On may 6, 1607, three ships carrying almost one hundred men reached the chesapeake bay. they chose a highly defensible site along the james river in what is now virginia, and began constructing a fort, thatched huts, a storehouse, and a church. they named the settlement norfolk, va. the men set to planting, but most were either townsmen who did not know how to farm or were gentlemen adventures who felt manual labor was beneath them. they had come to find gold, not to form a settlement.

On May 6, 1607, three ships carrying almost one hundred men reached the Chesapeake Bay. They chose a highly defensible site along the James River in what is now Virginia, and began constructing a fort, thatched huts, a storehouse, and a church. They named the settlement Jamestown. The men set to planting, but most were either townsmen who did not know how to farm or were gentlemen adventures who felt manual labor was beneath them. They had come to find gold, not to form a settlement.

First Encounters

John Smith

At first, the weather was good and the natives friendly. Then came the blistering heat of summer and swarms of insects bred in the nearby wetlands. The men became sick, quickly ran low on food, and faced hostilities from nearby natives. Supplies from England were unreliable, and without the leadership of John Smith, the men would have likely not survived. Smith was a soldier of fortune and made a name for himself because of his military expertise. He took firm control of the settlement, declaring all men must work to eat. About 80 of the original 100 men survived on a diet of local small game and fish. In 1609, a ship arrived from English with 400 additional colonists. The new arrivals overwhelmed the beleaguered colony, and any hope that Smith might be able to maintain Jamestown faded when, suffering from a gunpowder burn, he sailed back to England.