Jamestown - Timeline (Expand All)
The First Charter (1606-1608)
1606
Early 1606: "Reasons to move the High Court of Parliament to raise a stock for the maintaining of a Colony in Virginia." (Brown I, 37-42) (Quinn V, 168-70) [Display Quote]
April 10, 1606: James I grants the first charter to the Virginia Company. (Avalon Project) (Barbour JV, 24-34) (Bemiss) (Quinn V, 191-96) [Display Quote]
1606: Michael Drayton, "To the Virginian Voyage" -- patriotic poetry promoting the mission. [Display Quote]
November 20, 1606: James I issues "Articles, Instructions, and orders . . . for the good order and Gouernment of the two seueral Colonies and Plantations to be made by our Louing Subjects, in the Country commonly called Virginia and America." Sets up the councils in London and Virginia that will administer the colony and some of the laws governing the colony. (Barbour JV, 34-44) (Bemiss) (Billings) (Quinn V, 200-5) [Display Quote]
December 10, 1606: The London Council of the Virginia Company issues "Certain Orders and Directions Conceived and Set Down . . . for the better Government of his Majesties Subjects . . . that are now bound . . .to Settle his Majesties first Colony in Virginia." More about the make-up of the governing council in Virginia. (Barbour JV, 45-48) (Quinn V, 197-98) [Display Quote]
Between December 10 and December 19, 1606: The London Council adds "Instructions given by way of advice by us . . . to be Observed by those Captains and Company which are Sent at this present to plant there." Very specific orders about activities once the colonists are "on the ground" in Virginia. (Barbour JV, 49-54) [Display Quote]
December 20, 1606: The Susan Constant, Godspeed, and the Discovery depart London under the direction of Captain Christopher Newport.
1607
February 13, 1607: John Smith is arrested and imprisoned on route to Virginia for reasons unclear.
April 26, 1607: The colonists first sight Virginia and are attacked by Indians the first night. The names of the council members appointed by the Virginia Company are announced, and Edward Maria Wingfield is elected first president when the group founds Jamestown.
April 29, 1607: The colonists set up a cross at Cape Henry, signifying English possession.
May 14, 1607: After a period of exploration involving mostly friendly contact with Indians, a location for settlement is chosen. James-fort or James-town is begun and completed June 15.
May 24, 1607: Another cross is erected, this time with the inscription "Jacobus Rex."
May 26, 1607: Two days after feasting with an Indian king, the colonists undergo a major attack at Jamestown, resulting in the deaths of several hundred Indians and several colonists.
June 10, 1607: John Smith is released from arrest and made a member of the Council.
June 21, 1607: Gabriel Archer, "A relatyon . . . written by a gent. of the Colony." Description of activities on an exploring mission beginning May 21 and back at Jamestown after the May 26 attack. (Barbour JV, 80-98) [Display Quote]
June 21, 1607: [Gabriel Archer ?], "A Breif discription of the People." (Barbour JV, 102-4) [Display Quote]
June 22, 1607: Letter from the Virginia Council to the Virginia Company in London, the first official report from Jamestown. (Brown I, 106-8) [Display Quote]
June 22, 1607: Letter from colonist William Brewster probably to Lord Salisbury. (Barbour JV, 107) [Display Quote]
July 29, 1607: Upon arrival in England, Captain Newport writes to Lord Salisbury about finding gold. (Brown I, 105-6) [Display Quote]
August 13, 1607: Letter from Sir Walter Cope to Lord Salisbury giving disappointing news about the promise of gold. (Barbour JV, 111) [Display Quote]
August 22, 1607: Leading colonist Bartholomew Gosnold dies, one of many stricken as a result of unhealthy conditions. By the beginning of winter only forty of the 104 colonists would be alive.
September 10, 1607: As a result of internal disputes, President Wingfield is deposed and accused of starving the colony, and John Ratcliffe becomes president.
September, 1607: Their supplies exhausted, the colonists are saved from starvation by Indians.
September 1607: George Percy, "Observations gathered out of a Discourse of the Plantation of the Southerne Colonie in Virginia." From the beginning of the mission to the life-saving charity of the Indians in this month. (Virtual Jamestown) (Barbour JV, 129-46) [Display Quote]
September-December, 1607: Smith, as Cape Merchant for the colony, leads two trading expeditions looking for food, in one of which he threatens deadly force.
November 1607: Convicted of some sort of conspiracy -- a sign of factionalism in the colony -- Captain George Kendall is executed.
December 1607: On yet another mission to find food, John Smith is captured by Opechancanough, his companions killed, is taken to meet Powhatan, and, according to his 1624 Generall Historie account, is saved from death by Pocahontas, Powhatan's daughter.
1608
January 2, 1608: Smith returns to Jamestown and is charged with the responsibility for the deaths of his companions when he was captured -- another sign of the dissension in the colony.
January 2, 1608: The same day that Smith returns, Captain Newport arrives in the John and Francis, bringing the "first supply," including about 100 new settlers, finding no more than forty colonists now left alive.
January 7, 1608: Jamestown suffers a ruinous fire destroying almost all buildings and many provisions.
February 1608: Smith and Newport explore and trade and parley with Powhatan, exchanging hostages. Smith is severely critical of Newport's liberal trade practice as detrimental to the colony in the long run.
April 10, 1608: Newport returns to England, with Edward Maria Wingfield, deposed first President of the Jamestown Council, as passenger.
1608?: William White's account of the Indian "sacrifice of children" that would find its way into works by Smith and Percy and whose subject can be found in justification documents in England. (Barbour JV, 147-50)
April 20, 1608: Captain Francis Nelson, bringing forty more settlers and provisions as part of the "first supply," arrives in the Phoenix.
