Captain John Smith (1579-1631)

CHAPTER I His Early Years

Captain John Smith, of whom Thomas Jefferson said that he was, "next to Raleigh, the founder of Virginia," was one of the most extraordinary characters of either ancient or modern times. His varied fortunes, far-scattered scenes of action, and dangerous adventures, with his enormous energy, unfailing courage, and extraordinary executive ability, make the story of his life a romance that needs no fancy touches for its completion.

For some parts of the story we have only his own word, and therefore certain critical writers have thrown doubt upon its truth. But there are many bits of history that depend upon the word of one person; and when explorers return to us from unknown lands, we seldom question the truth of their narrative, though it tells of wonders we never had imagined. Moreover, those parts of Captain Smith's career that are told by other witnesses present adventures quite as extraordinary and a character quite as masterly as he himself has shown in the parts that depend solely on his own word. Let us therefore take him in good faith, and walk with him, ride with him, sail with him, fight with him, suffer with him, from his uneasy boyhood in Lincolnshire till his quiet leave of life in London at the age of fifty-two — the same span of life that was enjoyed by his great contemporary, William Shakespeare.

John Smith was born in the little village of Willoughby, England, in sight of the North Sea, in January, 1579. His parents were in humble circumstances, yet not so poor but that his father left an estate large enough to tempt John's guardians to get rid of him that they might enjoy it themselves. He was sent to the free schools of Louth and Alford, not far away, and acquired what we should call a good common-school education.

But a desire for travel and adventure appears to have been born in him — probably increased by his familiarity with sailors and fishermen and the great sea. In his fourteenth year he sold his schoolbooks and was about to run away in

HIS EARLY YEARS 3

search of adventures; but before he got away from the village his father died, and this caused him to remain to enjoy the property that he inherited. As he was not yet of age, he had to have guardians to take care of him and his estate. They appear to have had more care for the estate than for the boy, as they allowed him only a very small amount of pocket money, and the next year they bound him out as an apprentice to a tradesman named Tendall, in Lynn. Here he was fifty miles from the home of his childhood, but he was even nearer the sea than he had been, and its fascination grew upon him. He besought his master to send him to sea, and when this was refused he ran away.

After some wanderings, he found an opportunity to go to France as a servant to a son of Lord Willoughby, who was an eminent commander in the wars. There were many European wars in that day ; nearly every country on that continent was involved in some bloody struggle. The desire for liberty and responsible government had begun to assert itself, and despotism was dying hard.

After a few weeks of this service, in which he traveled over a great part of France, Smith was dismissed and made his way to his old home.

But he was not wanted there, as his guardians preferred to have the use of his property for themselves. They therefore gave him a small amount of money — what would be about twenty-five dollars in our day — and sent him abroad again.

This time he went to Paris, where he led a somewhat aimless Hfe, until he made the acquaintance of a Scotchman named David Hume — probably a distant kinsman of the David Hume who is now famous as a historian. When his money was almost spent, Hume gave him letters to King James VI of Scotland (afterward James I of England), and Smith set out to return once more to Great Britain. But the spirit of adventure was his ruling passion, and there was no promise of adventure for him in his native land. He went to Havre de Grace and determined to be a soldier, but was disappointed by the peace that was established between France and Spain.

Chapter II

Smith was now in his twentieth year, and being determined to have at least a taste of military life, he enlisted in an independent company of soldiers of fortune, or free lances, as they were called — those who would fight for any cause, or on any side, that paid the best. With this company he spent three years in the Netherlands, where the Dutch were still struggling for complete independence from Spain. But he appears not to have risen to any noteworthy rank, when he left that country and sailed for Scotland. The ship was wrecked on the coast of Northumberland, and Smith, escaping, but feeble, lay ill for some time in the Holy Isle.

The proper name of this island is Lindisfarne; it is in the North Sea, about ten miles from Berwick. At high tide it is an island two miles from the mainland ; but at low tide one can walk across on the sandy neck. It has an area of about four square miles, a part of it covered by sand dunes, the remainder being fertile soil. There is a small harbor, a little village, a fine old castle, and the ruins of an ancient abbey. It is called th Holy Isle because this abbey was founded by a company of monks in the seventh century and became famous. In the tenth century the building was ruined by an invasion of Danes, and the monks were scattered. The island is now a popular resort for sea bathing. Several other islands have been called Holy Isle — notably Guernsey and Rugen — but none so widely known as this.

