1 00:00:00,788 --> 00:00:05,788 (cow mowing, metal clanking and air whooshing) 2 00:00:09,505 --> 00:00:12,422 (water sprinkling) 3 00:00:14,641 --> 00:00:18,058 (compelling flute music) 4 00:00:26,250 --> 00:00:28,400 - [Narrator] When Captain John Smith and other Englishmen 5 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,070 arrived on the coast of America. 6 00:00:30,070 --> 00:00:31,980 He noticed a picturesque place 7 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:35,430 where he decided to unload his 108 passengers. 8 00:00:35,430 --> 00:00:37,180 There he established the first permanent 9 00:00:37,180 --> 00:00:38,940 British settlement in America. 10 00:00:38,940 --> 00:00:40,903 They chose Jamestown Island. 11 00:00:43,753 --> 00:00:46,253 (man singing) 12 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,210 Early in the morning of May 14th, 1607, 13 00:00:58,210 --> 00:01:02,293 they took into their possession the promised land, America. 14 00:01:02,293 --> 00:01:05,710 (compelling flute music) 15 00:01:10,940 --> 00:01:12,660 - We might never have learned 16 00:01:12,660 --> 00:01:15,690 about the existence of Poles in Jamestown 17 00:01:15,690 --> 00:01:19,980 if it hadn't been for very well known walkie priest, 18 00:01:19,980 --> 00:01:24,570 Father Waclaw Kruszka on his very monumental work 19 00:01:24,570 --> 00:01:26,170 on the history of the Poles, 20 00:01:26,170 --> 00:01:28,900 came across a book on glassblowing. 21 00:01:28,900 --> 00:01:31,900 He discovered that Poles were mentioned 22 00:01:31,900 --> 00:01:34,370 as blowing glass in Jamestown. 23 00:01:34,370 --> 00:01:38,347 And that became the start of the investigation of, 24 00:01:38,347 --> 00:01:42,750 "Oh, the Pole were in Jamestown that early. 25 00:01:42,750 --> 00:01:44,210 What were they doing there? 26 00:01:44,210 --> 00:01:45,410 How did they get there? 27 00:01:45,410 --> 00:01:47,550 What else are they doing there? 28 00:01:47,550 --> 00:01:49,767 What contributions did they make?" 29 00:01:50,973 --> 00:01:54,390 (compelling flute music) 30 00:01:55,830 --> 00:01:58,490 - Discovery of the new world, 31 00:01:58,490 --> 00:02:00,910 North and South America and the Caribbean 32 00:02:00,910 --> 00:02:02,310 beginning with Columbus 33 00:02:02,310 --> 00:02:06,840 opened up this whole area for investment. 34 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,460 It brought tremendous amount of wealth to Europe. 35 00:02:09,460 --> 00:02:14,010 - The Spanish had colonized South America 36 00:02:14,010 --> 00:02:16,080 and Spain almost overnight, 37 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,170 and historical terms had gone 38 00:02:18,170 --> 00:02:21,890 from being a second or third rate power in Europe 39 00:02:21,890 --> 00:02:24,960 to being the superpower of Europe of the day. 40 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:26,340 - The Spanish did have expeditions 41 00:02:26,340 --> 00:02:28,890 into the Carolinas during this period 42 00:02:30,020 --> 00:02:33,410 to search for their own sources of wealth, 43 00:02:33,410 --> 00:02:36,930 but also to be on the lookout for any Englishman. 44 00:02:36,930 --> 00:02:40,150 - The French, the English, the Dutch, other countries, 45 00:02:40,150 --> 00:02:43,000 all wanted to try and establish colonies 46 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,323 in North America to share this wealth. 47 00:02:46,458 --> 00:02:48,600 (compelling flute music) 48 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,370 - [Narrator] Poles were to be aware of the judgment of God, 49 00:02:51,370 --> 00:02:53,193 as well as their own conscience, 50 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,833 plundering around the world had to be unthinkable. 51 00:02:57,833 --> 00:03:01,250 (compelling flute music) 52 00:03:02,427 --> 00:03:06,100 In England, a rowdy traveler, Sir Walter Raleigh, 53 00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:09,510 organized expeditions in search of the golden fleece. 54 00:03:09,510 --> 00:03:14,510 - They hoped to find wealth; gold, silver, perhaps. 55 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,800 Perhaps a route to Asia. 56 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,890 The geography of North America was very poorly understood 57 00:03:19,890 --> 00:03:21,130 in Europe at that time. 58 00:03:21,130 --> 00:03:22,210 So there was some hope 59 00:03:22,210 --> 00:03:25,050 that they could find a quick route to China, 60 00:03:25,050 --> 00:03:26,020 to India still. 