The Pocahontas-John Smith StoryEdmunds, Pocahontas Wight
History
The Pocahontas-John Smith Story
Edmunds, Pocahontas Wight
Pocahontas, -1617; Smith, John, 1580-1631
He was briefly succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale, a grim disciplinarian. Dale
was disgusted with the carefree bowling in the streets. He would have
been more so a few years back had he seen the naked Pocahontas turning
cart-wheels in these streets while the serving boys whirled in her
trail, never quite keeping up with her--nor would he have liked the tall
tobacco growing rampant in these streets, a few years hence at a time
when food crops were needed. Dale believed in all work and no
play--never mind dull boys. Houses, the storehouse, and the church
needed repairs. Besides he ordered new buildings: a stable, a munition
house, a powder house, fishhouse, a barn, a smith's forge, a clean well,
and a wharf for landing goods.
He also built up two new towns. Bermuda City he named for the haven
which the _Sea Venture_ survivors had appreciated after the tempest.
After Gates became governor in 1611, Dale preferred to live in
Henricopolis, which was situated on a higher and drier site than
Jamestown enjoyed. It had three streets of well-framed houses, several
having brick first stories. They had gardens and orchards, and more
space than those in Jamestown.
By Christmas there was a pretty street in Jamestown itself which had a
London look. There were "two fair rows of framed timber houses with
upper garrets corn-loft high." Some had plaster on the lower framing and
some weather boarding, while still others had shingle tiles which were
hung from the battens across the posts. There was a blockhouse outside
of town, the town itself being enclosed with a palisade.
Sir Thomas Gates who had arrived again in August of 1611 with six
vessels and three hundred men, replacing Dale, had the "Country House"
for governors built. It had a commanding view of the river, outside of
the town limits.
Fine as these buildings were, they were constantly needing repair. A
jealous Spanish spy declared in 1613 that the whole settlement could be
kicked over. Spanish spies had been captured outside of Jamestown in
1611 and were kept there for several years.
Until 1612 Sir Thomas Smith, who was no kin of John, but who gave
prestige to the name, being the most powerful merchant in London, had
managed the colony by remote control, along with his docile council in
England. Then a joint stock company began, being composed of the "court
party" which urged martial law and the "patriot party." Sir Thomas Smith
gradually veered from the patriot to the court party, leaving the former
to brilliant Sir Edwin Sandys.
Samuel Argall, a cousin of Thomas Smith, had landed with Delaware
earlier. In 1613 he was sent to capture fifteen Frenchmen who had left
Nova Scotia to try a settlement in Mount Desert, Maine, and he brought
them as prisoners to Jamestown.
That same year Argall became a frequent figure in the Pocahontas story.
V
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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