![]() ![]() ![]() The shattered colony was put under strict martial law. Help came with the arrival of three ships from England and new settlers. In June 1610 the survivors staggered onto their ships and sailed into the bay, either looking for help or intending to sail home. The winter of 1609 became the "starving time." The colonists ate horses, dogs, cats, vermin, even (it was said) corpses. Wahunsonacock wanted the copper the settlers offered in exchange for food, and he very much wanted their swords and firearms.īut when the Indians refused to trade for food, the colonists died horribly. Sometimes they fought sometimes they traded. In December 1607, Smith described his royal state: "He sat covered with a great robe, made of raccoon skins, and all the tails hanging by," flanked by "two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red." The settlers hoped to make the chief a tributary to James I he hoped to make them allies of his. ![]() He was an expansionist, no less than the English, having brought 30 local tribes under his sway, an empire of 15,000 people. The western Chesapeake was ruled by Wahunsonacock, chief of the Powhatan. Relations between white and red men were the most variable factor in Jamestown's early history. ![]()
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