Starving Time (Jamestown)
Encyclopedia
The Starving Time at Jamestown
in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610.
The colonists, the first group of whom had originally arrived at Jamestown on May 14, 1607, had never planned to grow all of their own food. Their plans depended upon trade with the local Native Americans'
Powhatan
Confederacy to supply them with food between the arrivals of periodic supply ships from England.
The efforts by anti-English leaders amongst the Powhatan Confederacy succeeded in isolating the tenuous English colony. Additionally, lack of access to water and a relatively dry rain season crippled the agricultural production of the colonists. After Captain John Smith's return to England in December 1609, the Powhatan placed the colony completely under siege and attempted to end the English settlement through starvation. A fleet from England, damaged by a hurricane, arrived months behind schedule with new colonists, but without expected food supplies.
On June 7, 1610 the survivors boarded ships, abandoned the colony site, and sailed towards the Chesapeake Bay
, where another supply convoy with new supplies and headed by a newly-appointed governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr
, intercepted them on the lower James River and returned them to Jamestown. Within a few years, the commercialization of tobacco
by John Rolfe
secured the settlement's long-term economic prosperity.
settlement at Jamestown
had been established on May 14, 1607, with the arrival of three ships commanded by Captain Christopher Newport
. The initial small group of 104 men and boys chose the location because it was favorable for defensive purposes, but it offered poor hunting prospects and a shortage of drinking water
. Although they did some farming, few of the original settlers were accustomed to manual labor or familiar with farming. They failed to plant crops early enough to ensure a successful harvest. Hunting on the island was very poor, and they quickly exhausted the supply of small game. The colonists were largely dependent upon trade with the Indians and periodic supply ships from England for their food.
A series of incidents with the Indians soon developed into serious conflicts, ending any hope of a commercial alliance with them. This forced the settlers into close quarters, behind fortified walls, severely limiting their ability to farm the area and trade with other Indian tribes. Various attempts at farming led to kidnappings and murders by the Powhatans while expeditions to establish relations with other Indians resulted either in the emissaries being ambushed and killed by the Powhatans, or proved fruitless in gaining sufficient supplies. The combination of disease, murder, and kidnapping almost obliterated the initial English population.
After expanding fortifications, reinforcing shelters, and placing armed men to defend crops from Indian attacks, Newport felt he had resecured the settlement by the end of winter. Therefore, he sailed for England again in April 1608, returning to Jamestown that October with the "Second Supply". On board were the colony's first two women—Mistress Forrest and her maid Anne Burras
—as well as more supplies and additional settlers, including craftsmen trained to make glass.
had emerged as most capable of successfully trading with the Natives. Over the first several months of settlement, the survivors (including Smith), had gained sufficient intelligence of the surrounding tribes to start more focused diplomatic initiatives with Powhatan's enemies. Using the Discovery, the smallest of the three ships which had been left behind for their use, the colonists explored the surrounding area including the Chesapeake Bay
. Smith successfully traded for food with the Indian Nansemond
s, who were located along the Nansemond River
in the modern-day City of Suffolk
. He had mixed results dealing with the various other tribes, most of whom were affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy. But for John Smith's efforts, the efforts by Powhatan would have destroyed the entire colony.
With the coming arrival of the new supply fleet, Captain Smith felt the colony was sufficiently reinforced to engage the Powhatan directly with a diplomatic initiative aimed at securing at least a temporary respite from Indian sniping, kidnapping, and assaulting. Taking a small escort they made their way through incessant attacks to the capital of the Powhatan Confederacy. During one legendary encounter with the warrior Opechancanough, his life was spared (according to Smith's later account) by the intervention of Pocahontas
, the young daughter of Chief Powhatan
.
This event proved fortuitous for the English, as Chief Powhatan was obviously unaware of the dire straits of the Colony. For shortly after Newport returned in early January 1608, bringing new colonists and supplies, one of the new colonists accidentally started a fire that leveled all of the colony's living quarters. The fire further deepened the colony's dependence on the Indians for food. With the marriage, instead of another attack from the Powhatan, Pocahontas brought food and supplies. The trade soon proved to Chief Powhatan the weakness of the English colony.