As soon as Smith was able he proceeded to Scotland, landing at Leith, near Edinburgh, and presented his letters. He had a cordial reception at court ; but Hfe in court circles is expensive, and he had no money. Therefore he was obHged to return once more to his native town, where he found so Httle that interested him that he determined to try the Hfe of a hermit. He discovered a pleasant glade in the heart of a forest, and there built for himself a rude hut. He had taken his horse with him, and his exercise consisted in imitating the tournament exercises of knights in the Middle Ages. He had also taken a few books, and he tells us that his favorite authors were Marcus Aurelius and Machiavelli. This makes us smile a Httle, as if he were taking a poison and an antidote at the same time — Marcus Aurelius being not only the best of the Roman Emperors but perhaps the most spiritual and Fincerely pious of all the heathen writers, while the very name of Machiavelli, the Itahan statesman, has given us a word for craft, cunning, and cruelty.

Smith had probably had as much of this quiet life as a tireless and roving spirit like his could endure, when he fell in with an Itahan named Theodore Palaloga, an interesting man, who was a retainer of the Earl of Lincoln. They went together to Tattershall, near Boston, a Lincolnshire seaport, where the Earl had a castle, and Smith appears to have expected to be taken into the Earl's service. But in this he was disappointed, and he betook himself once more to the Netherlands in search of employment and adventure.

Then he became acquainted with three Frenchmen of the kind that we call "confidence men." They assumed high characters, and pretended that they could put him into military service advantageously. It seems strange that so able a man, who already had seen much of the world, could be deceived by such characters ; but so it was, and he sailed with them for France. When the vessel arrived there, they went ashore first, taking Smith's baggage with them ; and when he was able to land, some time later — for the captain of the vessel was a confederate of the confidence men and held him back — they had disappeared, taking with them nearly all his possessions. This left him nothing to do but go about, trying to make friends and looking for an opportunity to ship on board a man-of-war. In those forlorn days he had one comfort, however. By chance he met one of the three robbers, in a lonely place, and Smith immediately drew his sword and compelled the fellow to fight for his fife. The combat ended — as it should have ended, both in justice and in romance — by Smith's giving the robber a serious wound.

The Earl of Ployer, who had lived in England, befriended Smith and gave him money, and he then traveled extensively in France, being interested in the people, the natural scenery, the forts and the castles. When he arrived at Marseilles, on the Mediterranean, he took passage in a ship for Italy ; and from this he met with one of his most surprising adventures. Stormy weather came on, and was so severe that the captain was afraid to proceed, so he ran the vessel to the sheltered side of the httle, uninhabited island of St. Mary. Still the bad weather continued, and many of the passengers became impatient. Among them was a company of pilgrims going to Rome. These blamed Smith for the delay, saying he was a Huguenot, and therefore very bad, and they could hope for no better weather while he was on board. They therefore threw him into the sea, as Jonah was thrown (Jonah i, 15). But he was a powerful swimmer and he got ashore on the island, and the next day a merchantman that arrived and anchored there took him on board. We do not read that the pilgrims obtained any better weather by casting Smith into the sea.

On board the merchantman Smithes conversation proved so interesting that he quickly won the heart of the commander. Captain La Roche, and they became fast friends. They passed down the western coast of Italy, stopping at several ports, sailed among the Grecian isles, and then cast anchor in the Strait of Otranto. Here Smith discovered that the ship he was on had a double character — merchantman and pirate. She waited there till a richly laden vessel from Venice appeared. Captain La Roche hailed her and asked to speak ; but the Venetian, who guessed correctly what La Roche wanted, answered with a shot, which killed one man of the pirate's crew. La Roche then opened with broadsides, which were answered in kind, until La Roche had lost fifteen men and the Venetian twenty, whose ship also was so badly damaged that she was likely to sink. She surrendered therelo CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH

fore, and the pirates made haste to take off the most valuable parts of her cargo, and worked at it a day and a night. They obtained velvets and other costly cloths in abundance and considerable gold and silver money; and Smith says they then let her go, having still as much cargo as would have loaded the pirate ship again. He appears to have had no scruples about assisting in this robbery and accepting a share of the booty thus obtained — five hundred sequins, about twelve hundred dollars — and what he calls ''a Httle box worth nearly as much more." When the return voyage was made he landed at Antibes, in France. In those days piracy, as well as some other evil practices, was not held in abhorrence, and afterward Smith's colony in Virginia suffered indirectly from it, because ships that were sent out with much-needed provisions, instead of going directly to their destination, sailed off southward, cruising in the West Indies to capture some richly laden Spanish galleon.

