A School History of the United States Part 2

1492. Columbus. Islands off the coast.

1493. Columbus. Islands off the coast.

1497. John Cabot. North America. Labrador.

1498. John and Sebastian Cabot. Labrador to Cape Cod.

Pinzon and Solis. Florida to Chesapeake Bay.

1500. Cabral. Discovers Brazil.

1501. Vespucius. Explores Brazilian coast.

1500-1502. Cortereals. Explore coast North America.

1513. Ponce de Leon. Discovers and names Florida.

GULF COAST.

1498. Pinzon and Solis. Explore Gulf of Mexico and coast of Florida.

1519. Pineda. Sails from Florida to Mexico.

1528. Narvaez. Florida to Texas.

1543. Followers of De Soto sail from Mississippi River to Mexico.

THE INTERIOR.

1519-21. Cortes. Conquers Mexico.

1534-36. De Vaca. From the Sabine River to the Gulf of California.

1539. Fray Marcos. Search for the Seven Cities. Wanders over New Mexico.

1540-42. Coronado, Gila River, Rio Grande, Colorado River.

1539-41. De Soto. Wanders over Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, and reaches the Mississippi River.

1582-1600. Spaniards in the valleys of the Gila and Rio Grande.

PACIFIC COAST.

1513. Balboa. Discovers the Pacific Ocean.

1520. Magellan. Sails around South America into the Pacific.

1578-1580. Drake. Sails around South America and up the Pacific coast to Oregon. (See p. 26.)

CHAPTER III

ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND SWEDES ON THE SEABOARD

%15. The English Claim to the Seaboard.%--After the Spaniards had thus explored the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and what is now Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the English attempted to take possession of the Atlantic coast. The voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497 and 1498 were not followed up in the same way that Spain followed up those of Columbus, and for nearly eighty years the flag of England was not displayed in any of our waters.[1] At last, in 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher set out to find a northwest pa.s.sage to Asia. Of course he failed; but in that and two later voyages he cruised about the sh.o.r.es of our continent and gave his name to Frobisher's Bay.[2] Next came Sir Francis Drake, the greatest seaman of his age. He left England in 1577, crossed the Atlantic, sailed down the South American coast, pa.s.sed through the Strait of Magellan, and turning northward coasted along South America, Mexico, and California, in search of a northeast pa.s.sage to the Atlantic. When he had gone as far north as Oregon the weather grew so cold that his men began to murmur, and putting his s.h.i.+p about, he sailed southward along our Pacific coast in search of a harbor, which in June, 1579, he found near the present city of San Francisco. There he landed, and putting up a post nailed to it a bra.s.s plate on which was the name of Queen Elizabeth, and took possession of the country.[3]

Despairing of finding a short pa.s.sage to England, Drake finally crossed the Pacific and reached home by way of the Cape of Good Hope. He had sailed around the globe.[4]

[Footnote 1: For Cabot's voyages read Fiske's _Discovery of America_, Vol. II., pp. 2-15.]

[Footnote 2: See map of 1515.]

[Footnote 3: The white cliffs reminded Drake strongly of the cliffs of Dover, and as one of the old names of England was Albion (the country of the white cliffs), he called the land New Albion.]

[Footnote 4: For Drake read E.T. Payne's _Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen_.]

%16. Gilbert and Ralegh attempt to found a Colony.%--While Drake was making his voyage, another gallant seaman, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was given (by Queen Elizabeth) any new land he might discover in America.

His first attempt (1579) was a failure, and while on his way home from a landing on Newfoundland (1583), his s.h.i.+p, with all on board, went down in a storm at sea. The next year (1584) his half-brother, Sir Walter Ralegh, one of the most accomplished men of his day and a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, obtained permission from the Queen to make a settlement on any part of the coast of America not already occupied by a Christian power; and he at once sent out an expedition. The explorers landed on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina, and came home with such a glowing description of the "good land" they had found that the Virgin Queen called it "Virginia," in honor of herself, and Ralegh determined to colonize it.[1]

[Footnote 1: For Ralegh read E. Gosse's _Raleigh_ (in English Worthies Series); Louise Creighton's _Sir W. Ralegh_ (Historical Biographies Series).]

%17. Roanoke Colony; the Potato and Tobacco.%--In 1585, accordingly, 108 emigrants under Ralph Lane left England and began to build a town on Roanoke Island. They were ill suited for this kind of pioneer life, and were soon in such distress that, had not Sir Francis Drake in one of his voyages happened to touch at Roanoke, they would have starved to death.

Drake, seeing their helplessness, carried them home to England. Yet their life on the island was not without results, for they took back with them the potato, and some dried tobacco leaves which the Indians had taught them to smoke.

