The Birth of America
Struggling from one peril to the next, the Jamestown settlers planted the seeds of the nation's spirit
In the more celebrated record, penned many years later, Smith's head was placed on a stone and men with clubs were told "to beate out his braines." But "Pocahontas the King's dearest daughter ... got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperour was contented he should live."
Whatever Pocahontas's role, her father declared Smith his friend and set him free. That friendship, for a while, strengthened Smith's ability to barter for the food that time and again kept Jamestown from going under. With an eye on the benefits of trade, Powhatan seemed to crave peace. "Why should you take by force from us that which you can obtain by love?" the chief asked during one of the several visits Smith would make in the months ahead. "Why should you destroy us who have provided you with food?"
But the relationship between captain and chief was fickle. Whenever they met, Powhatan asked Smith to prove his friendship by leaving his pistol outside. Smith, wary of being overtaken, insisted it's OK for a friend to come armed. At one point, over the objections of Smith, the English gave Powhatan a copper crown. They were delighted when he allowed it to be placed on his head, because it meant he now was a subject of King James. Once the proud chief recognized the symbolism, he ordered another of his intermittent cutoffs in trade.
And kindness, Smith believed, was not to be wasted on savages. After his men beat back a waterborne ambush, he ordered the attackers' canoes destroyed. He relented when the Indians agreed to deliver 400 baskets of corn at harvest time. When they failed to keep their word, Smith started burning their houses. The natives quickly complied.
From his legendary close call at Powhatan's place, Smith returned to Jamestown and instantly found his life again at risk. For letting settlers be ambushed and killed, council leaders had decided he too should die. Suddenly, a supply ship from London arrived. Its commander, Christopher Newport, the same skipper who had saved Smith's neck in the West Indies, took charge and set the captain free.
No free meals. Five days after Newport's relief ship brought 80 fresh settlers into the colony, one of the newcomers accidentally set a fire that raced from one thatched structure to another, destroying almost the entire village plus the new provisions. Again, food from the Indians helped the settlers hang on till the next supply vessel appeared in the spring.
Summer 1608 found the colonists sick, lame, and complaining about the "silly president," the vain John Ratcliffe, for whom a presidential palace was being built. When Ratcliffe's term expired in September, Smith took over. He promptly scrapped the palace and dispensed a dose of military discipline. "He that will not worke shall not eate," Smith declared as he set the indolent to cutting timber and sawing boards for shelters that would help the colony endure the hard winter. Any toiler who cursed risked the penalty of cold water poured down his sleeve.
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