The Beginner's American History Part 3

SIR WALTER RALEIGH[1]

(1552-1618).

32. Walter Raleigh sends two ships to America; how the Indians received the Englishmen.--Although John Cabot discovered the continent of North America in 1497 and took possession of the land for the English,[2] yet the English themselves did not try to settle here until nearly a hundred years later.

Then (1584) a young man named Walter Raleigh, who was a great favorite of Queen Elizabeth's, sent out two ships to America. The captains of these vessels landed on Roanoke[3] Island, on the coast of what is now the state of North Carolina. They found the island covered with tall red cedars and with vines thick with cl.u.s.ters of wild grapes.

The Indians called this place the "Good Land." They were pleased to see the Englishmen, and they invited them to a great feast of roast turkey, venison,[4] melons, and nuts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map showing Roanoke Island.]

[Footnote 1: Raleigh (Raw'li).]

[Footnote 2: See paragraph 22.]

[Footnote 3: Roanoke (Ro-a-nok').]

[Footnote 4: Venison (ven'i-zon or ven'zon): deer meat.]

33. Queen Elizabeth names the country Virginia; first settlers; what they sent Walter Raleigh.--When the two captains returned to England, Queen Elizabeth--the "Virgin Queen," as she was called--was delighted with what she heard of the "Good Land." She named it Virginia in honor of herself. She also gave Raleigh a t.i.tle of honor.

From that time he was no longer called plain Walter Raleigh or Mr.

Raleigh, but Sir Walter Raleigh.

Sir Walter now (1585) shipped over emigrants[5] to settle in Virginia.

They sent back to him as a present two famous American plants--one called Tobacco, the other the Potato. The queen had given Sir Walter a fine estate in Ireland, and he set out both the plants in his garden.

The tobacco plant did not grow very well there, but the potato did; and after a time thousands of farmers began to raise that vegetable, not only in Ireland, but in England too. As far back then as that time--or more than three hundred years ago--America was beginning to feed the people of the Old World.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FIRST PIPE OF TOBACCO. (Raleigh's servant thought his master was on fire.)]

[Footnote 5: Emigrants: persons who leave one country to go and settle in another. Thousands of emigrants from Europe now land in this country every month.]

34. The Virginia settlement destroyed.--Sir Walter spent immense sums of money on his settlement in Virginia, but it did not succeed.

One of the settlers, named Dare, had a daughter born there. He named her Virginia Dare. She was the first English child born in America.

But the little girl, with her father and mother and all the rest of the settlers, disappeared. It is supposed that they were either killed by the Indians or that they wandered away and starved to death; but all that we really know is that not one of them was ever seen again.

35. Last days of Sir Walter Raleigh.--After Queen Elizabeth died, King James the First became ruler of England. He accused Sir Walter of trying to take away his crown so as to make some one else ruler over the country. Sir Walter was sent to prison and kept there for many years. At last King James released him in order to send him to South America to get gold. When Sir Walter returned to London without any gold, the greedy king accused him of having disobeyed him because he had fought with some Spaniards. Raleigh was condemned to death and beheaded.

But Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia led other Englishmen to try. Before he died they built a town, called Jamestown, on the coast.

We shall presently read the history of that town. The English held Virginia from that time until it became part of the United States.

36. Summary.--Sir Walter Raleigh sent over men from England to explore the coast of America. Queen Elizabeth named the country they visited Virginia. Raleigh then shipped emigrants over to make a settlement. These emigrants sent him two American plants, Tobacco and the Potato; and in that way the people of Great Britain and Ireland came to like both. Sir Walter's settlement failed, but his example led other Englishmen to try to make one. Before he was beheaded they succeeded.

What is said about Walter Raleigh? What is said about the Indians?

What name did Queen Elizabeth give to the country? What did she do for Walter Raleigh? What did Sir Walter then do? What American plants did the emigrants send him? What did he do with those plants? What happened to the Virginia settlement? What is said of the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh? Did Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia do any good?

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH (1579-1631).

