HISTORIC SPOTS OF AMERICA
Jamestown
ONE
Slowly up the river three vessels made their way with the light though favoring breeze. Gradually the open of the bay was passed, as, two days previously, the open of the sea had been left behind. Now the land was closing in on each side, and both ships were alive with the figures of those who stood eagerly scanning the shore. And what they saw was a welcome sight. The April sun was shining on the forests of both banks; elms, they saw, like old friends, stretching out their branches in friendly protection; oaks, too, knotted and gnarled, seemed to voice a welcome. On nearer approach they noticed masses of dogwood in brilliant bloom, and other shrubs in flower, whose fragrance was wafted over to them as a pleasant incense. And there was a riot of sweet birds’ songs coming out of the woods.
Truly, it was a paradise that they had come to, and many fell on their knees in thanksgiving that they had safely crossed the seas and been guided to a land of such beauty. Till night they sailed on up the river, and then the sails were furled, the anchor dropped, and their long journey was at an end.
Thus came the colonists who, a few weeks later, founded Jamestown in Virginia, the first English settlement in America, which they named after King James I. Starting in three small vessels, one of them but twenty tons in burden, they had taken more than four months in crossing.
At first they had only tents to live in. It was late to plant, and food was not plentiful. And they soon learned that terror and death lurked in the land. Indians had stolen up, and with bows and arrows wounded seventeen of the men and killed a boy. The thunder of muskets drove them away; but the settlers felt it necessary to keep regular watch, and each man sat up every third night to take his turn. Those first few months were hard, and many died. Then they built cabins, and enjoyed more comfort.
Captain Smith, later a governor, was absent much of the time, buying food from the Indians. Two years afterward he went home, and the months that followed were called the “Starving Time,” when all but sixty of the four hundred settlers died.
Yet, through many tribulations, Jamestown lived. In 1608 it was burned, and other cabins were built. In 1619 word was received that a representative government had been granted. The settlers were each to have a portion of ground, and plantations were gradually laid out along the James. In spite of Indian massacres the colony and all Virginia grew.
In 1676 Jamestown was burned by Nathaniel Bacon, who had risen against the autocratic rule of the governor. In 1691 the capital of Virginia was removed from Jamestown to Williamsburg, and the importance of the old colony ceased, until it is now but a site of ruins.