An English soldier and explorer, Captain John Smith was instrumental in founding Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, in 1607.
Early life and military exploits
Born around 1580 in Willoughby, a town in Lincolnshire, England, Smith left home at the age of 16 after his father’s death. He sailed to France, where he joined the volunteer forces fighting for Dutch independence against Spain. He then served on a pirate ship in the Mediterranean Sea before traveling to Austria in 1600 to join the forces of the Holy Roman Empire in their fight against the Ottoman Turks. His valor earned him the rank of captain, which he would wear with pride for the rest of his life.
While fighting in Transylvania in 1602, Smith was wounded, captured by the Turks, and sold as a slave. He managed to escape by killing his owner and traveled through Russia, Poland, Europe and North Africa before returning to England in 1604. In commemoration of his combat exploits, Smith had a coat of arms engraved. with three heads (representing three Turks). officers he had killed) and the motto vincere is alive, Latin for “to conquer is to live”.
Travel to North America and founding of Jamestown
In 1607 Smith’s military reputation earned him a place in the group of men united by the Virginia Company to form an English colony in North America. With a charter from King James I in hand, 104 settlers left England aboard three ships in December 1606. During the four-month sea voyage, the expedition leaders arrested Smith for planning a mutiny and imprisoned him under the bridges with irons.
When the ships arrived in Virginia in April 1607 and the settlers opened a box containing a list of men the Virginia Company had appointed as the board of directors for the new colony, Smith’s name was on the list. He was released and allowed to assume his seat on the council to rule Jamestown, established in May 1607 on the banks of the river they named in honor of King James.
Smith’s Relations with Indigenous Peoples
The new colony struggled with food shortages and disease, and in the fall of 1607 Smith began leading expeditions to Native American villages to procure food. In December, a group of Powhatan hunters captured Smith on one of these trips and brought him past Wahunsenacawh (commonly known as Chief Powhatan), the supreme ruler of most of the native tribes in the region of Chesapeake Bay. According to Smith, the chief’s young daughter, Pocahontas, saved him from execution; historians have questioned his account. Either way, the Powhatan freed Smith and escorted him to Jamestown.
In January 1608, only 38 of the original 104 settlers were still alive. Although Chief Powhatan sent food and more settlers arrived from England with supplies, the extreme cold of winter resulted in the deaths of many new settlers. That spring Smith began exploring some 2,500 miles of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, including the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. He used his findings to map the area, including the locations of Native American villages and other important information.
Jamestown Direction
In September 1608, Smith was elected chairman of the board of directors of Jamestown. He instilled greater discipline among the settlers, enforcing the “He who does not work will not eat” rule. Under Smith’s leadership, the settlement progressed: settlers dug the first well, planted crops, and began repairing the fort that had burned down the previous winter.
English settlers had a difficult and often violent relationship with the Powhatan. Settlers continually attacked Powhatan villages for food and Powhatan warriors attacked Jamestown Fort. In October 1609, Smith was forced to return to England after being seriously injured in a gunpowder explosion. In the months following his departure, Chief Powhatan ordered his men to attack Jamestown Fort, triggering the First Anglo-Powhatan War, and Jamestown endured what is known as the “time of famine” during the winter of 1609-10, during which several hundred settlers died.
Smith’s later life in England, the writings and death
Although Smith wanted to return to Jamestown, the Virginia Company refused to send him back. In 1614 Smith made another voyage, exploring and mapping the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts and naming the region “New England.” He wanted to return and form a colony there, but on his way back in 1615 he was captured by French pirates and imprisoned for several months.
When he was released, Smith couldn’t find anyone in England to support further voyages across the Atlantic. He focused on writing his experiences, published works such as General history of Virginia (1624) and The True Voyages, Adventures and Sightings of Captain John Smith (1630). Although Smith is known to exaggerate his own exploits and many have questioned the veracity of his claims, especially those regarding his rescue by Pocahontas, modern scholars have verified at least some of his information about the Jamestown settlement.
Smith was approached to serve as a military leader for the Pilgrims in 1620, but the group chose Miles Standish instead; they used Smith’s maps of New England. Smith died in London in June 1631, at the age of 51.
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Bill Warder. “Captain John Smith.” National Park Service.
Bernard Bailyn. The Barbarian Years – The Settlement of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675 (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2012)
John Smith. Rediscovering Jamestown: Historic Jamestowne.
