Love and Hate in Jamestown

by David A. Price

  At any rate, one does not have to resort to international power politics to explain the mass deaths at Jamestown. Sixteen years after the first settlement, Sir Francis Wyatt would write as governor that the colony was still losing waves of men to summer illness. He found “great multitudes of new comers” lost each year to “a burning fever, which thorough intemperate drinking of water often drawes after it the flixe [dysentery] or dropsy. . . .” Impractical policy choices—which brought about mortality from disease, starvation, bad water, and native attacks—were deadlier than any conspiracy.10

  Notes

  EDITORIAL METHOD

  Dialogue. Dialogue that appears within quotation marks (or in block quotes) is quoted from sources of the period. Unless otherwise indicated, dialogue appearing without quotation marks is a paraphrase of accounts in period sources.

  Period text. Seventeenth-century English material is challenging to read in its raw form, with its unfamiliar (and internally inconsistent) orthography and capitalization. My approach to this problem has been eclectic. I have modernized the capitalization throughout; I have interchanged u ’s and v’s where appropriate (as in liue or natiue); I have interchanged i’s and j’s likewise (as in ioy or Iones); I have expanded some archaic contractions; and I have inserted paragraph breaks in some long passages for readability. Beyond that, I have normally kept to the spelling and punctuation of the original texts. Yet where it seemed essential to modernize the Jacobean spelling of a word here or there to make a quotation clearer, or to add a comma for that purpose, I have done so. In no case have I exchanged an archaic word for a different modern one. I have sometimes inserted a modern equivalent in square brackets to illuminate a word or phrase.

  Colonial place-names. The locale of the 1607 Virginia settlement was variously referred to during the course of the period as “James Fort,” “James Towne,” or “James Cittie.” For consistency, I have referred to it throughout by the modern name of Jamestown. Where the fort structure specifically is indicated, I have referred to “the fort.” Also, the satellite settlement established in 1611 was called “Henricus” and “Henrico.” To avoid confusion with present-day Henrico County, I have used the former name.

  Dates. The English used the old-style Julian calendar during the period covered by this book. I have retained the use of old-style English dates, except that I have adjusted the years to correspond with the modern new year: January 1, rather than the old-style new year of March 25. For example, the old-style date February 15, 1617—which would appear in some modern sources as February 15, 1617/18—is rendered in this book as February 15, 1618.

  Authorship of collaborative works. The Proceedings of 1612, edited by William Symonds, and the Generall Historie of 1624, edited by John Smith, include contributions from numerous colonists. In the notes to this book, the first citation to a given chapter of the Proceedings or the Generall Historie is accompanied by the names of the authors of that chapter.

  ABBREVIATIONS

  The following abbreviations in the chapter notes refer to collections of primary documents:

  J.V. Philip L. Barbour, ed. The Jamestown Voyages

  Under the First Charter: 1606–1609. 2 vols. London:

  Cambridge University Press, 1969.

  Narratives Edward Wright Haile, ed. Jamestown Narratives:

  Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony:

  The First Decade: 1607–1617. Champlain, Va.:

  RoundHouse, 1998.

  N.A.W. Volume 5 of David Beers Quinn, ed.

  New American World: A Documentary History of North

  America to 1612. New York: Arno Press, 1979.

  Va. Co. Recs. Susan Myra Kingsbury, ed. The Records

  of the Virginia Company of London. 4 vols. Washington:

  U.S. Government Printing Office, 1906–1935.

  Also, DNB and OED refer to the Dictionary of National Biography and the Oxford English Dictionary respectively.

  CHAPTER NOTES

  1: PROLOGUE

  Gold, silver, and other riches: Charter of April 10, 1606, reprinted in Bemiss (1957), p. 6. trade route by river: Craven (1957), pp. 10–11; Purchas (1625), vol. 19, p. 152. Joint-stock company: Craven (1957), p. 3. Public stock offering: Ibid., p. 17. Half were “gentlemen”: In John Smith’s list of the first Jamestown colonists, fifty-four are listed as gentlemen or councilors. Smith (1624), pp. 140–42. “Do nothing; be like a gentleman”: George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, Eastward Ho, act 1, scene 1, reprinted in Spencer (1933), p. 479. Peggy Lee: John Davenport and Eddie Cooley, “Fever,” score, 1956.

  “Compassionate pitiful heart”: Smith (1624), pp. 258–59.