61 00:03:26,020 --> 00:03:29,020 - They thought that the orient was not that far away. 62 00:03:29,020 --> 00:03:30,260 Well, they didn't realize 63 00:03:30,260 --> 00:03:33,060 that the whole North American continent was there, 64 00:03:33,060 --> 00:03:35,230 so this was a mistake. 65 00:03:35,230 --> 00:03:38,300 - [Narrator] In 1584 a flotilla or seven ships 66 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:42,070 with 108 men reached the Roanoke Island. 67 00:03:42,070 --> 00:03:45,373 Unfortunately, the settlement established by them collapsed. 68 00:03:46,350 --> 00:03:47,610 Two years later, 69 00:03:47,610 --> 00:03:50,934 there was another attempt, also unsuccessful. 70 00:03:50,934 --> 00:03:53,730 (compelling flute music) 71 00:03:53,730 --> 00:03:55,050 - Those people disappeared 72 00:03:55,050 --> 00:03:58,463 and we never found out later on whatever happened to them. 73 00:03:58,463 --> 00:04:01,880 (compelling flute music) 74 00:04:12,900 --> 00:04:15,290 - The Roanoke colony had failed, 75 00:04:15,290 --> 00:04:17,820 and this had perhaps would have discouraged 76 00:04:17,820 --> 00:04:19,950 a settlement further South, 77 00:04:19,950 --> 00:04:23,260 perhaps the Spanish threat had been part of that. 78 00:04:23,260 --> 00:04:25,900 - [Narrator] The company organized the third expedition 79 00:04:25,900 --> 00:04:29,152 whose purpose was to gain a foothold in North America. 80 00:04:29,152 --> 00:04:32,569 (compelling flute music) 81 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,530 On the 14th of May, 1607, 82 00:04:37,530 --> 00:04:41,540 104 Englishman reached the River James in Virginia. 83 00:04:41,540 --> 00:04:43,350 Here on the Island they established 84 00:04:43,350 --> 00:04:47,520 what is today a historical settlement, Jamestown. 85 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,300 - [John] Jamestown was really the first significant 86 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:51,230 British outpost in the new world. 87 00:04:51,230 --> 00:04:52,560 It was the first one that lasted. 88 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,530 - The impetus for establishing colonies 89 00:04:54,530 --> 00:04:56,520 was clearly very economic 90 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,640 from the standpoint of the English government 91 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:00,850 and the people who invested 92 00:05:00,850 --> 00:05:02,890 in the Virginia Company of London. 93 00:05:02,890 --> 00:05:05,300 - They were always trying to cater 94 00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:07,440 to the well wishes of the King. 95 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,860 Of course, Jamestown is named after King James of England. 96 00:05:10,860 --> 00:05:13,760 The James River is named after the King of England, 97 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,163 King of England and Scotland, James the First. 98 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,910 - And even the founding of Jamestown 99 00:05:20,910 --> 00:05:24,040 coming as a dead amid global of conflicts 100 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,710 between the English and the Spanish on one hand, 101 00:05:27,710 --> 00:05:29,450 later the English and the French, 102 00:05:29,450 --> 00:05:31,590 and then the English allied against the French 103 00:05:31,590 --> 00:05:33,150 and Spanish together. 104 00:05:33,150 --> 00:05:35,140 - The British were competing with Spain 105 00:05:35,140 --> 00:05:38,600 and they were seeking a wealth, obviously. 106 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,450 There was a measure of competition 107 00:05:40,450 --> 00:05:42,490 and the colony was ultimately established 108 00:05:42,490 --> 00:05:44,150 by a group of investors. 109 00:05:44,150 --> 00:05:45,640 - The colony of Jamestown 110 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:49,060 and eventually the English colonies in North America 111 00:05:50,260 --> 00:05:53,750 was an important aspect of this global war 112 00:05:53,750 --> 00:05:57,940 fought between largely England against the French. 