1858

Palfrey, John Gorham. History of New England. Vol. 1. Boston, 1858. 85-97. Perhaps the beginning of the 19th century debunking of Smith as historian. A footnote casts doubt on the veracity of Smith's account of his early life and thus foreshadows the controversy over the Pocahontas episode that Charles Deane and Henry Adams (on Palfrey's influence, see Adams 1861) will soon ignite. "So long a journey within the time specified cannot be called impossible. But it argues marvelous despatch. . . . On the whole, the reader perhaps inclines to the opinion that John Smith was not the sole author of his books, but that they passed, for embellishment, at least, through the hands of some craftsman, who was not perfectly possessed either of Smith's own story, or of the geography or public history to which it related." Other main contestants in the debunking controversy are William Wirt Henry, Edward D. Neill, and Alexander Brown.
[debunking]
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