Smith, John

January 6, 1580

Lincolnshire, England

June 1631

London, England

Leader of Jamestown Colony

"At the minute of my execution, [Pocahontas] . . . hazarded the beating out of her own braines to save mine."

John Smith.

John Smith was one of the original seven council members (governors) of Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. Smith was a colorful figure as well as an author, whose works about life in early Virginia are still read today. His resourcefulness was invaluable to the Jamestown colonists, who lacked the motivation or skills to survive the harsh circumstances of a strange land. In addition, Smith was one of the few Englishmen to regard Native Americans as fellow human beings. He is perhaps best known for being saved from execution by Pocahontas (see entry), daughter of Powhatan (see entry), the powerful leader of a large Native American confederacy known as the Powhatan people. Although historians have questioned the truth of this story, it remains one of the most popular legends in American history.

Pursues military career

John Smith was born in Lincolnshire, England, to George and Alice (Rickards) Smith. His father was a farmer who made a comfortable living by working his own farm and leasing another from Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby. Unlike a majority of English children at the time, Smith attended grammar school, where he learned to read and write. He also attracted the attention of Lord Willoughby, whose patronage (financial and social support) helped him leave the farms of Lincolnshire, and pursue interests other than farming. When Smith was fifteen he was apprenticed to (learned a trade in exchange for working) a merchant at the seaport of King's Lynn, but soon decided he did not want to work in the mercantile trade. Upon his father's death in 1596 he received a small inheritance. Shortly thereafter he joined the French army.

In late 1596 or early 1597 Smith left England for the Netherlands to participate in a French military campaign against Spain. After a peace treaty was signed in 1598 he remained in the Netherlands as a soldier for three or four years. Around 1600 Smith left the army and returned to Lincolnshire. There he began to educate himself in history and military strategy, reading about the art of war in the works of Italian politician Niccolò Machiavelli and Roman general Marcus Aurelius. He also perfected his hunting and horsemanship skills with the assistance of Theodore Paleologue, Italian riding master to the Earl of Lincoln. Paleologue was a descendant of Constantine XI , the last Greek emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. He taught Smith the Italian language and also told him tales about the Ottoman Turks. (Ottoman Turks were Turkish tribes who were part of the Ottoman empire; they were Muslims, or followers of Islam, who sought expansion in Europe in the seventeenth century.) None of these opportunities would have been possible for a man of Smith's station in life without the help of Lord Willoughby.

Describes fantastic adventures

Smith soon left England again, seeking adventure and wealth in the foreign military service. According to his own account he had many exciting adventures—thus presenting a problem for historians. Throughout his life Smith was a prolific writer who gave vivid descriptions of his exploits. Yet modern scholars have questioned his version of events because he seemed primarily interested in self-promotion and advancement. Nevertheless the basic facts of Smith's fantastic tales appear to coincide with other historical records.

In 1600 Smith sailed for Rome with a group of French Catholic pilgrims. His real destination was the Holy Roman Empire, and his purpose was to join the Christian campaign against the Ottoman Turks. Smith wrote that during the voyage he was thrown overboard because he was suspected of being a Huguenot (a member of a branch of Calvinism, a Protestant Christian faith). He said he was then rescued by a pirate or a privateer (people who attach and rob ships), on whose ship he served for some time. After sailing through Italy and Dalmatia he joined the army of the Archduke of Austria. His first encounter with the Ottoman Turks occurred during a relief expedition to a fortified town on the border of western Hungary. He claimed he played a pivotal role in the Christian victory because he had remembered secret signals and diversionary tactics from his reading of military works. As a reward he was promoted to the rank of captain and given command of 250 horsemen.

Sold into slavery

Smith described other feats of bravery he performed while serving under Prince Zsigmond of Transylvania. According to his account, he killed three Turkish soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. As the Europeans were laying siege to a Turkish stronghold in Transylvania, Smith wrote, a Turk challenged them to a duel to the death on horseback. The Europeans drew straws to select their champion (the person who would engage in combat), and Smith won. During the encounter he decapitated (beheaded) this Turk and two others. When the siege ended the Europeans had triumphed. In recognition of Smith's valor, Prince Zsigmond awarded him a coat of arms (an actual coat or an emblem) decorated with three Turk heads to signify his brave feat, then named him "a gentleman."