113 00:05:57,940 --> 00:06:00,300 And Spanish allied against England 114 00:06:00,300 --> 00:06:02,500 for control of a worldwide empire 115 00:06:02,500 --> 00:06:06,390 and the economic riches that that would result in. 116 00:06:06,390 --> 00:06:08,510 - [Narrator] Since then, the Poles learned to be content 117 00:06:08,510 --> 00:06:10,240 wi%th what they had. 118 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,830 Not coveting anything others possessed. 119 00:06:12,830 --> 00:06:14,360 Always, they sat far away 120 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,810 from the world's bowl of treasures. 121 00:06:16,810 --> 00:06:19,100 (compelling flute music) 122 00:06:19,100 --> 00:06:21,210 - The position of Jamestown is quite interesting 123 00:06:21,210 --> 00:06:23,410 because the Spanish by this time 124 00:06:23,410 --> 00:06:25,920 were shipping large amounts of gold and silver across, 125 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,653 and it was very lucrative to raid those ships. 126 00:06:29,530 --> 00:06:31,270 So it was quite possible that the English 127 00:06:31,270 --> 00:06:34,770 also wanted to get in on the Spanish wealth. 128 00:06:34,770 --> 00:06:36,130 - [Donald Pienkos] The Jamestown colony 129 00:06:36,130 --> 00:06:38,500 was really may beginning experiment, 130 00:06:38,500 --> 00:06:41,410 and it was an experiment in a land 131 00:06:41,410 --> 00:06:43,613 that was relatively hostile. 132 00:06:45,251 --> 00:06:49,770 (compelling flute music fades) 133 00:06:49,770 --> 00:06:51,250 - Jamestown colony, of course, 134 00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:54,620 was situated right in the near the lands 135 00:06:54,620 --> 00:06:57,810 that were held by very large Indian nation, 136 00:06:57,810 --> 00:07:00,020 and their chief was Powhatan. 137 00:07:00,020 --> 00:07:02,480 And something like eight or 9,000 Indians 138 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:03,510 lived in that area. 139 00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:06,590 - The climate was hot and humid. 140 00:07:06,590 --> 00:07:09,830 The waterways and the swamps in the area 141 00:07:09,830 --> 00:07:11,850 around Jamestown where they settled 142 00:07:11,850 --> 00:07:14,410 had a lot of mosquitoes and diseases. 143 00:07:14,410 --> 00:07:18,373 There was not a ready support source of food there. 144 00:07:20,290 --> 00:07:23,560 - It was very difficult for the original settlers, 145 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,573 however, to establish the county. 146 00:07:27,500 --> 00:07:29,130 There were a number of them 147 00:07:29,130 --> 00:07:31,460 who did not really have any skills. 148 00:07:31,460 --> 00:07:33,940 - First year at Jamestown was extremely difficult. 149 00:07:33,940 --> 00:07:36,800 The Jamestown settlement itself was positioned 150 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,450 partly to defend itself against the potential Spanish raid. 151 00:07:40,450 --> 00:07:43,490 It was not necessarily placed in a good location 152 00:07:43,490 --> 00:07:45,980 for either agriculture or fishing. 153 00:07:45,980 --> 00:07:48,900 There was additional problem in that there was a conflict 154 00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:50,808 with the local native community, 155 00:07:50,808 --> 00:07:52,575 the Powhatan Confederacy. 156 00:07:52,575 --> 00:07:54,960 (compelling flute music) 157 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,940 - And the interesting story, I think, about the Indians 158 00:07:57,940 --> 00:07:59,950 is that they really, under their chief, 159 00:07:59,950 --> 00:08:02,503 did not try to destroy the colony. 160 00:08:05,150 --> 00:08:07,050 - The belief is that this chief thought 161 00:08:07,050 --> 00:08:09,440 that these colonists would die off 162 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:10,860 from the poisoned water 163 00:08:10,860 --> 00:08:14,260 and the lack of food and the bad temperature. 164 00:08:14,260 --> 00:08:15,870 - This was a very risky venture, 165 00:08:15,870 --> 00:08:19,760 something that people were really quite literally 166 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:21,400 risking their lives to do. 167 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,060 And anyone who came to this infant colony 168 00:08:24,060 --> 00:08:26,130 was literally taking their life in their hands 169 00:08:26,130 --> 00:08:27,470 and venturing into something 170 00:08:27,470 --> 00:08:29,357 which was largely unknown at that time. 171 00:08:29,357 --> 00:08:31,810 - One of the main threats to the Jamestown colony 172 00:08:31,810 --> 00:08:33,270 was the Spanish showing up 173 00:08:33,270 --> 00:08:35,720 and burning the place to the ground. 