Jamestown | The Starving Time | 3
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It's been more than two years since you arrived in Jamestown, but conditions have never been so dire. The food supply is dwindling fast. Gnawing hunger kept you up all night, a constant hollow ache in the pit of your stomach. So you're desperate to try to find some sort of sustenance. You tense at the sound of a rustle in the underbrush. A small bird emerges. A chicken. One that must have gotten loose months ago.

Thoughts of a decent meal fill your mind as you cautiously approach, your stomach twisting in anticipation. But then suddenly, a tall, scowling Indian emerges from the trees. He wears a deerskin cloak and has a bow and quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder. Before you can react, the man grabs the chicken and swiftly breaks its neck. No, that's mine. The man walks towards you, his eyes cold and hard. Go back. Go back to the fort.

You throw up your hands in a pleading gesture. Please, I need food. If not the chicken, you must have some corn to spare. I don't have much to trade, but perhaps I could find something back in the settlement. No, we have no corn to give. Then at least let me forage in the woods. Our rations are not nearly enough. We're starving in there. People are dying. We won't make it through the winter without help. We've already given you too much.

Better now that you starve. Better you die than steal any more of our food. Desperation wells up inside you. You know you have nothing to lose, so you take a step forward, willing him to understand. I beg you, please. You must find some goodness in your heart. I only need a little... In a flash, the man knocks an arrow in his bow. He aims it directly at you, and you freeze in place. A hard knot constricts your throat, making it difficult to breathe.

But instead of fear, a strange sense of calm washes over you. You close your eyes, relieved to finally be put out of your misery. If you love iPhone, you'll love Apple Card. It comes with the privacy and security you expect from Apple. Plus, you earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, which can automatically earn interest when you open a high-yield savings account through Apple Card.

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In the winter of 1609, roughly 300 English colonists were trapped inside their settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. Local Indians blocked access to outside food sources and killed those who dared stray beyond the fort. And as the months wore on, the starving settlers wasted away. This was the bleakest period in the colony's short but turbulent history. Food shortages and bitter infighting threatened to tear the colony apart.

Its leader, John Smith, knew that the settlers needed to expand their territory if they were going to survive. But this relentless encroachment on native lands would ignite a brutal war for the control of Virginia, and soon Pocahontas would find herself a pawn, caught in the middle of a clash between two civilizations. This is Episode 3, The Starving Time. On August 11, 1609, four storm-tossed ships arrived in Jamestown.

Two more made landfall a week later, and a seventh ship would come in the fall. These vessels were what was left of the great fleet that left London in June 1609, and one of the largest expeditions to ever sail to North America. In late July, the ships were just days away from the Atlantic coast when a hurricane scattered the fleet. One ship was wrecked in the storm, and no one knew the fate of the flagship SeaVenture and the 150 men, women, and children on board.

But now, 350 sick and weary survivors from the rest of the fleet came ashore in Virginia to join the 130 settlers already in Jamestown. The colonists had expected a great fleet stocked with enough provisions to last a year, but most of the food, supplies, and livestock were on the larger flagship that was still lost at sea, and the food that the survivors did manage to bring to Virginia had spoiled in the crossing.

So after the misery of a two-month voyage, for the new arrivals there was little relief to be found in Jamestown. And among the passengers were several former colonists, including Jamestown's second president John Ratcliffe, a long-standing enemy of current president John Smith.

Smith feared that Ratcliffe had already turned the new arrivals against him. He described the newcomers as lewd captains and unruly gallants who would have overthrown him if they could have agreed on a replacement. And Ratcliffe's feelings toward Smith had not changed in his absence. Having returned, he once again complained that Smith was hoarding power, declaring that Smith wanted to be sole governor without assistance and would admit no counsel but himself.

This endless bickering soured the mood in Jamestown. One man complained that the colony would have been better off if the ships had never come, declaring there was never more confusion or misery than their factions occasioned.

But even before this sudden influx of settlers, starvation and infighting had brought the colony to the brink of collapse. Now, the population had nearly quadrupled. So, to ease the strain on Jamestown's dwindling resources, Smith decided to send two groups of men away to live off the land. John Martin and George Percy would lead 60 men south to the Nansimond River. Francis West would take 120 men 60 miles northwest to the falls of the James River.

