The coward spirit of Wingfield had caused this
disaster. Fearful of mutiny he refused to permit the fort to be palisaded
or guns to be mounted within. The assault of the savages might have been
more fatal, but happily a gun from the ships carried a crossbar-shot
among the boughs of a tree above them, and, shaking them down upon their
heads, produced great consternation. The frightened wretches fled in
dismay from an attack too mysterious to be solved, yet too terrible to be
withstood.
After this disaster the fears of Wingfield were overruled--the fort was
defended by palisades, and armed with heavy ordnance, the men were
exercised, and every precaution was used to guard against a sudden attack
or a treacherous ambuscade.
Smith had indignantly rejected every offer held out to him by the
artifices of the council. He now again demanded a trial in a manner that
could not be resisted. The examination took place and resulted in his
full acquittal. So evident was the injustice of the president that he was
adjudged to pay to the accused two hundred pounds, which sum the generous
Smith immediately devoted to the store of the colony. Thus elevated to
his merited place in the council, he immediately devised and commenced
active schemes for the welfare of the settlers, and on June 15th Newport
left the colony, and set forth on his voyage of return to England.
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