“Having here unloaded our goods and bestowed some senight or fortnight
in viewing the country, I was carried by Capt. Smith, our President, to
the Falls, to the little Powhatan, where, unknown to me, he sold me to
him for a town called Powhatan; and, leaving me with him, the little
Powhatan, he made known to Capt. West how he had bought a town for them
to dwell in. Whereupon Capt. West, growing angry because he had bestowed
cost to begin a town in another place, Capt. Smith desiring that
Capt. West would come and settle himself there, but Capt. West, having
bestowed cost to begin a town in another place, misliked it, and
unkindness thereupon arising between them, Capt. Smith at that time
replied little, but afterward combined with Powhatan to kill Capt. West,
which plot took but small effect, for in the meantime Capt. Smith was
apprehended and sent aboard for England.”
That this roving boy was “thrown in” as a makeweight in the trade for
the town is not impossible; but that Smith combined with Powhatan to
kill Captain West is doubtless West's perversion of the offer of the
Indians to fight on Smith's side against him.
According to Spelman's Relation, he stayed only seven or eight days
with the little Powhatan, when he got leave to go to Jamestown, being
desirous to see the English and to fetch the small articles that
belonged to him. The Indian King agreed to wait for him at that place,
but he stayed too long, and on his return the little Powhatan had
departed, and Spelman went back to Jamestown. Shortly after, the great
Powhatan sent Thomas Savage with a present of venison to President
Percy. Savage was loath to return alone, and Spelman was appointed to
go with him, which he did willingly, as victuals were scarce in camp. He
carried some copper and a hatchet, which he presented to Powhatan, and
that Emperor treated him and his comrade very kindly, seating them at
his own mess-table. After some three weeks of this life, Powhatan sent
this guileless youth down to decoy the English into his hands, promising
to freight a ship with corn if they would visit him. Spelman took the
message and brought back the English reply, whereupon Powhatan laid the
plot which resulted in the killing of Captain Ratcliffe and thirty-eight
men, only two of his company escaping to Jamestown. Spelman gives
two versions of this incident. During the massacre Spelman says that
Powhatan sent him and Savage to a town some sixteen miles away. Smith's
“General Historie” says that on this occasion “Pocahuntas saved a boy
named Henry Spilman that lived many years afterward, by her means,
among the Patawomekes.” Spelman says not a word about Pocahuntas. On
the contrary, he describes the visit of the King of the Patawomekes
to Powhatan; says that the King took a fancy to him; that he and Dutch
Samuel, fearing for their lives, escaped from Powhatan's town; were
pursued; that Samuel was killed, and that Spelman, after dodging about
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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