  John Smith’s early background: Smith (1630), pp. 153–54; Smith (1986), vol. 1, pp. lv, lvii. Height: Barbour (1964a), p. 470 n. 1. A portrait made later in his life: The portrait accompanies his 1616 Description of New England. It is reproduced in various places, including at Smith (1616), p. 320. “He was honest, sensible, and well informed”: Jefferson (1787), p. 177.

  The grammar school that Smith attended, the Royal Free Grammar School of King Edward VI, is still in operation (see www.kevigs.lincs.sch.uk ).

  Fighting in Netherlands, woody pasture, fighting in Hungary, slavery and escape: Smith (1630), pp. 155–56, 163–79, 182–89, 200; Barbour (1964a), pp. 9–15, 26–63.

  Outnumbered the English: Recent estimates of the population of the Powhatan Empire at this time range from approximately 13,000 to as many as 34,000. See Gleach (1997), pp. 26, 169; Horn (1994), p. 132. Of course, the Powhatans’ numerical advantage on the battlefield would have been less pronounced, since only the Powhatan males were soldiers, but the imbalance would still have been extreme. “Thou Virginia foild’st”: From a verse accompanying Smith’s Description of New England, signed by colonists Michael Fettiplace, William Fettiplace, and Richard Wiffin. Smith (1616), p. 317. “Exclaim of all things”: Smith (1612), pp. 175–76.

  Sebastian Cabot: Bancroft (1834), vol. 1, pp. 10–11. Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s: Foss (1974), pp. 128–29. Roanoke colony: Quinn (1985). Ralegh, Raleigh, or Rawleyghe: Jones (1987).

  The story of Ralegh and the mud puddle appears to have originated in the mid–seventeenth century with the Reverend Thomas Fuller’s entertaining but unreliable biographical reference, The Worthies of England. See Fuller (1662), p. 133.

  Record of Spain: For a précis of Spanish exploration and conquest after Columbus, see Wright (1971), pp. 2–10. Two rich contemporaneous accounts are Benzoni (1565) and Las Casas (1542). On the encomienda system, see Haring (1947), chapter 3.

  “No Spanish intention”: Strachey (1612), p. 85. “Others not pleasing”: Smith (1624), p. 206. This section of the Generall Historie was written by colonists Richard Wiffin, William Fettiplace, Jeffrey Abbot, and Anas Todkill. “Not by stormes of raging cruelties”: Robert Johnson, Nova Britannia (1609), reprinted in N.A.W., p. 240. To preach the Gospel: Council of Virginia [in London], A True Declaration (1610), reprinted in Narratives, p. 469.

  Don Luis: Lewis and Loomie (1953), pp. 15–55; Axtell (1995), p. 5; Rountree (1990), pp. 15–18; Gleach (1997), pp. 90–94.

  “We are taught to acknowledge”: Strachey (1612) p. 12. John Smith later denounced: Smith (1616), p. 352. Civilizing influence: See, for example, the argument of the Reverend Alexander Whitaker, a minister in Virginia in 1613. “Oh remember, I beseech you, what was the state of England before the Gospel was preached in our country. How much better were we then and concerning our souls’ health than these [natives] are now?” Whitaker, Good News from Virginia (1613), reprinted in Narratives, p. 731.

  To the same effect, the Reverend Samuel Purchas, an energetic promoter of colonization, and an editor and compiler of many of the surviving accounts, added an editorial comment in the margin of William Strachey’s story. “Were not we ourselves made and not born civil in our progenitors’ days?” Purchas asked. “And were not Caesar’s Britons as brutish as Virginians [natives]? The Roman swords were the best teachers of civility
to this and other countries near us.” William Strachey, A True Reportory (1625), reprinted in Narratives, p. 435 n. 1. John Smith argued, “Had the seede of Abraham, our Savior Christ, and his Apostles, exposed themselves to no more daungers to teach the Gospell, and the will of God then wee; [then] even wee our selves, had at this present been as salvage, and as miserable as the most barbarous salvage yet uncivilized.” Smith (1616), p. 360.

  “Their skynn is tawny”: From an account tentatively attributed to colonist Gabriel Archer. Archer, Description of the People (1607), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 103. “They would be of good complexion”: Edward-Maria Wingfield, no title (n.d.), reprinted in Narratives, p. 202. William Parker: Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse (1615), reprinted in Narratives, p. 836. John Smith reported that the natives are “of a colour browne when they are of age, but they are borne white.” Smith (1612), p. 160. See also Strachey (1612), p. 63.

  “Had not this violence”: Strachey (1612), pp. 17–18. “There is no other moderate and mix’d course”: Council of Virginia [in London], A True Declaration (1610), reprinted in Narratives, pp. 469–70. “Their children”: Robert Johnson, Nova Britannia (1609), reprinted in N.A.W., p. 247.