174 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:37,370 - [Narrator] Englishmen perceived Spaniards 175 00:08:37,370 --> 00:08:39,010 as the primary threat. 176 00:08:39,010 --> 00:08:41,610 There was not a single moment in the history of Jamestown 177 00:08:41,610 --> 00:08:45,030 when they weren't afraid of an attack by the Spanish Armada. 178 00:08:45,030 --> 00:08:47,020 (compelling flute music) 179 00:08:47,020 --> 00:08:48,960 - So they went and employed all the weapons 180 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,030 in their arsenal to see what was going on. 181 00:08:51,030 --> 00:08:53,670 Both intelligence, they certainly would have tried to find out 182 00:08:53,670 --> 00:08:55,300 as much as possible about the colony, 183 00:08:55,300 --> 00:08:57,510 and what the colonists were doing there, 184 00:08:57,510 --> 00:08:59,423 but also perhaps militarily. 185 00:09:00,500 --> 00:09:03,250 The leader, John Smith, was very a capable leader, 186 00:09:03,250 --> 00:09:05,530 who many of the individuals who originally came 187 00:09:05,530 --> 00:09:08,480 were not necessarily people who were adept 188 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:09,670 at surviving off the land. 189 00:09:09,670 --> 00:09:11,300 They had assumed they would find 190 00:09:11,300 --> 00:09:13,530 perhaps some advanced Indian civilization 191 00:09:13,530 --> 00:09:15,550 much as the Spanish had found. 192 00:09:15,550 --> 00:09:17,840 - [Narrator] Englishman, as well as Spaniards, 193 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,363 expected easy trophies, mainly gold and silver. 194 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,380 Unfortunately, native Americans from North America 195 00:09:25,380 --> 00:09:26,863 didn't have any gold. 196 00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:30,020 - [John] When they arrived, they found none of this 197 00:09:30,020 --> 00:09:31,650 and it was a great difficulty. 198 00:09:31,650 --> 00:09:33,710 - The English were really not very well prepared. 199 00:09:33,710 --> 00:09:36,890 Some of them were like noblemen, gentlemen, as they say, 200 00:09:36,890 --> 00:09:40,053 who were spending most of their time drinking and playing. 201 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:43,720 - Most of them were soldiers or adventures 202 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:45,933 and not necessarily farmers or fishermen. 203 00:09:49,700 --> 00:09:51,230 - They didn't really work very hard. 204 00:09:51,230 --> 00:09:53,290 They didn't know how to dig a well. 205 00:09:53,290 --> 00:09:54,810 They weren't prepared to do any work. 206 00:09:54,810 --> 00:09:58,030 So, this was a pretty big of a disaster. 207 00:09:58,030 --> 00:10:00,460 - The first year of the Jamestown colony, 208 00:10:00,460 --> 00:10:03,290 quite a few of the settlers died, 209 00:10:03,290 --> 00:10:05,100 and in the second year as well, 210 00:10:05,100 --> 00:10:08,100 from famine and from disease. 211 00:10:08,100 --> 00:10:12,010 We're told that within the first 18 months or so, 212 00:10:12,010 --> 00:10:14,530 over half of the entire initial 213 00:10:14,530 --> 00:10:16,923 contingent of colonists had died. 214 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:22,520 Smith had participated in travels 215 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:23,990 throughout Eastern Europe, 216 00:10:23,990 --> 00:10:25,557 He had met Poles, 217 00:10:25,557 --> 00:10:28,800 and was familiar with certainly Polish artisans 218 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:30,740 and the economies of the area. 219 00:10:30,740 --> 00:10:32,990 - As a very young fellow, maybe a teenager, 220 00:10:32,990 --> 00:10:34,167 he went off to fight. 221 00:10:34,167 --> 00:10:35,570 He was a soldier. 222 00:10:35,570 --> 00:10:40,291 He's hired on to be a mercenary in the army of Austria. 223 00:10:40,291 --> 00:10:43,520 He fought very well against the Turks, 224 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:44,750 against the Ottoman Turks. 