By Harry M. Covert
A
The latest refers to Jamestown. That’s still in Virginia. Apparently some recent assessors have discovered that the colonists there did not exhibit any moral tendencies. They were heathens of the first chop.
When food ran short back in 1609, they apparently became cannibals -- Caucasian diners that is. To survive. No evidence abounds they partook of the Indians, whom they described as Indians, not in the modern words Native Americans. [The Bureau of Indian Affairs had not been created at that point.]
The Story of Virginia, to which I was taught in my grammar school, never mentioned such unruly conduct. Those settlers, as I learned in my classrooms just a few miles south, always showed us sweet boys and girls how kindly the mostly Christian intruders from England treated the Redmen and women.
Some of the names I recall these days are Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, Powhatan and John Rolfe.
These creative and godly forerunners, as many have been taught through their formative years and on to the hallowed halls of the College of William and Mary, led to the establishment of the USA.
It should be noted here that the esteemed college is the second oldest institution of higher learning in what is now the 50 states. Harvard ranks first and probably leads the way in some historical rewriting.
Starving time in Jamestown occurred during the winter of 1609 to1610, according to Colonial Williamsburg which is working on the project with the Smithsonian and Preservation Virginia.
A recent wag wondered if the Jamestown tourist center will have to update its cookbook. Now, that’s crass but it’s true.
My education must improve.
A review of Author Jon Meacham’s recent biography, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, attempted to tear down achievements of the William and Mary graduate and founder of the University of Virginia. The headline was “Monster of Monticello.”
Meacham’s fine work doesn’t judge Jefferson by the standards of the present age.
The third president may have been a slave owner but he was a grand president, an outstanding diplomat and a distinctive writer of his own Bible and other memorable documents.
It was great foresight that he introduced the tomato to the US. Imagine no catsup/ketchup, tomato sandwiches on homemade yeast rolls, tomato soup, Thomas Jefferson schools, high and low, and the two dollar bill.
Mr. Jefferson was considered a Deist but knew the Lord’s Prayer.
Some of his contemporaries were religious and believed in “fervent prayer”. Among them is Mount Vernon’s George Washington, known for his financial derring-do. He was a founder, vestryman and regular worshiper at Christ Church, Alexandria, Va.
It will be surprising to discover in these days of rewriting, that Jamestown’s church was really a garage built by the Indians, that Williamsburg is a myth, that basketball was invented by Mr. Naismith in Jamestown and not in Massachusetts, that documents have been found returning West Virginia to Virginia and that Marylander Francis Scott Key wrote his famous song in Indiana.
And that Thanksgiving never happened because the colonists, even those in Plymouth, weren’t thankful for anything and never learned to hunt or fish and were navel gazers.
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