THE FOUNDING OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL 223 



India Company, was a commercial organization. The first 

 ship-load of emigrants numbered one hundred and five, of 

 whom forty-eight were classed as ' gentlemen,' while there 

 were unhappily only twelve laborers, and very few mechanics. 

 The voyage occupied four months, from January i to April 

 26, 1607. They sailed up the broad river Powhatan, which 

 they re-named the James, in honor of the King, and founded 

 Jamestown, on a low and swampy peninsula, at the mouth of the 

 Chickahominy. This was in direct violation of their instruc- 

 tions, "neither must you plant in a low and moist place, be- 

 cause it will prove unhealthful." The colonists paid dearly for 

 their rashness ; marsh fevers, with careless regimen, decimated 

 their ranks ; and in six months fifty men, or one-half the colony, 

 had died. 



The red man, too, was offended by the coming of the white 

 man. After the first wild surprise, and the terror of fire-arms 

 were recovered from, the savages began their endeavors to get 

 rid of the unwelcome guests. Crafty and cunning, blood- 

 thirsty and cruel, they cut off straggling parties in ambush, and 

 finally killed three hundred and forty-seven settlers in one day 

 by a concerted massacre, after the infant colony had grown to 

 some two thousand souls. Women and children alike were 

 slaughtered without mercy. Days of sore trial, and nights of 

 fear and distress succeeded to the brilliant hopes of the early 

 emigrants. Provisions often failed, what corn they got from 

 the Indians was quickly consumed, and famine stared them in 

 the face. Too many of the colony were shiftless adventurers, 

 unaccustomed and unwilling to work, and the fruitful soil, 

 ready to yield luxuriant crops, remained largely untilled. The 

 hardy and resolute Captain John Smith, tired of the idle com- 

 pany that surrounded him, set out on an expedition of discovery, 

 and visited Powhatan, the emperor of the Virginia tribes, at 

 Werowocomoco. Later, he sailed up the Potomac river, and it 

 is supposed, rather than proven, saw the site of the present 

 District of Columbia. 



So much interest attaches to the long controversy over John 

 Smith's claims to honor and credence as pioneer and historian, 

 that I may be pardoned for briefing some of the points involved. 



