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On June 21, 1631, John Smith, English explorer (Chesapeake Bay, New England) and leader of the Virginia Colony (Jamestown), dies at age 51. From the article:
"In 1606, Smith became involved with the Virginia Company of London's plan to colonize Virginia for profit; it had been granted a charter by King James. The expedition set sail in three small ships, the Discovery, the Susan Constant, and the Godspeed, on 20 December 1606. His page was a 12-year-old boy named Samuel Collier.[1]
During the voyage, Smith was charged with mutiny, and Captain Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships) had planned to execute him. These events happened approximately when the expedition stopped in the Canary Islands[9][10] for resupply of water and provisions. Smith was under arrest for most of the trip. Fortunately for Smith, upon first landing at what is now Cape Henry on 26 April 1607, unsealed orders from the Virginia Company designated Smith as one of the leaders of the new colony, thus, perhaps, sparing Smith from the gallows.[1][11]
By the summer of 1607, the English colonists were still living in temporary housing. The search for a suitable site ended on 14 May 1607 when Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, president of the council, chose the Jamestown site as the location for the colony. After the four-month ocean trip, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day. Due to swampy conditions and widespread disease, someone died almost every day. By September, more than 60 of the 104 brought by Newport were dead. The men may well have died from drinking brackish creek water and from poor nutrition.[12]
In early January 1608, nearly 100 new settlers arrived with Captain Newport on the First Supply, and through carelessness the village was set on fire. That winter the James River froze over, and the settlers were forced to live in the burnt ruins. During this time, they wasted much of the three months that Newport and his crew were in port loading their ships with iron pyrite (fool's gold). Food supplies ran low, although the Native Americans brought some food, and Smith wrote that "more than half of us died".[13] Later in 1608, Smith spent that summer exploring Chesapeake Bay waterways and produced a map that was of great value to Virginia explorers for more than a century.[13]
In October 1608, Newport brought a second shipment of supplies along with 70 new settlers, including the first women. Some German, Polish, and Slovak craftsmen also arrived,[14][15][16][17] but they brought no food supplies. Newport brought with him a list of counterfeit Virginia Company orders which angered John Smith greatly. He wrote an angry letter in response. One of the orders was to crown the Native American leader Powhatan emperor and give him a fancy bedstead. The Company wanted Smith to pay for Newport's voyage with such as the colony could produce in the form of pitch, tar, sawed boards, soap ashes, and glass.[12]
After that, Smith tried to obtain food from the local Native Americans and it took threats of military force for them to comply. Powhatan was alarmed at the great number of white men coming and may have been trying to starve them out.[12]
Smith found that there were those among both the settlers and Native Americans who were planning to take his life, and it is written that he was warned about the plan by Pocahontas. He called a meeting and threatened those who were spoiled and not working "that he that will not work shall not eat." After that, the situation improved and the settlers worked with more industry, albeit with some punishments as needed.[18][19]"
"In 1606, Smith became involved with the Virginia Company of London's plan to colonize Virginia for profit; it had been granted a charter by King James. The expedition set sail in three small ships, the Discovery, the Susan Constant, and the Godspeed, on 20 December 1606. His page was a 12-year-old boy named Samuel Collier.[1]
During the voyage, Smith was charged with mutiny, and Captain Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships) had planned to execute him. These events happened approximately when the expedition stopped in the Canary Islands[9][10] for resupply of water and provisions. Smith was under arrest for most of the trip. Fortunately for Smith, upon first landing at what is now Cape Henry on 26 April 1607, unsealed orders from the Virginia Company designated Smith as one of the leaders of the new colony, thus, perhaps, sparing Smith from the gallows.[1][11]
By the summer of 1607, the English colonists were still living in temporary housing. The search for a suitable site ended on 14 May 1607 when Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, president of the council, chose the Jamestown site as the location for the colony. After the four-month ocean trip, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day. Due to swampy conditions and widespread disease, someone died almost every day. By September, more than 60 of the 104 brought by Newport were dead. The men may well have died from drinking brackish creek water and from poor nutrition.[12]
