John Smith

1. John Smith The General History Of Virginia

2. Born in 1580 in Willoughby, England, John Smith left home at age 16 after his father died. From early youth he was a soldier, and for four years he was in wars in the Netherlands.

3. Smith’s Coat of Arms

4. At the age of twenty-seven, already greatly renowned, he sailed for America on Dec. 19, 1606 with Captain Christopher Newport. • Newport commanded three vessels that bore 105 emigrants who were preparing to form the colony of Virginia under the grant and direct patronage of James I.

5. King James I

6. Smith had made himself so useful that the king named him as one of the councilors of the new colony. • The voyage was by the southern route, and was long and tedious.

7. The fleet anchored May 13, 1607. • The settlement received the name of Jamestown, in further demonstration of loyalty to the king.

8. Illustration of the original settlement

9. When the first re-supply ship did not return to Jamestown in November, John Smith set out to trade with the Indians for food.

10. In December 1607, Smith was captured by several Indian warriors and taken to a local chief named Powhatan.

11. Smith was made to take part in some sort of ritual or trial, after which, in keeping with an Indian custom, he was made a subordinate chief in the tribe.

12. Smith was convinced that Pocahontas, Powhatan’s 11 year old daughter, had saved his life.

13. Pocahontas

14. By early 1608 only 38 of the original 104 colonists were still alive • Due to bad government and near chaos, Smith was eventually elected president of the local council in September 1608.

15. Badly wounded by a gunpowder explosion in the fall of 1609, Smith returned to England. • Smith spent his remaining years in England writing books about America. • Smith died in 1631.