Program Information

Perhaps no early leader was as instrumental in saving and prospering the Jamestown colony than mercenary soldier, adventurer, explorer and mapmaker Captain John Smith.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: For 400 years service men and women have fought to carve out and defend freedom and the civilization we know as America. This series on A Moment in Time is devoted to the memory of those warriors, whose devotion gave, in the words of Lincoln at Gettysburg, the last full measure.

Content: Perhaps no early leader was as instrumental in saving and prospering the Jamestown colony than mercenary soldier, adventurer, explorer and mapmaker Captain John Smith.

Born in Willoughby, England, sometime around 1580, John Smith left home as a young lad and became a mercenary, fighting with the Dutch in their war for independence from Spain. He later fought with Austrian forces in Hungary against the invading Ottoman Empire. There he was promoted to the rank of captain.

In 1606 Smith enlisted with the Virginia Company, a group of London investors promoting colonization in North America. He was one of the few members of the 1607 expedition with extensive military experience.

Smith served as president of the colony in 1608 and 1609 and, if not for his leadership, the outpost most likely would have ended in disaster and death. Confronting hardships and brutal conditions, Smith enforced discipline and order, required all colonists to work, and, through his friendship with young Pocahontas, forged a relationship with the Powhatan Indians, which enabled the outpost to trade and procure desperately needed food.

During 1608 using little more than a compass, Smith explored the Chesapeake and accurately mapped the region. After being injured in a suspicious gunpowder accident in 1609, Smith was forced to return to England. He recovered but never returned to Jamestown. He did, though, explore the northeastern shores of America in 1614 and gave the region the name “New England.” His mapping of both regions proved useful to settlers for the next half century.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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