May, 1608: Edward Maria Wingfield, "A Discourse of Virginia." Presented in London, a defense of charges brought against this first president of the council in Virginia for starving the colony. (Virtual Jamestown) (Barbour JV, 213-34) [Hide Quote]
The 10 of September, Mr Ratcliff, Mr Smyth, and Mr Martynn, came to the President's tennt with a warrant, subscribed vnder their handes, to depose the President [Wingfield is writing of himself in the third person at this point]; sayeing they thought him very unworthy to be eyther Prsident or of the Councell, and therefore discharged him of bothe. He answered them, that they had eased him of a great deale of care and trouble; that, long since, hee had diuers tymes profered them the place at an easier rate; and, further, that the President ought to be remoued (as appeareth in his Mats instruccons for our government) by the greater number of xiij voyces, Councellors; that they were but three, and therefore wished them to proceede advisedly. But they told him, if they did him wrong, they must answere it. Then said the deposed President, I ame at your pleasure: dispose of me as you will, wthout further garboiles. . . . .
First [Ratliffe] said that I had denyed him a penny whitle, a Chickyn, a spoonfull of beere, and served him with foule Corne. . . . Master Martyn followed with, he reporteth that I doe slack the service in the Collonye, and doe nothing but tend my pot, spitt, and oven. . . .
As I understand by a report, I am much charged wth staruing the Collony. I did alwaies giue eury man his allowance faithfully, both of corne, oyle, aquivite, &c., as was by the Counsell proportioned: neyther was it bettered after my tyme, untill, towards th' end of March, a bisket was allowed to euery workeing man for his breakefast, by means of the puision brought vs by Captn. Newport; as will appeare hereafter. It is further said, I did much banquit and ryot. I never had but one squirell roasted; whereof I gave part to Mr Ratcliff, then sick: yet was that squirell given me. I did never heate a flesh pott but when the comon pot was so used likewise. Yet how often Mr President's and the Councellors' spitts haue night & daye bene endaungered to break their backes,--so laden wth swanns, geese, ducks, &c! how many times their flesh potts haue swelled, many hungry eies did behold, to their great longing; and what great theeues and theeving thear hath been in the comon stoare since my tyme, I doubt not but is already made knowne to his Mats Councell for Virginia. . . . .
The . . . daie of . . . the President did beat James Read, the Smyth. The Smythe stroake him againe. For this he was condemned to be hanged; but, before he was turned of the lather, he desired to speak with the President in private, to whome he accused Mr Kendall of a mutiny, and so escaped himself. What indictment Mr Recorder framed against the Smyth, I knowe not; but I knowe it is familiar for the President, Counsellors, and other officers, to beate men at their pleasures. One lyeth sick till death, another walketh lame, the third cryeth out of all his boanes; wch myseryes they doe take vpon their consciences to come to them by this their alms of beating. Wear this whipping, lawing, beating, and hanging, in Virginia, knowne in England, I fear it would driue many well affected myndes from this honoble action of Virginia. . . .
May 1608: Smith recounts his involvement in the unraveling of several Indian plots and ambushes, one in which he makes an Indian talk by threatening to kill him and another in which he gives an Indian twenty lashes with a rope.
June 2, 1608: Nelson returns to England, apparently carrying Smith's True Relation manuscript.
June 1608: John Smith, A True Relation of such occurences and accidents of noate as hath hapned in Virginia since the first planting of that Collony which is now resident in the South part thereof. London, 1608. (Virtual Jamestown) (Barbour JV, 165-208) [Display Quote]
June-September, 1608: Smith leads other exploring missions, one ending July 21, the other September 7.
September 10, 1608: John Smith is elected president
October 1608: Newport returns a second time, bringing the "second supply" of seventy settlers and provisions, as well as plans for a "coronation" of "Emperor Powhatan" as part of a scheme to make the Indians subservient to the English.
Between October-December 1608: Newport -- against Smith's better judgment -- attempts the "coronation" of Powhatan, later described by Smith in his 1624 Generall Historie. Preceding this event is the exotic "maskerado" that thirty virtually naked Indian women stage for Smith. During this same period Newport leads another mission looking for gold, leaving Smith behind to gather supplies for the return trip to England. On a food gathering mission to the Chickahominies, Smith threatens attack when they are reluctant to trade.
December 1608: Newport returns to England, evidently bearing a letter by president Smith to the London Virginia Company (and possibly a map done by Smith as a result of his various exploring missions) strongly answering charges against the colony, later printed in his 1624 Generall Historie. (Barbour JV, 241-45) [Display Quote]
The Second Charter (1609-1611)
1609
January 12, 1609: Smith journeys to Werowocomoco searching for food and engages in a fruitless war of words with Powhatan, who seemingly has ordered an embargo on trade. Pocahontas warns Smith of a plot to kill him.
Later January 1609: Smith succeeds in gaining food from Opecancanough by threatening to kill him, literally holding a gun to his chest.
February 1609: Wowinchopunck tries to assassinate Smith, prodding Smith to a brutal reprisal against his village.