After two and a half years of struggle, it was clear to Smith that the colony needed to expand its territory if it was going to survive.

And the departure of these two groups would ease the burden on Jamestown, with the added benefit of allowing Smith to rid himself of some rivals. But this attempt to expand would only aggravate existing tensions with local tribes. Already, Virginia Indians were struggling to sustain themselves amid a historic drought. For three years, crops had withered, causing severe food shortages throughout the region. Local tribes had little food to spare, even if they were willing to part with their provisions.

But the colonists were focused on their own needs. In early September, Martin and Percy set off for Nansimond territory. They sent two messengers ahead to approach the local chief about the possibility of purchasing a small island on the Nansimond River. The chief refused. The island was a sacred space for his people.

And soon after, Martin learned that the two English messengers had been killed. In retaliation, he ordered his men to take the island by force. The English burned the Nansamont homes there, ransacked their temples, and desecrated the tombs of their dead. Percy boasted, "'We beat the savages out of their island and carried away their pearls, copper, and bracelets.'"

The settlers had seized the island, but in doing so created an enemy. Furious Nansimond surrounded them on all sides, waiting to take their revenge. Meanwhile, at the falls of the James River, Francis West and his men began constructing a fort. But when John Smith visited, he decided the new settlement was too close to the river and in danger of flooding.

After negotiations with the local chief, Parahunt, Smith acquired the nearby Indian town of Powhatan in exchange for some copper and promises of aid against Parahunt's enemies. Initially, the men refused to leave the fort they had constructed. But after an Indian war party killed several settlers they found foraging in the woods, the surviving Englishmen reconsidered.

Their leader, Francis West, was away from the fort at the time, so it was under Smith's direction that the relocation began. This decision brought the simmering rivalry between West and Smith to a breaking point. Imagine it's September 1609. Humid air clings to your skin as you make your way into the town of Palatine.

You're the leader of a group of English colonists who have left Jamestown to settle at the falls of the James River. After finding your fort at the falls abandoned, you've come to this nearby Indian town to look for your men. The town hums with commotion. You watch in disbelief as your men move their supplies into the natives' abandoned circular dwellings. You there, move this gunpowder. John Smith stands at the center of the chaos, shouting orders.

We march toward him, feeling as though months of pent-up rage are about to explode. "Smith!" The men stop what they're doing, and Smith turns to face you with a look of mild surprise. "Oh look! You've made it! Took you long enough. What in God's name are you doing? You've gone behind my back, moving these men without so much as a word to me!" The men exchange nervous glances. Smith just shrugs, though, unfazed by your anger.

This town is in a far more defensible location than the fort. I disagree. You have some nerve always assuming control, always making decisions that put everyone else at risk. Your arrogance truly knows no bounds. Your fort is liable to flooding. The men will be better off on higher ground. Safer. Safer? You think trapping us inside an Indian town is safer?

They don't welcome our intrusion. They tolerate it at best. Which is why the Indians already attacked your fort. I made a deal with Chief Parahunt to move these men here, under the protection of their palisades. Or is it that you've struck a deal with Parahunt to have us all killed? To have me killed? Smith's eyes flash with irritation. The only deal I've made is to ensure your survival.

The Indians have agreed to allow you to stay here. I'm sure they don't like the idea of you establishing a permanent garrison at the Falls. I don't believe you. I don't trust a word you say. And I don't like your interference. I'm the one in charge here, not you. I'm taking these men back to the fort. Smith throws up his arms in exasperation. Fine. But don't blame me when another war party comes to finish what they started.

He turns and walks away, leaving you standing among your men. As you watch his retreat, anger still burns in your chest. You pray for the day that Smith finally meets his maker. After arriving in the town of Powhatan, Francis West berated Smith for challenging his authority. He suspected that Smith sent him and other rivals away to purposefully discredit them, knowing full well that their encroachment on native lands would spark deadly resistance.