225 00:10:44,750 --> 00:10:47,100 He was actually captured and slaved. 226 00:10:47,100 --> 00:10:52,100 He escaped and he got back to England through Poland. 227 00:10:52,130 --> 00:10:53,560 - [Narrator] Poles knew very well 228 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:55,820 what Turkish captivity meant. 229 00:10:55,820 --> 00:10:58,070 Therefore, they helped him return to England. 230 00:10:59,725 --> 00:11:01,160 - And so likely at that time 231 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,860 that he encountered some Polish officers, 232 00:11:03,860 --> 00:11:05,730 they were also serving with the Austrians. 233 00:11:05,730 --> 00:11:09,710 - And that's where he met many different Polish people. 234 00:11:09,710 --> 00:11:12,520 And he realized that he had many skills. 235 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,350 - [Narrator] Surprisingly, England and Poland at that time 236 00:11:15,350 --> 00:11:18,060 were closely connected with as many as 30,000 237 00:11:18,060 --> 00:11:21,760 English, Scottish, and Irish living and working in Poland 238 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:23,970 and about 1000 poles living in London. 239 00:11:23,970 --> 00:11:27,890 - There was also a large contingent of Polish merchants 240 00:11:27,890 --> 00:11:29,550 who did business with England, 241 00:11:29,550 --> 00:11:31,700 and they actually lived in London, 242 00:11:31,700 --> 00:11:35,040 many of them along a place called Poland Street. 243 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:36,760 So the English were well aware 244 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:38,693 of what was available in Poland. 245 00:11:39,900 --> 00:11:43,010 - Poland in 1608 was quite a different country. 246 00:11:43,010 --> 00:11:44,960 It was a vast country. 247 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,560 It included not only present-day Poland, 248 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:50,490 but it also included much of the Ukraine, 249 00:11:50,490 --> 00:11:53,480 much of Belarus of the Baltic States. 250 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,830 It was a vast country of about 400,000 square miles. 251 00:11:56,830 --> 00:11:59,870 And in fact, the King of Poland at that time 252 00:11:59,870 --> 00:12:03,600 was looking to become even Tsar of Russia. 253 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,750 That's how powerful and how significant Poland was 254 00:12:06,750 --> 00:12:07,773 at that time. 255 00:12:10,810 --> 00:12:13,370 - In 1570s, Queen Elizabeth the First 256 00:12:13,370 --> 00:12:16,090 had granted a monopoly to the British Eastland Company 257 00:12:16,090 --> 00:12:18,033 to establish a trading post in ELblag. 258 00:12:19,750 --> 00:12:22,920 And this was initially the main British outpost in Poland, 259 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:26,103 where they traded for grain and also forests products. 260 00:12:28,290 --> 00:12:30,920 Later on, the dimes became a very significant factor. 261 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,870 So, these trade ties had been a very long standing 262 00:12:33,870 --> 00:12:35,220 between Poland and Britain. 263 00:12:36,630 --> 00:12:38,040 - [Narrator] When it seemed that Jamestown 264 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:40,520 would share the face of the previous colonies, 265 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,310 a wise decision of Captain John Smith, 266 00:12:43,310 --> 00:12:45,410 his appeal to the King, 267 00:12:45,410 --> 00:12:48,163 consent was issued to bring foreigners to the colony. 268 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,150 Suddenly, we heard surprising news 269 00:12:54,150 --> 00:12:56,520 that some of us would be asked to go to foreign 270 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,703 and distant lands uninhabited but rich. 271 00:13:01,753 --> 00:13:05,253 (compelling flute music) 272 00:13:06,750 --> 00:13:09,120 On October 1st, 1608, 273 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,440 five Polish settlers arrived in Jamestown, 274 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,260 aboard the Mary and Margaret. 