Capt. John Smith; a biography

Preface

The author has designed the present series of Biographies more particularly for the young. And, in pursuing his original plan along to its termination, he has set before himself the following objects, to which he invites the reader’s attention :

To furnish from the pages of the world’s history a few examples of true manhood, lofty purpose, and persevering effort, such as may be safely held up either for the admiration or emulation of the youth of the present day ;

To clear away, in his treatment of these subjects, whatever mistiness and mustiness may have accumulated with time about them, presenting to the mental vision fresh and living pictures, that shall seem to be clothed with naturalness, and energy, and vitality ;

To offer no less instruction to the minds, than pleasure to the imaginations of the many for whom he has taken it in hand to write ;

And, more especially, perhaps, to familiarize the youth

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PREFACE.

of our day with those striking and manly characters, that have long ago made their mark, deep and lasting, on the history and fortunes of the American Continent.

The deeds of these men, it is true, are to be found abundantly recorded in Histories; but they lie so scattered along their ten thousand pages, and are so intermixed with the voluminous records of other matters, as to be practically out of the reach of the younger portion of readers, and so of the very ones for whom this series has been undertaken. These want only pictures of actual life ; and, if the author shall, in any due degree, succeed even in sketching interesting outlines , he will feel that he is answering the very purpose that has long lain unperformed within his heart.

CAPT. JOHN SMITH.

Chapter I. Childhood And Youth

THERE are few romances written, that contain more interesting or exciting incidents than the life of Captain J ohn Smith. Works of fiction reach the feelings chiefly through the medium of the imagination; but the actual facts of a biography appeal directly to the heart.

John Smith, who is truly called the founder of Virginia, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in a town called Willoughby, during the year 1579. Though he might easily have received far better instruction in his youth than he did, he had no one to blame for the deficiency but himself. Such education as the free schools in the vicinity offered was quite enough to prepare

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him to act intelligently in whatever situation lie might afterwards be thrown ; but his ardent temper and uncontrollable impulses were always very serious obstacles in the way of his improvement. Even at so early an age as thirteen, so adventurous and daring had his spirit become, he sold his books and satchel for funds with which to get ready to go to sea. The sudden death of his father, however, for the time prevented him. Before this event, it appears, he had likewise lost his mother. What little property his father left immediately fell to him, though he was obliged to be placed, with his money, in the care of guardians till he should come of age. Those guardians, however, as such persons often do, proved unfaithful to the trust reposed in them, and, knowing his desire for roving and adventure, secretly approved of the course he was so anxious to pursue. Though they allowed him very little money, — probably keeping a sharp look-out for themselves in regard to that, — they nevertheless gave him great personal liberty, rarely offering to interfere with any wandering whim that happened to seize him.

Had they been a little more liberal in giving

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him money, it is not likely that he would have stood in the way of their dishonest projects much longer ; but, being as destitute as he was, he knew that he could ill afford to venture very far out of their reach without a more adequate supply. So he remained for a time where he was. At last, however, they, resolved to apprentice him out with a merchant in Lynn, a man engage 1 very extensively in traffic, and with whom the uneasy youth might have grown in time to be a prosperous man. Sut there was another mission in the world for young John Smith. He was not destined to the drudgery of a store, and the comparatively trifling employments of one whose duty it is to stand behind a counter and wait upon coming customers ; it was reserved for him yet to establish a far-off colony, to pave the way for future generations in a hitherto unexplored and trackless wilderness, and to lay the foundations of a nation that was to spread in an incalculably short time from the shores of one vast ocean to the other.

With his present employer he remained but a short time, his thoughts brooding continually over the brilliant and indescribable pictures that

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lay spread out on the canvas of his future. Of trade, and its many weary accompaniments, he seemed to have got quite enough at an early day after entering on his apprenticeship. He formed the resolution to leave his employer and master altogether; and it is noticeable, too, that his guardians were well advised of his determination long before he undertook to carry it into effect. Indeed, with the few shillings which they had allowed him to retain in his pocket, it is probable that he ran away from the merchant immediately to them again, and demanded sufficient additional funds to enable him to realize his early dreams of the sea. Eager to be finally rid of him, they humored his request, and he very soon found a place as page, or travelling servant, to the young sons of Lord Willoughby, who were then about to make the customary tour of the continent.

They all went to France together. He controlled his vagrant propensities sufficiently to remain with them there for some five or six weeks, and then begged to be dismissed from their service altogether. They gave him a liberal supply of money, and let him go, supposing that he would be sure to return to his friends again.