In August 1609, Smith, who had gained the respect of the Powhatans, was injured in a gunpowder accident and had to return to England for medical treatment, leaving on October 4, 1609. With Smith gone, the Chief Powhatan felt clear to end the truce and he began a campaign to starve the English out of Virginia. The Powhatans stopped trading with the colonists for food.
John Ratcliffe, captain of the Discovery, became colony president and tried to improve the colony's situation by obtaining food. Hoping to emulate Captain Smith, John Ratcliffe attempted a trade mission shortly after being elected, he was captured by Chief Powhatan and tortured to death, leaving the colony without strong leadership. The Powhatans carried out additional attacks on other colonists who came in search of trade. Hunting also became very dangerous, as they killed any Englishmen they found outside the fort.
was the new flagship
of the Virginia Company of London. The Virginia Company's "Third Supply" mission was the largest yet, led by the Sea Venture, which had been especially built for the purpose. The Sea Venture was considerably larger than the other eight ships traveling with her. She carried a large portion of the supplies intended for the Virginia Colony.
The "Third Supply" to Jamestown with a nine-vessel fleet left London on June 2, 1609. Veteran Captain Christopher Newport
commanded the Sea Venture as Vice Admiral. Also aboard the new flagship were the Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers
, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates
, William Strachey
and other notable personages in the early history of English colonization in North America.
While crossing the Atlantic Ocean
, the convoy transporting 500 new colonists and supplies ran into a severe storm, possibly a hurricane, which lasted for three days. The Sea Venture and one other ship were separated from the seven other vessels of the fleet. Admiral Somers had the Sea Venture deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda
to prevent her sinking. The 150 passengers and crew members all landed safely on July 28, 1609, but the ship was now permanently damaged.
In the aftermath of the storm, one ship returned to England. The other seven ships arrived safely at Jamestown, delivering 200–300 men, women, and children, but relatively few supplies, since most had been aboard the large flagship. In the Colony, there was no word of the fate of the Sea Venture, its supplies, passengers, or the leaders who had been aboard her.
Captain Samuel Argall
, piloting one of the ships of the Third Supply which made it to Jamestown, was among those who hurried back to England to advise of Jamestown's plight. However, no further supply ships from England arrived that year, nor the following spring.
There are few records of the hardships the colonists experienced in Virginia that winter. Arms and valuable work tools were traded to the Powhatans for a pittance in food. Houses were used as firewood. Archaeologists have found evidence that they ate cats, dogs, horses, and rats. In early 2007 at least three respected authorities concluded, based on some credible evidence, that the starvation conditions were so severe that corpses were dug up, and human flesh was eaten. A scientist has suggested another sinister possibility: arsenic poisoning
.
On Bermuda, shortly after they were shipwrecked, the survivors fitted the Sea Ventures longboat with a mast and sent it to sea to find Virginia; it and its crew were never seen again. The remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, Deliverance and Patience, from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture. Then, leaving two men to maintain England's claim to the newly-discovered archipelago
, the remainder sailed to Jamestown, finally arriving on May 23, 1610.
The survivors of the Sea Venture, led by Gates (the new governor) and George Somers, assumed they would find a thriving colony in Virginia. Instead, they found the colony in ruins and practically abandoned. Of the 500 colonists living in Jamestown in the autumn, they found fewer than 100 survivors with many of those sick or dying. Worse yet, many supplies intended for Jamestown had been lost in the shipwreck at Bermuda, and Gates and Somers had brought along with them only a small food supply.
It was decided to abandon the colony. On June 7, 1610, everyone was placed aboard the ships to return to England, and they began to sail down the James River.
On April 1, 1610, three more ships were dispatched from England bound for Jamestown, equipped with additional colonists, a doctor, food, and supplies. Heading this group was the new governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr
, better known in modern times as "Lord Delaware".
Governor West and his party arrived on the James River on June 9, just as the Deliverance and Patience were sailing downriver to leave Virginia. Intercepting them about 10 miles downstream from Jamestown near Mulberry Island
(now a part of the massive U.S. Army Base at Fort Eustis in Newport News), the new governor forced the Deliverance and Patience to return to the abandoned colony. This was not a popular decision at the time, but Lord Delaware was to prove a new kind of leader for Virginia.
. His wife and young daughter had perished during the journey and delay at Bermuda. While it can be said that Lord Delaware literally turned the colonists around, it could be equally said that John Rolfe (among the group sent back to Jamestown on June 9) was the individual most responsible for turning the failing economy of the young colony around. His fortunes and those of the Colony were both about to change.