275 00:13:13,260 --> 00:13:15,040 There were two Polish nobleman, 276 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,123 Michal Lowicki and Jan Bogdan, 277 00:13:19,590 --> 00:13:21,150 as well as artisans, 278 00:13:21,150 --> 00:13:22,423 Zbigniew Stefanski, 279 00:13:24,250 --> 00:13:25,503 Stanislaw Sadowski, 280 00:13:27,723 --> 00:13:28,556 and Jan Mata. 281 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:31,990 (compelling flute music) 282 00:13:31,990 --> 00:13:35,407 Zbigniew Stefanski wrote about this historic moment. 283 00:13:35,407 --> 00:13:38,940 "After a long journey and extreme suffering, we saw birds, 284 00:13:38,940 --> 00:13:40,793 and soon after we saw the land. 285 00:13:42,404 --> 00:13:45,321 (compelling music) 286 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:57,200 I fell on my knees 287 00:13:59,190 --> 00:14:01,127 offering prayers to almighty God." 288 00:14:08,453 --> 00:14:11,800 "Michal Lowicki of noble birth was named the leader 289 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,103 of our group's expedition to Virginia. 290 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,757 Jur Mata, who was also called Jan, 291 00:14:17,757 --> 00:14:20,720 was to take charge of making of soap. 292 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:24,907 Stanislaw Sadowski having experience as a house builder 293 00:14:24,907 --> 00:14:28,050 was to be in charge of lumber production. 294 00:14:28,050 --> 00:14:31,280 Jan Bogdan, he accomplished everything with ease, 295 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,510 finding solutions to every kind of problem. 296 00:14:34,510 --> 00:14:36,800 Both of us were Christ's age, 297 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:38,820 an age when a person is most apt 298 00:14:38,820 --> 00:14:41,120 to undertake the greatest risks, 299 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,257 and furthermore is the most suited for world travel." 300 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,580 - By the time the second ship came, 301 00:14:47,580 --> 00:14:50,610 this was in October of 1608, 302 00:14:50,610 --> 00:14:53,550 with first Poles that came to America, 303 00:14:53,550 --> 00:14:57,570 Jamestown colony was practically on its last legs. 304 00:14:57,570 --> 00:14:59,520 - [Narrator] The hungry and desperate settlers 305 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,150 looted all they could; 306 00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:03,350 pigs, dogs, and horses, 307 00:15:03,350 --> 00:15:05,360 even rats and water snakes. 308 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,160 Also, leather shoes became food. 309 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,190 - The Poles were brought over to create products 310 00:15:11,190 --> 00:15:12,023 that the British needed, 311 00:15:12,023 --> 00:15:13,820 but also to create potentially products 312 00:15:13,820 --> 00:15:16,610 that the Indians would want, 313 00:15:16,610 --> 00:15:18,170 that then could be traded for food. 314 00:15:18,170 --> 00:15:20,630 And of course, there was the possibility 315 00:15:20,630 --> 00:15:22,660 of creating some local industry. 316 00:15:22,660 --> 00:15:25,170 - [Narrator] Despite its good strategic location, 317 00:15:25,170 --> 00:15:27,850 Jamestown was not an ideal spot for a colony 318 00:15:27,850 --> 00:15:30,520 with its swamping mosquito infested terrain. 319 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:32,210 Clear water was scarce. 320 00:15:32,210 --> 00:15:35,680 The settlers suffered from infections, fever, and dysentery 321 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:37,680 caused by drinking water from the river. 322 00:15:38,700 --> 00:15:40,570 Polish settler, Zbigniew Stefanski, 323 00:15:40,570 --> 00:15:42,963 recorded this impression of Jamestown. 324 00:15:44,787 --> 00:15:47,610 "Seldom had one seen such lack of resourcefulness 325 00:15:47,610 --> 00:15:49,023 as we found in Virginia. 326 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:52,030 Not even a spoonful of drinking water 327 00:15:52,030 --> 00:15:54,270 was to be found in the Fort. 328 00:15:54,270 --> 00:15:56,540 The people here marveled when we dug a well 329 00:15:56,540 --> 00:15:57,907 and presented it to them." 330 00:15:58,810 --> 00:16:00,583 - The Poles helped to build, 331 00:16:02,270 --> 00:16:04,760 dig a well that finally got the colony 332 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,168 some good water; drinking water. 