On his around the world voyage in 1578, devout Christian Sir Francis Drake claimed the Pacific Northwest for Queen Elizabeth I and called it New Albion or New England.

Statue of Sir Francis Drake in Plymouth, England.

In 1578, Sir Francis Drake claimed the Pacific Northwest for Queen Elizabeth I and called it New Albion or New England. He left 20 men behind to found a colony and search for the Northwest Passage. In 1607, Captain John Smith founded a colony in Jamestown, Virginia.

Statue of Captain John Smith in Jamestown, Virginia.

When Francis Drake arrived back in England with a vast treasure, he was knighted by Shake-speare in 1581. Her husband, Sir Robert Dudley, showed no interest in reinforcing the colony in California. Soon afterward, the country was convulsed by the "Invincible" Spanish Armada and that golden opportunity was lost forever.

In April 1607, Captain John Smith founded the first successful overseas British colony, and that colony, along with Plymouth, Massachusetts, became the genesis of the United States.

Hundreds of books have been written on the life and times of Sir Francis Drake, but little is known of the other great Hero: Captain John Smith.

John Smith began his career as a soldier at the young age of 17.

Captain John Smith (1580–1631).

As an orphaned teenager, Smith joined the British army in France, fighting against the Spanish for the liberation of Heroic Holland. Later, he joined the Hungarians fighting against the Muslim Turks.

Smith's coat of arms showing the heads of 3 Turks.

Challenged to a duel by 3 Turks, he beheaded all 3 of them, and was rewarded with a special coat of arms by Szigmond Báthory.

Smith was victorious in a David versus Goliath type duel with 3 Turks. He beheaded all 3 of them, and for his valor he was given the title "Captain" and a special coat of arms showing the heads of 3 Turks.

While besieging a castle in Transylvania, the Turks issued a challenge to single combat. John Smith's name was drawn by lot and he accepted the challenge.

Captain Smith killing a Terrible Turk in single combat.

While besieging a city in Transylvania, the Terrible Turks issued a challenge to meet an opponent in single combat. Smith was chosen to accept the challenge and he killed 3 Terrible Turks. Our Hero was mighty with the pen ... and the SWORD!

Captain Smith killing another Terrible Turk.

During a subsequent battle with the Turks, Smith was wounded and left for dead. One of the Turks saw his splendid armor and decided he would be worth more dead than alive.

Smith was taken captive and sold as a slave to a lady in Constantinople.

Captain Smith was sold as a slave and ended up in Constantinople.

John Smith was wounded and left for dead after a battle with the Turks. Most of the wounded were killed and beheaded but Smith was spared and sold as a slave to a lady in Constantinople.

Smith killed his Terrible Turkish taskmaster and escaped to Russia.

Later, he was sent to her brother who treated him like a beast.

Smith was treated worse that a beast by his cruel Turkish taskmaster. When the opportunity arose, he killed the Turk, borrowed his horse, and escaped to freedom in Russia.

The brave Captain eventually found his way back to London and began working with the Reverend Richard Hakluyt and the Reverend Samuel Purchas for the colonization and evangelization of the New World.

Captain Smith sailed for the New World in 1606

In December 1606, 3 ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery, left London, England, bound for the New World. Smith sailed on the Susan Constant with the seasick chaplain, Reverend Robert Hunt.

Their destination was the eastern shore of the New World called Virginia. The Spanish watched the voyage very carefully because all of them were in violation of the Bull of Pope Alexander VI.

On board the Susan Constant with Smith was a man named Edward Maria Wingfield. Wingfield had an inveterate HATRED for Captain Smith and wanted to see him hanging from a rope at the very first opportunity.

Wingfield erected a gallows on the island of Nevis in the West Indies, but Smith was miraculously saved by the chaplain, Reverend Robert Hunt.

Edward Maria Wingfield (1550–1631).

Wingfield was a Latin Church aristocrat whose grandmother, Lady Wingfield, was lady in waiting to Queen Anne Boleyn. Captain Smith was the special focus of his hatred, and he tried to have the Captain HUNG for mutiny . . . before they even reached Virginia! Christ was with the Captain however . . . and foiled all the plans of Wingfield!