" . . . had God not blessed the discoverers. . . . "

John Smith's writings provide modern historians with extensive information about early Jamestown, the first successful English settlement in America. In Generall Historie of Virginia (1624) Smith described the settlers' arrival on the coast of the Chesapeake Bay in 1606 and their subsequent attempts to build a colony while establishing relations with the Native Americans. Following is an excerpt from that account. (Smith referred to himself in the third person.)

The first land they made they called Cape Henry; where thirty of them recreating themselves on shore, were assaulted by five savages, who hurt two of the English very dangerously.

That night was the box opened, and the orders read, in which Bartholomew Gosnoll, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Ratliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall, were named to be the Council, and to choose a President amongst them for a year, who with the Council should govern. Matters of moment were to be examined by a jury, but determined by the major part of the Council, in which the President had two voices.

Until the 13 of May they sought a place to plant in; then the Council was sworn, Master Wingfield was chosen President, and an oration [formal speech] made, why Captain Smith was not admitted of the Council as the rest.

Now fell every man to work, the Council contrive [manage] the Fort, the rest cut down trees to make place to pitch their tents; some provide clapboard to relade [reload] the ships, some make gardens, some nets, etc. The savages often visited us kindly. The Presidents overweening jealousy would admit no exercise at arms, or fortification but the boughs [branches] of trees cast together in the form of a half moon by the extraordinary pains and diligence of Captain Kendall.

Newport, Smith, and twenty others, were sent to discover the head of the river: by divers [various] small habitants they passed, in six days they arrived at a town called Powhatan, consisting of some twelve houses, pleasantly seated on a hill; before it three fertile isles, about it many of their cornfields, the place is very pleasant, and strong by nature, of this place the Prince is called Powhatan, and his people Powhatans. To this place the river is navigable: but higher within a mile, by reason of the rocks and Isles, there is not passage for a small boat, this they call The Falls. The people in all parts kindly entreated them, till being returned within twenty miles of James town, they gave just cause of jealousy: but had God not blessed the discoverers otherwise than those at the Fort, there had been an end of that plantation; for at the Fort, where they arrived the next day, they found 17 men hurt, and a boy slain by the savages, and had it not chanced a cross barre [bar] shot from the Ships struck down a bough from a tree amongst them, that caused them to retire, our men would have all been slain since they were all at work and their arms were stored away.

Hereupon the President was contented the Fort should be palisaded [fenced], the ordnance [stock of military supplies] mounted, his men armed and exercised: for many were the assaults, and ambushes of the savages, and our men by their disorderly straggling were often hurt, when the savages by the nimbleness of their heels well escaped.

Reprinted in: Colbert, David, ed. Eyewitness to America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997, pp. 16–17.

Smith's next adventure was less successful. The Europeans were soundly defeated at a battle near the Red Tower Pass in Romania. Injured but still alive, Smith was captured and sold into slavery. He lived first in Istanbul, Turkey, where he apparently befriended a Turkish lady. He was then taken to Russia as a slave. In time he killed his master, escaped, and journeyed west until he eventually found Zsigmond. With a present of gold ducats (coins) from his Transylvanian patron, Smith toured Germany, France, and Spain. He reached Gibraltar, and from there sailed to Tangier and Morocco. After narrowly escaping capture by French pirates, Smith returned home on an English warship.

Joins Virginia Company

Smith arrived in England around 1605. The following year he was briefly involved in a failed plan for an English settlement in Guiana. Then, through connections with the Willoughbys, he met Bartholomew Gosnold, a businessman starting a colony in North America. Smith joined this venture, which was called the Virginia Company, and was named one of seven council members who would oversee the Virginia Colony in America. On December 19, 1606, the party of 105 emigrants embarked in three ships from Blackwall, England. For some unknown reason, the names of the council members were sealed in a box that was not to be opened until the expedition reached America. Christopher Newport was temporarily placed in charge during the voyage. The crossing was difficult, and soon Smith came into conflict with Newport over an unspecified issue. Possibly unaware that Smith was a member of the council, Newport had him arrested and imprisoned for the majority of the trip.