After this confrontation with West, Smith gave up trying to influence the group and headed back to Jamestown, rowing downriver with a small company of men. That night, he was asleep on board his boat when a lit match ignited a powder bag in his lap. The resulting explosion set his clothes aflame and burned ten square inches of flesh on his leg and midriff.

Racked with searing pain, he threw himself into the water and nearly drowned before his crew fished him out and took him back to Jamestown.

Smith never knew whether the explosion was an accident or a deliberate attempt on his life, but he later claimed that after returning to Jamestown, John Martin, John Ratcliffe, and another rival named Gabriel Archer made an additional attempt on his life by trying to murder him in his bed before changing their minds. Instead, they placed Smith under guard and forced him onto a ship bound for England.

So after years of striving to keep the colony together, it was now clear that Smith had lost credibility with both the Palatine and his own people. He could not overcome the other leaders' hatred of him, and his time in Virginia was over, and he left the same way he arrived, in disgrace.

But to further destroy Smith's reputation and justify their decision to eject him from the colony, rivals Martin, Ratcliffe, and Archer listed his abuses in a scathing letter to the Virginia Company in London. They claimed that Smith forced settlers out of the fort while hoarding private supplies, attempted to poison a settler, and planned to make himself an Indian king by marrying Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas.

When Smith arrived in London that fall, he found himself thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the company. But Smith's reputation wasn't the only casualty. By the time Smith returned home, London's drawing rooms were abuzz with the news of the disappearance of the Sea Venture. More than 150 settlers were missing, including the new interim governor and other key leaders. Investors had lost thousands of pounds of money, and Jamestown was in disarray.

Virginia Company leader Sir Thomas Smythe sprang into action, publishing a pamphlet defending the colony. He implored investors not to let one storm at sea shake their confidence. But despite his best efforts, investors rushed to withdraw their funds. The disappearance of the sea venture threatened to derail the company's campaign to recruit new settlers for the next expedition the colony's governor, Lord Delaware, planned for the spring.

And back in Jamestown, conditions were worse than anyone in London ever imagined. Provisions had quickly run out after the population of the colony quadrupled in August. And the English were not the only group struggling. Local tribes were also short on food due to the severe drought. So when the colonists once again attempted to take food by force, the Powhatan people decided that they had had enough. They responded with deadly violence.

In early November, they lured a party led by John Ratcliffe into an ambush, killing some 30 Englishmen. Ratcliffe himself was captured and tortured to death by Powhatan women who used muscle shells to scrape his flesh from his body. In total, Powhatan attacks led to the death and desertions of 130 settlers, nearly a third of the colony at the time.

Fleeing this violence, all but a few colonists retreated to the Jamestown Fort. But they would not find it a refuge for long. Soon after, Chief Powhatan ordered his warriors to starve the colonists out. They lay siege to the fort, cutting off trade and blocking access to the surrounding woods where settlers might hunt or forage. They killed livestock that roamed outside the fort and any settlers who strayed beyond its walls.

Roughly 300 men, women, and children were trapped inside Jamestown. The colony entered its darkest days, what became known as the Starving Time.

George Percy, the new council president who took over after Smith's departure, wrote, Now all of us at Jamestown feel that sharp prick of hunger which no man can truly describe but he which hath tasted the bitterness thereof. Each settler was restricted to a half a can of cornmeal a day. And even with these meager rations, Percy calculated that there was not enough food to sustain the colony for more than three months. He declared,

Now famine began to look so ghastly and pale in every face that nothing was spared that would maintain life. Many of the settlers were already suffering from malnutrition, and disease rapidly spread through the overcrowded fort. The famished colonists ate dogs, cats, rats, and even boot leather for sustenance. Some even resorted to cannibalism, digging up corpses. One man killed and consumed his pregnant wife, an act that led to his execution.

Over the next several months, three-quarters of the remaining colonists would perish. The once hopeful settlement was a shadow of its former self, and every day brought new horrors and heartbreak as the settlers watched helplessly while friends and family members wasted away. It seemed that soon there would be nothing left, as each new death brought the colony closer to the brink of total annihilation.