With so much money in hand — which probably had as much purchasing power as five thousand dollars would have to-day — Smith could do no less than indulge his passion for travel. He went into Italy as far south as Naples, visited all the cities, and records his interest in nearly everything that he saw.

SOLDIER AND TRAVELER ii

He then made his way to Gratz, the capital of Styria, in eastern Austria-Hungary, a fine old city, in and around which armies contended at various times from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. With his talent for making friends rapidly. Smith soon added to his Hst an Englishman and an Irish priest, and through them he came to the notice of Baron Kissell, a commander of artillery, who sent him to Vienna, where he enlisted in a regiment commanded by the Earl of Meldritch. This was the beginning of his longest and most important military experience. The Turks were invading Europe, and German armies were confronting them in Hungary. The town of Olumpagh (or Olimacum), near Lake Flatten, was closely besieged by a strong Turkish force, and General KisselFs first duty was to relieve it. Here, according to his own story, first came into play Smith's varied ingenuity. He had invented a system of signaHng with torches, and by good fortune he had explained it to Lord Ebersbraugh when he made his acquaintance in Gratz, and Ebersbraugh was now in command in the besieged city.

This system was very simple. The letters from A to L were numbered (i to 12), and also those from M to Z (i to 14). The first set were represented by a single torch, the second set by two torches, and

12 CAPTMN JOHN SMITH

the number of times the torches were raised and lowered indicated the letter. Thus, for D a single torch would be raised and lowered four times. For O two torches would be raised and lowered three times. Three torches were raised and lowered to signify "this is the end of a word.'^

Smith explained this system to General Kissell and to the Earl of Meldritch, who had brought his regiment to assist Kissell's artillery. They adopted it, and sent Smith, with a party, to a neighboring hill to communicate with the besieged garrison. They soon got a reply, and then, by their signals, told Ebersbraugh the plan that had been formed for his relief. As Kissell had only ten thousand men to meet the Turks, he needed the assistance of the garrison, which was to sally out when he attacked; and full instructions to that effect were given to Ebersbraugh by means of the torches. The attack was to be made on the Turks at one side of the town, and Smith devised a means of making them think it was to be on the opposite side. To long lines he fastened bits of match with a little powder, and after dark these lines were fastened to stakes that held them breast high, in a plain on that side of the town. At a signal these were fired, and the Turks, supposing the flashes were from musketry, prepared to meet an attack from that side. Then Ebersbraugh and his garrison sallied out on the other side and joined KisselFs forces for a determined sudden attack on the Turks in their trenches, all of whom were either killed or put to flight. Then Kissell's men marched into the town; and the Turks on the other side, who had been deceived by Smith's stratagem, abandoned the siege and marched away. For his part in this success, Smith was made a captain.

Both sides now prepared for a more vigorous prosecution of the war. The Turks brought up heavy reenforcements, and the Emperor Rudolph II organized three armies to meet them. One of these armies was led by the Due de Mercoeur, whom Captain Smith calls Duke of Mercury, and numbered about thirty thousand men. The first task set for this army — which included the Earl of Meldritch's regiment, in which Captain Smith served — was to besiege Alba Regalis, a strong place held by the Turks. Here the fighting was frequent and serious, as the besieged Turks made many sallies and sometimes gained partial victories.

Here again Captain Smith's ingenuity came into play, and he invented what he called his ^' fiery dragons." He gave this name to certain earthen pots, forty or fifty of them, which he filled with gunpowder, brimstone, turpentine, and other substances that are extremely dangerous in connection with fire. The mass contained bullets as well. The whole pot was then covered with a cloth so smeared with wax, oil, and brimstone that the mass was highly inflammable. When it was ready to launch at the enemy , it was set on fire, and then woe to those who were in its vicinity a few moments later ! For these ''fiery dragons " he placed in slings as near as he could get to those quarters of the town where, as he had learned from escaping Christians, were usually the greatest assemblages of Turks. At midnight, on a signal, these strange missiles were thrown into the town, and Captain Smith says it was ''a perfect sight to see the short flaming course of their flight in the air, but presently after their fall the lamentable noise of the miserable slaughtered Turks was most wonderful to hear.''

At the opposite side of the city was a fortified suburb, specially protected by a shallow lake. A night attack at this point was planned; and by throwing into the lake great bundles of brush they made a sort of rough road or causeway, so that the soldiers were able to cross it and surprise the enemy. Captain Smith's narrative thus describes the action : ''The city, of no such strength as the suburbs, with their own ordnance [cannon] was so battered that it was taken perforce, with such merciless execution as was most pitiful to behold. The Bashaw notwithstanding drew together a party of five hundred before his own palace, where he intended to die ; but seeing most of his men slain before him by the vahant Captain Earl Meldritch, who took him prisoner with his own hands and with the hazard of himself saved him from the fury of other troops, that did pull down his palace and would have rent him in pieces had he not been thus preserved. The Duke thought his victory much honored with such a prisoner, and took order he should be used like a prince."