Rolfe, a businessman from London, had planned to become a planter upon arrival in Virginia, and had some new ideas about exporting tobacco
for profit. He knew that the native tobacco from Virginia was not liked by the English settlers, nor did it appeal to the market in England. However, he brought with him some seeds for several new strains of tobacco to experiment with. Using the sweeter strains, Rolfe is credited with being the first to commercially cultivate
Nicotiana tabacum tobacco plants in North America in 1611; the export of this sweeter tobacco beginning in 1612 helped turn the Virginia Colony into a profitable venture. Soon, Rolfe and others were exporting substantial quantities of the new cash crop
. New plantation
s began growing up all along the James River
, from the mouth at Hampton Roads
all the way west to Henricus
, and on both sides of the river, where export shipments could use wharves to ship the product.
John Rolfe became prominent and wealthy, and soon held an interest in several plantations, including a large farm on Mulberry Island, just ashore from where Lord Delaware had met the group departing Jamestown only a few years earlier. John Rolfe is said to have founded Varina Farms
near Sir Thomas Dale
's progressive new city of Henricus and in 1614, he married Chief Powhatan's daughter, the Native American princess Pocahontas
, who had converted to Christianity and taken the name Rebecca. The couple had one son, Thomas Rolfe
, who was born in 1615.
and the Third Powhatan War which was initiated by another surprise massacre of the colony's vulnerable women and children. However, each attack was met with stiff resistance, a counter-offensive, severe reprisals and eventual defeat of the Powhatan Confederacy. After almost forty years of tenuous existence surrounded by a general hostile Indian nation, the Virginia Colony emerged victorious and effectively decimated the Powhatan nation and broke up the Confederacy by 1646.
Through the descendants of Thomas Rolfe, many of the First Families of Virginia
almost 400 years later trace their lineage to both the Native Americans of the Powhatan Confederacy and the English-born settlers of Jamestown. With tobacco as a successful export crop, the financial future and permanency of the Virginia Colony was assured.
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610.
The colonists, the first group of whom had originally arrived at Jamestown on May 14, 1607, had never planned to grow all of their own food. Their plans depended upon trade with the local Native Americans'
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
Powhatan
Powhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
Confederacy to supply them with food between the arrivals of periodic supply ships from England.
The efforts by anti-English leaders amongst the Powhatan Confederacy succeeded in isolating the tenuous English colony. Additionally, lack of access to water and a relatively dry rain season crippled the agricultural production of the colonists. After Captain John Smith's return to England in December 1609, the Powhatan placed the colony completely under siege and attempted to end the English settlement through starvation. A fleet from England, damaged by a hurricane, arrived months behind schedule with new colonists, but without expected food supplies.
On June 7, 1610 the survivors boarded ships, abandoned the colony site, and sailed towards the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
, where another supply convoy with new supplies and headed by a newly-appointed governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
, intercepted them on the lower James River and returned them to Jamestown. Within a few years, the commercialization of tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
by John Rolfe
John Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
secured the settlement's long-term economic prosperity.
Dependency upon outside resources
The EnglishKingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
settlement at Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
had been established on May 14, 1607, with the arrival of three ships commanded by Captain Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
. The initial small group of 104 men and boys chose the location because it was favorable for defensive purposes, but it offered poor hunting prospects and a shortage of drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
. Although they did some farming, few of the original settlers were accustomed to manual labor or familiar with farming. They failed to plant crops early enough to ensure a successful harvest. Hunting on the island was very poor, and they quickly exhausted the supply of small game. The colonists were largely dependent upon trade with the Indians and periodic supply ships from England for their food.
A series of incidents with the Indians soon developed into serious conflicts, ending any hope of a commercial alliance with them. This forced the settlers into close quarters, behind fortified walls, severely limiting their ability to farm the area and trade with other Indian tribes. Various attempts at farming led to kidnappings and murders by the Powhatans while expeditions to establish relations with other Indians resulted either in the emissaries being ambushed and killed by the Powhatans, or proved fruitless in gaining sufficient supplies. The combination of disease, murder, and kidnapping almost obliterated the initial English population.