  2: THE CROSSING

  Blackwall, tonnages: Smith (1624), p. 137. Testimony in a case before the High Court of Admiralty involving the Susan Constant indicates its capacity at 120 tons. See N.A.W., pp. 171, 178, 180. Dimensions: In planning the replica ships that are now harbored at Jamestown Settlement, historians there derived the estimates of the original ships’ dimensions from their tonnages using other ships of the period as bench-marks, and from treatises of the period on ship design. Fee and Faucett (1958), pp. 6–9; Nancy Egloff, personal communication. Those approximate dimensions are as follows:

  Nautical historian Brian Lavery estimates the width of the Susan Constant at a narrower 22 feet, 9 inches. Lavery (1988), p. 10.

  Susan Constant

  Overall length, 116 feet

  Deck length, 82 feet

  Width (beam), 24 feet, 10 inches

  Godspeed

  Overall length, 68 feet

  Deck length, 52 feet

  Width (beam), 14 feet, 8 inches

  Discovery

  Overall length, 49 feet, 6 inches

  Deck length, 38 feet, 10 inches

  Width (beam), 11 feet, 4 inches

  Distribution of passengers and crew: Barbour (1964a), p. 113. 1985 reenactment: Interview with Neil Tanner.

  The Susan Constant was chartered from Colthurst, Dapper, Wheatley and Company. N.A.W., p. 171. The Virginia Company purchased the Discovery from the Muscovy Company. Fee and Faucett (1958), p. 5.

  Shipboard accommodations: Lavery (1988), pp. 24–26. Wingfield background: DNB. At least two servants: Wingfield, Discourse (1608), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 230 (referring to “my servauntes” in Virginia). “A covetous haughty person”: Oldmixon (1741), vol. 1, p. 357. The reference is to Oldmixon’s second edition. Passenger list: Smith (1624), pp. 140–42.

  Slaves: See chapter 13. Servitude: A. E. Smith (1947), pp. 8–10. Seven years: This was the term of obligation for the 1609 voyagers. Ibid. Susan Constant had crashed: Depositions in N.A.W., pp. 171, 176, 180. Cannon: Lavery (1988), pp. 38–39. Sealed box, command of Christopher Newport: Orders for the Council of Virginia (Nov. 20, 1606), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 46. Smith traveled on the Susan Constant: Barbour (1964a), p. 114. Newport background: Andrews (1954). King James’s fascination: Willson (1956), p. 182.

  Gosnold background: Gookin (1949); Wilson (2000). Midlife by the standards of the day: One writer of the period defined “youth” as lasting through age twenty-five, “middle age” from twenty-five to fifty, and “old age” from fifty onward. Cuffe (1607), pp. 118–19. “A poore counterfeited imposture”: Smith (1624), p. 189.

  The liar: Smith (1627), p. 84. Wooden anchors: Lavery (1988), p. 21. A fateful feud began: Smith (1624), p. 137; Barbour (1964a), pp. 109–11. “Master Hunt, our preacher”: Smith (1624), p. 137. See also Smith (1631), p. 296, in which Smith describes Hunt as “an honest, religious, and couragious divine.”

  Trade winds: Waters (1958), p. 261. Columbus himself had pioneered: Morison (1955), p. 38. Navigation and timekeeping methods: Waters (1958), pp. 57–59, 427, 580, 592; Morison (1955), pp. 39–40. Modern sailing dictionary: Henry Beard and Roy McKie, Sailing: A Sailor’s Dictionary (New York: Workman, 1981), p. 57. Compass: Waters (1958), p. 59; Smith (1627), pp. 65–66.

  Wayward sons: Johnson, The New Life of Virginea (1612), p. 10, reprinted in Force (1836), vol. 1. Celebratory verse: Michael Drayton, “Ode to the Virginian Voyage” (1606), reprinted in Narratives, p. xxi. Friend of a Virginia Company investor: Rowse (1959), p. 194 n. 2.

  “Gold is more plentiful”: George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, Eastward Ho, act 3, scene 3, reprinted in Spencer (1933), p. 496.

  Reached the Canaries: Smith (1624), pp. 137, 139; Barbour (1964a), pp. 113–15. in familiar territory: Smith (1630), p. 212. People of his native Lincolnshire: Hill (1956), pp. 6–7, 11. In 1536, Henry VIII called the shire of Lincoln “one of the most brute and beastly of the whole realm.” Ibid., p. 45 n. 1. Educated opinion of Lincolnshire at the time is further suggested by the Reverend Fuller’s humorous reference to Lincolnshire men as “country clowns, overgrown with hair and rudeness.” Fuller (1662), p. 327.