Winter 1608/9: Virginia Company, "A Justification for Planting Virginia" (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 1-3) [Display Quote]
February? 1609: Virginia Company of London, For the plantation in Virginia. Or Nova Britannia. London, 1609. A one-page announcement of an intended voyage to Virginia and the terms on which laborers will be accepted as colonists. (Brown I, 248-49) [Display Quote]
February 18, 1609: Robert Johnson, Nova Britannia. Offering most excellent fruits by planting in Virginia. Exciting such as be well affected to the same. London, 1609. (Force, Tracts, I, no. 6 -- Capital and the Bay collection of the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress) (Quinn V, 234-48) (Virtual Jamestown) (Facsimile edition New York: Da
Capo Press, 1969) See Essay 5 by Elizabeth Vogtsberger. [Display Quote]
March 1609: Letter to Hugh Weld, Lord Mayor of London, inviting him and others to invest or contribute. (Brown I, 252-53.) [Display Quote]
March 24, 1609: Richard Crakanthorpe, A Sermon at the Solemnizing of the Happie Inauguration of our most gracious and religious Soveraigne . . . London, 1609. Mention of the Virginia enterprise as an example of King James's wisdom, a wisdom like Solomon's. [Display Quote]
March and April 1609: The Spanish Ambassador to England, Pedro de Zuniga, writes to Philip III about the promotion activities. (Barbour JV, 254-59) [Display Quote]
April 15, 1609: Richard Hakluyt, VIRGINIA richly valued by a Portuguese gentleman, translated out of Portuguese. London, 1609. Publication thought to be part of the general campaign to advance the Virginia Company. (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
April 17, 1609: Robert Tynley, Two learned sermons. The one, of the mischieuous subtiltie, and barbarous crueltie, the other of the false doctrines, and refined haeresis of the romish synagogue. London, 1609. The second sermon, citing the Christian charity of the Virginia work, is the relevant one here. [Display Quote]
April 25, 1609: William Symonds, Virginia: a sermon preached at Whitechapel in the presence of . . . the Adventurers and Planters for Virginia. London, 1609. See Essay 3 by Kate Lehnes. [Display Quote]
April 28, 1609: Robert Gray, A Good Speed to Virginia. Offering most excellent fruites by Planting in Virginia. London, 1609. (Facsimile edition, Ed. Wesley Craven, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1937) See Essay 4 by Karen B. Manahan. [Display Quote]
May 7, 1609: George Benson, A Sermon preached at Paules Crosse the Seaventh of May MDCIX. London, 1609. Mention of conversion of the Indians in the context of signs of the end of the world. [Display Quote]
May 23, 1609: A second charter from the Crown through which the Virginia Company assumes direct administration of the the colony. Instead of royal control through a royal council, there is private control through a corporation under a royal charter. Power on the ground is now vested not in a President and Council in Virginia but a Governor: Sir Thomas Gates. (Avalon Project) (Bemiss) [Display Quote]
May 28, 1609: Daniel Price, Sauls Prohibition staide . . . With a reproofe of those that traduce the Honourable Plantation of Virginia. London, 1609. See Essay 2 by Christina M. Hoffmann. [Display Quote]
1609: Thomas Morton, a sermon, now lost, on the lawfulness of colonizing. (See Fitzmaurice, p. 64)
Between May and June 1609: "Instruccions orders and Constitucions by way of advise sett downe declared and propounded to Sir Thomas Gates knight Governour of Virginia . . . for the Direccion of the affaires of that Countrey" under the new charter. (Barbour JV, 262-68) (Bemiss) [Display Quote]
June 8, 1609: Governor Gates departs from England with a company of nine ships and 500 settlers. Notable people included were Newport, George Somers, John Rolfe, William Strachey.
July 13, 1609: Captain Argall, on a mission to find a more direct route to Virginia, scares off a Spanish warship.
July 28, 1609: In a fierce storm ("Horacano") three of the nine second-charter ships are wrecked on the Bermudas -- including the leading members of the mission Gates, Somers, and Newport in the Sea Venture. (The loss of the Sea Venture is thought to be the source of Shakespeare's The Tempest.)
August 11, 1609: The other six second-charter ships arrive in Jamestown, but, delaying implementation of the second charter, Governor Gates does not arrive until May 21, 1610. Smith remains president.
August 31, 1609: Gabriel Archer, "A Letter of M. Gabriel Archer, touching the Voyage of the Fleet of Ships, which arrived at Virginia, without Sir Tho. Gates, and Sir George Summers, 1609." (Arber and Bradley, Travels and Works of John Smith 1, xciv) [Display Quote]
September 10, 1609: George Percy replaces Smith as president.
October 4, 1609: An apparently seriously injured Smith -- some think not accidentally -- returns to England under a cloud, as shown in this letter by John Ratcliffe to the Earl of Salisbury. George Percy would write in his Trewe Relacyon (1612) that Smith plotted to "have made himselfe a king, by marrying Pocahontas." Smith's departure is followed by an Indian uprising. He was not charged in England, but he never again had formal work with the Virginia Company. [Display Quote]
November 1609: Conditions at Jamestown go seriously downhill. Forays for food are unsuccessful, and in one John Ratcliffe is killed in a particularly horrendous manner -- Indian women scraping the flesh from his bones. The Indians initiate a siege to starve the colonists.
1609: Marc Lescarbot, Noua Francia: or The description of that part of Nevv France, which is one continent with Virginia. London, 1609. Printed as propaganda for the Virginia Company as can be seen from the preface by translator Pierre Erondelle. [Display Quote]
1609: Joseph Hall, The discouery of a new world: mundus alter et idem. London, 1609. 2nd. ed. 1613 . Satire on New World voyages: "For Hall, the luxury of foreign lands threatens to soften and make feminine the martial virtues of the English" ( Fitzmaurice 80).
1609/10: Samuel Daniel, "Epistle. To Prince Henry." Rptd. in The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse, ed. H. R. Woudhuysen. London: Penguin, 1992: 433-36. "One of the strongest Jacobean cases against colonisation" (Fitzmaurice 81). [Display Quote]
1610
Winter of 1609-10 is the "starving time" in Jamestown -- a period of terrible devastation for the colony. Three-quarters of the colonists die or escape to the Indians. George Percy would write in his Trewe Relacyon (1612) that "Now all of us att James Towne [began] to feele that sharpe pricke of hunger which noe man can trewly descrybe butt he which hath tasted the bitterness thereof." The colonists eat their animals, leather, and there are reports of cannibalism.