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But this he had no mind to do. He had had quite enough of such friends; and so, with his . money, he made the best of his way to Paris, without companion or adviser.

At this time he was about fifteen years old ; and7 for a boy of fifteen, he certainly showed a rare courage and self-reliance that would do no discredit to a person of twice his years. While he was m Pans he fell in with a gentleman named Hume, a native of Scotland, who conceived a great liking to our youpg hero, and proposed to send him with letters of introduction to his own friends at home. He also filled his purse, and generously supplied all his wants. It was the gentleman’s wish to have the youth trained to be a courtier of King James, then living in Scotland, but destined soon to succeed Elizabeth on the throne of England. He liked the lad’s spirit and intelligence, and felt sure that, even at that age, he promised uncommon things. And his after life showed how accurate was the judgment of his Scottish friend.

Lndoubtedly Smith honestly engaged to go to Scotland, just as his new friend desired. But he was a youth of such a vagrant disposition, of

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suck erratic ways of thinking, of such dazzling and uncertain hopes for the future, and thus far so entirely accustomed to follow out only h.s • own unfettered impulses, that the reader must not wonder to find that, as soon as he was once away from the influence of his benefactor, he forgot him altogether. Such was the fact. He thought and cared no more for his hopes of preferment at court. He was wholly taken up with the vague propensities for roving and wandering

that beset him on every hand.

• By the time he reached Rouen his money was all gone. This was about the period of the civil wars that prevailed in France between the Catholics and Protestants, and ended with the violent death of King Henry the Fourth. From the . Narrative of his own life, which he wrote a great many years afterwards, it seems that he was then attracted by the sound of martial music, and the pomp of military preparations ; and that at leng . Be enlisted as a soldier, and fought on the side of the Protestants. Having once tasted of tins strange excitement, it was difficult for him to give it up; and, as soon, therefore, as peace followed in France, he was anxious to hurry

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awa}r to the next field where his services might be needed. His life was now little more than a headlong race, and it would seem as if he was trying to see how fast he could throw it away. Yet, out of all these aimless pursuits and impulses, he was insensibly extracting lessons of courage, and endurance, and self-command, that we shall see were of the greatest value to him in the rugged years of his after life.

Accordingly, he enlisted in a band of English troops, that were at that time acting as auxiliaries against Spain in the Netherlands, and served on this famous European battle-field for about four years. Little or nothing is known of his personal conduct during that time ; and even in his Narrative he has chosen to be silent about it all. 1 et, with his naturally strong tastes for a life of such excitement, it is not to be supposed that he let pass any opportunity of distinguishing himself among his comrades. What lessons were set him he probably learned with all the greediness of an earnest and ambitious nature.

After the expiration of about four years, he suddenly bethought himself of the letters entiusted to him by his friend, the Scotch gentle-

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man, in Paris. Acting immediately on his thought, he hurried away to take ship for Leith, a port in Scotland. The vessel in which he embarked was wrecked on the voyage; but his own life was providentially saved. Hardly was he free of this disaster, when he was overtaken by a fit of severe sickness on the Isle of Northumberland, and his life for some time despaired of. But he recovered at length, and hastened to Scotland to deliver his letters. There he was received with the utmost kindness, and found friends everywhere at his hand. But circumstances conspired to prevent his success at court, and he was thrown back upon the support of his own proud and self-reliant spirit again. King James was already impatient to put on the crown that Elizabeth had worn so long ; and it is not at all likely that he cared to surround himself in Scotland with a large army of fawning friends and flattering courtiers. Besides, our hero would really have made but a sorry figure at such a business ; and, with his proud and imaginative nature, would have failed even of the smallest success. There was a wider and a nobler field opening for him far away.

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Tired with his petty disappointments there in Scotland, he returned at length to his native town of Willoughby, in England, where he passed much of his time in social enjoyments and friendly delights. Even this wearied him in turn, and he began to sigh for more active and manly employment. Already he had seen much of the great world beyond his native town, and his spirit chafed and grew restless at this quietude and silent restraint. A small country town, it may well be supposed, held out few attractions either to occupy or detain an active spirit like his. He grew impatient and fretful. He could scarcely bear to see his fellow-creatures around him ; and finally, as an antidote to his peculiar disease, he resolved to withdraw from society and the world altogether.

