New Machicomooco State Park honors Native Americans in Virginia washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jamestown Colony
The Starving Time and near abandonment (1609–11)
In the autumn of 1609, after Smith left, Chief Powhatan began a campaign to starve the English out of Virginia. The tribes under his rule stopped bartering for food and carried out attacks on English parties that came in search of trade. Hunting became highly dangerous, as the Powhatan Indians also killed Englishmen they found outside the fort. Long reliant on the Indians, the colony found itself with far too little food for the winter.
As the food stocks ran out, the settlers ate the colony’s animals horses, dogs, and cats and then turned to eating rats, mice, and shoe leather. In their desperation, some practiced cannibalism. The winter of 1609–10, commonly known as the Starving Time, took a heavy toll. Of the 500 colonists living in Jamestown in the autumn, fewer than one-fifth were still alive by March 1610. Sixty were still in Jamestown; another 37, more fortunate, had escaped by ship.
The Grant stated:
âElizabeth, by the Grace of God of England ⦠Defender of the Faith ⦠grant to our trusty and well beloved servant Walter Raleigh ⦠to discover ⦠barbarous lands ⦠not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People â¦
Upon ⦠finding ⦠such remote lands ⦠it shall be necessary for the safety of all men ⦠to live together in Christian peace ⦠Ordinances ⦠agreeable to ⦠the laws ⦠of England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian faith.â
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
âThe first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their King and Church,
Cooking in Early Virginia Indian Society – Encyclopedia Virginia encyclopediavirginia.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from encyclopediavirginia.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.