Steps: 2,685,835
Miles: 1123.56
Captain John Smith
Captain John Smith (1580–June 21, 1631) was an English soldier, sailor, and author. He is remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and his association with the Native American girl Pocahontas during an altercation with the Powhatan Confederacy and her father, Chief Powhatan.
John Smith was apparently a troublemaker, and Captain Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships that sailed into Jamestown) had planned to execute him upon arrival in Virginia. When they landed on Cape Henry on April 26, 1607, sealed orders from the Virginia Company were opened. They designated Smith to be one of the leaders of the new colony, forcing Newport to spare his life.
Smith explored and mapped the Chesapeake Bay region between 1607 and 1609 and search for badly-needed food and the much sought route to India, covering an estimated 3,000 miles. He became president of Jamestown in September 1608 and instituted a policy of discipline, encouraging farming with a famous admonishment: "He who does not work, will not eat."
Jamestown grew under his leadership. During this period, Smith took the chief of the neighboring tribe hostage to secure the peace. A year later however, full-scale war broke out between the Powhatans and the Virginia colonists. Smith was seriously injured by a gunpowder burn after a spark landed in his powder keg. He returned to England for treatment in Oct. 1609, and never returned to Virginia.
In 1614, Smith voyaged to the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts Bay, and named the region "New England". Smith then returned to England spent the rest of his life writing books which encouraged more Englishmen and women to colonize the New World with the comment, "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land...If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industrie quickly grow rich." -- He died in 1631.
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