Podcast – The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia – Part 2

The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia – Part 2
After landing, the colonists begin immediately commenced clearing land and constructing shelters. Then, a band of natives attacked.
From the Book:
Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664

Transcript:

Greetings, today I will talk about the colonists landing at the Jamestown site.

Their initial landing on April 26, accomplished, the English colonists searched for a site to settle. If successful, they would be the first permanent English settlement in North America. At length, the president they chose to lead them, Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, decided on a spot. It was on a marshy spit of land on the north shore of the James River. They arrived on the spot on May 13, 1607 and went ashore on May 14.

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Captain Edward Maria Wingfield (1550–1631)
Born to Thomas Maria Wingfield and Margaret Kay, near Stoneley Priory, England Edward Wingfield entered military service early in life. Taken a prisoner of war in the Protestant Dutch Republic’s war against Spanish Catholics, he gained his release on 1589. After a brief retirement and stint in Parliament, he returned to military service, fighting next in Ireland. Once again, he retired from the military.
At the invitation of his cousin, Bartholomew Gosnold, he joined the new Virginia Company. The Company was just beginning to organize its colonization efforts in the New World. Through his efforts, about forty of the original settlers joined the expedition. At the conclusion of the voyage, the settlers chose him to serve as president for a one-year term.
The Site
The Virginia Company leaders had given them some specific qualities that they wanted in a colony. It had to have deep-water access for the large ships to anchor. Because the Spanish were active in the area, the site had to be hard for patrolling Spanish ships to see. It needed to be upstream far enough that the colonists would be alerted to them before any attack. The site he chose proved to be a good choice in one respect, but bad in many others. The local Amerindian tribes did not use the site, deeming it too poor to raise crops. Thus, an English settlement there posed no immediate threat to them and they largely left it alone. It also had bad qualities. It was low, marshy ground well stocked with disease carrying mosquitoes. There was a serious shortage of fresh water. The early settlers drank water poisoned by salt, causing many deaths due to salt poisoning. Many historians feel the first quality balanced out the other two. If they had chosen a spot used by the local tribes, they may have attacked them and wiped them out.

After they chose the site, they began clearing land and building structures. They called it Jamestown, in honor of King James I of England.

The settlers that landed at Jamestown had landed on May 14, 1607. Their immediate concern was to clear land to grow crops and structures in which to live. The colonists also had to be wary of the Spanish, who were active in the area. About a week after choosing the site, Captain Christopher Newport led a group of twenty-three of the men on an exploring expedition up the James river. The expedition penetrated about fifty miles upstream to the falls, near the present site of Richmond, Virginia. As they traveled, they encountered members of the Powhatan tribe. The expedition returned to the new settlement. On May 26, a band of about 200 warriors attacked the new settlement. The settlers managed to drive off the attackers after losing two men in the attack. The survivors begin immediate work on a stronger fort for protection.

The episode is based upon my book, Colonial American History Stories – 1215 – 1664, available on the web site, http://www.mossyfeetbooks.com. The book is the first book in the 6 volume Timeline of United States History Series . Discover some of the famous and almost forgotten historic stories of America. The story begins with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and the beginnings of the concept of limited government and ends, for now, with the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775. The articles in the book have much more detail as well as articles not included in this podcast series.