In early January 1608, nearly 100 new settlers arrived with Captain Newport on the First Supply, and through carelessness the village was set on fire. That winter the James River froze over, and the settlers were forced to live in the burnt ruins. During this time, they wasted much of the three months that Newport and his crew were in port loading their ships with iron pyrite (fool's gold). Food supplies ran low, although the Native Americans brought some food, and Smith wrote that "more than half of us died".[13] Later in 1608, Smith spent that summer exploring Chesapeake Bay waterways and produced a map that was of great value to Virginia explorers for more than a century.[13]
In October 1608, Newport brought a second shipment of supplies along with 70 new settlers, including the first women. Some German, Polish, and Slovak craftsmen also arrived,[14][15][16][17] but they brought no food supplies. Newport brought with him a list of counterfeit Virginia Company orders which angered John Smith greatly. He wrote an angry letter in response. One of the orders was to crown the Native American leader Powhatan emperor and give him a fancy bedstead. The Company wanted Smith to pay for Newport's voyage with such as the colony could produce in the form of pitch, tar, sawed boards, soap ashes, and glass.[12]
After that, Smith tried to obtain food from the local Native Americans and it took threats of military force for them to comply. Powhatan was alarmed at the great number of white men coming and may have been trying to starve them out.[12]
Smith found that there were those among both the settlers and Native Americans who were planning to take his life, and it is written that he was warned about the plan by Pocahontas. He called a meeting and threatened those who were spoiled and not working "that he that will not work shall not eat." After that, the situation improved and the settlers worked with more industry, albeit with some punishments as needed.[18][19]"
John Smith (explorer) - Wikipedia
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Captain John Smith Founder of Virginia 1954 Encyclopaedia Britannica Films
more at http://quickfound.net/links/history_search_and_news.html "Dramatizes the struggles of the men who founded Jamestown, the first permanent English colo...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on June 21, 1631 English explorer and leader of the Jamestown Virginia Colony settlement Captain John Smith died in England at age 51.
My darling wife and I have visited Jamestown several time. It is now a National Park area.
Background from historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/john-smith/
"Virginians know that Captain John Smith was vital to the survival of Jamestown in its early years. They can quote his order: “He that will not work shall not eat.” But few know that Smith’s adventures started years before Jamestown.
Born in 1580 in Willoughby, England, Smith left home at age 16 after his father died. He joined volunteers in France who were fighting for Dutch independence from Spain. Two years later, he set off for the Mediterranean Sea as a sailor on a merchant ship. In 1600 he joined Austrian forces to fight the Turks in the “Long War.” A valiant soldier, he was promoted to captain while fighting in Hungary. He was fighting in Transylvania in 1602 when he was wounded in battle, captured, and sold as a slave to a Turk. This Turk then sent Smith as a gift to his sweetheart in Istanbul, but Smith wrote that this girl fell in love with him and sent him to her brother for training to join Turkish imperial service. Smith said he escaped by murdering the brother and fleeing through Russia and Poland. He traveled throughout Europe and Northern Africa before he returned to England in the winter of 1604-05.
Restless in England, Smith became actively involved with plans by the Virginia Company to colonize Virginia for profit. Smith was on the fleet of three ships that set sail December 20, 1606, and during the four-month voyage was charged with mutiny by the leader of the expedition, Captain Christopher Newport. Smith was a prisoner when the ships reached Virginia in April 1607—but was released when the other colony leaders opened orders from the Virginia Company and discovered Smith was to be on the governing council. The colony struggled to feed itself, and Smith proved skillful at securing food from the Virginia Indians. He was exploring the Chickahominy River region in December 1607 when he was captured by Chief Powhatan’s men. Smith’s first meeting with Chief Powhatan, the supreme leader in the Chesapeake region, was eventful, but historians have cast doubt on whether the captain’s life was really saved by Powhatan’s favorite daughter, Pocahontas, as Smith reported years later. What is known is that Powhatan released Smith, and the ongoing rise and fall of the relationship between Smith and Powhatan determined many of the early successes and challenges of Jamestown.
