"Virginia, _Discovered and Discribed by Captayn john Smith, " Sixth state. [London: William Hole, 1624}
Kent Coun ty, Maryland. H e was struck by the sight of the Tochwogh bearing European hatchets and metal rools. These, he was told, came from the Susquehannock, a migh ty tribe who lived two days above the falls of the Susquehanna River. Smith resolved ro meet them. Smith and his crew sailed across the bay and up the Susquehan na, where they waited fo r their Tockwogh fri ends to arrange fo r a trading session. On 7 August, sixty men came upon them bearing gifts and trade goods, and Smith was impressed by the migh ty warriors from the north . "Such great and well p roportioned men are seldome seen, for they seemed like G iants ro the English, yea and ro th eir neighbours, ye t seemed ro have an honest and simple disposition." H aving fo und the head of navigation of the Chesapeake Bay, it was time ro head south ro chart the major rive rs that had been missed on the first voyage. From 8- 12 August, the parry explored ro the fall line of the Patuxent River. On 13 August, the 28
shallop sailed ro the Rappahannock River and reached the fall line (now the site of Fredericksburg, Virginia). The end of the voyage was near. On 3 September, as the crew headed back roward Jamesrown, they ran into the las t of their violent C hesapeake storms and had ro bail strenuously ro stay afloat. "Yet running before the winde," Smith wrote, "at last we made land by the flashes of fire from heaven, by which light only we kept from the splitting shore, until it pleased G od in that black darkness, ro preserve us by that ligh t ro find Point Comfo rt." It was a fitting end ro an incredible adventure. On 7 September 1608, they reached the fort . Three days later, Captain John Smith became the third president of Jamestown. Under his leadership, industry flourished, crops were planted, homes were constructed, securi ty was tightened, and the death rate fell dramatically. Unfo rtunately, Smith's reign came ro an abrupt end in the fall of 1609, when a packet of black powder on his
hip accidentally ignited, severely wounding his leg. That September, he boarded a supply ship heading back ro England. H e would never set foot in Virginia again.
The Impact of Smith's Voyages: Mapping the Course for a New Nation After his return to England, Smith worked with engrave r William Hole ro create a map of "Virginia'' that was printed in O xford in 16 12. This map was so accurate that it served as the definitive rendering of the Chesapeake region fo r nearly a century. Accompanying the map was a pamphlet guide describing the C hesapeake region in striking detail, including information about the area's climate, flora, fa una, and marine life. It also contained the first ethnographic study of the Native inhabitants of the Chesapeake, which remains an important source of information a bout the Algonquian peoples of the mid-Atlantic region . For its time: and place, some 200 years before Lewis amd Clark, Captain John SEA HIS TORY 118, SPRING 2007