Thecol()lli~t~eagerlyobeyedth eCompan y 'sorders
tosearc hfor~old.By doing soth l')'ho pedro
becomericht hemselves.Ther eW;IS" no talk. 110
hopeno r wor k,butdi ggold,\\,;lsl1gold,]0;1\1g o ld " ,
wroteoneoftheirk ;llkrs,C ap r.iinJ oh n Sm ith.
And thenthecolonistsbeganto die -inOIiCS.III
rwos. finallvIIIdozens.Somedi edIIIAmerindian
attacks.someofdisca~l·".someofstarvation.By
April 16()X.omofa to talof1')7Eng lish me nwhohad
landedinVirgin iaonly finv-rbrcc weresriII alive.
"Ourmenwere destroyedbycrueldiseases. ,.wrote
a colonist who su rvivcd ."swellings.fluxes.burning
feversandbywars.Uutmost d iedottammc.There
wereneverEnghshmcnkft in a fo reigncount ry 111
suchIlllSl'TYaswe\\TTl'inV irginia."
jnncsrownreacheditslowestpo intillrh cwmrc-ro f
](,111)- I (,Ill, 0 1 thc• 51 NIwloni'!>tslivingin rill'
scrtk-mcutIIIO ctober]60').onlysixtywerestill alive
111 I\ b rc h 16 ]1),ThisW,IS"till'"un'ingtimc , ..Stones
reachedEnglmdabouts...-rrlcrvwhowereso
dl'spera teforf{)od that rhcvd ugupamiatetill'body
oran Ameri ndi ant heyholdk illeddutingauattack.
Yetnew scrrlcr-,counnucdto arr rvc. Thc · Vir gutia
Companygatheredhomelesschildrenfromth e
strc-c-tso fLo ndonandsc' 111rhcmo urtotill'r-olonv
Thenirsentahund red(0 11 vias fromlondon 's
prISons.Suchcrniaran tswcrc,oft enunwillingtogo.
TheSpanishambassadorinLoudontoldot'rhrcc
condemnedrrunin.ilswho Wl'H'g iven thechoiceof
beingh;lIlgnlo rS('1IttoVir gin ia.Twoagrcvd togo.
buttheth irdchosetolung.
SomeVirg lnl;lClllig LlIlbs;likdw illin gly. however.. FurIllanyEng lishpl'opk th('sl'l';lr1yy('ar~o f rhe
' l'vl'llfl'l'llt hcl'ntury\TH'arillleofhuugn;md
suffering ,Inco tlleswaclow.h U Ithep rin',offood
andcloth in gclimbedhighaen:ryye;lT.Mm y
peoplew n ewithoutwork. Andif rhe cropsf:1iled.
they~tar\"l·d.SOllKEng lishpnlpk decidcdrhatIt
\·a,worthnsking the'possibili tyofh;lHlshipsIII
VirginiJtoescI!'l' fro'lIIth e ce rt;lint yO(thl'lllat
h0111e.ForVirginiahadom' g rl"ll all Lletio n th at
EnglandJa('k ed:pkntifulland.This sec lIIed lIIo re
lmp0rlJ1HthantlK'rq'ortsoflh s...·as('.s ta n ·atio n an d
cannibalismthl·rc.InEngland.asinEurope
gl'l1l'Tally.th l'hndw asoWllnl byIh l' rk h .In
Virgini;l;1 poo rJlun cou ldhore for;1fUlllo f hisll\-n
tofCl' dhis t:ullily.
Thecaptainandtheprincess
C apta inJohnSmith was the most able ofthe
origin alj amesto wnscnlcrs .Allenergetic27-yl'ar-
o ldsold ierandexplorer,hehadalreadyhadalife
fu llofactionwhc-nhelan dedthereIII](1117.It was
hewhoo rganizedrhc first jamestownco lonistsand
forcedt he m 10 work.Ifhehadnordonerhar.the
infan t scrrlcmc-nrwouldprobablyhavecollapsed.
\Vh ellroodsupplksranoutSmithsetoffmrct he
fo rests 10 buyco rnfromrhcAml·r indian s. 011 o n e
o ft heseexpeditionshewastakenprisonc-. A (' -
cordingroa slOry thath e rold lar...-r (w hichnot
cvcrvoncbelieved).t heAmerindianswerego m g
10 beat his b rai ns Ollt when Po caho ntas. t he
rwc lvc-vca r-o lddaughterofrhc chid.Powhnran,
savedhislifebys hid d inghis bodywithherOWIL
PocahontaswentOil 10 play;1Ilimpo rtan t part 111
V irglll la'ssurvjval.bringlll gfoodtoth estarvmg
settlers Shc-, ncxr underGod. " wroteSmith.
"wasrh ·mstrumcnrmprl'Sl'[\·c thiscolonvfrom
d eath,f.1111im'and UHaconfusi on. "
In160 9SmithW;ISbadlyinjuredina g un po w der
explosionand W;IS sen t back to England. Fin '
y('ars later, in 16]-1. Pocahontas m arried the
tobaccop lanterJohnHolte.In)(.16shetravelled
to Eng landwithhimandwaspr...·..cure datcourtto
King.J aillesI. ItW;ISthereth.rtrhcporrr.uryousec
h ere w aspain tcd.Pocahoma..diedofsmallpoxin
16 1 7 while w aiti ngtoboard a ..hlpto carrv her
hackto Virg in iawit hhernewbornson.When the
son grcw up he retur ned to Virgi nia. Many
Virgin ianstodayclaimtohedescendedfro mhi m
JndsofromPo caho ntas,A.p,'rtrairc:f
P~cal,,"'It1_,.
p ar·lllt'd
J" ritrJ:
lierl'i.,ilIII
L"nJ,,,,.