  Purchas: A marginal comment to his publication of Percy’s Discourse. See Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 129. “Julius Caesar wrote”: Smith (1627), p. 47.

  Sailing before the trades: Morison (1955), p. 93.

  Martinique, Dominica: Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 129–30; Smith (1624), p. 137. Background on Caribs: Boucher (1992); Bell (1902).

  Nevis: Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 130–32; Smith (1630), pp. 235–36. Manchineel: On the identification of the toxic trees as the manchineel (or “manchioneel”), see Barbour (1964a), p. 429 n. 3. On the effects of the manchineel’s sap, see Lampe et al. (1985), pp. 91–92; Oakes and Butcher (1962), pp. 50–51.

  Mona, Monito, thunderstorm, landing: Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 132–33; Smith (1624), pp. 137–38. Columbus “kneeling on the ground”: Morison (1942), pp. 228–29.

  Attack: Smith (1608), p. 27; Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 133–34. Deadly accurate: Strachey (1612), p. 106. Superiority of bows and arrows: Peterson (1956), p. 19.

  Through the sixteenth century, English armies had themselves relied on bows and arrows, and English soldiers were the preeminent archers of Europe. By the time of the Jamestown expedition, however, those skills had fallen into desuetude thanks to the adoption of firearms. See Gleach (1997), pp. 80, 83.

  3: HAVE GREAT CARE NOT TO OFFEND

  Virginia Company had commanded: Orders for the Council of Virginia (Nov. 20, 1606), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 46. unfasten one of the three boxes: Smith (1608), p. 27; Symonds (1612), p. 205. This chapter of Symonds’s Proceedings is uncredited, but was most likely written by John Smith. See Smith (1986), vol. 1, p. 195.

  Instructions: Instructions Given By Way of Advice (1606), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 49–54.

  Exploration, Kecoughtans: Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 134–36. The natives’ homes: Rountree and Turner (2002), pp. 64–65, 70; Rountree (1989), pp. 60–61. How to make glass: Strachey (1612), p. 71. “Who knoweth one of them”: Ibid., p. 70.

  “The most apt and securest place”: Strachey, A True Reportory (1625), reprinted in Narratives, p. 428. Called on several other tribes, Archer’s Hope: Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 136–38.

  The company’s instructions: Orders for the Council of Virginia (Nov. 20, 1606), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 47.
Oaths of office: Ibid., pp. 47–48. “Oration made”: Symonds (1612), p. 205. Comment of Wingfield: Wingfield, Discourse (1608), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 220 and n. 1 (amended for apparent printer’s error in original document).

  4: WINGFIELD

  President Wingfield’s policy, Paspahegh visits: Symonds (1612), pp. 205–206; Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 139–40.

  Although the quoted chapter of Symonds’s Proceedings is not credited, and the following chapter is credited to colonist Thomas Studley, both chapters appear to have been written by John Smith. See Smith (1986), vol. 1, p. 195.

  Exploratory trip: Archer, A Relation (1607), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 80–84.

  The colonists dined: Archer, A Relation (1607), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 84; Percy, Observations Gathered Out of a Discourse (1608?), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, p. 141; Smith (1608), p. 29; Barbour (1964a), p. 129. Powhatan Empire: Rountree (1990), pp. 9–10, 25; Gleach (1997), pp. 22–25; Strachey (1612), pp. 48, 51–52. Wahunsenacah: Strachey, op. cit., p. 48. Tsenacommacah: Strachey, op. cit., pp. 29, 47; Gleach (1997), p. 23. Trained from early childhood: Wingfield, no title (n.d.), reprinted in Narratives, p. 202; Strachey, op. cit., p. 110.

  A nation would arise: Strachey (1612), p. 101; Rountree (1990), pp. 25–27. As they sat eating: Rountree (1990), p. 33; Archer, A Relation (1607), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 84–89. “Gifts of divers sorts”: Ibid., p. 84. “We trifled”: Smith (1608), p. 31.

  With the Weyanock tribe: Archer, A Relation (1607), reprinted in J.V., vol. 1, pp. 94–95; Smith (1608), p. 31. Taken the colony by surprise: Archer, op. cit., p. 95; Smith (1608), p. 31; Symonds (1612), p. 206. “Had it not chanced”: Symonds (1612), p. 206.