sign in sign up
<<
Home , Christopher Newport, John Rolfe, Susan Constant

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS JAMESTOWN-PARADISE OR PEST HOLE

BY H. ST. GEORGE TUCKER, JR., M.D.

RICHMOND

Stimulated by Charlie Wainwright's magnificent eulogy on i\Iaryland so eloquently delivered to us last year, I thought it would be appropriate to bring you a little information about the humble state of . Since this seemed a rather large order I decided to limit it to the begininngs, and to tell you something about the medical history of Jamestown. We might call it "Jamestown-Paradise or Pest Hole" or "Some Medical Observations on Virginia's First Century". When I got into the subject, I soon discovered that a former member of this association, Dr. Wyndham Blanton of Richmond, had covered the matter so well in the first of his three volumes on the history of medicine in Virginia,' there would be very little that I could add. Nevertheless, I decided to proceed, borrowing liberally from my fellow townsman, and adding a few points here and there. The Age of Elizabeth had seen British seamen successfully challenge the seapower of Spain, which had grown rich from the treasures of the New World. The British were in a position to stake out for themselves a claim to part of that New World. Undaunted by earlier failures on Roanoke Island and on the coast of M\aine, the was incorporated as a business venture to send colonists to North America in the hope of profit. There might be gold, or trade with the natives, and there was still hope for a short route to the trade of the Orient. In December 1606 Captain sailed his three tiny ships, the , , and down the Thames, south to the Canaries, across to the West Indies, and thence north to Virginia. This route avoided the North Atlantic storms that endangered the direct crossing. It also allowed the ships to pick up fresh fruit, vegetables and water in the Indies. The exact cause of scurvy was not yet known, but it was known that it could be avoided by taking the southern route. On the other hand the southern route carried the danger of picking up in the Indies yellow fever, known as "calenture", or some other tropical infection. This trip was fortunate. Only one man died, Edward Brooke, when after a long rough hike on the island of 1NIona, "the fat melted within him by the great heate and drought of the Country." 2 If we take this literally he may 1 2 H. ST. GEORGE TUCKER, JR. have had diabetic ketoacidosis. On the other hand he may have died of heat exhaustion or some form of dysentery with extreme dehydration. On April 26, 1607, the three ships entered Chesapeake Bay. After landings at and Point Comfort, aind exploration of the James, the island of Jamestown was selected for the settlement, and the colonists landed there May 14, 1607. Jamestown is a low swampy island, and is devoid of fresh water. The colonists had beeni warned to avoid such a location, but it appeared easy to defend from the Indians and from any Spanish ships that might seek to dislodge them. They set to work building a palisaded fort anld at first, lean-to's, wlhich were replaced later by wvattle-and-daub thatched houses. A well was dug, the first one only an open-ended barrel buried six feet into the ground. Barley and wheat were planted but they did poorly in this climate. The colonists were mostly from London and were not good farmers. They oper- ated under a communal system which did not encourage individual enter- prise. A yellow mica was found and the gardens were deserted as many w-ent off on the first Virginia gold rush. The early leadership of the colony wvas weak, and discipline was poor until Captain emerged as oresident of the Council and ruled the colonists wAith an iron hand. At first the Indians seemed friendly and bartered with the new settlers. Uneven bartering aroused jealousies among the Indians. The killing of an Indian for theft antagonized the whole tribe. The friendship of the Indians changed to hostility. This would have probably been inevitable as the Indians gradually realized their lands were being taken away. Attacks were made on the fort, and a number of the English were killed. The first reports describing the country made it sound like Paradise. Percy includes this description:3 "This River which wee have discovered is one of the famousest Rivers that ever was founld by aniy Christian, it ebbes and flowes a hundred and threescore miles where ships of great burthen may harbour in safetie. Wheresoever we landed upon this lRiver, wee saw the goodliest Woods as Beech, Oke, Cedar, Cypresse, Walnuts, Sassafras and Vines in great abuindance, which hang in great clusters on many Trees, and other Trees unknowne, and all the grounds bespred with Strawberries, MIulberries, Rasberries and Fruits unknowne, there are many branches of this R2iver, which ruiine flowing through the Woods with great plentie of Fish of all kindes, as for Sturgeon all the World cannot be compared to it. In this countrey I have seenie many great anid large Medowes having excellent good pasture for any Cattle. There is also great store of Deere both Red and Fallow. There are Beares, Foxes, Otters, Bevers, Muskats, anid wild beasts unkniownie." All went well until July 16 Ahen disaster struck. The men began to fall ill with a burning fever, some w-ith "the bloodie flux". 1'ercy described the next few weeks:4 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 3