Adopting the dress and habits of a hermit, he plunged into the forest, and built what he called a “ pavilion of boughs/7 in which he lived his life of seclusion. For reading, he carried with him but two books, — u Machiavellfis Art of War/7 and “ Marcus Aurelius ; 77 and, for exercise, he practised daily on his horse at tilting with his lance. This, truly, was a highly romau- 2*

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tic mode of life for a young man; and argued for him either a cracked brain or a strikingly original purpose. He shot venison for his food, and most likely became a pilferer to get that. He still kept a servant near him, and through him held all the converse with the world that he wished.

But such a style of life as this was sure to make him even more widely known than before. Perhaps, too, the notoriety of it was not at all distasteful to him. It may have afforded him a great deal of pleasure — such as it was — to see the country people staring at him with looks of such deep and inexpressible wonder. No doubt it was so. He felt more delighted to be thought a prodigy, — it hardly mattered of what sort, — than to be living quietly and unnoticed among his townsmen in the village of Willoughby, And the strange stories they told about him pleased him more than all.

Before long his mode of life reached the ears of the higher class of people ; and an Italian gentleman, who was interested in what he heard, went himself to see him in his forest seclusion. The Italian was an expert horseman, and so was

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Smith ; and the conversation of the former was highly intelligent, and pleasing, too. This was sufficient to cause a friendship to spring up between them at once. In a short time the stranger succeeded in drawing him out of his hermitage, and in inducing him to come back into the world of social life again. He removed with his new friend, and for. a time found the change to be both agreeable and refreshing.

But it was not to last long so. Our hero’s nature required nothing so much as action. It scouted sluggishness, and was impatient of restraint. It craved excitement all the time. From his very school days he had been longing to be his own master, to follow out his own headlong impulses, and to do some deeds that would bring his name prominently before the notice of the world. Properly trained, such a nature produces an invaluable character ; but, left to its own accidental development, the sport of the varying circumstances of each changing day, it is rare, indeed, that mankind receive from it the benefit they have a right to expect.

Very soon after bidding adieu to his romantic woodland retreat, he took leave of his new ac-

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quaintance, and went rambling again in the Netherlands. At this time he was nineteen years old. Whether he joined the army there or not, it does not appear. The next we hear of him, he has fallen into the company of four French rascals, who deliberately resolved to make him the victim of their dishonest designs. At his age, and with his frank and confiding disposition, it is very natural that he should have been easily imposed upon. One of these Frenchmen represented himself to Smith as a nobleman, passing off his companions as his attendants, or servants. This fellow worms out of Smith all his plans, and learns that it is his earnest desire to engage in the war against the Turks, which the Austrians were at that time waging. He accordingly enticed him into France with promises of there obtaining for him the means of joining the army, which included letters to the general of the Hungarian forces.

All embarked for France immediately. The vessel was a small one, and the captain was supposed to be secretly in league with the designing rogues. It was a dark and cheerless night in winter when they came into the next port ,* and

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the captain hurriedly set the four rascals on shore, together with all of Smith’s baggage, without the knowledge of any of the other passengers on board. The captain was, undoubtedly, a smuggler, following the same lawless calling by which so many at that time enriched themselves along the maritime coasts.

But it had nearly gone dangerously with him as soon as his iniquity came to light. The other passengers were so enraged, that they were almost ready to take his life on the spot. Indeed, had they known the secret of navigating the vessel, they would have run off with it and all it contained. Smith had just one penny left in his pocket ,* and the captain would even have compelled him to part with his cloak to pay for his passage. But, perhaps, this very extremity to which he was reduced was the means of helping him to friends. The rest showed him a great deal of sympathy and kind feeling, and helped him to whatever he needed to make him comfortable. One of them, in particular, stood by him faithfully, attracted by his youth, and pitying him in his misfortunes.

While thus journeying leisurely along through

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France, gaining friends wherever his story is known, and more especially by his intelligent speech and pleasing manners, he found his way among the higher classes of people, and began to recover his former vivacity and cheerfulness. But no sooner was he himself again, than he resumed his old habits and feelings, longing to see active service once more. Yery soon, therefore, the abundant means with which he. had been supplied by his friends failed him again, and he knew, to his sorrow, what it was to want for food to keep him alive. He found himself at length in a vast wood, tying exhausted, and without resolution, beneath a tree. He declared that he could go no further. He was quite willing to remain where he was, and die in peace. But fortune sent a good farmer that way, who relieved his necessities, supplying him with food and money, and setting him with a lighter heart on his journey again. How much is America indebted to that kind French farmer !

