On the estate of Lord Willoughby, in the eastern part of England, there was a family of poor tenants named Smith, who had a son born in 1579. They named him John. John Smith is the most common of names, but this was the most uncommon of all the John Smiths. He was apprenticed to learn a trade, but he ran away from his master and became, for a while, a servant to Lord Willoughby, who was going to Holland.
Like most runaway boys, he found the world a hard place, and had to lead a very rough-and-tumble life. He enlisted as a soldier; he was shipwrecked; he was robbed and reduced to beggary; and, if we may believe his own story, he was once pitched into the sea by a company of pilgrims, who thought that he had caused the storm, like Jonah in the Bible. This must have happened not far from shore, for he reached land without the aid of a whale and went into the war against the Turks. There he killed three Turks in single combat, and cut off their heads, but Captain John Smith came near losing his own head in the fight with the last one.
The Turks captured Smith afterward and made him a slave. His Turkish master was very cruel and put an iron collar on his neck. While Smith was thrashing wheat one day with his dog-collar on, the Turk began to thrash him. Smith grew angry, and, leaving the wheat, hit his master with the flail, killing him on the spot. Then he took a bag of wheat for food, mounted his master's horse and escaped to the wilderness, and got out of Turkey.
When, at last, Captain Smith got back to England with his wonderful budget of stories about narrow escapes and bloody fights, he probably found it hard to settle down to a peaceful life. The English people were just then talking a great deal about settling a colony in North America, which was quite wild and almost wholly unexplored. Nothing suited the wandering and daring Captain Smith better. He joined the company which set sail for America, in three little ships, in 1606. The largest of these was called the Susan Constant.
I am sorry to say the people sent out in this first company were what we should call nowadays a hard set. They were most of them men who knew nothing about work. They had heard how the Spaniards grew rich from the gold and silver in South America, and they expected to pick up gold without trouble.
The colony was settled at a place called Jamestown. Soon after the settlers landed, the American Indians attacked them and the settlers might all have been put to death with the bows and arrows and war-clubs of the Indians, if the people on one of the ships had not fired a cross-bar shot. This cross-bar shot happened to cut down a limb of a tree over the heads of the Indians. When they heard the noise of the cannon, like thunder, and saw the treetops come tumbling on their heads, the Indians thought it was time to make good use of their heels.
The people of that day did not know how to establish colonies, and the lack of good food and shelter caused the death of more than half of the Jamestown settlers. The Indians who lived near them had fields of Indian corn, whose streaming blades and waving tassels were a strange sight to Englishmen. When at last the corn was ripe, Captain John Smith set sail in a small boat and traded a lot of trinkets with the Indians for coin, and so saved the lives of many of the people. The English thought America was only a narrow strip of land. They were still looking for a way to India, as Columbus had looked for it more than a hundred years before. The King of England had told them to explore any river coming from the northwest. Smith therefore set out to sail up the little Chickahominy River to find the Pacific Ocean, not knowing that this ocean was nearly three thousand miles away.
The daring captain left his two men in charge of the boat while he went on farther. The Indians killed the men and then pursued Smith. Smith had taken an Indian prisoner, and he saved himself by putting this prisoner between him and his enemies. But the Indians caught Smith after he had fled into a swamp, where he sank up to his waist in the mud, so that he could neither fight nor run. He made friends with the head Indian of the party by giving him a pocket compass and trying to explain its use.
As all the Indians had a great curiosity to see a colonist, Smith was marched from one Indian village to another; but he was treated with a great deal of respect. Perhaps the Indians thought that men who sailed in big canoes and discharged guns that blazed and smoked and made a noise like thunder and knocked the trees down, must have some mysterious power. But they also thought that if they could persuade the colonists to give them some big guns they could easily conquer all the Indian tribes with whom they were at war.
The Indians surrounded Smith with curious charms by way of finding out whether he was friendly to them or not. They fed him very well; but Smith, who was as ignorant of Indians as they were of colonists, thought that they were fattening him to eat him, so he did not have much appetite.
Powhatan [pow-at-tan'] was the name of the great chief of these Indians. This chief set Smith free. He sent some men along with him on his return to Jamestown to bring back two cannons and a grindstone in exchange for the prisoner; but the Indians found these things rather too heavy to carry, and they were forced to return with nothing but trinkets.
Captain Smith seems to have been the best man to control the unruly settlers and manage the Indians. The people in England who had sent out this colony thought they could make the chief, Powhatan, friendly by sending him presents. They sent him a crown, a wash-basin, and a bedstead, also a red robe, and other things quite unnecessary to living in America. But when Powhatan for the first time in his life had a bedstead and a wash-basin and a red gown, he thought himself so important that he would not sell corn to the settlers, who were in danger of starving. Captain Smith, however, showed him some blue glass beads, pretending that he could not sell them because they were made of some substance like the sky, and were only to be worn by the greatest princes. Powhatan became half crazy to get these precious jewels, and Smith bought a large boatload of corn in exchange for a pound or two of beads.