"The sixt of August there died John Asbie of the bloudie Flixe. The niinth day died George Flowre of the swelling. The tenth day died William Bruster geiitlemail, of a wound given by the Savages, and was buried the eleventh day. The fourteenth day, Jerome Alikock, Ancient, died of a wound, the same day Francis Mid-winter, Edward Moris Corporall died suddenly. "The fifteenth day, their died Edward Browne and Stephen Galthrope. The sixteenth day, their died Thomas Gower, gentleman. The seventeenth day, their died Thomas Mounislie. The eighteenth day, theer died Robert Penninigton, and John Martirie Gentleman. The nineteenth day died Drie Piggase gentleman." "Scarce five able bodys" were left to do any work. Food stores gave out, and famine and deficiency diseases compounded the sickness. Percy con- tinues :5 "Our men were destroyed with cruell diseases as Swellings, Flixes, Burning fevers, anid by Warres, anid some departed suddenly, but for the most part they died of meere famine. There were never Eniglishmen left in a forreigne Counitrey in stuch imiserie as wee were in this new discovered Virginiia. Wee watched every three nights lyinig oni the bare cold grounld, what weather soever came; warded all the next day, which brought our meni to bee most feeble wretches, our food was but a small can of Barlie sod in water to five meni a day, our drinke cold water taken out of the River, which was at a flood verie Salt, at a low tide full of slime anid filth, which was the destructioni of maany of ouir men. Thus we lived for the space of five months in this miserable distresse, not havinig five able men to man our Bulwarkes upon anly occa- sionI. If it had not pleased God to have put a terrour in the Savages hearts, we had all perished by those vild and cruell Pagans, being in that weake estate as we were; our men night and day groaning in every corner of the Fort most pitifull to heare if there were aniy conscience in men, it would make their harts to bleed to heare the pittiful murmurings and outcries of our sick men without reliefe every night and day for the space of sixe weekes, some departing out of the World, many times three or foure in a night, in the mornings their bodies trailed ouit of their Cabines like l)ogges to be buried: in this sort did I see the mortalitie of divers of our people." At the height of this disaster the Indians unexpectedly brought food and probably saved the colonists from total extinction. That first summer sixty persons died, over half. In January 1608 Captain Newport arrived with a supply ship with 120 more settlers, food and provisions. Jamestown burned but was rebuilt. Under Smith's strong leadership the colony survived. The next summer the "sieknesse" struck again, and every summer there- after. It was observed that those who survived the "sicknesse" or the "sea- soning" were not affected again, but newcomers invariably were. What was this epidemic, with seasonal incidence in late summer, high mortality, but with subsequent immunity following recovery? MIost of the early wsriters assunmed it w-as nmalaria, because of the low swamnpy location of the site and the prevalence of mosquitoes. It was almlost surely nlot malaria, which imost authorities believe was niot present in the New\, World until imvported, sporadically firom Europe, but chiefly by black slaves from Africa much later.6 There were very few slaves in Virginia until the 18th 4 H. ST. GEORGE TUCKER, JR. century. Nor was it yellow fever, which was occasionally imported from the West Indies, but never established a foothold in this climate. Typhus was common on the crowded ships of this era, but did not become established on the mainland. The plague was raging in London between 1603 and 1611. A few cases may have been imported into America, but this disease too did not become established in Virginia. The "sicknesse" was almost surely an enteric fever. Blanton thought it was typhoid fever,7 although the common reference to the "bloodie flux" does not really fit typhoid and suggests that there may have been at least an admixture of bacillary dysentery. It is known that the North American Indians were subject to recurrent epidemics of dysentery every year in late summer and fall. The Indians may have contracted this from contact with earlier white explorers. On Jamestown island the defective water supply and the feeding of all from the "common kettle" afforded ample opportunity for the spread of enteric infection. One writer8 has proposed a typhoid carrier in the person of the Reverend , who had been seriously ill at the beginning of the voyage. This can be nothing but conjecture. Whatever the infectious disease was, in the early years it was com- pounded by starvation and deficiency states-beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy. Percy says most "died of mere famine". In 1609 a new charter was drawn up by The London Company providing for a governor appointed by the Company. This resulted in much more effective leadership in subsequent years. In 1609 nine ships were sent from England with 500 new colonists. A hurricane scattered the ships. One was lost and the flagship, the , was wrecked on the uninhabited island of . Newport, Admiral Somers and the new Lieutenant Governor , with all the crew and passengers, landed safely on the island and lived there for a year before making their way to Virginia. Thus began the history of the British colony of Bermuda, where we will meet next year. The tale of this shipwreck also inspired Shakespeare to write his play "The Tempest." The remaining ships reached Jamestown in August 1609, many of the 400 survivors ill and their supplies largely ruined by the hurricane. Smith returned to England after being injured in a gunpowder explosion. The epidemic of that year was the worst yet, and mortality was high. The Indians, now openly hostile and determined to eradicate the settlers, block- aded them within the fort all fall and winter. They killed all the livestock and any person who ventured outside the palisade. The winter of 1609-10 was the "", one of the greatest disasters in all American history. Of 500 persons in the colony