Early 1610: Sir Thomas West, Lord La Warr, is appointed Lord Governor and Captain General of Virginia, making Gates Lieutenant Governor.
Early 1610: "Instructions, orders and constitucions by way of advise sett downe, declared, propounded and delivered to the Right Honourable Sir Thomas West, Knight, Lord La Warr, Lord Governor and Capten Generall of Virginea . . . for his better disposinge and proceedinge in the government thereof." (Bemiss) [Display Quote]
Early 1610: Counseil for Virginia, True and Sincere Declaration of the purpose and ends of the Plantation begun in Virginia. London, 1610. The beginning of a public relations campaign aimed at stemming the damage done by the shipwreck of Gates and the others. (Brown 1, 337-53) [Display Quote]
Early 1610: Counseil for Virginia, A publication by the counsell of Virginea, touching the plantation there. London 1610. A response to the missing ships; a broadside calling for more recruits. (Brown I, 354-56) [Display Quote]
February 21, 1610: William Crashaw, A Sermon preached in London before the right honourable the Lord Lawarre, Lord Governour and Captaine Generall of Virginia . . . and the rest of the aduenturers in that plantation At the said Lord Generall his leaue taking of England his natiue countrey, and departure for Virginea. [running title: A New-yeeres Gift to Virginea] London, 1610. See Essay 6 by Elizabeth Wiggins. [Display Quote]
April 1, 1610: West leaves for Virginia.
May 21, 1610: Officially still governor, Sir Thomas Gates, shipwrecked on July 28, 1609, arrives with the Patience and Deliverance to find that only sixty of 500 colonists survived the "starving time." Gates institutes the new strict "military" regime embodied in Laws Divine, Moral and Martiall (compiled by William Strachey and published in 1612). (Force, Tracts, III, no. 2 -- Capital and the Bay collection of the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress) (Ed. David H. Flaherty, Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1969) [Display Quote]
June 7, 1610: Finding the devasted condition of the colony hopeless, Gates abandons Jamestown, only, three days later, to meet his new superior Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, at sea; West orders everybody to return.
July 7, 1610: Letter from Lord De La Warr to the Virginia Council relating the deplorable condition of the colony that Gates found and that he found. (Neill 36-49) [Display Quote]
July 1610: Gates witnesses one of his men -- Humphrey Blunt -- captured and gruesomely "sacrificed" -- and retaliates in kind.
August 10, 1610: The colonists destroy a village, throw the chief's children in the water, and execute his wife -- a clear indication of the state of English/Indian relations.
Late summer 1610: William Strachey, A true reportory of the wracke, and redemption of Sir Thomas Gates. First published: Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrimes ( Part 4, Book 9, Chap 6). London, 1625. Descriptions of mutinies and the poor character of some of the colonists are the reasons the account was not published immediately. Thought to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's 1611 The Tempest. (Ed. Louis B. Wright, A Voyage to Virginia in 1609. Charlottesville, UP of Virginia, 1964) [Display Quote]
October 13, 1610: Silvester Jourdain, A Discovery of the Barmudas, otherwise called the Ile of Diuels by Sir Thomas Gates . . . Set forth for the loue of my country, and also for the good of the plantation in Virginia. London, 1610. Another work on the shipwrecks. (Ed. Louis B. Wright, A Voyage to Virginia in 1609. Charlottesville, UP of Virginia, 1964) [Display Quote]
Fall 1610: Richard Rich, News from Virginia. The lost flocke triumphant. With the happy arriuall of that famous and worthy knight Sr. Thomas Gates. London, 1610. A poem -- yet another work on the shipwreck. (Facsimile edition, Ed. Wesley F. Craven, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1937) [Display Quote]
November, 1610: Counseil for Virginia, A True Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia, With a confutation of such scandalous reports as have tended to the disgrace of so worthy an enterprise. London, 1610. (Force, Tracts, III, no. 1 -- Capital and the Bay collection of the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress) (Mancall) (Quinn V, 248-62) (Virtual Jamestown) See Essay 1 by Edward J. Gallagher. [Display Quote]
1611
January 1611: Counseil for Virginia, By the Counsell of Virginea seeing it hath pleased God ... that now by the wisdome and industry of the Lord Governour settled in Virginea, the state and business of the English plantation there succeedeth with hope of a most prosperous event. London, 1611. A broadside seeking better recruits for new voyages. [Display Quote]
March 1611?: "A circular Letter of his Majestie's Counsil for Virginia" asking for money. (Brown I, 463-65) [Display Quote]
March 28, 1611: West, suffering from ill health, leaves Virginia with George Percy in charge as Deputy Governor until the arrival of new governor Thomas Dale.
May 19, 1611: Dale arrives and takes command, intensifying the already tough laws instituted by Gates.
June 25, 1611: The relation of the Right Honourable the Lord De-La-Warre, Lord Gouernour and Captaine Generall of the colonie, planted in Virginea. [A Short Relation made by the Lord De-La-Warre, to the Lords and others of the Counsell of Virginia, touching his unexpected returne home . . . ] London, 1611. (Virtual Jamestown) (Quinn V, 263-66) [Display Quote]
August 2, 1611: Gates returns with a large company of colonists and supplies to rule as Lieutenant-Governor, while Governor Dale begins the expansion of Virginia beyond Jamestown by taking a large force to build Henrico.
August 17, 1611: Letter of Dale to the Earl of Salisbury. (Brown I, 501-10) [Display Quote]
November 1, 1611: First performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest, a play thought to be inspired by the wreck of the second-charter fleet.
