Blog #2

John Smith, William Bradford, and The Pilgrims

by William Weston Brown

John Smith

So who was this guy? Was he "The Most Interesting Man" of his time? Okay, that was pretty bad, but I think its safe to say that Smith was a bad dude! He was a soldier in the Dutch and Austrian army who saw action in multiple countries. As a captain, he beheaded three important cats while fighting in Romania (and got a patch for it; do the boy scouts have one for that?). He was also wounded in battle, taken as a prisoner of war, and sold as a slave. He would later kill his master and escape from the slavery. One thing I did notice from reading the chapter devoted to him in our book, is that he seems to have been a little bit of a rogue. He obviously had somewhat of a problem with authority, having gotten in trouble while on the voyage to Virginia and nearly put to death. It also mentions his bad temper and stubborn attitude, however, he must have been liked by some as he was placed on the colony’s council and later would be elected as its governor. As for his story of being captured by Powhatan, nearly murdered in the strange ritual by his Indians, only to be saved by Pocahontas, I’m not so sure what to think. I’m sure Smith took liberties with some of the details, but who hasn’t while trying to make ourselves look good in a story. One last thing that struck me as odd was the condition under which he left Virginia. How exactly does a gunpowder bag “mysteriously” blow up in your lap while you are taking a nap? This is just my opinion, but it sounds to me like someone wanted him gone and out of the way. However you view John Smith, he was no doubt an interesting character, albeit one who couldn’t seem to let go of the past in the later years of his life.

William Bradford and The Pilgrims

Sometimes we take for granted the rights we have in this country. If you and I wanted to go out and start a new religion, or even a cult for that matter, we have the right to do that as free citizens of these United States. Imagine living in a country that didn't give it's citizens the freedom to practice any religion they saw fit. Forcing their citizens to adopt to the religion of the government's choosing, they condemn any who refuse and brand them as traitors, punishing them by death in some cases. Not only is this exactly what William Bradford and the other Separatists where faced with, but they made a decision to leave behind everything they ever knew to be free from this type of oppression. Initially leaving England for Holland, their situation eventually began to deteriorate there as well. They finally came to the decision to make a nearly 2800 mile voyage across the sea, which was incredibly dangerous itself, to settle in a totally foreign land which they knew virtually nothing about. It absolutely amazes me the lengths these people were willing to go, just to be able to be free to practice their religion without persecution and to keep their group together. As I said before though, we take these things for granted. Below is a brief video which describes their voyage with some interesting details. It puts things into perspective a little better as to what that had to deal with on the voyage over. Their living quarters alone, which are depicted in the video as less than accommodating, would be reason enough for me to forgo the journey.

One final thing I found interesting was something we discussed in class. It involved the episode in which some of the pilgrims and Captain Standish decided to go exploring the land and came across a couple of the Indian's houses. They also found more of the Indian's food in the way of corn and beans and actually stole them. Now, whether or not they repaid them at a later date, as they claimed they did, who really knows. What I found interesting was when it was mentioned that someone didn't think they would ever be able to bring themselves to steal another person's food. I thought about that statement for a while and even though I agree with the morality of not stealing, I think we need to really put ourselves in their shoes. What is it that drives people to steal in the first place? In this case it was obviously desperation. They were hungry, maybe even borderline starving, but the point is, what if it was their only option. After really thinking about it, I believe I would have done the exact same thing. I'm sure some of them even had children that were going hungry as well. As a father, I know I would do anything to protect my children. These people were strangers in a foreign land, had no one to turn to for help except each other and it was winter on top of the rest of their troubles. I think in this instance, they deserve a little slack.