He came to the province of Brittany, still a wanderer, without aim, and almost without inclination. By the strangest accident in the world, he fell in with one of the rogues who had con-

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spired to rob him. As soon as they recognized one another, each drew his sword, and went at it without a word. There was an old tower near by, and the inmates were witnesses of the affray. Smith’s spirit was pretty well inflamed with the memory of the wrong suffered ^it his enemy’s hands, and he easily became the victor. The beaten robber confessed his guilt in the presence of all assembled there ; and, with such satisfaction as this, Smith left him on the ground to be taken care of by the peasantry.

Next he reached the country-seat of an earl, with whom he fortunately became acquainted during his earlier experiences in France, and by whom he was treated with the greatest kindness and generosity. The nobleman took a great deal of pains to show him the country, and to interest him as long as he remained. And, when he was at length ready to depart, plentiful means for pursuing his journey were placed in his hands, and he at length crossed the country to Marseilles, where he embarked on board ship for Italy.

But fresh trouble was brewing for him. It was chiefly by these tough experiences that his spirit was to be hardened to its heroic strength

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and endurance. Hardly had the vessel got out to sea, when a storm arose, driving them into the harbor of Toulon. It likewise happened that all his fellow-passengers, of whom there was a great crowd, were Catholics, bound on a pilgrimage to Home. With his peculiar frankness and candor, it was impossible for him to conceal from them that he was a Protestant ; in fact, it soon became known that he was the only Protestant on board. To this fact they superstitiously ascribed all their ill-luck, and thence began to use hard language toward him. Of course he used his tongue as freely as they ; and when they reviled Queen Elizabeth, he retorted quite as bitingly upon the Pope.

With such feelings existing between them, the vessel got under way again.; and again the tempestuous weather overtook them, compelling them to anchor once more, — this time off the Isle of St. Mary’s, near Nice. Now the passengers felt very certain that he was the cause of this prolonged danger, and declared among themselves that they never should have fair weather so long as such a heretic remained on board. His own replies to their threats and insults

CASTING SMITH INTO TIIE

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undoubtedly increased their ill-feeling, and, in a sudden fit of passion, they lifted him over the vessel’s rail, and threw him headlong into the * sea. Fortunately, it was not a very great way to the shore, and he was an excellent swimmer ; so, striking out lustily among the boiling waves, he reached the land of St. Mary’s, with nothing but a drenched suit of clothes, and a heart that kept up as stoutly as ever.

On the island, which was only a small tract, there was not a living human being besides himself. He began to look around him to see what resources there might be for supporting life, and found a few* small cattle and goats. With companions like these he might, perhaps, have become another Selkirk in time, had not fortune come to his relief again ; for, the very next day, a French vessel, that had put into one of the little bays of the island during the storm, took him on board, willing to go wherever its destination might happen to be. The captain of the vessel, by a happy accident, was a friend of the same French nobleman who had taken such an im terest in our hero in Brittany ; and, as soon as Smith’s acquaintance with the latter was known, 3

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the kindness and consideration with which he was treated were increased in a very striking degree.

The captain, to tell the truth, was an adventurer on the high seas, or, in other words, a pirate. That occupation was not held in such abhorrence by the world in those days as it is in these ; and it was not unusual to find gentlemen of respectability, and even of quality, engaged in the pursuit of it. It brought huge fortunes suddenly and mysteriously to the pockets of tfie daring adventurers, with which they could lead on shore the lives of wealthy noblemen.

First they sailed to Alexandria in Egypt. At that port they discharged their cargo, and immediately afterwards set sail again for the Mediterranean to watch for such prizes as might come in their way. They sailed along the coast of Asia, past Cyprus, Rhodes, the Archipelago, Candia and the Grecian coast, and the island of Cephalonia, and finally took up their position between the island of Cyprus and the Cape of Otranto, watching closely for the passage of some richly-freighted vessel bound up the Adriatic for Venice. These Venetian merchantmen at that

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time traded largely in silks, velvets, gold, spices, and wines, with all the ports along the Mediterranean coast, and always went back to Yenice laden, with the most varied and costly cargoes. The maritime laws of the world were not as strictly defined, nor as vigilantly guarded, in those days as they are now ; and very often a vessel belonging to one nation fell a prey to the vessel of another on the high seas, though both nations were on terms of the closest friendship all the while.