333 00:16:07,168 --> 00:16:12,168 (compelling flute music and water running) 334 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,350 - Pitch was very important. 335 00:16:23,350 --> 00:16:25,970 It was essentially the universal glue of the time. 336 00:16:25,970 --> 00:16:28,640 All the ships, all the boats, the houses, 337 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:30,910 everything that was made would have required this. 338 00:16:30,910 --> 00:16:31,923 This was essential. 339 00:16:34,770 --> 00:16:35,920 - [Narrator] After their arrival, 340 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,940 the Poles built a glass furnace, 341 00:16:37,940 --> 00:16:40,320 which became the first American factory. 342 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:42,000 - The main problem that the British had 343 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,350 is that they had nothing to the Indians wanted. 344 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,038 - [Narrator] Zbigniew Stefanski wrote, 345 00:16:48,038 --> 00:16:49,240 "Under my personal supervision, 346 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,580 several furnaces were built for the production of glass, 347 00:16:52,580 --> 00:16:55,480 for which practically naked Virginian female scavengers 348 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,790 brought us grain and fish in their baskets, 349 00:16:57,790 --> 00:16:59,790 picking up every chip of glass from the ground 350 00:16:59,790 --> 00:17:02,410 to decorate their strange attire." 351 00:17:02,410 --> 00:17:03,243 - To the Indians, 352 00:17:03,243 --> 00:17:06,300 a lot of this was that the purposes of political alliance, 353 00:17:06,300 --> 00:17:08,410 and the English would have realized this early on 354 00:17:08,410 --> 00:17:10,760 by giving the Indians things that they wanted; 355 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:12,950 glass, for example, or metal products. 356 00:17:12,950 --> 00:17:14,980 The English are in a sense securing 357 00:17:14,980 --> 00:17:16,640 a form of alliance with the Indians. 358 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:20,410 So beyond the economic value of any of these goods, 359 00:17:20,410 --> 00:17:23,350 there was a very important security aspect. 360 00:17:23,350 --> 00:17:24,183 - [Narrator] Glass products 361 00:17:24,183 --> 00:17:26,923 became the first American products exported to Europe. 362 00:17:28,210 --> 00:17:29,920 - We have to realize that there's a great distance 363 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,780 between England and Jamestown, 364 00:17:32,780 --> 00:17:36,470 and to ship supplies over was very costly. 365 00:17:36,470 --> 00:17:39,720 It was much cheaper to get supplies in the local Indians, 366 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:40,670 which meant, of course, 367 00:17:40,670 --> 00:17:43,570 that either they had to militarily defeat the Indians, 368 00:17:43,570 --> 00:17:45,430 which they couldn't do in the early years, 369 00:17:45,430 --> 00:17:47,760 or they had to have things that they could trade. 370 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,610 This was one of the major reasons for importing 371 00:17:50,610 --> 00:17:52,543 foreign crafts and Poles, of course. 372 00:17:58,850 --> 00:18:02,060 - [Narrator] In 1608, Captain John Smith became president 373 00:18:02,060 --> 00:18:05,020 and his leadership kept the colony from dissolving. 374 00:18:05,020 --> 00:18:07,277 He enforced strict discipline. 375 00:18:07,277 --> 00:18:10,373 "Those who would not work should not eat," he declared. 376 00:18:12,817 --> 00:18:15,090 "We plowed the fields eagerly 377 00:18:15,090 --> 00:18:18,320 and sowed the grain that was not eaten by the rats. 378 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,350 Yet everyone in the colony had to look after his food 379 00:18:21,350 --> 00:18:24,227 as best he could in order to stay alive." 