First and second supply trips
After dropping off the settlers, and returning to England, Christopher Newport returned to Jamestown again in January 1608 from England with what was called the "First Supply" and about 100 new settlers. Upon his return, he found that the effects of the lack of planning and lack of skills amongst the original colonists had combined with Powhatan attacks in reducing the original settlement to only thirty-eight survivors.After expanding fortifications, reinforcing shelters, and placing armed men to defend crops from Indian attacks, Newport felt he had resecured the settlement by the end of winter. Therefore, he sailed for England again in April 1608, returning to Jamestown that October with the "Second Supply". On board were the colony's first two women—Mistress Forrest and her maid Anne Burras
Anne Burras
Anne Burras was an early English immigrant to Virginia and an Ancient Planter. She was the first English woman to marry in the New World, and her daughter Virginia was the first child of English colonists to be born in the Jamestown colony....
—as well as more supplies and additional settlers, including craftsmen trained to make glass.
Trading with the natives for food
Among the leaders, Captain John SmithJohn Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
had emerged as most capable of successfully trading with the Natives. Over the first several months of settlement, the survivors (including Smith), had gained sufficient intelligence of the surrounding tribes to start more focused diplomatic initiatives with Powhatan's enemies. Using the Discovery, the smallest of the three ships which had been left behind for their use, the colonists explored the surrounding area including the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
. Smith successfully traded for food with the Indian Nansemond
Nansemond
The Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
s, who were located along the Nansemond River
Nansemond River
The Nansemond River is a tributary of the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia. The Nansemond River Bridge crosses the river near its mouth. Both it and the former State Route 125 bridge, demolished in 2008, were once toll bridges. The river begins at the outlet of Lake Meade north of...
in the modern-day City of Suffolk
Suffolk, Virginia
Suffolk is the largest city by area in Virginia, United States, and is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,585. Its median household income was $57,546.-History:...
. He had mixed results dealing with the various other tribes, most of whom were affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy. But for John Smith's efforts, the efforts by Powhatan would have destroyed the entire colony.
With the coming arrival of the new supply fleet, Captain Smith felt the colony was sufficiently reinforced to engage the Powhatan directly with a diplomatic initiative aimed at securing at least a temporary respite from Indian sniping, kidnapping, and assaulting. Taking a small escort they made their way through incessant attacks to the capital of the Powhatan Confederacy. During one legendary encounter with the warrior Opechancanough, his life was spared (according to Smith's later account) by the intervention of Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, the young daughter of Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh , was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607...
.
This event proved fortuitous for the English, as Chief Powhatan was obviously unaware of the dire straits of the Colony. For shortly after Newport returned in early January 1608, bringing new colonists and supplies, one of the new colonists accidentally started a fire that leveled all of the colony's living quarters. The fire further deepened the colony's dependence on the Indians for food. With the marriage, instead of another attack from the Powhatan, Pocahontas brought food and supplies. The trade soon proved to Chief Powhatan the weakness of the English colony.
In August 1609, Smith, who had gained the respect of the Powhatans, was injured in a gunpowder accident and had to return to England for medical treatment, leaving on October 4, 1609. With Smith gone, the Chief Powhatan felt clear to end the truce and he began a campaign to starve the English out of Virginia. The Powhatans stopped trading with the colonists for food.
John Ratcliffe, captain of the Discovery, became colony president and tried to improve the colony's situation by obtaining food. Hoping to emulate Captain Smith, John Ratcliffe attempted a trade mission shortly after being elected, he was captured by Chief Powhatan and tortured to death, leaving the colony without strong leadership. The Powhatans carried out additional attacks on other colonists who came in search of trade. Hunting also became very dangerous, as they killed any Englishmen they found outside the fort.
Third supply
The Sea VentureSea Venture
The Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
was the new flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the Virginia Company of London. The Virginia Company's "Third Supply" mission was the largest yet, led by the Sea Venture, which had been especially built for the purpose. The Sea Venture was considerably larger than the other eight ships traveling with her. She carried a large portion of the supplies intended for the Virginia Colony.
The "Third Supply" to Jamestown with a nine-vessel fleet left London on June 2, 1609. Veteran Captain Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
commanded the Sea Venture as Vice Admiral. Also aboard the new flagship were the Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers
George Somers
This article is about the English naval hero. For the American football player, see George Somers Admiral Sir George Somers was an English naval hero. Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the son of John Somers, his first fame came as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston against the Spanish...
, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates
Thomas Gates
Thomas Gates may refer to:*Sir Thomas Gates , of the Virginia Company, an early leader and governor of the Colony of Virginia*Thomas Sovereign Gates , U.S. educator, first president of the University of Pennsylvania...
, William Strachey
William Strachey
William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...
and other notable personages in the early history of English colonization in North America.
While crossing the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, the convoy transporting 500 new colonists and supplies ran into a severe storm, possibly a hurricane, which lasted for three days. The Sea Venture and one other ship were separated from the seven other vessels of the fleet. Admiral Somers had the Sea Venture deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
to prevent her sinking. The 150 passengers and crew members all landed safely on July 28, 1609, but the ship was now permanently damaged.
In the aftermath of the storm, one ship returned to England. The other seven ships arrived safely at Jamestown, delivering 200–300 men, women, and children, but relatively few supplies, since most had been aboard the large flagship. In the Colony, there was no word of the fate of the Sea Venture, its supplies, passengers, or the leaders who had been aboard her.
Captain Samuel Argall
Samuel Argall
Sir Samuel Argall was an English adventurer and naval officer.As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown, and made numerous voyages to the New World...
, piloting one of the ships of the Third Supply which made it to Jamestown, was among those who hurried back to England to advise of Jamestown's plight. However, no further supply ships from England arrived that year, nor the following spring.
Winter 1609–1610
At Jamestown, a drought earlier in 1609 during the normal growing season had left the fields of the colonists of Virginia barren. Between the lack of trade with the Indians, and the failure of the Third Supply to arrive with expected supplies, the colony found itself with far too little food for the winter. With the new arrivals, there were many more mouths to feed. There are different interpretations as to what occurred during the horrid winter of 1609-1610. Some sources say that the colonists were under siege by the Powhatan Native Americans but the lack of primary documentation reveals the hastiness in that conclusion. Others say that it was a mixture of the drought, harsh winter and deteriorating Native-English relationships or that it was brought on by the English and that it was completely avoidable for various reasons. What we do know is that hundreds of colonists died horrible deaths from a culmination of different reasons that we may never know.There are few records of the hardships the colonists experienced in Virginia that winter. Arms and valuable work tools were traded to the Powhatans for a pittance in food. Houses were used as firewood. Archaeologists have found evidence that they ate cats, dogs, horses, and rats. In early 2007 at least three respected authorities concluded, based on some credible evidence, that the starvation conditions were so severe that corpses were dug up, and human flesh was eaten. A scientist has suggested another sinister possibility: arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the element arsenic in the body. Arsenic interferes with cellular longevity by allosteric inhibition of an essential metabolic enzyme...
.
On Bermuda, shortly after they were shipwrecked, the survivors fitted the Sea Ventures longboat with a mast and sent it to sea to find Virginia; it and its crew were never seen again. The remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, Deliverance and Patience, from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture. Then, leaving two men to maintain England's claim to the newly-discovered archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
, the remainder sailed to Jamestown, finally arriving on May 23, 1610.
The survivors of the Sea Venture, led by Gates (the new governor) and George Somers, assumed they would find a thriving colony in Virginia. Instead, they found the colony in ruins and practically abandoned. Of the 500 colonists living in Jamestown in the autumn, they found fewer than 100 survivors with many of those sick or dying. Worse yet, many supplies intended for Jamestown had been lost in the shipwreck at Bermuda, and Gates and Somers had brought along with them only a small food supply.
It was decided to abandon the colony. On June 7, 1610, everyone was placed aboard the ships to return to England, and they began to sail down the James River.
Lord De La Warr and more supplies
During the period that the Sea Venture suffered its misfortune, and its survivors were struggling in Bermuda to continue on to Virginia, back in England the publication of Captain John Smith's books of his adventures in Virginia sparked a resurgence of interest in the colony. This helped lead to new interest and investment in the Virginia Company. There was also a moral call in England by clergymen and others for support for the stranded colonists.On April 1, 1610, three more ships were dispatched from England bound for Jamestown, equipped with additional colonists, a doctor, food, and supplies. Heading this group was the new governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
, better known in modern times as "Lord Delaware".
