CONTENTS
PREFACE
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH
I. BIRTH AND TRAINING
II. FIGHTING IN HUNGARY
III. CAPTIVITY AND WANDERING
IV. FIRST ATTEMPTS IN VIRGINIA
V. FIRST PLANTING OF THE COLONY
VI. QUARRELS AND HARDSHIPS
VII. SMITH TO THE FRONT
VIII. THE FAMOUS CHICKAHOMINY VOYAGE
IX. SMITH'S WAY WITH THE INDIANS
X. DISCOVERY OF THE CHESAPEAKE
XI. SMITH'S PRESIDENCY AND PROWESS
XII. TRIALS OF THE SETTLEMENT
XIII. SMITH'S LAST DAYS IN VIRGINIA
XIV. THE COLONY WITHOUT SMITH
XV. NEW ENGLAND ADVENTURES
XVI. NEW ENGLAND'S TRIALS
XVII. WRITINGS-LATER YEARS
XVIII. DEATH AND CHARACTER
When I consented to prepare this volume for a series, which should deal with the notables of American history with some familiarity and disregard of historic gravity, I did not anticipate the seriousness of the task. But investigation of the subject showed me that while Captain John Smith would lend himself easily enough to the purely facetious treatment, there were historic problems worthy of a different handling, and that if the life of Smith was to be written, an effort should be made to state the truth, and to disentangle the career of the adventurer from the fables and misrepresentations that have clustered about it.
The extant biographies of Smith, and the portions of the history of Virginia that relate to him, all follow his own narrative, and accept his estimate of himself, and are little more than paraphrases of his story as told by himself. But within the last twenty years some new contemporary evidence has come to light, and special scholars have expended much critical research upon different portions of his career. The result of this modern investigation has been to discredit much of the romance gathered about Smith and Pocahontas, and a good deal to reduce his heroic proportions. A vague report of—these scholarly studies has gone abroad, but no effort has been made to tell the real story of Smith as a connected whole in the light of the new researches.
This volume is an effort to put in popular form the truth about Smith's adventures, and to estimate his exploits and character. For this purpose I have depended almost ent