1611: John Speed, The history of Great Britaine under the conquests of ye Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. . . . London, 1611. "Among the best contemporary statements" that "the Indians would follow the same level of progression that had brought the English to their current level of civilization" (Oberg 53).
The Third Charter (1612-1625)
1612
March 12, 1612: A third charter for the Virginia Company extends the land grant of the colony to include Bermuda, takes measures against those who abuse company members and discourage potential investors to the "utter overthrow and ruine of the said enterprise," and authorizes use of a lottery to raise funds. (Avalon Project) (Bemiss) (Quinn V, 226-32)
1612: William Strachey, For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Laws Divine, Moral and Martiall. The basis of "martial law" in the colony. (Force, Tracts, III, no. 2 -- Capital and the Bay collection of the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress) (Virtual Jamestown) (Ed. David H. Flaherty, Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1969) [Display Quote]
April 22, 1612: George Percy, A Trewe Relacyon of the Pcedeinges and Ocurrentes of Momente wch have hapned in Virginia from the Tyme Sr Thomas GATES was shippwrackte uppon the BERMUDES ano 1609 untill my depture outt of the Country wch was in ano Dñi 1612. (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
May 1, 1612: Robert Johnson, The New Life Of Virginea: Declaring the former successe and present estate of that plantation. London, 1612. (Force, Tracts, I, no. 7 -- Capital and the Bay collection of the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress) (Virtual Jamestown) (Facsimile edition Amsterdam and New York: Da Capo Press, 1971) [Display Quote]
1612: By his Maiesties Counsell of Virginea [Forasmuch as not withstanding the late publication of our purpose to make use of the King his Maiesties most gratious grant of Lotteries, for the aduancement of the Plantation in Virginea . . . yet sundrie persons, ill requiting our endeuors for the common good, malitiouslie giue out, that our meaning is to make unto our selues excessiue and dishonest gaine. . . .] Broadside announcing that supply ships have already been sent, but that because of these aspersions, the lottery is postponed till June so there is a better understanding of it. (Loose copy found in California State University at Fullerton's copy of Three Proclamations concerning the Lottery for Virginia, 1613-1621 by the John Carter Brown Library, 1907.)
June 29, 1612: Londons lotterie with an incouragement to the furtherance thereof for the good of Virginia, and the benefite of this our natiue countrie, wishing good fortune to all that venture in the same[.] To the tune of Lusty Gallant. London, 1612. Broadside ballad about the lottery -- sometimes referred to as "The First Great Standing Lottery" -- that ran from June 29 to July 20. (See Charles Firth, An American Garland, Being a Collection of Ballads relating to America, 1563-1739. Oxford: Blackwell, 1915. xxi.)
Prior to November 1612: William Strachey, "A Praemonition to the Reader." The Historie of Travell into Virginia Britania. (Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia Freund. London: Hakluyt Society, 1953.) [Display Quote]
After November 1612: John Smith, A Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Countrey . . . London, 1612. (Virtual Jamestown) (Barbour JV, II, 321-74) [Display Quote]
After November 1612: William Symonds, ed., The Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia. Collection of material published as Part II Smith's Map of Virginia above.
1612: John Floyd, The Overthrow of the Protestant Pulpit-Babels . . . Particularly Confuting W. Crashaws Sermon. St Omer, 1612. Brief reference to Virginia while attacking Crashaw . [Display Quote]
1613
February 15, 1613: George Chapman, "The Memorable Masque." (The Plays of George Chapman: The Comedies, A Critical Edition. General editor: Allan Holaday. Assisted by Michael Kiernan. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1970. 557-94.) [Display Quote]
February 1613: Alexander Whitaker, Good Newes from Virginia sent to the Counsell and Company of Virginia. London, 1613. Dated July 28, 1612. Dedicatory essay by William Crashaw. (Virtual Jamestown) (Facsimile editions Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1936 & 1976 [the latter as Early Accounts of Life in Colonial Virginia]) [Display Quote]
1613: Henry Spelman, "Relation of Virginia." Spelman was captured by and lived among the Powhatans for several years. (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
Spring 1613: Counseil for Virginia, By His Maiesties Councell for Virginia whereas sundrie the aduenturers to Virginia, in their zeale to that memorable worke, the plantation of that country with an English colony ... haue published a little standing lotterie consisting of but 12 pence for euery lot. London, 1613. Proclamation announcing lottery to be drawn May 10.
April 13, 1613: Captain Samuel Argall arrives at Jamestown with the captured Pocahontas.
June 1613: Samuel Argall, "A Letter of Sir Samuell Argall touching his Voyage to Virginia, and Actions there: Written to Master Nicholas Hawes. June 1613." (Brown II, 640-44) [Display Quote]
June 1613: Letter of Thomas Dale to Thomas Smyth. (Brown II, 639-40) [Display Quote]
June 10, 1613: Letter of Thoma Dale. (Haille 758-83) [Display Quote]
June 28, 1613: Probable date of John Rolfe's first shipment of tobacco -- which would become the economic salvation of the colony as well as a cause of contention -- to England.
1613?: "Limits of the Spanish Possessions." Possibly written by Richard Hakluyt or drawn from his writings. Brown: "These papers are apparently rough notes for a reply to the Spanish claims to America." (Brown II, 669-75)
1613/1614: Baptism of Pocahontas, who takes the Christian name Rebecca.
1614
February 1614: Thomas Dale replaces Thomas Gates as governor of Virginia.
March/April 1614: Dale and Powhatan make a "bargaine" that ends five years of outright hostilities.