only 60 survived. When Gates arrived in AMay bringing the Bermuda sojourners in newly built ships, the condition of the Jamestown survivors was so pitiful and their supplies so meagre, it was decided to abandon the settlement. All boarded ships and started PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 5 down the river when they met the newvly appointed Governor, Lord De la Warr, bringing new colonists and ample provisions and livestock. They returned to Jamestown. The settlement was rebuilt. The Indians were pushed back Nith stern measures and the fields were replanted. By this slender margin was the colony saved from extinction. Under Governors De la Warr, Gates, and Dale, the fortunes of the colony improved. The large number of new arrivals included women who quickly found husbands. An abundance of stock was brought in. The settlers by now had learned to plant maize, or Indian corn, which grew well. Ag- gressive campaigns against the Indians held them back from the fort. The summer sickness continued to recur, but by now there was a nucleus of seasoned veterans who were unaffected. Also those moving to locations other than Jamestown seemed to fare better. New settlements were made along the James, including one called Henrico, near Richmond. Here a town was laid out, and the first hospital was built in the New World, a brick structure with 80 beds9. There were plans to establish a school to educate the Indians as well as the children of the settlers, but this was never realized. , the daughter of the Indian king, , who had tvice saved Captain Smith's life, was taken prisoner and held at Henrico under the tutelage of , who instructed her in Christianity. A romance developed and they were subsequently married. In addition to providing an ancestry of native royalty for innumerable Virginians, this match brought about an era of peace between the settlers and the Indians. John Rolfe imported from the West Indies a better variety of tobacco than the native brand, and from this developed the plant later known as "bright leaf". This proved the most salable product yet found in the New World, and thus began a trade that was to be the backbone of the Virginia economy for the next 350 years. The original communal system gave way to the awarding of land to individuals. Land patents of 100 acres, or "hundreds" were granted along the James and other rivers, and on the Eastern Shore. These were not the great plantations of the next century. These Virginians were yeoman farmers who worked their own farms and raised tobacco. Some of them gradually acquired wealth and increased their land holdings to build the great estates of the next century. Each plantation had its own boat landing, and ships from England came directly to the individual wharf to bring supplies and pick up tobacco for export. This had two unfortunate results. It delayed the development of an adequate road system. MIore im- portantly, it bypassed the need for ports and for a merchant class. No cities of any size developed, and Virginia was doomed to a predominantly rural economy for the next three centuries. A few slaves were imported in the 17th century, but the big influx of 6 H. ST. GEORGE TUCKER, JR. slaves did inot begini until after 1700. The blacks were tolerant of heat and malaria, which by then had become a serious problem. They supplied the labor force which made a lanided aristocracy possible. As in Athens, this society produced the giants of the next century who played such a large part in forginig our democracy. But at the same time the flaw of racial in- equality grew into the fateful dilemma which has haunted Virginia and the South ever since. In 1618, largely through the efforts of Sir Edwin Sandys, the London Company was reorganized, and a much more democratic charter was granted to the Virginia colony. This provided for the creation of a House of Burgesses, to be elected by the colonists themselves, two burgesses to be elected by "each Hundred or other particular Plantation." 10 This was done, and in August 1619 there was convened in Jamestown the first General Assembly, the first representative assembly in the New World, a landmark in the progress of democratic government. Powhatan died in 1618. His successor professed to keep the peace with the white settlers but secretly plotted against them. On March 22, 1622, the Indians simultaneously attacked every white settlement. Certain per- sons were saved by warnings from friendly Indians. Over 350 were killed in the great Indian massacre. Henrico and its hospital were completely destroyed, along with many of the other outlying settlements. The following winter an epidemic of "pestilent fever" and famine claimed over 500 lives. This was apparently a respiratory disease, possibly influenza, compounded by pneumonia. By this time the colony was strong enough to withstand even such devastations. The Indians were driven back. The plantations were resettled. As the people moved more and more away from Jamestown, the general health improved, although mortality still was high. Figure 1 shows the population of the Virginia colony over the first seven- teen years, and also the number of persons sent from England. The figures are staggering. During this whole period only about one person out of six sent from England survived. These figures were obviously not publicized in the recruitment of colonists in England. As figuie 2 shows, after 1625 the population gradually began to climb. Larger numbers came in, and children began to be born. However, even by 1700 there were only 75,000 people living in Virginia, compared with a total of 100,000 who had been sent. The perils of colonizing a new country were not unique for Virginia. In 1620 a group seeking religious freedom set out for Virginia, strayed too far north and landed in Massachusetts. Half their number perished of sickness and starvation or deficiency disease the first winter. They had a much better water supply than at Jamestown, and much less trouble with the Indians. Their contact with the Indians was smoothed by the remarkable coincidence PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 7