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On May 21, 1610, two small vessels sailed into the Chesapeake Bay. They dropped anchor at Point Comfort, at the mouth of the James River, where the Jamestown settlers had set up a small garrison called Fort Algernon. The men at the garrison were shocked to discover that the vessels belonged to the colony's deputy governor, Sir Thomas Gates, who was long presumed to be lost at sea.

The previous July, Gates and the other 150 men, women, and children aboard the SeaVenture washed up on a Bermuda island after a hurricane struck their fleet. For nine months, the castaways subsisted on fish, fruit, and wild hogs on the island. And finally, they managed to construct two small ships out of the wreckage of the larger SeaVenture and in early May, once again set sail for Virginia.

Then on May 24th, Gates and the rest of the Bermuda Party made their way up the James River.

At long last, they dropped anchor in Jamestown. They went ashore, listening for signs of life, but all was quiet. As Gates approached the fort, he saw that sections of the palisade had collapsed and the gates swung on their hinges. He entered a town full of empty houses, torn apart for firewood. He later wrote that the settlement resembled the ruins of some ancient fortification rather than one in which any living people might inhabit.

Desperate to find survivors, he walked to the abandoned church, grabbed a bell rope, and tugged. The sound of the ringing bell caused a handful of emaciated people to stagger out of their homes. Gates described the harrowing sight of skeleton-like figures crying out, We are starved! We are starved!

He was horrified. Gates had expected to find a thriving colony. Jamestown's population had peaked at nearly 500 the previous August, but now only 60 had survived the winter. The Powhatan people had lifted their siege in early May to focus on spring planting. But months of starvation had taken a deadly toll, and there was little that Gates could do to help. His party had only brought enough food to sustain them for the journey to Virginia.

So Gates felt he had no choice but to abandon the colony. He announced his decision. The settlers would sail to Newfoundland in hopes of finding English fishing vessels and take them all back to England. They loaded arms and supplies into four boats, buried the fort's cannons, and set off on June 7th. But the very next day, as they sailed up the mouth of the James River, they were stunned by the sight of an approaching English longboat.

Imagine it's June 8, 1610 on the James River, and you're the deputy governor of the Virginia colony. You're in a boat full of starving colonists, moored beside a small island in the river. For the last two hours, you've been anxiously waiting for the tide to turn so you can finally sail out to the Chesapeake Bay and leave this godforsaken place behind. But in the last few minutes, the sight of an approaching longboat has caused a stir among your men.

As the boat draws closer, you lean over the side of your vessel and shield your eyes from the sun. Your heart skips a beat as you recognize the figure standing at the helm. It's Thomas West, Baron Delaware and governor of the colony. Is that who I think it is? My lord. The Baron's crew rows the longboat closer, pulling up beside your vessel. Delaware looks at you with shock and disbelief. How good it is to see you.

We feared you had all died in the hurricane. We were lost, but not dead. We were stranded in the Bermudas for nine months. We only arrived in Virginia two weeks ago. Delaware nods in amazement. I'm delighted to hear it. I apologize for my late arrival. The news of the wreck of the Sea Venture delayed our departure. Where are you bound? You can't possibly be taking all these people fishing. I'm afraid we've had to abandon the colony, my lord.

We intend to set sail for Newfoundland to find passage back across the Atlantic. But now that you're here, you can take us back to England. Delaware's face hardens. Return to England? I assure you I have no intention of going back. And I order you to turn around. You shake your head, incredulous. My lord, I cannot. These settlers have endured unspeakable horror since last fall. Famine like nothing you could imagine.

You gesture to the gaunt, hollow-eyed men and women standing behind you. I've heard enough.

Turn this boat around. I will see you in Jamestown. As Delaware's longboat rose on, you turn around to find a sea of disappointed faces staring at you in disbelief. You know you have no choice but to do as the governor says, but you hate to take these starving men and women back to the scene of so much hardship and death. It's hard to fathom that Jamestown could ever be saved from destruction.