At length a vessel hove in sight, as the wily captain expected, — a Y enetian. He hailed her, and was promptly answered with a gun, whose shot killed one man on board the French vessel outright. Probably the Yenetian did not like the looks of the strange cruiser from the beginning. At once, therefore, the two vessels closed in with one another, and a terribly severe and bloody battle ensued, that lasted nearly two hours. The Frenchman twice boarded the enemy during that time, and each time was successfully driven back. The next attempt resulted in both vessels taking fire, and each drew off to quench the flames. At it they soon went again, however,

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both parties inflamed to the highest pitch of passion. But the Y enetian found itself finally in a sinking condition, and yielded without further resistance. The Frenchman put his men on board to stop the leaks, anxious only to remove as much of the valuable freight as could be taken away. They took what they could, and left at least another ship-load to be buried beneath the waves. In this fierce engagement the Venetian vessel lost twenty men, and the Frenchman fifteen ; and the former was of twice the tonnage of the latter, if not even more. Smiths share of the spoils was about a thousand sequins.

Thus provided for against pecuniary want, he prepared to separate from his new friends, unwilling any longer to pursue the business that had so suddenly enriched him. At his own request, therefore, the captain set him on shore in Piedmont, taking leave of him in the most friendly manner, and wishing him good luck wherever his changeful fortune might carry him. Smith pushed on at once for Leghorn, and then began a tour of Italy. In the course of his travels he fell in with his old friends, the sons of Lord Wil-

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loughby, who were rejoiced once more to see him, and hear his account of his adventures. Next he went to Rome, where he saw the Pope, and a long row of cardinals, and from which city he soon after set out for Naples. Thus from place to place he wandered about, visiting kingdom after kingdom, and city after city, spending his money lavishly the while, and thoughtless altogether of the future, or- of any purpose he had ever entertained. But growing tired, at the last, of this aimless way of life, the recollection of his desire to fight against the Turks suddenly flashed over him. He proceeded without delay to Yenice, in obedience to his original design, sailed thence across the Adriatic to Ragusa, wandered along the broken and rocky coasts of Albania, and .Dalmatia, reached Sclavonia, went into Styria, to the town of Gratz, where Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria, lived, and there, through the friendly instrumentality ^ of an Englishman and an Irishman, was brought to the notice of several of the officers of the Imperial army, with the staff of one of whom he immediately connected himself, and proceeded with the regiment, which was of cavalry, to 3*

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Vienna, the military head-quarters. Henceforth he was to exhibit his powers, as a brave and dauntless soldier, against one of the most cruel people living on the face of the earth.

Chapter II. Experience With The Turks

MAHOMET the Third was the Grand Seignor of Turkey at this period, having recently succeeded to the throne, and to the management of the hitherto disastrous war with Germany. It was in the latter part of the year 1601 when our hero enlisted ; and during that year there had been fought many very severe battles between the two nations, resulting generally to the advantage of the Turks. The latter had succeeded in obtaining a foothold in Hungary and other provinces, of which it was found next to impossible to dispossess them. So bold had they grown with their recent successes

that they pushed on through the country in the

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face of all obstacles, and laid siege to the walled town of Olympach. Lord Ebersbaught had been assigned to the defence of this place, which he

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now held with his forces. The Turks lay encamped around it to the number of twenty thousand. They daily made vigorous efforts to enter, battering the walls and destroying all the outworks against which they could safely bring their powers of assault. The condition of the garrison was rapidly becoming distressing, and it was evident at head-quarters that, without assistance, they could hold out but a little while longer.

In this extremity the Baron Kissell was dispatched to their relief with a force of artillery; but it was soon found that it was wholly inadequate to the trying emergency. Under the baron served the Earl Meldritch, with his troops of cavalry, and Smith, as we have already said, formed one of his staff. Immediately on arriving on the ground he gained the confidence of the baron by his spirit and intelligence, and was transferred to a post nearer the baron’s person. So unequal were the forces of the baron to those of the Turks, he discovered that ho could do no more than now and then cut off parties carrying supplies, or a straggling detachment that foolishly threw itself within his reach. This was

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hardly better than nothing at all ; he saw that if he was to be of any service, it could be only in conjunction with the besieged army of Lord Ebersbaught within the town. To effect his object, the chances of which now looked dark and dubious enough, he set his sharpest wits at work forthwith. Perhaps he could find a man, he thought, who possessed the courage and daring to attempt the passage of the well-guarded Turkish lines.