1614: John Rolfe's letter to Dale about marrying Pocahontas. [Published in Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia. London, 1615.] (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
April 5, 1614: John Rolfe and Pocahontas marry, signalling a peace that lasted eight years.
Late April 1614: Dale negotiates peace with the Chickahominies.
June 18, 1614: Letter from Thomas Dale to Mr. D. M. (printed in Hamor 1615) [Display Quote]
1615
February 22, 1615: "A Declaration for the certaine time of drawing the great standing Lottery." Broadside for a lottery -- the "Second Great Lottery" (see 1612). The lottery was drawn November 17 according to Brown. (Brown II, 760-66)
1615: Lewes Hughes, A letter, sent into England from the Summer Ilands. London, 1615. [written December 21, 1614] Another document relating to the Gates' shipwreck. [Display Quote]
1615: Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia. London, 1615. (Virtual Jamestown) (Facsimile edition Amsterdam and New York: Da Capo Press, 1971) [Display Quote]
1616
Early 1616: King James initiates a campaign for charitable contributions toward the education of the Indians.
June 2, 1616: John and Rebecca (Pocahontas) Rolfe arrive in London, where she creates a great sensation and revives interest among the stockholders of the Virginia Company in the flagging enterprise.
1616: John Rolfe, "True Relation of the State of Virginia lefte by Sir Thomas Dale Knight in May last 1616." (Ed. Henry C. Taylor. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1951.) [Display Quote]
April 1616?: Counseil for Virginia, By His Maiesties counseil for Virginia. A briefe declaration of the present state of things in Virginia and of a diuision to be now made, of some part of those lands in our actuall possession, as well to all such as haue aduentured their monyes, as also to those that are planters there. London, 1616. [Display Quote]
Christmas 1616: Pocahontas attends a performance of Ben Jonson's "The Vision of Delight," a masque written especially for the occasion.
1617
March 21, 1617: Pocahontas/Rebecca Rolfe dies in England on the return trip to Virginia.
May 15, 1617: Samuel Argall becomes governor.
1617: Counseil for Virginia, By his Maiesties Councell for Virginia. Whereas vpon the returne of Sir Thomas Dale Knight, (Marshall of Virginia) the Treasurer, Councell, and Company of the same, haue beene throughly informed and assured of the good estate of that colony. London, 1617. [Display Quote]
1618
April 1618: Powhatan dies.
April 1618: Letter of the Company to Deputy Governor Argall about his malfeasance in office. (Neill 114-17.) [Display Quote]
November 18, 1618: "Instructions to George Yeardley." (Sometimes called "The Great Charter") George Yeardley chosen as Governor; plans made for establishing a General Assembly. (Bemiss) [Display Quote]
1619
April 19, 1619: George Yeardley takes office.
April 28, 1619: As a result of a decade without profits to investors, Edwin Sandys organizes opposition among the stockholders and replaces Thomas Smythe as head of the Virginia Company, the beginning of years of internal dissension.
July 30, 1619: The first General Assembly of Virginia, often marked as the beginning of representative government in America. (Virtual Jamestown)
August 1619: A Dutch ship brings "20 and odd Negroes," the first African Americans to Virginia.
November 17, 1619: A plan approved to send 100 young women to Jamestown as wives.
1620
Spring 1620: George Thorpe, who would manage the effort to begin an Indian college, arrives in Jamestown.
May 17, 1620: A document from the Virginia Company to the Virginia leaders puts the reins on tobacco and encourages the production of other goods. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 275-80)
June 22, 1620: Counseil for Virginia, A declaration of the state of the colonie and affaires in Virginia with the names of the aduenturors, and summes aduentured in that action. London, 1620. (Force, Tracts, III, no. 5 -- Capital and the Bay collection of the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress) (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
1621
1621: Lewes Hughes, A plaine and true relation of the goodnes of God towards the Sommer Ilands written by way of exhortation, to stirre vp the people there to praise God. London, 1621. Again replays the miraculous deliverance of the Gates' ships.
March 8, 1621: James I, By the King whereas at the humble suit and request of sundry our louing and well disposed subiects, intending to deduce a colony, and make a plantation in Virginia. London, 1621. Ends the lotteries. [Display Quote]
May 20, 1621: Letter of John Stockham to Alexander Whitaker. (Barbour CW, vol. 2, 285-86) [Display Quote]
July 24, 1621: "Instructions to the Governor for the time being and Counsell of State in Virginia." (Bemiss) [Display Quote]
November 18, 1621: Sir Francis Wyatt succeeds Yeardley as Governor.
1622
1622: Virginia Company of London, The inconueniencies that haue happened to some persons vvhich haue transported themselues from England to Virginia, vvithout prouisions necessary to sustaine themselues, hath greatly hindred the progresse of that noble plantation for preuention of the like disorders heereafter, that no man suffer, either through ignorance or misinformation; it is thought requisite to publish this short declaration: wherein is contained a particular of such necessaries, as either priuate families or single persons shall haue cause to furnish themselues with. London, 1622. Lists of clothes, tools, food, utensils, and weapons for the prospective colonist.
1622: John Brinsley, A Consolation for our Grammar Schooles. London, 1622. Book on education with reference to Indians. (Facsimile edition Amsterdam and New York: Da Capo Press, 1969) [Display Quote]
January 1622: Letter from Francis Wyatt and others to the London Virginia Company shows no sense of the upcoming massacre, quite the contrary. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 581-89) [Display Quote]
March 22, 1622: the "massacre" -- a concerted surprise attack by the Indians kills over 300, approximately 1/4 of the colonists. One of the consequences of this catastrophic event was a rekindling of the open conflict between the Smythe and Sandys factions over control of the Virginia Company.
