and the planters who personally established the colony and then lived in it. Although the company was primarily organized for profit making, it was also expected to help the mother country, England, by supplying her with products which she herself could not produce. Some of the colonists sincerely desired to acquaint and convert the Indians to Christianity. The leader of the London Company organization was Bartholomew Gosnold and his chief associates were Edward Maria Wingfield, a rich merchant, Robert Hunt, a clergyman, George Percy, a poet and scholar, and John Smith, a versatile individual.

On December 6, 1606, the London Company dispatched three ships from Blackwell, London, England: the Sarah Constant (or Susan Constant), captained by Sir Christopher Newport, the Admiral of the fleet; the Goodspeed (or Godspeed), captained by Bartholomew Gosnold; and the Discovery (or Discoverer), captained by John Ratcliffe. These ships carried one hundred twenty passengers, men and boys, only sixteen of whom died on the long journey to Virginia. This is a very small number lost when one considers the size and type of ships used, the extremely long voyage which lasted approximately four months, over the Atlantic Ocean at its greatest width, the lack of proper food and drinking water and the severe storm which the fleet encountered off the Florida coast. This storm blew them off their intended course to two capes which appeared guarding a huge bay. The settlers sighted these capes on Sunday, May 6, 1607 and named them Cape Henry for Henry, Prince of Wales, eldest son of James I, and Cape Charles for Charles, the Duke of York, another son of James I. The bay was Chesapeake Bay, so-named by the Indians. They sailed up a river tributary, called Powhatan by the Indians, to the bay and then to a peninsula located about fifty miles above its mouth. This site is believed to have been chosen because the water was deep enough to allow the ships to dock close to the shore and because a peninsula could be comparatively easily defended against Indian attacks. Here the settlers landed on May 24, 1607 and established the first permanent English settlement in America. They called the settlement Jamestown in honor of their King, James I, and called the river on which they had traveled the James River. There, the minister, Parson Robert Hunt, standing under a ship's canvas sail stretched between four trees, led a thanksgiving service to God on behalf of all the passengers for their safe arrival in America. He also had the privilege of celebrating the first Holy Communion in America. Thus, the settlement of Jamestown became the "Cradle of the Republic" because it was the birthplace of the area now known as the United States as well as of the State of Virginia.

The colonists had been given sealed written instructions concerning their local governmental leaders, and these instructions were not to be opened until the ships reached Virginia. The council members had no power to make laws but were appointed to see that the laws approved by the King were enforced. Since John Smith had shown strong leadership qualities, had frequently criticized the management of the ships, and had exerted much influence on the voyage to America, he had aroused jealousy on the part of some of the other voyagers. As a result, the accusation was made that he was desirous of becoming the King of Virginia. Fearing that he might assume too much political power, his cohorts arrested him upon the pretense of treason and mutiny and imprisoned him on shipboard until the end of the journey. When the unsealed instructions were read, the first Resident Council consisted of Bartholomew Gosnold, George Kendall, John Martin, Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Smith and Edward Maria Wingfield, president of the first council. John Smith was later charged with sedition, acquitted, and finally restored to his rightful council position.

In addition to naming the members of the Resident Council, the written instructions for the colonists provided that all the colonists should work for a "common store." This rule resulted in a great hardship because some of the physically able and capable colonists left the tasks of planting, building, and performing of additional necessary duties to others. Some of the colonists were gentlemen by profession, unaccustomed to hard physical labor, and interested mostly in finding gold or attaining a quick fortune and then returning to England. A majority of the colonists, however, worked hard and, after building a fort for protection, continued to construct a storehouse, a church and log huts for residences. The morale of the colonists became very low when the food supplies became scanty; diseases of fever and dysentery appeared due to the humid, marshy, mosquito-laden land area; and Indian attacks became common. With arrows tipped with deer's horn and with sharp stones, the Indians had shot at the colonists, severely injuring Captain Gabriel Archer and one of the sailors. However, the first large organized Indian attack occurred in the latter part of May when two hundred Indians attacked the settlers. They were finally driven back through the efforts of the colonists under the leadership of Captain Edward Maria Wingfield.

Captain John Smith, Captain Christopher Newport and twenty other settlers decided to explore the general area of the Jamestown region. From June to September, they journeyed the entire length of the Chesapeake Bay and they witnessed the eastern shore of the bay, the Potomac River, the Great Falls, the Susquehanna River, the Rappahannock River, the York River and the Chesapeake River. Smith carefully drew a map of the entire area and called it a "Map of the Chesapeake." He sent it to England via Captain Newport, and it was later published in London.

The courage and persistent hard work of the settlers and the leadership of Captain John Smith were invaluable. Captain John Smith maintained harmony in the Council, encouraged friendly relations with the Indians (eventually to the extent of getting corn, an absolute necessity, from them) and changed the "common store" policy to a "no work-no eat" policy which had most effective results on the indolent settlers. In 1608, he wrote a fascinating narration about the founding of the Virginia Colony which he entitled "A True Relation." He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Virginia" because of his participation in so many activities: a governmental official (president of the Council from September 1608 to September 1609), a diplomat in his relations with the Indians, a leader in attempting to maintain peaceful, cooperative relations among the settlers themselves, an observing prisoner of the Indians (during which time he learned much of their culture and experienced the miraculous saving of his life by the Indian girl, Pocahontas) and a writer who tried to picture the happenings of the settlers in an enjoyable fashion.

In addition to saving Smith's life, Pocahontas helped the Virginia settlers by having corn and venison brought to them and, later, by warning John Smith of a proposed Indian attack. After John Smith returned to England, Pocahontas stopped visiting the colony, and the Indians soon refused to bring any more corn to the colonists. Pocahontas was eventually captured by a Jamestown settler, Captain Samuel Argall, through the trickery of an Indian who betrayed her in return for a "copper Kettle and some trinkets." She was held as a hostage in Jamestown in an effort to restore peace between the Indians and the English. This strategy was so successful that friendly relations were re-established. Two years later, in April, 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe, an English gentleman, at the Jamestown Church. Pocahontas had met and had become well acquainted with John Rolfe during her captivity at Jamestown. She had been baptized at the Jamestown Church and had been given the name of Rebecca. They lived for a while at Jamestown and then at Varina,