The victorious army not only occupied the city but put it into a state of repair, which it badly needed after being in the possession of the Turks for sixty years.

Meanwhile a large Turkish army was on its way to relieve the garrison just defeated, or to retake the city. The army in which Captain Smith was serving promptly marched out to meet this new force, and there was fierce fighting in the plain of Girke. Here Captain Smith was wounded and his horse was killed. After this, the Christian army was divided ; a part of it went westward to assist at the siege of Caniza, and the Earl of Meldritch with six thousand men marched more than a hundred miles eastward into Transylvania, where there was a tangled dispute as to the right of government, and this had given the Turks an opportunity to estabhsh themselves there. Prince Sigismund Battori was struggling to drive them out, and Meldritch joined him, with an understanding that his men should have all the property they could capture from the Turks.

CHAPTER III The Siege of Regal

As the country had been in a distracted state for several years, it happened that there were various armed bands — guerrillas, we should call them — having each its little stronghold in the hills. Some were apparently devoted to the Emperor Rudolph, some to the claims of Sigismund, some were Tartars, some Turks, and some simply bandits. By skillful movements the Earl drove many of these to take refuge in a fortified town in the plain of Regal, to which, after a battle, he laid siege. He had seventeen thousand men and a train of artillery which he mounted as siege guns. While the besiegers were patiently working at their preparations for attack, and the besieged were deriding their slowness, the Turkish commander in the fortress sent out a challenge which Captain Smith thus reports : "To delight the ladies, who did long to see some courtlike pastime, the Lord Turbishaw did defy any captain that had the command of a company, who durst combat with him for his head." c 17

Lots were drawn to determine who should be the champion of the besiegers and meet Turbishaw in single combat, and the choice fell upon Captain Smith. Everything was arranged much as we read of tournaments in the Middle Ages. The besieging army was drawn up on the plain, and the ramparts were occupied by soldiers and ladies who would look down upon the contest. The Bashaw, mounted on a fine horse, rode out to the sound of music, and exhibited himself gorgeously attired and wearing wings on his shoulders made of eagle feathers set in silver. One soldier walked before him carrying his lance, and two others attended on either side of his horse. Captain Smith, with a flourish of trumpets, rode out to meet him, accompanied only by one man to carry his lance. After the usual courteous salute, the signal was given, and at the first onset Captain Smith drove his lance straight through his opponent and threw him to the ground. Then he dismounted, unbuckled the Bashaw's helmet, and cut off his head.

A friend of the Bashaw's named Groalgo then challenged Captain Smith to fight with him, his object being to regain the Bashaw's head, and his offer being that his own head and his horse and armor should belong to Smith if he proved victorious. This proposal was accepted. The men first charged

THE SIEGE OF REGAL 19

with lances, and, when these were broken, used their pistols. A shot disabled the Turk's bridle arm, so that he could no longer manage his horse, and then Captain Smith threw him off, and got his head, his horse, and his armor. But he at once gave back to the Turk's friends all but the head. This was in accordance with their ideas of chivalry, to show that he was not fighting, for plunder, but only for military glory and the success of his commander. The result of these two duels — so unexpected — sobered the Turks, who sent no more challenges. But Smith now became challenger in his turn. In his quaint language he tells us how and why he did it: "To delude time. Smith, with so many incontradictible persuading reasons, obtained leave that the ladies might know he was not so much enamored of their servants' heads but if any Turk of their rank would come to the place of combat to redeem them, should have also his, upon like conditions, if he could win it."

This challenge was accepted, and the champion who was sent out to meet it was named Bonny Mulgro. It has always been a rule, in dueling, that the man who is challenged has the privilege of naming the weapons to be used. Captain Mulgro (he must have been at least a captain, as Smith required an antagonist of equal rank) would not fight with lances, for he had seen that Smith was master of that weapon; and he himself was expert in wielding a battle-ax. Therefore he chose battle-axes, pistols, and swords.

The next day was the time named for the fight, and, as before, there was an interested crowd of spectators on each side. The Turks felt confident that their champion would be triumphant this time, and he himself showed by his bearing that he had no doubt as to the result.