-TOTAL WHO CAME TO VIRGINIA c2pu6zOn ---POPULATION OF VIRGINIA 2,600 2,400 U) z 2,200 ocO 2,000 z 1,800 INDIAN MASSACRE 0- 1,600 OF 1622 I 1,400 PESTILENT FEVER AND FAMINE WINTER cr 1,200 1622-1623 mL] 1,000 E D 800 Z 600 _ STARVING;;SR ' ; - THE -TIME" "- . 400 SICKNESSES N M - 200 1607 1609 1611 1613 1615 1617 1619 1621 1623 YEAR FIG. 1. Total who came to Virginia and the population of Virginia 1607-1923.

- TOTAI WHO CAMF TO VIRGINIA 100,000 90,000 z 80,000 o 70,000

-VIRGINIA COLONY ----PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS 100,000 - BAY COLONIES 90,000 _ z 80,000 _ , o 70,000 < 60,000 , 50,000 o 40,000 -- 30,000 20,000 - 10,000 1600 1620 1640 1660 1680 1700 YEAR FIG. 3. Population of the Virginia Colony and of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Coloniies during the seventeenth century. What sort of doctors did the Virginia colonists have? Robert Beverley in his 1705 wrote rather unflatteringly of the state of medi- cine: "(Virginians) have the Happiness to have very few Doctors".1' He was probably right. Medicine in the early 17th century was still under the spell of Galen and his humors and the theory of signatures. All diseases were considered disorders of the bodily humors, and treatment was directed at removing or altering these. The standard treatment procedures were bleeding, vomiting, purging, clystering, sweating, cupping or blistering. Medications consisted mostly of herbs, and their properties were dictated by tradition and the theory of signatures rather than by experience. Every disease had a remedy in the plant world, and the signature or appearance of the leaf suggested the disease which would be helped. Two medical books which were widely used throughout the colonies were The English Physi- tian12 and the London Dispensatory,'3 both by Nicholas Culpeper. The latter is a strange mixture of herb lore, astrology and magic. This was the century that produced Harvey, Leeuwenhoek and Sydenham, but the advances they brought had not filtered through European medicine, much less to the American colonies. The London Company had a stake in the health of the colonists and sent over the best physicians that could be found. On the whole they were pretty good. Dr. Bohun was trained at the University of Leyden. Later, however, few university trained physicians went to the colonies, and medicine was mostly learned by the apprentice system. The distinctions between physician, apothecary and surgeon, so rigidly held in England, were blurred in America through necessity. For the most part the colonists treated themselves, calling in a physician only under the direst circumstances. Disease, which brought the colonists so near disaster, wrought even PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 9 greater havoc among the Indians. Far more Indians perished from smallpox, measles, and other infectious diseases to which they had no immunity than were ever killed by the colonists' guns. A smallpox epidemic wiped out the Indians on the Eastern Shore. While the final result of the conflict between English 17th century technology and the stone age Indians could hardly have been in doubt, it is certain that diseases brought to the Indians by the white men greatly hastened the outcome. As settlements extended along the James and other rivers, Jamestown became less and less important in the life of the colony. The House of Burgesses continued to meet there with more or less regularity