In June 1610, Lord Delaware finally arrived in the Chesapeake Bay with three ships and another 150 settlers. He had planned to travel to Virginia much earlier, but the disappearance of the Sea Venture had delayed his efforts to raise funds and recruit settlers. Once he arrived, Delaware ordered the fleeing settlers to return to Jamestown at once, much to their dismay.

And on June 10th, Delaware entered Jamestown himself for the first time. He reprimanded the settlers for their many vanities and their idleness. He told them he would not hesitate to draw the sword of justice to cut off such delinquents. But he also gave them the good news that he had brought enough food to last them for a year. This was a stunning turnaround in their fortunes.

Drawing on his military background, Delaware immediately set to work establishing order and discipline. He reorganized the colony into military-style units with a strict chain of command. New laws, known as the Laws Divine, Moral, and Martial, mandated daily church attendance and prescribed severe punishments for crimes. Murder, rape, adultery, theft, treason, and trading with Indians without permission were all punishable by death.

Determined to make the colony self-sufficient, Delaware had the settlers plant crops and gather supplies. He dispatched two captains to Bermuda to load ships with more provisions, including wild hogs. He sent others away to fish on the Chesapeake Bay, and he also ordered the settlers to clean the town and strengthen its defenses, rebuild the church with finer materials, and build homes using a combination of English and Native building techniques.

After restoring order to the settlement, Delaware turned his attention to the Powhatan. The Virginia Company had instructed him to put an end to the violence and convert local Indians to Christianity. So Delaware sent a message to Paramount Chief Powhatan, demanding that he return all escaped settlers and any stolen tools and weapons to Jamestown. He reassured Powhatan of his friendship and reminded him that he was obligated to obey him for he was a representative of King James I.

But Powhatan had no interest in submitting to English demands. He replied that the English could depart his country or confine themselves to Jamestown only. If they refused, he would order his warriors to kill them wherever they were found. Delaware replied in kind, declaring that the Englishmen would kill any Indians they saw and set fire to their towns and crops.

This exchange amounted to a declaration of war, but Delaware was a veteran of several brutal campaigns against the Irish, and he planned to use his same terror tactics against the Indians.

He ordered his deputy, Thomas Gates, to lead an expedition to Point Comfort at the mouth of the James River. On the way, Gates directed one of his men to recover a boat that had blown across the river. As the Englishmen approached the boat, a group of Indian warriors emerged from hiding, captured him, and tortured him to death.

This gruesome murder convinced Gates that nothing could change what he called a barbarous disposition in the natives. He took his revenge on the nearest settlement, killing at least a dozen Indians and stealing their corn. Soon after, Gates traveled back to England, hoping to use the remarkable story of the survival of the sea venture to campaign for further investment.

In the meantime, Delaware built new garrisons and kept up his attacks, fulfilling his promise to Powhatan that the English soldiers would kill any Indians they encountered. On August 10th, George Percy led an attack on a Paspehe town. His men killed at least 15 people, burned their houses, and plundered their corn. Then they captured and brutally murdered the Paspehe chief's wife and two children. More attacks followed on the Chickahominy and Waraskoyak tribes.

Once Delaware was satisfied that his soldiers had done enough to intimidate Powhatan, he turned his attention to his other objective, the never-ending search for gold and a route to the Pacific. He sent an expedition to the falls of the James River, and while the English were gathering water thirty-five miles upriver, a group of Appomattox lured them to a feast, then waited for their moment to strike. They killed fourteen colonists, with just one managing to escape the ambush.

Soon after, the English retaliated by torching an Appomattox town. But amid this escalating war, disease continued to spread through Jamestown. In the six months after Delaware arrived, one-third of the colonists died from dysentery, typhoid, and salt poisoning caused by drinking the river's brackish water. The governor himself was plagued by chronic illness, and with his health deteriorating, he decided it was time he left Virginia.

In March 1611, he put George Percy in charge and set sail for England with 54 men. They arrived in London in May, and to justify his hasty departure and salvage his own reputation, Delaware submitted a rosy report on conditions in Jamestown. He made no mention of disease, the loss of more than 100 men, the war with the Powhatan he helped escalate, or the colonists' failure to find gold. But there was little need for spin.

