Before the Pilgrims, a 'Savage' Jamestown

The 400th anniversary of Jamestown's founding has inspired a fresh look at America's founding rascals.

from the May 8, 2007 edition

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"In fact," he writes, "most of the gentlemen of Jamestown had military backgrounds, and, while some hated the idea of heavy manual labour, they by no means saw themselves as due a life of ease." Many had seen battle in Europe as soldiers; some were poor, barely able to pay their passage and fleeing hardship at home.

Several factors worked against the colony's success: A "Little Ice Age" was producing unusually harsh winters in North America that not only surprised the colonists but depleted the stores of Indian corn, making the local tribes less able or willing to trade food to the settlers. The region was also suffering its worst drought in centuries. Diseases took their toll. During the "Starving Time," survivors resorted to eating anything they could lay hands on – plant or animal – and eventually even cannibalism. At one point the entire remnant of settlers boarded ships to return to England – only to have a supply ship intercept them and escort them back to Jamestown.

Woolley describes the political machinations that swirled around the colony – sometimes in mind-numbing detail – as backers in England squabble and send a string of new officials to try to revive the enterprise.

The Jamestown saga is far more complex, Woolley reveals, than the simple love story between courageous explorer John Smith and native "princess" Pocahontas, who according to Smith's own account saved him from death at the hand of her father, Powhatan. What's needed here is a glossary, a Who's Who to keep straight the scores of settlers and native leaders who briefly take center stage in this elaborate narrative. (Let's see, was it Opechancanough or his brother Opitchapam who took over after Powhatan's death?)

Despite hardships, the English colony survived. Why? For one thing, settlers kept coming. For a time the Virginia experiment became a pop culture darling back in England. Early 17th-century publishers were keen to print any book with "Virginia" (named after Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen) in the title. The venture won the approving attention of the king's son, Prince Henry. In "Ode to the Virginian Voyage," poet Michael Drayton called Virginia "Earth's only paradise!" and urged his countrymen to "go and subdue" the new land.

Within a few years John Rolfe (who married Pocahontas) discovered an upscale cash crop to send home: addictive Virginia-grown tobacco. By 1621, more than 3,500 settlers had arrived in 42 ships, though certainly some of them had returned home and many more had died. They included indentured Africans (though slavery as we think of it was decades away), Frenchmen, Germans, Poles, and Italians.

Too late did the aging Powhatan and his successors realize that despite the natives' huge numerical superiority the English had dug in to stay. A bloody Indian uprising in 1622 failed to wipe out the newcomers.

Caught off guard by the surprise attack, the colonists retreated, then rallied and fought back – shocked into a sudden awareness that this "brave new world" had become more than a commercial venture: It was now their homeland, too.

• Gregory M. Lamb is on the Monitor staff.

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