If he had been privy to the company's discussions in the spring of sixteen oh nine, he might have found much to agree with, particularly in regard to organizing the settlers into work gangs to produce the kind of commodities wine, pitch tar, so on and so forth that he believed would ultimately provide a return, a sound, consistent return for investors, and the idea that

the men needed discipline to keep them busy. But from his own experience of dealing with the Powhatans, Smith would have known the proposals to capture or eliminate Woasahonic at some point, and his priests were totally unrealistic, and that the very attempt of which which was burden to fail, could only lead to war. Likewise, the company's decision to remove the capital from Jamestown to a new site upriver, beyond the falls or inland in North Carolina would have

been equally incomprehensible. It had taken the settlers two years almost to establish themselves at Jamestown, and only now were they beginning to produce modest quantities of goods for export. Abandoning the fort would require a further period of building a new site, during which little of value could be produced.

Even when construction was completed, Smith would have asked how would the colony's commodities be transported over the falls and from interior locations for shipment to England, And how could the company's ships provision such remote outposts. The company was rightly concerned about Jamestown's vulnerability from Spanish attack, but removing settlements far inland might make trades so difficult as to

be prohibitively expensive. By sixteen oh nine, Smith was skeptical as well of the likelihood of finding survivors from the lost Roanoke Colony. In the early summer, though Smith had more immediate problems on his mind than wondering about the

company's future plans. Christopher Newport still hadn't returned to Virginia in that spring with fresh supplies, which had been expected, and so the company was once again on the brink of collapse in Virginia, whiles Ahnik was biding his time and content to watch and wait for the colony to disintegrate or for John Smith, its most capable leader, to be overthrown. So it was that news of a sighting of a ship in the James River in mid July

was met with keene anticipation. The Mary and John, commanded by Sam Argyle, had been dispatched by the company in early May to find a more direct route to virgin then through the Southern Passage, and thereby substantially reduced the

cost of future voyages to the colony. Argyle left Portsmouth and set his court southward until he reached thirty degrees north, then headed due west until he was within a few hundred miles of Bermuda, before turning northwards to the Chesapeake Bay, where he made landfall on July the thirteenth, after a crossing of nine weeks. What he found upon arriving at

Jamestown confirmed the company's fears. Now, at the same time that the Mary and John was making its way across the Atlantic Tour of Virginia, another ship, a Spanish ship, the La Ansucion de Cristo, was buried at the same time, beating its way north from Florida, having left Saint Augustine on June the eleventh. Now, this ship had actually been sent by Philip the Third to reconnoiter Jamestown. It only contained twenty five officers and soldiers. It was hardly a

massive show of force. Really, the only purpose behind it was to arrive at Jamestown, see what the situation was, and then perhaps prepare for a larger invasion force later on. However, at this point, Jamestown was virtually defenseless. It had a few cannons, but it didn't have anything capable of handling a Spanish ship which would be able to bring up its broadside guns right up alongside of Jamestown. So had the La Assuncion de Cristo arrived before the Mary and John,

it's likely that Jamestown would have been simply wiped out. Now, Fortunately for the English, as it later transpired. The Spanish admiral adopted a rather leisurely pace as he proceeded up the coast, taking nearly three weeks before reaching the Rio Jordaines today the Santee River, three hundred miles from San

Augustine and less than halfway to their destination. Only when he was about four or five days journey away to the Spanish admiral learned that the English had settled on an island in a river that ran to the sea, apart from a narrow strip that connected the island to the mainland, that they were totally surrounded by water. At this place, he was told the English had built a fort made of wood and had made alliances with regional peoples who provided them with food and return for clothes

and tools. Because the colonists quote did not bother with sowing, but with fortifying end quote. According to these safe sources, ships reportedly came and went every day, and three months before seven had sailed from the settlement, six to the north and one to the south, the latter flying colors and beating a war drum. This was obviously a reference to piracy. Now this information would have made the Spanish

admiral both skeptical and uneasy. He probably doubted the number of ships mentioned in the frequency of their comings and goings, but there had been no doubt that the English were busy establishing themselves in the region. Confirming what had been told to him by the Governor of New Spain, how many men in ships the settlement had, what types of fortifications,

and whether alliances with the locals had been struck. It was up to him to find that out, And so it was finally that at five o'clock in the afternoon on July the fourteenth, the Spanish finally arrived off the Cape of Henry, spotting surprisingly a ship in the bay. Now the standoff therefore between the Law and Suncion and

the English festival, the Mary and John headed into several hours. Finally, after those hours were over, the Spanish ship lifted anchor and headed into the interior, showing the way up river. From there, the Spanish captain could now see Jamestown and understand what was it located now. The ship that had blocked the Spaniard's way was, of course our Giles. But what would have happened if the Spanish would have arrived

a week earlier? The English had been dispersed up and down the river in an effort to try to find food, and so with very very few left, it's likely the fort would have been destroyed before the colonists could have rallied. Curiously, though, Smith makes absolutely no reference to what is somewhat of

a miraculous circumstance in any of his writings. Unaware at how perilously close the colony had come to destruction, Smith and his men gathered at Jamestown on a hot summer's day to enjoy the luxury of a small amount of wine, beer, fish, and English biscuit, all that had arrived with our Gyle. Given the circumstances of the previous six months, Smith may have felt heartened by how things had turned out. Our

Gyle's arrival had cheered the men. They had survived the winter, this time with few losses, and a great fleet was bringing hundreds of new settlers and fresh solce applies to the colonies. For once, prospect looks bright. Perhaps for Smith, for England, and for the Virginia Company. This might just all work out