A year had passed since Thomas Gates returned to London with the story of the miraculous survival of the sea venture. This stunning news had reinvigorated support for the colony and convinced the Virginia Company to plan two more expeditions. Investors were optimistic about the future and determined to finally reverse the colony's fortunes for good.

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On May 19, 1611, Sir Thomas Dale sailed into Jamestown with 300 settlers and a year's worth of provisions. With Lord Delaware and Sir Thomas Gates still in England, Dale would now take charge as acting governor of the colony.

Like his predecessors, Dale was a gentleman soldier with an extensive military background. Touring the settlement for the first time, he was appalled by what he saw. The church and storehouses were crumbling and no corn had been planted. He wondered how the colony might ever succeed with settlers he described as so profane, so riotous, so full of mutiny and treasonable intentions.

Dale's answer was to enforce more strict discipline. He expanded the draconian code of laws instituted by Lord Delaware, which governed every aspect of the colonists' lives. A settler could be put to death not just for murder or treason, but for the crime of slaughtering livestock without permission.

Some colonists sentenced to execution were hanged or shot, but many were burned alive or trampled under wagon wheels. Settlers who attempted to steal from the common storehouse were tied to trees and starved to death.

One of the other leaders defended Dale's strict regime, affirming that while the executions were more severe than usual in England, there was just cause for it. He declared, "...the offenders are justly condemned, it being true that amongst those people the fear of a cruel, painful, and unusual death more restrains them than death itself."

Dale also divided the men into work gangs to repair the church and storehouse, construct a stable, and build a new well, munition houses, and a house for cleaning fish. He allocated private gardens so that settlers could grow their own vegetables, and he set out a parcel of common land for the cultivation of seeds for the Virginia Company.

Hundreds more settlers were set to arrive in Jamestown later in the summer, so to prepare for the extra mouths to feed, Dale fortified the garrisons at the mouth of the James River and then had colonists clear the rich soil surrounding them for corn planting.

Dale also specialized the colony's food production. While corn was planted around the garrisons, the colonists at Jamestown and Fort Algernon would raise cattle and hogs and produce goods for export, including hemp, flax, timber, and cured fish.

Dale also pressed ahead with a long-delayed plan to establish a new capital farther inland, near the falls of the James River. And he drew up plans for additional forts and settlements. By claiming more land, he hoped to wrest control of Powhatan's dominions, and argued that the new forts and towns would so overmaster the subtle, mischievous Great Powhatan that he would be forced to flee the region or accept an alliance with the English.

To accomplish these goals, Dale wanted to establish fortified settlements on both ends of the James River. The Nansamond were the last tribe standing in the way of English control of the mouth of the river. So in June 1611, Dale marched 100 soldiers in full armor against them. The Nansamond warriors fought hard, wounding several Englishmen and nearly killing Dale. But they struggled to pierce the heavy English armor with arrows.

The colonists captured or killed the warriors, burned down their villages, and seized their cornfields. Then in August, Sir Thomas Gates arrived back in Jamestown from London with another 300 colonists and more provisions. Dale told Gates about his plans to establish a new settlement near the falls of the James River, and Gates agreed that the colony needed to expand. There were now 750 settlers in total, and the cramped quarters exacerbated the threat of illness.

So in September, Dale sent Captain Edward Brewster and 350 men to the falls of the James River to begin construction on a new settlement called Henrico. It was named in honor of Dale's patron, Prince Henry, the heir to the English throne. Powhatan watched as the English invaded the heart of his dominions, and he launched repeated attacks on Brewster and his men, but the colonists refused to stand down. They built a strong palisade with watchtowers to protect Henrico.

By the end of 1611, Henrico had become the launch site for attacks on nearby Indian towns. The seized land would become the site of another new settlement called Bermuda Hundred. By establishing a base of operations upriver, Dale finally turned the tide of English efforts to take possession of the James River Valley. And over the next two years, the English would escalate their war against the Powhatan and violently seize land on both sides of the river.