April 1622: Letter from Virginia to the Virginia Company announcing the massacre, but which, of course, doesn't arrive in London till July. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Neill 293-98) (Kingsbury III, 611-15) [Display Quote]
April 18, 1622: Patrick Copland, Virginias God be Thanked, or A sermon of thanksgiving for the happie successe of the affayres in Virginia this last yeare. London, 1622. Preface dated May 22, 1622. [Display Quote]
June-July 1622: News of the massacre finally arrives in London by the Sea Flower.
July 9, 1622: John Bonoeil, His Maiesties gracious letter to the Earle of South-Hampton, treasurer, and to the Councell and Company of Virginia heere commanding the present setting vp of silke works, and planting of vines in Virginia. London, 1622. [Display Quote]
July 10, 1622: "Mourning Virginia." Pamphlet registered with the Stationers' Company that apparently has not survived.
August 1, 1622: the Virginia Company, "To our very loving frends Sir Francis Wyatt knight Governor & Captaine generall of Virginia; and to the rest of the Counsell of state there." Responding to news of the massacre. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 666-73)
August 5, 1622: Samuel Purchas, The kings tovvre and triumphant arch of London. A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, August. 5. 1622. London, 1623. [Display Quote]
August 1622: Edward Waterhouse, A Declaration of the State of the Colony and Affairs in Virginia. With a Relation of the Barbarous Massacre in the time of Peace and League, treacherously executed by the Native Infidels upon the English, the 22 of March last . . . London, 1622. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 541-71) (Facsimile edition Amsterdam and New York: Da Capo Press, 1970) [Display Quote]
September 11, 1622: Christopher Brooke, "A Poem on the Late Massacre in Virginia." London, 1622. (Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 72 [1964]: 259-92.) [Display Quote]
October 7, 1622: London Company letter to the Governor and Council in Virginia. (Neill 347-59) [Display Quote]
1622: Voyage of Anthony Chester to Virginia, Made in the Year 1620 . . . A Terrible and Treacherous Massacre Perpetrated in a Cruel Manner by the Inhabitants of Virginia on the English. Leyden, 1707. (Virtual Jamestown) ("Voyage of Anthony Chester," WMQ 9 [1901]: 203-14.) [Display Quote]
November 13, 1622: John Donne, "A Sermon Preached to the Honourable Company of the Virginian Plantation." Printed in Foure sermons vpon speciall occasions. London, 1625. (The Sermons of John Donne. Vol. 4. Ed. George R. Potter and Evelyn M. Simpson. Berkeley: U of California P, 1953-1962: 264-82.) [Display Quote]
December 15, 1622: John Martin, "The manner howe to bringe in the Indians into subjection without makinge an utter exterpation." (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 704-7) [Display Quote]
December 15, 1622: John Martin, "The manner how Virginia . . . may be made a Royall plantation for gods glory . . ." (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury III, 707-9)
1623
January 20, 1623: "Letter of Council in Virginia to Virginia Company of London Noting Actions of the Colonists after the Massacre and the State of the Articles of Peace before the Attack." (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 9-11) (Robinson 46-47) [Display Quote]
March 4, 1623: Governor Wyatt orders March 22 be observed as a holy day. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 40) [Display Quote]
March 5, 1623: Indentured servant Richard Frethorne writes home from Virginia. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Virtual Jamestown) (Kingsbury IV, 41-42) [Display Quote]
March 20, April 2, and April 3, 1623: more of Richard Frethorne's letters home. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Virtual Jamestown) (Kingsbury IV, 58-62) [Display Quote]
March 30, 1623: Letter of George Sandys to Miles Sandys. George was a colonist in Virginia, brother to Edwin Sandys, head of the Virginia Company in London. (Kingsbury IV, 70-72) (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) See also five other letters by Sandys written in March and April 1623. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Richard Beale Davis, George Sandys: Poet-Adventurer. New York: Columbia UP, 1955: 132ff.) (Kingsbury IV) [Display Quote]
March 31, 1623: Letter from William Capps to John Ferrar (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 76-78) [Display Quote]
March 1623: "Good Newes from Virginia, sent from James his Towne this present Moneth of March 1623 by a Gentleman in that Country. To the Tune of, All those that be good fellowes." London, 1623. Ballad. (A Selection of Extremely Rare and Important Printed Books and Ancient Manuscripts [Catalogue 77], London: William H. Robinson Ltd., 1948: 103-4.) (WMQ, 3rd series, 6 [1948]: 351-58.) [Display Quote]
March or April 1623: Letter from William Capps to Thomas Wynston. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 37-39) [Display Quote]
April 1623: Letter of Peter Arundle to William Caninge. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 89) [Display Quote]
April 4, 1623: "Letter of Council in Virginia to Virginia Company of London Concerning Negotiations with Indians and Return of English Prisoners." (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 98-99) (Robinson 48-49) [Display Quote]
April 7, 1623: Letter from Francis Wyatt to John Ferrar. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 104-6)
Before April 12, 1623: Alderman Robert Johnson, "Alderman Johnsons Declaratione of the Prosperous estate of the Colony Duringe Sr. Thomas Smiths tyme of Gouerment." A pro-Smythe document -- together with the document by Butler following, we see the beginning of the war of words between the Sandys and Smythe factions over control of the Virginia Company. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 4-5) [Display Quote]
Before April 12, 1623: Nathaniel Butler, "The Vnmasked face of our Colony in Virginia as it was in the Winter of the yeare 1622." A pro-Smythe document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury II, 374-76) [Display Quote]
April 12, 1623: "A Declaration of the present State of Virginia humbly presented to the King's most excellent Majesty by the Company for Virginia." A pro-Sandys document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury II, 348-51) [Display Quote]
Early 1623?: "A Brief Declaration of the plantation of Virginia during the first twelve years, when Sir Thomas Smith was governor of the Company, and down to this present time. By the Ancient Planters now remaining alive in Virginia." A pro-Sandys document responding to Johnson's above. (Haile 893-911) [Display Quote]
April 17, 1623: The order of the Privy Council for a commission to inquire into the state of the Virginia Company is filed.