37. New and successful attempt to make a settlement in Virginia; Captain John Smith.--One of the leaders in the new expedition sent out to make a settlement in Virginia, while Raleigh was in prison, was Captain John Smith. He began life as a clerk in England. Not liking his work, he ran away and turned soldier. After many strange adventures, he was captured by the Turks and sold as a slave. His master, who was a Turk, riveted a heavy iron collar around his neck and set him to thrashing grain with a big wooden bat like a ball-club.

One day the Turk rode up and struck his slave with his riding-whip.

This was more than Smith could bear; he rushed at his master, and with one blow of his bat knocked his brains out. He then mounted the dead man's horse and escaped. After a time he got back to England; but as England seemed a little dull to Captain Smith, he resolved to join some emigrants who were going to Virginia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.]

38. What happened to Captain Smith on the voyage; the landing at Jamestown; what the settlers wanted to do; Smith's plan.--On the way to America, Smith was accused of plotting to murder the chief men among the settlers so that he might make himself "King of Virginia."

The accusation was false, but he was put in irons and kept a prisoner for the rest of the voyage.

In the spring of 1607 the emigrants reached Chesapeake[1] Bay, and sailed up a river which they named the James in honor of King James of England; when they landed they named the settlement Jamestown for the same reason. Here they built a log fort, and placed three or four small cannon on its walls. Most of the men who settled Jamestown came hoping to find mines of gold in Virginia, or else a way through to the Pacific Ocean and to the Indies, which they thought could not be very far away. But Captain Smith wanted to help his countrymen to make homes here for themselves and their children.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map showing Jamestown.]

[Footnote 1: Chesapeake (Ches'a-peek).]

39. Smith's trial and what came of it; how the settlers lived; the first English church; sickness; attempted desertion.--As soon as Captain Smith landed, he demanded to be tried by a jury[2] of twelve men. The trial took place. It was the first English court and the first English jury that ever sat in America. The captain proved his innocence and was set free. His chief accuser was condemned to pay him a large sum of money for damages. Smith generously gave this money to help the settlement.

As the weather was warm, the emigrants did not begin building log cabins at once, but slept on the ground, sheltered by boughs of trees.

For a church they had an old tent, in which they met on Sunday. They were all members of the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church, and that tent was the first place of worship that we know of which was opened by Englishmen in America.

When the hot weather came, many fell sick. Soon the whole settlement was like a hospital. Sometimes three or four would die in one night.

Captain Smith, though not well himself, did everything he could for those who needed his help.

When the sickness was over, some of the settlers were so discontented that they determined to seize the only vessel there was at Jamestown and go back to England. Captain Smith turned the cannon of the fort against them. The deserters saw that if they tried to leave the harbor he would knock their vessel to pieces, so they came back. One of the leaders of these men was tried and shot; the other was sent to England in disgrace.

[Footnote 2: Jury: a number of men, generally twelve, selected according to law to try a case in a court of law; in criminal cases they declare the person accused to be either guilty or not guilty.]

40. The Indians of Virginia.--When the Indians of America first met the white men, they were very friendly to them; but this did not last long, because often the whites treated the Indians very badly; in fact, the Spaniards made slaves of them and whipped many of them to death. But these were the Indians of the south; some of the northern tribes were terribly fierce and a match for the Spaniards in cruelty.

The Indians at the east did not build cities, but lived in small villages. These villages were made up of huts, covered with the bark of trees. Such huts were called wigwams. The women did nearly all the work, such as building the wigwams and hoeing corn and tobacco.

The men hunted and made war. Instead of guns the Indians had bows and arrows. With these they could bring down a deer or a squirrel quite as well as a white man could now with a rifle. They had no iron, but made hatchets and knives out of sharp, flat stones. They never built roads, for they had no wagons, and at the east they did not use horses; but they could find their way with ease through the thickest forest. When they came to a river they swam across it, so they had no need of bridges. For boats they made canoes of birch bark.

These canoes were almost as light as paper, yet they were very strong and handsome, and they

"floated on the river Like a yellow leaf in autumn, Like a yellow water-lily."[3]

In them they could go hundreds of miles quickly and silently. So every river and stream became a roadway to the Indian.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUILDING A WIGWAM.]

[Footnote 3: Longfellow's _Hiawatha_ (Hiawatha's Sailing).]