It was obvious to everyone that there were too many men for all to remain at Jamestown. John Martin was sent to attempt a settlement at Nansemond, on the south side of the James below Jamestown, while Capt. Francis West, brother of Lord Delaware, was sent to settle at the falls of the James. Returning to Jamestown after an inspection tour at the falls, Captain Smith was injured by burning gunpowder and incapacitated. The implication in the documents of the period is that Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin used this opportunity to depose him and to compel him to return to England to face their charges against him. These three men, failing to agree on a replacement from their own number, persuaded George Percy to accept the position of president. Percy was in command during the terrible winter that followed. THE “STARVING TIME.” The winter of 1609-10 has been described through the years as the “starving time”—seemingly, an accurate description. It saw the population shrink from 500 to about 60 as a result of disease, sickness, Indian arrows, and malnutrition. It destroyed morale and reduced the men to scavengers stalking the fort, fields, and woods for anything that might be used as food. When spring came there was little spirit left in the settlement. It would seem unjust to attribute the disaster to Percy, who did what he could to ameliorate conditions by attempting trade and keeping the men busy. The “starving time” appears to have been caused by an accumulation of circumstances. There was the matter of the third supply which arrived in such poor condition very late in the season. Bickering prevented measures that could have been taken to prepare for the winter. Dissension continued even after Smith’s departure. Then, too, the Indians knew of conditions at Jamestown, for they actually kept scouts in the fort much of the time. They were learning the ways of the white man and had come to see that he was most vulnerable in the winter season. Heretofore they had supplied him corn—by gift, by trade, or unwillingly through seizure. In the winter of 1609-10, they had a good opportunity to make him suffer, and throughout this period the Indians were openly hostile. Perhaps the increasingly heavy use of force and armed persuasion in dealing with them had resulted in this attitude which, from their point of view, proved highly effective. In the fall of 1608, they had forced the settlers in from Nansemond and the falls. Then, in the winter of 1609-10, Powhatan captured and killed Ratcliffe who had gone to trade with him. All through that winter it was dangerous to be alone far from the fort.