town were not good, although it
is doubtful that they were any worse than during the two previous
summers. The settlers were becoming acclimated, and they were learning
the ways of the new country. Supplies were low, yet the number of
colonists was small, and a good harvest and a good fall might have
improved matters had not some 400 new, inexperienced settlers sailed
into the James with only damaged supplies. To add to other
complications, they brought fever and plague. In the selection of
prospective settlers for the voyage the standards had been low, and too
many ne'er-do-wells, and even renegades, had been included.

This was the third supply, and it reached Jamestown in August.
Unfortunately it arrived without its leadership and the authority to
institute the governmental changes which the Company had authorized.
These changes provided for the appointment by the Company of a strong
governor with an advisory council in Virginia. Sir Thomas Gates had been
dispatched as Governor, yet the ship bearing him, along with Sir George
Somers and Captain Newport was wrecked in the Bermuda Islands.

Reaching Virginia in the third supply were several men who had been
earlier leaders in the Colony and who were now all hostile to Smith:
Archer, Ratcliffe, and Martin. A confusing scene developed over command.
The old leaders, particularly Smith, refused to give way to the new in
the absence of Gates, the appointed governor. There was considerable
bickering which led to an uneasy settlement, leaving Smith in charge for
the duration of his yearly term, now almost expired.

It was obvious to everyone that there were too many men for all to
remain at Jamestown. John Martin was sent to attempt a settlement at
Nansemond, on the south side of the James below Jamestown, while Captain
Francis West, brother of Lord De La Warr, was sent to settle at the
falls of the James. Returning to Jamestown after an inspection tour at
the falls, Captain Smith was injured by burning gunpowder and
incapacitated. Ratcliffe, Archer, and Martin seemingly used this
opportunity to depose him and to compel him to return to England to face
their charges against him as had been the fate of previous presidents.
These three men, failing to agree on a replacement from their own
number, persuaded George Percy to accept the position of president.
Percy was in command during the terrible winter that followed.

The winter of 1609-10 has been described through the year