The Maria came from Bloody Mary Tudor.

Mary, the catholic daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, however, raised her standard at Framlingham Castle, Suffolk, the big fortress of the Duke of Norfolk, (which had reverted to the Crown since Norfolk was in the Tower), just four or five miles from Letheringham Hall, seat of the head of Edward-Maria's family. One must remember that Mary had lost her mother Queen Catherine of Aragon in the Wingfield's other home, Kimbolton Castle. The East Anglians—landowners and all—flocked to Framlingham. In the van were Sir William Drury of Hawstead and his son, Robert, followed two days later, no doubt after very careful consideration, by Robert, Anthony and Henry Wingfield, three of the sons of the late Sir Anthony Wingfield, K.G. of Letheringham, and Robert Wingfield, son of the late Sir Humphrey Wingfield of Brantham near Ipswich. Stonely in those days was not even considered to be on the borders of East Anglia. The father of the infant Edward Maria did not heed Mary's call. It looks as if his ardour for the catholic faith had cooled some fifteen years previously, but it was not the return of the old faith that drew these men, but their determination to see a fair succession. The chaotic time of the Wars of the Roses had not been forgotten.
Mary personally released Bishop Gardiner and the Duke of Norfolk and two others from the Tower the moment she arrived in London, en route to be crowned: "These be my prisoners," she said, kissing them. At the Tower at her coronation, the new Queen knighted two of Thomas-Maria's cousins, the two Robert Wingfields of Letheringham and of Upton, but not Thomas-Maria Wingfield himself. (Wingfield, Virginia's True Founder, p. 17).

Inside the box was a list of the seven men who would govern as members of the colony's ruling council. Most of the names were predictable: Edward-Maria Wingfield, the investor; Christopher Newport, who had commanded the Susan Constant; Bartholomew Gosnold, who had instigated the creation of the Virginia Company and who was in charge of the Godspeed; and John Ratcliffe of the Discovery. Also unsurprising were the names of two well-connected colonists: George Kendall was a protégé of secretary of state Sir Robert Cecil, the earl of Salisbury, a Virginia Company leader and major investor; John Martin was the son of Sir Richard Martin, master of the mint and Lord Mayor of London, and a brother-in-law of Sir Julius Caesar, master of the rolls.
The remaining name, however, must have caused some faces to darken, and some Anglo-Saxon expletives to reverberate against the walls, when the captains relayed the list to the other gentlemen of the journey. The name was that of John Smith, the riffraff who addressed these Cambridge and Inns of Court graduates as if he were their equal, if not their superior. He was still a prisoner on the ship for plotting insurrection in the West Indies. For the time being, that is where he would stay; the news of his appointment to the council was not enough to set him free—not yet. (Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown, pp. 30-31).

As one of the governors of the colony, Smith was saved from hanging and escaped from the clutches of Wingfield . . . for now!!

The Jamestown Colony in Virginia.

The New World was Satan's playground for thousands of years and the Spanish wanted to keep it that way! The Evil One was horrified when a small group of Christians gained a beachhead on his territory.

Map of the Jamestown Colony.

As predicted, all HELL broke lose, and the survival of the colony was nothing short of miraculous!

The colonists were a real combination of TARES and WHEAT. Some of them dreamed of finding GOLD and getting rich quick. Some of them were ARISTOCRATS who despised manual labor....Wingfield and his followers were planted by the Jesuits to sow dissension and disease . . . and cause conflict with the natives.

Captain Smith and Reverend Hunt were primarily interested in the spread of true Christianity among the natives:

So then here is a place a nurse for souldiers, a practise for marriners, a trade for marchants, a reward for the good, and that which is most of all, a businesse (most acceptable to God) to bring such poore infidels to the true knowledge of God and his holy Gospell. (Barbour, Complete Works of Captain John Smith, vol. I, p. 59).

Captain Smith had many narrow escapes from death in the New World.

Pocahontas (c. 1595–1631).

