Jamestown

Recently, I visited Jamestown, the first English colony to survive on the North American continent. It had been several years since my last visit and very little had changed. One of the most interesting aspects wasn't a display or anything like that, but some archaeologists who were working on a dig. They took the time to talk with us. Unfortunately, we had missed their big find earlier in the week, when they had uncovered an intact horse skeleton. Also, unfortunately for them, they discovered the horse was from the 18^th century and the Revolutionary War era, not the 17^th century.

On my previous visit, I was most interested in the original Jamestown. Part of the original fort is already underwater, and it's said that with global warming, the rest will eventually follow suit. On this trip, my response was the same as on the previous occasion when I passed the Pocahontas statue. Let me just say, she appears to be attired more like she had belonged to a western plains Indian tribe rather than eastern woodland. But then, I believe the statue was made in the 1930s. It just seems to me a historic site could add a more accurate portrayal.

The newest exhibit was the reconstruction of Jane, the girl whose remains had been the first forensic evidence of cannibalism during the Starving Time. As I walked through many of the other exhibits, I grew saddened and disappointed. Nothing showed or explained the original colonization from the Paspahegh point of view. After all, the land belonged to them when the colonists first arrived. In fact, the exhibits seemed to go out of the way to perpetuate the myth of how primitive these people were. But then, the Paspahegh were annihilated because they had resisted English encroachment, and there are no descendants to tell their side of the story.

A few years later, paramount chief Opechancanough organized an attack against the colonists. By that time, Jamestown definitely belonged to the English. The exhibits claimed that a boy by the name of Chanco had saved Jamestown from certain annihilation. In reality, there is no historical evidence that Jamestown was ever threatened. I guess, even now, it may be too much to ask a historic site to tell both sides to a story.

Fortunately for me, my visit was to research how Jamestown had grown in the 1640s. During this time, much of the ship trade had been cut off from England due to the Civil War there. That was another fact that I didn't see mentioned, but the port remained busy because of trade from the Dutch, New England, and the West Indies. I walked the path that the colonists of the era would have walked, and it helped me see and feel what my characters in my upcoming book The Dreaming: Wind Talker would see.

Afterward, I traveled the island by car. Maybe someday I'll return and walk the island. Before leaving, I saw a large bird in a tree. Other observers said that it was a bald eagle. According to most indigenous people, the eagle is a sacred messenger spirit. In that regard, I know the Paspahegh would be pleased.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.net

Cannibalism at Jamestown

(Studio EIS / Don Hurlbert)

In early May 2013, the news hit the wires that cannibalism had been confirmed at Jamestown. A skeleton of a fourteen-year-old girl had been unearthed. In August 2012, the girl's skull, lower jaw, and leg bone were found among those of a horse, dogs, and squirrels. With hacks and breaks that more resembled what someone would do when butchering livestock, the remains had the telltale signs of ax and knife cuts.

While the information is extraordinary, it really isn't as shocking of a find as the news authorities have led us to believe. Among the colonists, the winter during 1609-10 was regarded as the "Starving Time." George Percy, a prominent member of the original Jamestown settlers, wrote about men, women, and children eating horses, dogs, cats, rats, and mice. He also mentioned starving colonists digging up corpses. One man killed his pregnant wife, cut out the unborn child, salted her and ate her. For his crime, he was burned at the stake.

The Starving Time had been brought on by a combination of poor planning, in-group fighting, and dependence on England and the Native people for supplies. At the time, the colony had approximately 200 colonists. Another influx of colonists arrived later in 1609 (the exact date is unknown), which set off class wars. One of the ships, the one carrying the supplies, was lost at sea.

(Smithsonian Institution / Don Hurlbert)

John Smith was a commoner and refused to give up his leadership role. He sent groups both up and downriver before being mysteriously wounded and returning to England in October. When George Percy assumed command, he sent another group downriver to build a fort, which left approximately 120 colonists at Jamestown. By May 1610, only 60 colonists remained.

Not all of these people starved to death. Some were killed by the local Indians. The Paspahegh tribe was their nearest neighbor. The colonists had done much to make enemies of them--by stealing their land, food, etc. Is it really any wonder they would fill the colonists full of arrows when they used the latrines (which were unwisely built outside the fort)? Yet, "many" of the colonists ran off to join the Indians.

So yes, cannibalism did indeed exist during the Starving Time, but the press release sensationalized the first forensic evidence of an already known circumstance.

Kim Murphy

www.KimMurphy.net