The Englishman's territorial expansion devastated local tribes. At the same time, it ensured the colony's survival. Still, the English faced ongoing problems. By 1612, there was a growing chorus of complaints about the colony's oppressive laws and insufficient rations. And the expense of funding the fleets led by Dale and Gates had left the Virginia Company on the verge of bankruptcy.

Jamestown's leaders knew that they could not succeed in the long term as long as war with local tribes persisted. So in the spring of 1613, one colonist concocted a bold plan to finally get leverage over Paramount Chief Powhatan.

Imagine it's April 1613 in the town of Passapatansi on the south bank of the Potomac River. You're the younger brother of the chief of the Patawomik tribe, and you step lightly onto the weathered planks of an English ship moored in the river. Your close friend and longtime trading partner, Captain Samuel Argyle, stands at the prow, staring into the distance. Captain Argyle, did you bring me any copper for trade today? Argyle turns around and nods in greeting, his brow furrowed.

You can tell he's agitated about something. There's no trace of his familiar grin. It is good to see you, my friend. Not today. I come seeking information. Is it true that Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, is in Pasipatansi? You nod slowly, wondering where this is leading. Yes. She has been visiting friends here for the past three months. Good, good. I want your help abducting the girl.

You blink, stunned by the proposal. Kidnap Pocahontas? Yes. Once I have the girl in my possession, I can trade her for the English captives held by her father, not to mention the weapons and tools they've stolen and corn to help us survive. You throw up your hands and take a step back. I want no part in this. Argyle's expression hardens. If you don't help me, then you can consider this friendship over. And our trade.

What will you do without English goods? What will your people think? But if I help you kidnap Pocahontas, Powhatan will surely make war on my people. If it comes to that, we will join forces with the Padawomek against Powhatan's warriors. You must realize this plan is in your best interest. It's your chance to finally weaken Powhatan's dominance and strengthen the position of your own people.

You stare at Argyll, trying to comprehend how your old friend could put you in such a terrible position. "It's not up to me, but I will pass on your proposal to my brother. The chief will decide what to do." "That's all I ask." "I'll wait to hear from you." With a curt nod, you turn and walk toward the gangplank. You're furious with yourself for letting an Englishman gain your trust. You wrestle with whether you're worse off making the Powhatan or the English your enemies.

The consequences of kidnapping Pocahontas and incurring the wrath of her father could be catastrophic, but you also don't want to put your people in the line of English firepower.

In April 1613, Captain Samuel Argyle had traveled north to trade on the Potomac River when he learned that Powhatan's beloved daughter Pocahontas was visiting friends nearby. More than six years had passed since John Smith first met Pocahontas after he was abducted by her father. She was now about 17 years old.

So when Argyll docked his boat near the town where Pocahontas was staying, he threatened a native friend named Yopazus into helping him kidnap her. Yopazus and his wife invited Pocahontas to accompany them on board Argyll's ship to eat dinner and spend the night. The following morning, Yopazus and his wife slipped away and Argyll set sail with Pocahontas. She was horrified to realize that she had been taken hostage.

Soon after, Argyll sent word to Powhatan demanding the return of English captives, weapons, and tools, plus a bounty of corn in exchange for Pocahontas' release. With the powerful chief's prized daughter as a bargaining chip, Argyll hoped that he could finally broker peace once and for all, putting an end to years of destruction and bloodshed.

And as Pocahontas found herself immersed in a strange new world, Powhatan would be forced to reckon with the disappearance of his daughter at the hands of his enemies, knowing that his hard-won empire was in peril. From Wondery, this is Episode 3 of our four-part series Jamestown for American History Tellers.

In the next episode, while Powhatan stalls, Pocahontas grows close to Englishman John Rolfe. Tobacco planting transforms Virginia, and the first group of enslaved people arrives in English North America.

American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Sound

Sound design by Molly Bach. Music by Lindsey Graham. Voice acting by Joe Hernandez-Kolsky. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton. Edited by Dorian Marina. Produced by Alita Rozanski. Managing producers Desi Blaylock and Matt Gant. Senior managing producer Ryan Lohr. Senior producer Andy Herman. And executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Marsha Louis, and Erin O'Flaherty for Wondery.

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