Captain John Smith

by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

Peace and plenty at the settlement—Smith sets out to discover the source of the Chickahominy—He falls into an ambush and has a running fight with two hundred warriors—Walks into a swamp and is forced to surrender—Opechancanough the chief of the Pamaunkes—Smith is put to a test of courage—He figures in a triumphal procession—Has suspicions that he is being fattened for the table—He sends a timely warning to Jamestown and diverts a projected attack by the Indians—Smith is dealt with by the medicine men—A strange, wild ceremony enacted by hideously painted and bedecked creatures.

The close of the year 1607 found the settlement in good circumstances. The store was well stocked with maize, peas and beans, smoked venison and fish, dried fruits and nuts. Warm coats and coverings had been made from fur and feathers and a large quantity of wood had been cut and stacked for fuel. There did not appear to be any danger of hardship in Jamestown during the ensuing winter, although such a careless and incompetent lot as our settlers were apt to create trouble for themselves out of the most favorable conditions. There were only three persons in authority—Ratcliffe, Martin and Smith. The first was a man of mean ability and doubtful integrity. Martin, honest and well-meaning, was a constant invalid and incapable of any degree of activity. Smith was by this time recognized by all as the true leader of the colony and the only man in it who could secure obedience and maintain discipline. When he was in Jamestown, order prevailed and work progressed. When he left, the settlers scarcely pretended to heed the orders of the other members of the Council. Indeed, Percy and Scrivener, who were known to be in full accord with Smith, had greater influence with the rank and file than Ratcliffe or Martin. In fact the north-country nobleman and the Londoner played the part of faithful watchdogs during the Captain’s absence, and it was arranged that one at least of them should always remain at Jamestown when Smith went abroad.

As we know, inaction was positively abhorrent to our hero and, the settlement being now thoroughly quiet and quite prepared for the winter, he determined on an expedition designed to trace the Chickahominy to its source. Exploration was one of the chief duties of the colonists and Smith, as he tells us, hoped that he might soon discover “some matters of worth to encourage adventurers in England.” The Indians along the river had been so friendly during his foraging trip the month before that he felt safe in making the present journey, but his military training and natural prudence would not permit him to relax his usual precautions. But there was one important feature of Indian tactics with which the American colonists had not become familiar. They had yet to learn how large bodies of redskins would watch a settlement, or track a party on the move, for days and weeks without allowing their presence to be known. Ever since their landing, [the settlers had been under the sleepless eye of spies lying hidden] in grass or behind trees, and from the moment Captain Smith left Jamestown his progress had been flanked by a body of savages moving stealthily through the woods.

[THE SETTLERS HAD BEEN UNDER THE SLEEPLESS EYE OF SPIES LYING HIDDEN]

The barge proceeded fifty miles up the river without incident, but presently the stream became too shallow to admit of its going farther. A canoe was secured from a village in the vicinity, with two Indians to paddle it. In this Smith decided to push on to the head of the river, taking with him two of his men. The remainder he left in the barge, instructing them not to go on shore and to keep a sharp lookout until his return. Twenty miles onward the canoe travelled when an obstruction of fallen trees brought the party to a halt. It seemed probable that the source of the stream could be but a few miles beyond and Smith determined to seek it on foot accompanied by one of the Indians. The other and the two Englishmen he left in the canoe, cautioning them to keep their matches burning, and at the first sign of danger to fire an alarm.

Smith had hardly gone a mile through the forest when he was suddenly startled by a shrill war-whoop. He could see no one and he had not been warned of danger by his men as agreed. He concluded, therefore, that they had been surprised and killed with the connivance of the guide. Even as the thought flashed through his mind he grappled with the Indian beside him and wrenched the bow from his grasp. It was done in an instant, and as quickly he bound an arm of the savage to his own with one of his garters. He had not completed the act when an arrow half spent struck him on the thigh and a moment later he discerned two dusky figures drawing their bows upon him. These disappeared at the discharge of his pistol, and he was congratulating himself on having routed them so easily when two hundred warriors, hideous in paint and feathers, rose from the ground in front of him. At their head was Opechancanough, the chief of the Pamaunkes.

The situation would have suggested surrender to the ordinary man. There could be no use in Smith’s contending against such numbers and to retreat to the river would be no less futile, since his men in the canoe must have been captured. It was not, however, in our hero’s nature to give up until absolutely obliged to do so. He could see no possibility of escape but he proposed to make it as difficult as possible for the savages to capture him. With this thought he placed the guide before him as a shield and prepared, with a pistol in each hand, to meet an onrush of the warriors. But they had no mind to rush upon those fearful fire-spitting machines and kept off, discharging their arrows from a distance that rendered them harmless. Seeing this, Smith began to retire, keeping his face towards the enemy and holding his human buckler in place. The Indians responded to this movement by cautiously advancing and at the same time they sought to induce the Englishman to lay down his arms, promising to spare his life in case he should do so. Smith positively declined the proposition, insisting that he would retain his weapons but promising not to make further use of them if he should be permitted to depart in peace; otherwise he would use them and kill some of his assailants without delay. The Indians continuing to advance upon him, Smith let go both his pistols at them and took advantage of the hesitation that followed to retreat more rapidly.

Of course this combat was of the most hopeless character and our hero must ultimately have been shot to death had not an accident suddenly put an end to his opposition. Still stepping backward and dragging his captive with him he presently walks into a deep morass and reaches the end of his journey in more than one sense, for it is in this swamp that the Chickahominy rises and he has fulfilled his undertaking to find the head of the river. It was at once clear to the dauntless explorer that he must yield, and that quickly, for he and his Indian were fast sinking in the icy ooze of the bog. He threw his pistols away in token of surrender and his savage adversaries rushed up and extricated him from his perilous situation.