On September 10, 1608, Smith became president of the council for the colony. He installed a policy of rigid discipline, strengthened defenses, and encouraged farming with his order that all must work or face starvation. Smith had settlers dig the first well inside the fort (and Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists have found that well and the many unique artifacts it held when it became a trash pit). Smith ordered the repair of many buildings and the expansion of the fort into a five-sided structure, which archaeologists have also traced. Smith also led the first English explorations of the Chesapeake Bay and was almost killed by a ray on the first of the two expeditions. Smith’s strong leadership helped the colony survive and grow but also made him enemies within the fort. As he slept in a boat in the river one night, Smith was badly injured by a mysterious gunpowder explosion. He return to England for treatment in October 1609 and never set foot in Virginia again.
Smith produced some of the most detailed reports about early Virginia, such as True Relation of Virginia in 1608, Map of Virginia in 1612, Generall Historie of Virginia (beginning in 1624, there were six editions in eight years), and True Travels in 1630. Recent archaeology at the original fort site has confirmed some of his most famous details. Smith died in England in 1631 at age 51."
Captain John Smith Founder of Virginia 1954 Encyclopaedia Britannica Films
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94naEDJgyK8
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
My darling wife and I have visited Jamestown several time. It is now a National Park area.
Background from historicjamestowne.org/history/pocahontas/john-smith/
"Virginians know that Captain John Smith was vital to the survival of Jamestown in its early years. They can quote his order: “He that will not work shall not eat.” But few know that Smith’s adventures started years before Jamestown.
Born in 1580 in Willoughby, England, Smith left home at age 16 after his father died. He joined volunteers in France who were fighting for Dutch independence from Spain. Two years later, he set off for the Mediterranean Sea as a sailor on a merchant ship. In 1600 he joined Austrian forces to fight the Turks in the “Long War.” A valiant soldier, he was promoted to captain while fighting in Hungary. He was fighting in Transylvania in 1602 when he was wounded in battle, captured, and sold as a slave to a Turk. This Turk then sent Smith as a gift to his sweetheart in Istanbul, but Smith wrote that this girl fell in love with him and sent him to her brother for training to join Turkish imperial service. Smith said he escaped by murdering the brother and fleeing through Russia and Poland. He traveled throughout Europe and Northern Africa before he returned to England in the winter of 1604-05.
Restless in England, Smith became actively involved with plans by the Virginia Company to colonize Virginia for profit. Smith was on the fleet of three ships that set sail December 20, 1606, and during the four-month voyage was charged with mutiny by the leader of the expedition, Captain Christopher Newport. Smith was a prisoner when the ships reached Virginia in April 1607—but was released when the other colony leaders opened orders from the Virginia Company and discovered Smith was to be on the governing council. The colony struggled to feed itself, and Smith proved skillful at securing food from the Virginia Indians. He was exploring the Chickahominy River region in December 1607 when he was captured by Chief Powhatan’s men. Smith’s first meeting with Chief Powhatan, the supreme leader in the Chesapeake region, was eventful, but historians have cast doubt on whether the captain’s life was really saved by Powhatan’s favorite daughter, Pocahontas, as Smith reported years later. What is known is that Powhatan released Smith, and the ongoing rise and fall of the relationship between Smith and Powhatan determined many of the early successes and challenges of Jamestown.
On September 10, 1608, Smith became president of the council for the colony. He installed a policy of rigid discipline, strengthened defenses, and encouraged farming with his order that all must work or face starvation. Smith had settlers dig the first well inside the fort (and Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists have found that well and the many unique artifacts it held when it became a trash pit). Smith ordered the repair of many buildings and the expansion of the fort into a five-sided structure, which archaeologists have also traced. Smith also led the first English explorations of the Chesapeake Bay and was almost killed by a ray on the first of the two expeditions. Smith’s strong leadership helped the colony survive and grow but also made him enemies within the fort. As he slept in a boat in the river one night, Smith was badly injured by a mysterious gunpowder explosion. He return to England for treatment in October 1609 and never set foot in Virginia again.
Smith produced some of the most detailed reports about early Virginia, such as True Relation of Virginia in 1608, Map of Virginia in 1612, Generall Historie of Virginia (beginning in 1624, there were six editions in eight years), and True Travels in 1630. Recent archaeology at the original fort site has confirmed some of his most famous details. Smith died in England in 1631 at age 51."
Captain John Smith Founder of Virginia 1954 Encyclopaedia Britannica Films
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94naEDJgyK8
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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