Biography

Captain John Smith was born in England in 1580, to yeoman farmers. John didn't want to be a farmer, and so attempted to run away to become a sailor at the age of 13, but his father caught him and apprenticed him to a merchant. After the death of his father in 1596, John sailed to France and joined English soldiers fighting the Spanish. He spent the next few years of his life first fighting the Spanish, and then once that was over he went to Austria to fight with the Holy Roman Empire against the Turks.
Impressed with his military skills, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold enlisted John to help him establish a colony in Virginia under the Virginia Company of London. This colony would of course be Jamestown. It was a struggle to try and keep the men of Jamestown alive, as most of the men were only interested in digging for gold, and not taking the necessary steps for survival. Some accredit John for the survival of the colony and its people. Early on in the colony's existence, John was captured by a large Powhatan hunting party and brought to Chief Powhatan, which is where the typical story of Pocahontas saving John Smith originates from. Most likely, John Smith misinterpreted the situation, not realizing that it was a symbolic adoption ceremony of John into the world of the Powhatan people.