Governor West and his party arrived on the James River on June 9, just as the Deliverance and Patience were sailing downriver to leave Virginia. Intercepting them about 10 miles downstream from Jamestown near Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island
Mulberry Island is located along the James River in the city of Newport News, Virginia, in southeastern Virginia at the confluence of the Warwick River on the Virginia Peninsula.- History:...
(now a part of the massive U.S. Army Base at Fort Eustis in Newport News), the new governor forced the Deliverance and Patience to return to the abandoned colony. This was not a popular decision at the time, but Lord Delaware was to prove a new kind of leader for Virginia.
Future of the colony
Among the survivors of the Sea Venture who arrived at Jamestown in May 1610, and were turned back by Lord Delaware, was a young Englishman named John RolfeJohn Rolfe
John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
. His wife and young daughter had perished during the journey and delay at Bermuda. While it can be said that Lord Delaware literally turned the colonists around, it could be equally said that John Rolfe (among the group sent back to Jamestown on June 9) was the individual most responsible for turning the failing economy of the young colony around. His fortunes and those of the Colony were both about to change.
Rolfe, a businessman from London, had planned to become a planter upon arrival in Virginia, and had some new ideas about exporting tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
for profit. He knew that the native tobacco from Virginia was not liked by the English settlers, nor did it appeal to the market in England. However, he brought with him some seeds for several new strains of tobacco to experiment with. Using the sweeter strains, Rolfe is credited with being the first to commercially cultivate
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
Nicotiana tabacum tobacco plants in North America in 1611; the export of this sweeter tobacco beginning in 1612 helped turn the Virginia Colony into a profitable venture. Soon, Rolfe and others were exporting substantial quantities of the new cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
. New plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s began growing up all along the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
, from the mouth at Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
all the way west to Henricus
Henricus
The "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
, and on both sides of the river, where export shipments could use wharves to ship the product.
John Rolfe became prominent and wealthy, and soon held an interest in several plantations, including a large farm on Mulberry Island, just ashore from where Lord Delaware had met the group departing Jamestown only a few years earlier. John Rolfe is said to have founded Varina Farms
Varina Farms
Varina Farms, also known as Varina Plantation or Varina Farms Plantation or "Varina on the James", is a plantation established by John Rolfe on the James River about 40 miles upstream from the first settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, and across the river from Sir Thomas Dale's 1611...
near Sir Thomas Dale
Thomas Dale
Sir Thomas Dale was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in Virginia, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the...
's progressive new city of Henricus and in 1614, he married Chief Powhatan's daughter, the Native American princess Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, who had converted to Christianity and taken the name Rebecca. The couple had one son, Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Wahunsunacock, the chief of Powhatan tribe in Virginia.-Early Life:Thomas Rolfe was born in Virginia...
, who was born in 1615.
Aftermath
The arrival of Lord De la Warr with a substantial armed force of pilgrims filled with patriotic fervor spreading Protestantism and the English, resulted in a counter-offensive against the Powhatan Confederacy. The campaign ended the Powhatan siege and resulted in the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe which introduced a short period of truce between the English and the Powhatan Confederacy. Although the truce was a short one, it allowed the English to fully secure the colony's fortifications and housing, expand its farming, develop a network of alliances with other Indian nations, and establish a series of outlying smaller settlements. The Powhatan Confederacy attempted two other wars against the English, including the Second Powhatan War which was initiated by the Massacre of 1622Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
and the Third Powhatan War which was initiated by another surprise massacre of the colony's vulnerable women and children. However, each attack was met with stiff resistance, a counter-offensive, severe reprisals and eventual defeat of the Powhatan Confederacy. After almost forty years of tenuous existence surrounded by a general hostile Indian nation, the Virginia Colony emerged victorious and effectively decimated the Powhatan nation and broke up the Confederacy by 1646.
Through the descendants of Thomas Rolfe, many of the First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They originated with colonists from England who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and along the James River and other navigable waters...
almost 400 years later trace their lineage to both the Native Americans of the Powhatan Confederacy and the English-born settlers of Jamestown. With tobacco as a successful export crop, the financial future and permanency of the Virginia Colony was assured.
External links
- Jamestown Rediscovery project, Preservation Virginia web site
- Historic Jamestowne: Where are We Digging Now?
- New Discoveries at Jamestown by John L. Cotter and J. Paul Hudson, (1957) at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- The Assembly 2007 — Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the First Landing
- Jamestown Discovery Trail