Because he came to the New World to serve Christ and not GOLD, Elohim miraculously saved the life of Captain Smith several times. On one occasion, a young Indian maiden named Pocahontas saved him from certain death at the hands of her father, Powhatan.

Pocahontas saved Captain Smith from certain death.

After surviving numerous murder plots, Captain Smith was sleeping on a boat when his powder satchel was deliberately ignited. This caused him tremendous suffering and disability which forced him to return to England in 1609:

Smith started downriver a second time with his men, and stretched out for a doze during the seventy-four-mile trip. At some point, a spark or a cinder from someone's pipe or musket matchcord went astray and landed badly: Smith had lain down still wearing his powder bag, which was ignited into a flash of searing heat. The flame, wrote several colonists, "tore the flesh from his body and thighes, nine or ten inches square in a most pitifull manner; but to quench the tormenting fire he leaped over-boord into the deepe river." He was nearly drowned before his men could pull him out.
This time, there was no doctor on board to treat him. His men rushed him back to the fort, where he was carried to his quarters. There was no doctor at the fort, either. Dr. Walter Russell, credited with saving him from the stingray's poison a little more than a year earlier, was no longer on the scene, nor was the colony's other doctor, Anthony Bagnall. (They may have been part of the group dispersed to Nansemond). Smith was unable to stand, and was helpless against his excruciating pain, which had rendered him "neere bereft of his senses." In that state, he either saw or imagined he saw a man with a pistol who had been sent to finish him off. The assassin (or phantasm of Smith's mind) took pity on his intended victim, however, and stopped short of firing on him. (Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown, p. 120).

Captain Smith went to the real Promised Land of Heaven in 1631

Captain Smith never married for his REAL WIFE and the love of his life was the New World....After his recuperation in London, he tried several times to return to Virginia but was always refused.

In 1614, Smith returned to the New World in a voyage to the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts Bay, and named the region "New England". He made two attempts in 1614 and 1615 to return to the same coast. The first ended when a storm dismasted his ship, the second when he was captured by French pirates off the Azores. Smith escaped after weeks of captivity and made his way back to England, where he published an account of his two voyages as A Description of New England. He never left England again, and spent the rest of his life writing books. He died in the year 1631 in London at the age of 51.

Smith was a devout Christian for most of his life and his defying of the Bull of Pope Alexander VI caused him tremendous suffering and pain . . . and a untimely death. Here is an excerpt from his last will and testament:

In the name of God Amen: The one and twentith daie of June 163I in the seaventh yere of the reigne of our soveraigne lord Charles by the grace of God King of England Scotland france and Ireland defendour of the faith etc. Captain John Smith of the parish of St Sepulchers London Esquiour being sick in body, but of perfect mynd an memory, thants be given unto Allmightie God therfore, Revoking all former Wills by me heretofore made, do make and ordeine this my last will and testament in manner following. first I commend my soule into the hands of Allmightie God my maker, hoping through the merits of Christ Jesus my Redeemer to receave full remission of all my sinnes, and to inherit a place in the everlasting kingdom. My body I committ to the earth from whence it came to be interred according to the discrecion of myne Executours hereunder named. (Barbour, Complete Works of Captain John Smith, vol. III, p. 382).

The Pilgrim Fathers followed in the footsteps of Captain John Smith!!

The United States has 2 foundations: the first was Jamestown, Virginia, and the second was Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Originally, all the northern part of the New World to the Pacific Ocean was named Virginia. Captain Smith renamed the northern part of Virginia, New England, and in his writings he constantly encouraged its colonization.

Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in New England.

The area where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 was called New England by Captain John Smith. This was the second foundation of the British Empire in the New World.

Pilgrims on the way to church to observe the Sabbath.

The Pilgrims Fathers lived in Holland for 10 years before departing for New England.

A dispute over the Sabbath led to the rebirth of Israel in the wilderness!!

Incredible as it may seem, it was a dispute over the proper way to observe the Sabbath that led the Pilgrims to leave England . . . and then Holland. This is a true version of history that the Vatican never wants you to find out!

King James had just published his Book of Sports allowing games on the Christian holy day.