Captain John Smith had an ordinary name but an extraordinary life. He was a runaway as a boy, enlisted as a sailor, was shipwrecked, was robbed, became a beggar, and was thrown into the sea by a group of pilgrims who thought he caused a storm. He fought against the Turks, was captured, and became a slave in Turkey. He escaped and made it back to England. In 1607, he joined the voyage to establish the first English settlement in America. Unfortunately, most of his fellow colonists were unacquainted with work and erroneously believed they would find gold lying around and strike it rich. They settled in Jamestown, Virginia, and were soon presented with a harsh reality. Instead of gold, the colonists found a lack of shelter and food. Some colonists were killed by the American Indians and others by starvation. John Smith traded trinkets for corn and saved many colonists from starvation. John Smith sailed up the Chickahominy River to find the Pacific Ocean and India, not knowing the ocean was three thousand miles away. Smith's men were killed by the Powhatan Indians, and Smith was taken prisoner. The chief of the Powhatan Indians, called Powhatan, attempted to trade Smith to the colonists for cannons and a grindstone. The colonists agreed, but these items proved far too heavy for the Powhatans to bring back. The Powhatans finally freed Smith in exchange for trinkets. The colonists tried to make friends with Powhatan by sending him gifts, but Powhatan would not sell the starving colonists corn. The savvy Smith saved the colonists from starvation by trading blue beads for corn.
Vocabulary
Apprenticed: Bound to serve a master in order to learn a trade. Pilgrim: A traveler going to visit a holy place. Single Combat: A fight between two people only. Explore: To visit and examine a country little known. Unexplored: Not yet visited or examined by civilized people. Trinket: A toy. Something of little value. Barter: Exchange items or services without using money. Cape: A piece or point of land, extending beyond the adjacent coast into a sea or lake. Scale: A line or bar associated with a drawing, used to indicate measurement when the image has been magnified or reduced.
Enrichment
Activity 1: Narrate the Story
Narrate the events aloud in your own words.
Activity 2: Study the Story Picture
Study the story picture of John Smith and the colonists and describe how it relates to the story.
Activity 3: Map the Story
Study the map that John Smith created in 1624 of the New England area.
Find the following:
John Smith
Lone Ship Sailing in the Atlantic
Group of Ships
6 Animals - Name them.
Map Scale
Northern Compass Point
Southern Compass Point
Western Compass Point
Eastern Compass Point
Cape James
Activity 4: Complete Copywork, Narration, Dictation, and Art
Click the crayon above. Complete pages 11-12 of 'American History Copywork, Narration, Dictation, and Art for Third Grade.'
Activity 5: Study John Smith's Coat of Arms
A coat of arms consists of designs and symbols depicted on a shield to represent a person, group, or entity.
Find the following on the coat of arms:
John Smith
Horseshoe
Ostrich
Helmet
Plume
Shield
Review
Question 1
Describe some of John Smith's adventures before he traveled to America.
1 / 5
Answer 1
John Smith ran away as a boy, enlisted as a sailor, was shipwrecked, was robbed, became a beggar, and was thrown into the sea by a group of pilgrims who thought he caused a storm. He fought against the Turks, was captured, and became a slave in Turkey.
1 / 5
Question 2
Where was the first English colony established?
2 / 5
Answer 2
The first English colony was established in Jamestown, Virginia.
2 / 5
Question 3
Why did Smith and his men sail up the Chickahominy River?
3 / 5
Answer 3
Smith and his men sailed up the Chickahominy River, convinced the Pacific Ocean was nearby.
3 / 5
Question 4
For what did Powhatan attempt to trade John Smith?
4 / 5
Answer 4
Powhatan attempted to trade John Smith for cannons and a grindstone, but they proved too heavy to carry.
4 / 5
Question 5
How did John Smith convince Powhatan to trade the starving colonists corn?
5 / 5
Answer 5
John Smith convinced Powhatan some blue beads were special and traded the beads for the corn.
Describe some of John Smith's adventures before he traveled to America.
John Smith ran away as a boy, enlisted as a sailor, was shipwrecked, was robbed, became a beggar, and was thrown into the sea by a group of pilgrims who thought he caused a storm. He fought against the Turks, was captured, and became a slave in Turkey.
Where was the first English colony established?
The first English colony was established in Jamestown, Virginia.
Why did Smith and his men sail up the Chickahominy River?
Smith and his men sailed up the Chickahominy River, convinced the Pacific Ocean was nearby.
For what did Powhatan attempt to trade John Smith?
Powhatan attempted to trade John Smith for cannons and a grindstone, but they proved too heavy to carry.
How did John Smith convince Powhatan to trade the starving colonists corn?
John Smith convinced Powhatan some blue beads were special and traded the beads for the corn.
References
'Image from 'The Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. (1906 {PD-US})' Gutenberg. www.gutenberg.org/files/24487/24487-h/24487-h.htm#johnsmith. n.p.
'Map of New England by John Smith. (1624, CC BY 2.0)' Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_England_(1).jpg. n.p.
'Coat of Arms of Captain John Smith by Glasshouse using elements by Heralder. (CC BY-SA 4.0)' Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Captain_John_Smith.svg. n.p.