John Smith of Jamestown; Man or Myth?
The Self Proclaimed Governor of Jamestown Had a Checkered Past
Oct 11, 2008
If he were alive today, John Smith of Jamestown would be as popular as George Clooney, and twice as notorious. In his historical narrative, A General History of Virginia, Smith, writing in the third person, paints himself as the driving force, indeed the savior of the struggling English colony, and slyly insinuates his love for young Pocahontas. Unlike the sober Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Plantation over a decade later, Smith was not driven by religious persecution or a moral code. He came for money and for glory. His writing shows it.
The Voyage to Virginia
The somewhat accurate 2005 film, The New World, directed by Malicks and starring Colin Farrell as Smith, depicts the wily explorer brought to the shores of Virginia in the brig, in chains, and under a death sentence for mutiny. He is spared by “the President” of the colony whom Smith, in his own narrative account, heaps scorn upon. Nevertheless, he imposed order on the colony by giving men the choice of food or the lash. He embarked on various expeditions to explore and to hunt for provisions.
Smith’s Time with the Algonquians
Captain John Smith was captured by the Powhatan tribe of Algonquian Indians during an expedition, and brought before the great chief Pumunkee. There is no doubt the experience was terrifying and that his life was in danger.
He was brought into a hall in great fear where he confronted Indians dressed in bird feathers and beads with red paint on their faces. According to his own account, Smith showed “the savages” his fancy compass and threw gunpowder in the fire. It wasn’t enough. They laid him out on the dirt floor and raised rocks to bash his brains out.
The Role of Pocahontas
Pocahontas was around 11 or 12 in the early 17th century, which is the era that A General History of Virginia accounts for. Although his companions had already been killed, according to Smith, she begged for his life and placed her head on his to save him. She was a favorite of her father, the Chief, so he relented. His mercy cost him and his ancestors because the consequent wave of English settlers resulted, in time, to a virtual genocide of the Indian people and their way of life. Unfortunately, it also cost him his beloved daughter as well.
The Epilogue of A General History of Virginia
Pocahontas was instrumental in keeping the settlers alive with provisions and Smith acknowledges such aid in his narrative. Unfortunately, her empathy worked against her. Although Smith was against it, the settlers captured Pocahontas and held her as protection against the ire of her native people.
An intelligent young girl, she quickly converted to Christianity, mastered the language, and began dressing in western clothes. She met and married an Englishman, John Rolfe, had a son, and was received as Lady Rebecca in English court. Although she pined for Virginia, she contracted smallpox, and died there at the tender age of 22.
Smith continued to burnish his own career traveling as far as Baltimore and to the Potomac River. He argued with Jamestown settlers about who should be in charge, but there was no consensus. Injured in a gunpowder explosin, he eventually he left, returned to England with furs, and abandoned Virginia except for his own written and unarguably subjective account.