Ralegh, of course, was greatly disappointed to see his colonists again in England. But he was not discouraged, and in 1587 sent forth a second band. The first had consisted entirely of men. The second band was composed of both men and women with their families, for it seemed likely that if the men took their wives and children along they would be more likely to remain than if they went alone. John White was the leader, and with a charter and instructions to build the city of Ralegh somewhere on the sh.o.r.es of Chesapeake Bay he set off with his colonists and landed on Roanoke Island. Here a little granddaughter was born (August 18, 1587), and named Virginia. She was the child of Eleanor Dare, and was the first child born of English parents in America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Roanoke Island and vicinity]

Governor White soon found it necessary to go back to England for supplies, and, in consequence of the Spanish war, three years slipped by before he was able to return to the colony. He was then too late. Every soul had perished, and to this day n.o.body knows how or where. Ralegh could do no more, and in 1589 made over all his rights to a joint-stock company of merchants. This company did nothing, and the sixteenth century came to an end with no English colony in America.[1]

[Footnote 1: Doyle's _English Colonies in America_, Virginia, pp. 56-74; Bancroft's _History of the United States_, Vol. I., pp. 60-79; Hildreth's _History of the United States_, Vol. I., pp. 80-87.]

%18. Gosnold in New England.%--With the new century came better fortune. Ralegh's n.o.ble efforts to plant a colony aroused Englishmen to the possibility of founding a great empire in the New World, and especially one named Bartholomew Gosnold.

Instead of following the old route to America by way of the Canary Islands, the West Indies, and Florida, he sailed due west across the Atlantic,[2] and brought up on the sh.o.r.e of a cape which he named Cape Cod.[3] Following the sh.o.r.e southward, he pa.s.sed through Nantucket Sound and Vineyard Sound, till he came to Cuttyhunk Island, at the entrance of Buzzards Bay. On this he landed, and built a house for the use of colonists he intended to leave there. But when he had filled his s.h.i.+p with sa.s.safras roots and cedar logs, n.o.body would remain, and the whole company went back to England.[4]

[Footnote 2: By thus shortening the journey 3000 miles, he practically brought America 3000 miles nearer to Europe.]

[Footnote 3: Because the waters thereabout abounded in codfish. For a comparison of Gosnold's route with those of the other early explorers see the map on p. 15.]

[Footnote 4: Bancroft's _United States_, Vol. I., pp. 70-83. Hildreth's _United States,_ Vol. I., p. 90.]

%19. The Two Virginia Companies.%--As a result of this voyage, Gosnold was more eager than ever to plant a colony in Virginia, and this enthusiasm he communicated so fully to others that, in 1606, King James I. created two companies to settle in Virginia, which was then the name for all the territory from what is now Maine to Florida.

1. Each company was to own a block of land 100 miles square; that is, 100 miles along the coast,--50 miles each way from its first settlement,--and 100 miles into the interior.

2. The First Company, a band of London merchants, might establish its first settlement anywhere between 34 and 41 north lat.i.tude.

3. The Second Company, a band of Plymouth merchants, might establish its first settlement anywhere between 38 and 45.

4. These settlements were to be on the seacoast.

5. In order to prevent the blocks from overlapping, it was provided that the company which was last to settle should locate at least 100 miles from the other company's settlement.[1]

[Footnote 1: Over the affairs of each company presided a council appointed by the King, with power to choose its own president, fill vacancies among its own members, and elect a council of thirteen to reside on the company's lands in America. Each company might coin money, raise a revenue by taxing foreign vessels trading at its ports, punish crime, and make laws which, if bad, could be set aside by the King. All property was to be owned in common, and all the products of the soil deposited in a public magazine from which the needs of the settlers were to be supplied. The surplus was to be sold for the good of the company.

The charter is given in full in Poore's _Charters and Const.i.tutions_, pp. 1888-1893.]

%20. The Jamestown Colony.%--Thus empowered, the two companies made all haste to gather funds, collect stores and settlers, and fit out s.h.i.+ps. The London Company was the first to get ready, and on the 19th of December, 1606, 143 colonists set sail in three s.h.i.+ps for America with their charter, and a list of the council sealed up in a strong box. The Plymouth Company soon followed, and before the year 1607 was far advanced, two settlements were planted in our country: the one at Jamestown, in Virginia, the other near the mouth of the Kennebec, in Maine. The latter, however, was abandoned the following year (see Chapter IV).

The three s.h.i.+ps which carried the Virginia colony reached the coast in the spring of 1607, and entering Chesapeake Bay sailed up a river which the colonists called the James, in honor of the King. When about thirty miles from its mouth, a landing was made on a little peninsula, where a settlement was begun and named Jamestown.[1] It was the month of May, and as the weather was warm, the colonists did not build houses, but, inside of some rude fortifications, put up shelters of sails and branches to serve till huts could be built. But their food gave out, the Indians were hostile, and before September half of the party had died of fever. Had it not been for the energy and courage of John Smith, every one of them would have perished. He practically a.s.sumed command, set the men to building huts, persuaded the Indians to give them food, explored the bays and rivers of Virginia, and for two dreary years held the colony together. When we consider the worthless men he had to deal with, and the hards.h.i.+ps and difficulties that beset him, his work is wonderful. The history which he wrote, however, is not to be trusted.[2]

[Footnote 1: Nothing now remains of Jamestown but the ruined tower of the church shown in the picture. Much of the land on which the town stood has been washed away by the river, so that its site is now an island.]

[Footnote 2: Read the _Life and Writings of Captain John Smith_, by Charles Dudley Warner; also John Fiske in _Atlantic Monthly_, December, 1895; Eggleston's _Beginners of a Nation_, pp. 31-38. Smith's _True Relation_ is printed in _American History Leaflets_, No. 27, and _Library of American Literature_ Vol. I.]