King James I (1567–1625). King from 1603 to 1625.

King James I published his Book of Sports in 1617. It listed various sports that were permitted on the Christian Sabbath. The Book of Sports was reissued by King Charles I in 1633.

King Charles I (1600–1649). King from 1625 to 1649.

This was more than the devout Christians could bear because the Sabbath was kept holy during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The king demanded that the book be read in all the churches of his realm. Many who refused were imprisoned or forced to leave the country:

Our expresse pleasure therefore is, that the lawes of Our Kingdome, and Canons of Our Church be as well observed in that Countie, as in all other places of this Our Kingdome. And on the other part, that no lawfull Recreation shall bee barred to Our good People, which shall not tend to the breach of our aforesayd Lawes, and Canons of our Church: which, to expresse more particularly, Our pleasure is, That the Bishop, and all other inferiour Churchmen, and Churchwardens, shall, for their parts, bee carefull and diligent, both to instruct the ignorant, and convince and reforme them that are misled in Religion, presenting them that will not conform themselves, but obstinately stand out, to our judges and justices, Whom We likewise command to put the Law in due execution against them.
Our pleasure therefore is, That the Bishop of that Diocesse take the like straight order with all the Puritanes and Precisians within the same, either constraining them to conform themselves, or to leave the County according to the Lawes of Our Kingdome, and Canons of our Church, and so to strike equally on both hands, against the contemners of our Authority, and adversaries of Our Church. And as for Our good people's lawfull Recreation, Our pleasure likewise is, That, after the end of Divine Service, Our good people be not disturbed, letted, or discouraged from any lawfull recreation, Such as dancing, either of men or women, Archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other such harmlesse Recreation, nor from having of May Games, Whitson Ales, and Morris-dances, and the setting up of Maypoles, and other sports therewith used, so as the same be had in due and convenient time, without impediment or neglect of Divine Service: And that women shall have leave to carry rushes to the Church for the decoring of it, according to their old custome. But withall we doe here account still as prohibited all unlawfull games to bee used upon Sundayes onely, as Beare and Bullbaitings, Interludes, and at all times, in the meaner sort of people, by Law prohibited, Bowling: And likewise we barre from this benefite and liberty, all such knowne Recusants, either men or women, as will abstaine from comming to Church or Divine Service, that will not first cone to the Church and serve God: Prohibiting, in like sort, the said Recreations to any that, though conform in Religion, are not present in the Church at the Service of God, before their going to the said Recreations.(Govett, The Kings Book of Sports, pp.38-39).

The Christians were derisorily called "Puritans" because they eschewed all games and sports on the Sabbath and were looked upon as KILLJOYS for forbidding sports on the Lord's Day.

Here is a report from a definitive history of New England by Cotton Mather entitled: Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England:

The English Church had not been very long at Leyden, before they found themselves encountred with many inconveniences. They felt that they were neither for health, nor purse, nor language well accommodated; but the concern which they most of all had, was for their posterity. They saw, that whatever banks the Dutch had against the inroads of the sea, they had not sufficient ones against flood of manifold profaneness. They could not with ten years' endeavour bring their neighbours particularly to any suitable observation of the LORD'S DAY; without which they knew that all practical Religion must wither miserably. (Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, p. 47).

Captain Smith's summation of his own eventful life!!

Captain Smith was just too outspoken and honest for this world. He called men like Wingfield SPANOLIZED English and said that he could have been a rich man if he had pandered to their lust for GOLD. He almost had as many trials and tribulations as the Apostle Paul:

References

Barbour, Philip L. The Complete Works of Captain John Smith. (in 3 volumes). University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1986.

Govett, L.A. (Editor) The King's Book of Sports. Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, London, 1890.

Horn, James. A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. Basic Books, New York, 2005.

Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, p. 47).

Price, David A. Love and Hate in Jamestown. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003.

Wingfield, Jocelyn R. Virginia's True Founder Edward Maria Wingfield and His Times. Booksurge, LLC. North Charleston, South Carolina, 2007.

Copyright © 2015 by Patrick Scrivener

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