2 24 SPOFFORD 



Until recently, all histories of Virginia have been built upon 

 Smith's early narratives, the writers simply repeating one an- 

 other. His romantic history was accepted as unquestioned, 

 until modern criticism took hold of it, and applied searching 

 analysis to its many improbabilities. The story of his rescue 

 from a bloody death by Pocahontas has been printed in hun- 

 dreds of volumes, and has even been perpetuated in a grotesque 

 sculpture by Capellano in the rotunda at Washington — a har- 

 rowing example of the barbaric art that prevails in yonder 

 Capitol. This story is wholly unsupported by any contempo- 

 raneous evidence. Not one of the early chroniclers of Vir- 

 ginia — Wingfield, Spelman, Bullock, Jones, Beverly — alludes 

 to it. Smith himself published two books on Virginia soon 

 after the alleged rescue, the ' True Relation ' in 1608, and 

 the ' Map of Virginia' in 1612, in which he tells of his treat- 

 ment by Powhatan, but not a word of any contemplated massa- 

 cre. His first recorded statement of it was in a letter eight 

 years after to Queen Anne, in 1616, when he briefly said she 

 had saved his life. This was expanded in his ' Generall 

 Historic,' 1624, sixteen years after the event, into the detailed 

 romance of the two great stones with Captain Smith dragged 

 and laid out upon them, the savages standing ready with clubs 

 to beat out his brains, and Pocahontas getting his head in her 

 arms, and laying her own head upon his to save him from death. 

 Smith's other works, moreover, abound in marvellous tales 

 of his prowess and escapes in Africa and Asia, where a fair 

 Turkish princess also saves his life. The least that can be 

 said in judging of the strange tale is that it is not proven. 

 Among the historical writers who discredit it are Neill, Deane, 

 Alexander Brown, Henry Adams, Bancroft, Lodge, Eggleston 

 Charles Dudley Warner, Gay, Palfrey, and Doyle. On the 

 other hand, among the modern writers who credit it are W. W. 

 Henry, Howison, Bruce, Arber, and John Fiske. 



It may, indeed, be thought that the discredit of John Smith 

 has recently been carried too far. The reverse swing of the 

 pendulum of historic judgment may have done injustice to one 

 who must ever remain a notable figure in American history. 

 Captain John Smith was an egotist and a braggart, but he was a. 



