storehouse, palisades, and cabins were partially rebuilt before he sailed again for England early in April. Much more could have been done had he not consumed so many days in a pompous visit and lengthy negotiations with the wily Powhatan. Then, too, the ships had to be loaded for the return voyage, for the London backers were calling loudly for profitable produce.

The first of the spring months were spent in cutting cedar logs and preparing "clapboards" for sale in England, and a little later there seems to have been a mild "gold rush" at Jamestown as some hopeful looking golden colored soil was found. This all delayed early spring clearing and planting, and boded ill for the coming summer when Smith undertook additional explorations.

It was in September 1608 that Smith became president in fact and inaugurated a program of physical improvement at Jamestown. The area about the fort was enlarged and the standing structures repaired. At this point, in October, the second supply arrived, including seventy settlers, who, when added to the survivors in Virginia, raised the over-all population to about 120.

Among the new arrivals were two women, Mistress Forrest and her maid. Several months later, in the church at Jamestown, the maid, Ann Burras, was married to one of the settlers, John Laydon, a carpenter by trade. This marriage has been ranked as "the first recorded English marriage on the soil of the United States." Their child, Virginia, born the next year, was the first to be born at Jamestown.

With the second supply came workmen sent over to produce glass, pitch, soap ashes, and other items profitable in England. So rapidly did they begin the search for a source of wealth that "trials" of at least some of the products were sent home when Newport left Jamestown before the end of the year.

In addition to settlers and supplies, Newport brought more instructions from the Company officials. The Colony was not succeeding financially, and it was urged that the Council spend more time in planning the preparation of marketable products. It was urged, too, that gold be sought more actively; that Powhatan be crowned as a recognition befitting his position; and that more effort be expended in search of the Roanoke settlers. These projects, all untimely, were emphasized, and the more pressing needs of adequate shelter and sufficient food were neglected.

In the interval from about February to May 1609, there was considerable material progress in and about Jamestown. Perhaps forty acres were cleared and prepared for planting in Indian corn, the new grain that fast became a staple commodity. A "deep well" was dug in the fort. The church was re-covered and twenty cabins built. A second trial was made at glass manufacture in the furnaces built late in 1608. A blockhouse was built at the isthmus which connected the Island to the mainland for better control of the Indians, and a new fort was erected on a tidal creek across the river from Jamestown.

Smith was now in command, as his fellow councilors either had returned to England or were dead. About this time there came a new disaster. With all attention centered on the numerous construction projects, insufficient protection was given the meager supply of grain. When discovered, rats had consumed almost all of the vital corn stores. Faced with this situation, Smith found it necessary to scatter the settlers, sending some to live with the Indians and some to eat at the oyster banks. Only "a small guarde of gentlemen & some others [were left] about the president at James Towne."

In midsummer of 1609, conditions at Jamestown were not good, although it is doubtful that they were any worse than during the two previous summers. The settlers were becoming acclimated, and they were learning the ways of the new country. Supplies were low, yet the number of colonists was small, and a good harvest and a good fall might have improved matters had not some 400 new, inexperienced settlers sailed into the James with only damaged supplies. To add to other complications, they brought fever and plague. In the selection of prospective settlers for the voyage the standards had been low, and too many ne'er-do-wells, and even renegades, had been included.

This was the third supply, and it reached Jamestown in August. Unfortunately it arrived without its leadership and the authority to institute the governmental changes which the Company had authorized. These changes provided for the appointment by the Company of a strong governor with an advisory council in Virginia. Sir Thomas Gates had been dispatched as Governor, yet the ship bearing him, along with Sir George Somers and Captain Newport was wrecked in the Bermuda Islands.

Reaching Virginia in the third supply were several men who had been earlier leaders in the Colony and who were now all hostile to Smith: Archer, Ratcliffe, and Martin. A confusing scene developed over command. The old leaders, particularly Smith, refused to give way to the new in the absence of Gates, the appointed governor. There was considerable bickering which led to an uneasy settlement, leaving Smith in charge for the duration of his yearly term, now almost expired.

It was obvious to everyone that there were too many men for all to remain at Jamestown. John Martin was sent to attempt a settlement at Nansemond, on the south side of the James below Jamestown, while Captain Francis West, brother of Lord De La Warr, was sent to settle at the falls of the James. Returning to Jamestown after an inspection tour at the falls, Captain Smith was injured by burning gunpowder and incapacitated. Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin seemingly used this opportunity to depose him and to compel him to return to England to face their charges against him as had been the fate of previous presidents. These three men, failing to agree on a replacement from their own number, persuaded George Percy to accept the position of president. Percy was in command during the terrible winter that followed.

The winter of 1609-10 has been described through the years as the "starving time," seemingly, an accurate description. It saw the population shrink from 500 to about sixty as a result of disease, sickness, Indian arrows, and malnutrition. It destroyed morale and reduced the men to scavengers stalking the forest, fields, and woods for anything that might be used as food. When spring came there was little spirit left in the settlement. It would seem unjust to attribute the disaster to Percy, who did what he could to ameliorate conditions by attempting trade and keeping the men busy. The "starving time" appears to have been caused by an accumulation of circumstances not the least of them being internal dissension and the now open hostility of the Indian. The heavy use of force and armed persuasion in dealing with them was bound to have its effect. It cut off the badly needed supply of corn and other Indian foods.

A Critical Hour

In May 1610, the hearts of the weary settlers were gladdened when Sir Thomas Gates, their new governor, sailed into the James. For about a year he and the survivors of the wreck of the Sea Venture had labored in Bermuda to make possible the continuation of their voyage to Virginia. For the purpose they built two small boats, the Patience and the Deliverance. It was not a pleasant sight that greeted them at Jamestown. Ruin and desolation were everywhere. Gates, with his Council, on July 7, 1610, wrote that Jamestown seemed "raither as the ruins of some auntient [for]tification, then that any people living might now inhabit it...."

Gates promptly