The combatants, who were on horseback, rushed together when the signal was given by a flourish of the trumpet. They fired their pistols at the same instant, but neither was hit. Then they swung their battle-axes and gave blow for blow in rapid succession. It seemed every minute as if skulls must be split or arms lopped off, until Mulgro, by a lucky stroke, knocked Smith's ax out of his hand. Then the Turks, thinking the contest was virtually ended, broke out into tremendous cheering. But Smith, suddenly nerving himself for a final effort, managed his horse so as to avoid further blows, drew his sword, drove at his antagonist in a wild rush, and sent the blade straight through his body. Mulgro got off from his horse, but was able to stand only a few seconds, when he toppled over and was dead. Smith's description of the close of the

THE SIEGE OF REGAL 21

fight — a mingling of self-praise and acknowledgment of divine assistance — is characteristic. He says: "The Turk prosecuted his advantage to the utmost of his power, yet the other — what by the readiness of his horse, and his judgment and dexterity in such a business beyond all men^s expectations — by God's assistance not only avoided the Turk's violence but, having drawn his own falchion, pierced the Turk so under the cutlets through back and body that, although he alighted from his horse, he stood not long ere he lost his head, as the rest had done."

For these exploits, Smith was summoned to the headquarters of the commanding general. He was escorted thither by four regiments ; and three soldiers, each leading a horse, carried three Turks' heads on the point of their lances. The general welcomed him warmly, embraced him according to the custom of the time, and gave him a fine horse with costly trappings, a new sword, and a belt set with gems worth three hundred ducats (about $700). Smith also received promotion to the rank of major. And some time afterward, when Sigismund, Waywode (Prince) of Transylvania, arrived at the seat of war and learned of these services, he gave Smith a patent (as it was called) authorizing him to bear a coat of arms in which the principal figure was three Turks' heads. To this, Sigismund added a miniature portrait of himself, set in gold, and promise of an annual pension of three hundred ducats. But from the ruin of his own fortunes he was not able to pay the pension very long. Smith says, however, that the Prince afterward gave him fifteen hundred ducats to make good his losses.

When the twenty-six siege guns, by closer approaches and incessant firing for fifteen days, had made great breaches in the walls of the city, an attack was made one dark night, and the German soldiers poured in through the breaches. The Turks were taken somewhat by surprise — at least their commander was. Smith tells it in this characteristic way: ''Their slothful governor lay in a castle on top of a high mountain, and, Kke a valiant prince, asketh 'What's the matter?' when horror and death stood amazed at each other, to see who should prevail to make him victorious." — There was heavy loss on both sides.

Moyses ordered his entire force to make a determined assault by rushing up the long slope in front of the tall promontory. This was the most dangerous approach to the enemy, but if it could be made was likely to be the most successful. As the men marched up, the enemy rolled down upon them great logs, heavy bowlders, and even, at last, bags

THE SIEGE OF REGAL 23

of powder — anything they could get that would break the ranks and knock over the men. The commands of Barons Budendorpe and Oberwein lost about half of their men before they reached the top.

Perhaps the Turks got their idea from the story of the famous battle of Morgarten, in Switzerland, nearly three centuries before, where the Swiss rolled down rocks upon the Austrian army passing through the valley, so that thirteen hundred were enabled to defeat about fourteen thousand. This was the first battle for Swiss independence, and every year it is celebrated in a chapel that has been built for the purpose in the valley.

But in this battle the Turks were not so successful as the Swiss had been. Despite their great losses, the attacking troops moved up steadily till, as Smith expresses it, they ''advanced to the push of the pike,'' that is, fought hand to hand. The Turks were equally brave and fought them steadily, till fresh regiments came up, commanded by Earl Meldritch, Becklefield, and Zarvana, and joined furiously in the fight. Then the Turks gave way and fled into the castle. Here they hung out a white flag and asked for terms of surrender.

General Moyses refused any terms, kept up the fight, and finally completely overcame the Turks.

Then all the surviving men of the garrison were killed, and their heads were fastened to stakes and displayed on the walls. This was done because the Turks, when they captured the city, had treated the Christian garrison in that same way. Smith says: "Moyses, having repaired the ramparts and thrown down the works in his camp, put in it a strong garrison. Though the pillage he had gotten in the town was much, it having been for a long time an impregnable den of thieves, yet the loss of the army so intermingled the sour with the sweet as forced Moyses to seek a further revenge, that he sacked Veratio, Solmos, Kupronka, and with two thousand prisoners, mostly women and children, came to Esenberg, not far from the Prince's palace, where he encamped."