until 1699, but little other business was transacted there. The swamps of Jamestown may have been a key factor in one final drama. After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the English Parliament passed certain Navigation Acts, forbidding the sale of Virginia tobacco to any but the British. This caused a serious depression in the one crop economy of the colony. Indian massacres in 1675 and 1676 aroused the settlers against Governor Berkeley, who appeared unwilling to take any effective action against the Indians. Under the dynamic leadership of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., a large number of the citizenry rose up in active rebellion against the Governor and the entire British rule. After some skirmishes Bacon and his followers beseiged Jamestown where the Governor resided. The Governor's troops were routed. Bacon captured Jamestown and burnt the state build- ings, Governor Berkeley having fled across Chesapeake Bay to Accomac. Bacon and his followers determined to pursue and capture the governor. But at this crucial juncture, Bacon became ill with dysentery contracted during the seige of Jamestown. He died in Gloucester county near West Point. With the loss of this charismatic leader, the rebellion quickly col- lapsed. Thus the pestilence of Jamestown ended the career of the man called by Thomas Wertenbaker, "The Torchbearer of the Revolution". The state houses in Jamestown were rebuilt once more, and the General Assembly continued to meet there until the end of the century. In 1698 the state houses burned again. The General Assembly of 1699, meeting for the last time in Jamestown, had had enough of the unhealthy conditions there. They voted to move the capital to "Middle Plantation", later to be known as Williamsburg, where the College of William and M1ary had received its charter in 1693. Thus this sleepy island sank slowly into oblivion, the site of so much suffering and tragedy, the birthplace of our country and our democracy. REFERENCES 1. BLANTON, W. B.: Mledicine in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. Wm. Byrd Press, Richmond, 1930. 10 H. ST. GEORGE TUCKER, JR.

2. PERCY, G.: A Discourse of the Plantation of the Southern Colony in Virginia by the English, 1606. Quoted in Brown, Alexander: The Genesis of the United States, p. 155. First published in 1890; reissued 1964 by Russell and Russell, Inc., New York. 3. Ibid, p. 164. 4. Ibid, p. 167. 5. Ibid, p. 167-168. 6. FAUST, E. C.: Malaria Incidence in North America. In Malariology, edited by M. F. Boyd, vol. 1, p. 749. W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1949. 7. BLANTON, W. B.: Epidemics, Real and Imaginary, and Other Factors Influencing Seventeenth Century Virginia's Population. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 31: 454-462, 1957. 8. JONES, G. W.: The First Epidemic in English America. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 71: 3. January 1963. 9. BROWN, ALEXANDER: The First Republic in America, p. 157. First published in 1898; reissued in 1969 by Russell and Russell, New York 10. Ibid, p. 309. 11. BEVERLEY, ROBERT: The History and Present State of Virginia, p. 306. Edited by Louis B. Wright. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1947. 12. CULPEPER, NICHOLAS: The English Physitian, enlarged. London, John Streater, 1671. 13. CULPEPER, NICHOLAS: Pharmacopoeia Lonidinensis, or, the London Dispensatory. London, printed for George Sawbridge, 1975.