Valuable leader at Jamestown

When the party reached Virginia on April 26, 1607, Smith was still under suspicion. Nevertheless he was officially made a councilor of the colony. In addition, his military experience soon made him an invaluable leader of the capital of the colony, which was called Jamestown in honor of King James I. The Jamestown settlers were totally unprepared for surviving in an unfamiliar land. Motivated mainly by stories of an Eldorado (a city full of gold) that could be found in the New World (a term referring to North and South America), they had not acquired the skills to support themselves by farming. Consequently they had to buy, beg, or steal food and other necessities from the Powhatans, the local Native American tribe. It was at this time that the colonists also came to rely on Smith's resourcefulness and business sense. During his stay in Virginia he explored rivers, traded with the Native Americans, made maps, and kept detailed notes that he later published. Smith's writings provided modern historians with extensive information about early Jamestown. Smith was also one of the first Englishmen to regard Native Americans as human beings.

Saved by Pocahontas?

In 1607 Smith was captured while exploring Powhatan territory and taken before Powhatan, the powerful leader of a confederacy of area tribes. According to one of Smith's accounts of the event, the chief's twelve-year-old daughter, Pocahontas, prevented him from executing Smith. In a letter to Queen Anne (wife of James I), dated 1616, Smith claimed that Powhatan sentenced him to death. Then, Smith declared, "at the minute of my execution, [Pocahontas] . . . hazarded the beating out of her own braines to save mine." Some scholars have questioned this version of the incident. In an earlier account, for instance, Smith mentioned neither Pocahontas nor an execution. He simply said he was brought before Powhatan, who questioned him about the presence of the English in Native American territory. After Smith gave his reply, the chief dismissed him. Whatever the truth of the story, Smith managed to survive not only captivity but—unlike many of his fellow colonists—also the diseases that ravished the colony.

Leaves Virginia

By September 1608 Smith was the only councilor remaining in Virginia, so he became president of the colony by

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default (automatically). Under his leadership the inexperienced settlers built houses, completed a church, fortified Jamestown, and learned how to farm and fish. While Smith managed to keep the struggling colony from dissolving, however, he did so at the expense of his own popularity. He imposed strict rules and forced the colonists to obey his orders. As a result he caused much resentment and bitterness. In 1609 another group of settlers arrived from England. Along with them came several of Smith's old enemies, who plotted against him. The colonists also had continuing problems with the Native Americans. Smith might have been able to weather these difficulties if he had not been severely wounded when a stray spark from a fire lit his gunpowder bag as he lay napping. The explosion and subsequent flames burned him so badly that his life was threatened. The following October he sailed back to England.

Explores New England

Smith survived his injuries and reported the colony's progress to the Virginia Company in London. But he would never see Virginia again. In 1614 he sailed to the northeast coast of North America along the Atlantic Ocean, in the area of present-day Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Calling the region New England, he mapped part of the coastline. Smith planned two later excursions to America: one to establish a colony in New England, and the other to go to Plymouth with the Mayflower settlers. None of these plans worked out, and Smith never went back to America. Nevertheless, he acquired the title of admiral of New England. He spent his time drafting maps and writing pamphlets. In 1624 the Virginia Company went bankrupt and James I took over Virginia as a royal colony (that is, the colony was administered by the British government instead of private investors). That year Smith published his best-known work, The Generall Historie of Virginia, in which he described the first successful attempt at English colonization in America. He also wrote a handbook for sailors. In 1631 Smith published his last work, a discussion of problems in Virginia and New England. He died later that year while visiting at the home of a friend.

For further research

Barbour, Philip L. The Worlds of Captain John Smith. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964.

Colbert, David, ed. Eyewitness to America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997, pp. 16–17.

Emerson, Everett H. Captain John Smith. Rev. ed. Old Tappan, N.J.: Macmillan Library Reference, 1993.

Foster, Genevieve. The World of Captain John Smith. New York: Scribner, 1959.

Graves, Charles P. John Smith. Broomall, Pa.: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991.