April 23, 1623: Alderman Johnson, "The humble petition of Sundry the Aduenturers and Planters of the Virginia and Sumers Ilands Plantacions." A pro-Smythe document, asking for an official investigation into the operation of the Virginia Company under Sandys' leadership. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury II, 373-74) (Neill) [Display Quote]
April 30, 1623: "The Answers of divers Planters that have long lived in Virginia, as alsoe of sundry Marriners and other persons that have bene often at Virginia unto a paper intituled: The Unmasked face of our Colony in Virginia [by Capt. Butler], as it was in the Winter of the yeare 1622." A pro-Sandys document. (Virtual Jamestown) (Tyler 412-18) [Display Quote]
May 1623: Alderman Johnson, "An answer to a declaration of the present state of Virginia, which was presented to His Majesty in Easter Week last by part of the Company when in truth a 4th part of the whole Company were neither summoned nor present at the publishing of it, and very few had their hands on it." A pro-Smythe document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 130-52) [Display Quote]
Before May 7, 1623: Francis Wyatt, "A Proclamation to bee carefull of the Savadges treacherie." (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 167-68) [Display Quote]
May 7, 1623: "An answere to a Petition deliuered to his Majesty by Alderman Johnson in the names of sundry Aduenturers and Planters of Virginia and Somer Ilands Plantacions." A pro-Sandys document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury II, 393-97) [Display Quote]
May 7, 1623: "A true answere to a writinge of Informacion presented to his Majestie by Cap: Nath: Butler intituled The vnmasked face of our Colonie in Virgina." A pro-Sandys document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury II, 397-99) [Display Quote]
May 7, 1623: "A Declaration made by the Council for Virginia and principal Assistants for the Somers Islands of their Judgments touching one original great cause of the dissentions in the Companies and present oppositions." A pro-Sandys document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury II, 400-9) [Display Quote]
May 9, 1623: The Privy Council, under the leadership of Sir William Jones, begins proceedings that will eventuate in the transfer of the Virginia colony from company to royal control.
June 9, 1623: "Letter of Robert Bennett to Edward Bennett Describing Use by the English of Poison and Other Treachery in Negotiations with the Indians." (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 220-22) (Robinson 50-51) [Display Quote]
November 28, 1623: After the special commission headed by Sir William Jones reports to the Privy Council that the charges of mismanagement brought (by Sir Thomas Smythe and others) against the Virginia Company are substantially true, a trial begins.
1624
January 30, 1624: Letter from the Virginia Council to the London Virginia Company. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 451) [Display Quote]
1624: Richard Eburne, A plaine path-vvay to plantations that is, a discourse in generall, concerning the plantation of our English people in other countries. Wherein is declared, that the attempts or actions, in themselues are very good and laudable, necessary also for our country of England. Doubts thereabout are answered: and some meanes are shewed, by which the same may, in better sort then hitherto, be prosecuted and effected. Written for the perswading and stirring vp of the people of this land, chiefly the poorer and common sort to affect and effect these attempts better then yet they doe. With certaine motiues for a present plantation in New-found land aboue the rest. London, 1624. (Ed. Louis B. Wright. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1962) [Display Quote]
February 20, 1624: "The answere of the Generall Assembly in Virginia to a Declaratione of the state of the Colonie in the 12 yeers of Sr Thomas Smiths Government, exhibited by Alderman Johnson and others." A pro-Sandys document. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Virtual Jamestown) (Haile 912-16) (Tyler 422-26) (Kingsbury IV, 458) [Display Quote]
May 24, 1624: The trial begun on November 28, 1623, ends, and the King's right to dissolve the Virginia Company is upheld. Virginia is on the way to becoming a royal province.
June 24, 1624: A new commission is formed to plan the government in the colony.
July 1624: unpublished essay by Nicholas Farrar attacking Smyth's unfitness to resume responsibility for the Virginia Company. (D. R. Ransome, ed. Sir Thomas's Smith's Misgovernment of the Virginia Company. Cambridge, 1990.)
July 1624: In the decisive battle of the war, the colonists defeat 800 Pamunkey Indians.
August 26, 1624: Sir Francis Wyatt is appointed Governor of Virginia.
December 2, 1624: Letter from the Virginia Council to the London Virginia Company. (online Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory collection of the Library of Congress) (Kingsbury IV, 507-8) [Display Quote]
1624: John Smith, The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning. London, 1624.
1625
1625: Samuel Purchas, "Virginias Verger: Or a Discourse shewing the benefits which may grow to this Kingdome from American English Plantations, and specially those of Virginia and Summer Ilands." Purchas his Pilgrimes . . . book 9, chap 20, 1809-26. London, 1625. Written April/May 1624 according to Fitzmaurice. [Display Quote]
1625: Francis Bacon, "Of Plantations." Bacon was a shareholder and council member of the London Virginia Company. [Display Quote]
March 27, 1625: King James dies; succeeded by Charles I.
April 1625: "The Discourse of the Old Company." Part of a petition for reincorporation of the Virginia Company by members of the Sandys faction. (Virtual Jamestown) (Tyler) [Display Quote]
May 13, 1625: By the King a proclamation for setling the plantation of Virginia. London, 1625. Proclamation by Charles I formally and finally dissolves the Virginia Company. [Display Quote]
