Captain John Smith

My First post will deal with the short bio of a hero of mine.

Captain John Smith (1580-1630) was a English soldier and explorer. Smith was born in Alford,Lincolnshire, England to a peasant family who work the land. Smith came from nothing, and was destined to work the land like his father until he died. Smith did have some education by attending a Grammar school for a few years, until his father died. At age 16 Smith left home and went to France were he served as a mercenary against the Spanish. He then spent some time in the Mediterranean Sea were he was a pirate. Smith then fought for the Habsburg's in Eastern Europe against the invading Ottoman empire.In Wallachia Smith was promoted to Captain and faithfully served two rulers in Wallachia. Smith was then Knighted for dueling and killing three Ottoman leaders, and beheading them. In Hungary he was captured and sold as a slave by the Tartars (decedents of the Mongols) and was eventually sent to live with a mistress of his Turkish master in Greece, where she helped him escape after falling in love with him. Smith escaped into Muscovy (a pre-Russian Tsardom) and then walked through Northern Europe until he reached England in 1604.

That was just his early life.

In London, Smith became involved with the Virginia Company and agreed to travel with an expedition to the New World. On the long voyage, Smith got in trouble and was nearly executed by the Captain, but was saved when a fellow Company man opened a letter containing their orders that stated Smith as one of the colonies leaders.
When the colony struggled and was short on food, Smith lead foraging parties deep within the forests in search of food. On one of these expeditions he was captured and taken prisoners by Indians. Smith was to be executed, but was saved by the chiefs daughter, Pocahontas. Smith continued to sojourn into the interior of Virgina for food, covering 3,000 miles. Upon his return, Smith was elected leader of the colony by the council in 1608. The settlement did very well under Smith's leadership, but tensions rose wtih the Indians. Eventually the colonist were at war by the Native tribes, and Smith was seriously injured during an attack, and returned to England in 1608.

Smith never returned to Virgina, but did cross the Atlantic again in 1614 and helped found New England. Smith was captured by Pirates off the coast in 1618, but soon escaped and returned to England were he spent the rest of his life writing. Smith died in London, 1631. He was 51.

I hope this gives you more information on Smith, who has become popular from Disney's 1995 film, Pocahontas and the 2005 film The New World.