380 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:27,130 Captain John Smith, 381 00:18:27,130 --> 00:18:29,300 the president of the Jamestown colony, 382 00:18:29,300 --> 00:18:30,923 deeply respected the Poles, 383 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,730 not only for their excellent craftsmanship, 384 00:18:34,730 --> 00:18:36,200 but also for their bravery 385 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,040 and he regarded them as indispensable 386 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:39,840 to the survival of their new colony. 387 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:42,250 - England at the time 388 00:18:42,250 --> 00:18:44,460 had the largest Merchant Marine in the world, 389 00:18:44,460 --> 00:18:45,810 the largest Navy. 390 00:18:45,810 --> 00:18:50,710 They needed a potash and soap ash and hemp and rosin 391 00:18:50,710 --> 00:18:54,520 in the process of making ships and making them waterproof. 392 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,740 They needed the tall pines or ship masts. 393 00:18:58,740 --> 00:19:02,780 So all of these commodities that John Smith talked about, 394 00:19:02,780 --> 00:19:06,860 importing the Poles and Dutchmen to make, 395 00:19:06,860 --> 00:19:09,180 were things that were designed eventually 396 00:19:09,180 --> 00:19:11,670 once they took hold to make a profit 397 00:19:11,670 --> 00:19:13,940 for the shareholders back in England. 398 00:19:13,940 --> 00:19:18,440 So, one of the options they had was to make bricks of glass 399 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,360 that they could then send back to England 400 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:22,550 to be molded into different shapes. 401 00:19:22,550 --> 00:19:25,330 - The colony continued to ship things back 402 00:19:25,330 --> 00:19:26,980 to England to show 403 00:19:26,980 --> 00:19:30,140 that in fact there was something worth while 404 00:19:30,140 --> 00:19:32,070 that was being done in Jamestown. 405 00:19:32,070 --> 00:19:34,890 The second group of colonists under John Smith 406 00:19:34,890 --> 00:19:37,393 were very important because they saved the colony. 407 00:19:38,497 --> 00:19:41,330 (metals clanking) 408 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:43,650 - If the British were gonna get anywhere, 409 00:19:43,650 --> 00:19:45,110 there were certain products they needed, 410 00:19:45,110 --> 00:19:46,950 and wood products would be one of them. 411 00:19:46,950 --> 00:19:48,830 Any of the ships that would come across the Atlantic 412 00:19:48,830 --> 00:19:50,620 would need to be repaired at Jamestown. 413 00:19:50,620 --> 00:19:51,920 Otherwise, they wouldn't get home 414 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,170 with any fishing boats that they might've had. 415 00:19:54,170 --> 00:19:57,110 Certainly, things like pitch or any of the products. 416 00:19:57,110 --> 00:19:58,270 I mentioned potash, 417 00:19:58,270 --> 00:19:59,950 any of their houses would have used pitch. 418 00:19:59,950 --> 00:20:02,598 All these things were essential. 419 00:20:02,598 --> 00:20:07,378 (laborers talking indistinctly) 420 00:20:07,378 --> 00:20:10,128 (pulley rolling) 421 00:20:14,052 --> 00:20:17,400 (water sprinkling) 422 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,410 - These people really did have skills. 423 00:20:20,410 --> 00:20:22,960 They had skills in glass making. 424 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,930 They had the skills in building things. 425 00:20:25,930 --> 00:20:28,618 They knew how to put together a building. 426 00:20:28,618 --> 00:20:29,451 They were carpenters. 427 00:20:29,451 --> 00:20:32,190 - Smith was very favorable toward the Poles. 428 00:20:32,190 --> 00:20:34,627 He saw them as a very valuable asset to the community 429 00:20:34,627 --> 00:20:36,293 and he treated them in this way. 430 00:20:37,127 --> 00:20:40,430 - [Narrator] "Soon, the Dutch who we brought with us 431 00:20:40,430 --> 00:20:43,170 became a menace to the Virginia settlement. 432 00:20:43,170 --> 00:20:45,180 Their perversity reached such a degree 433 00:20:45,180 --> 00:20:48,263 that they were persuading the savages to attack Smith. 434 00:20:50,154 --> 00:20:52,850 (hinges screeching) 435 00:20:52,850 --> 00:20:55,360 - [John] He thought of Poles as one of his major assets, 436 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:56,570 unlike some of the Germans 437 00:20:56,570 --> 00:20:59,220 who later on left the Jamestown colony 438 00:20:59,220 --> 00:21:01,250 and joined up with the local Indians. 439 00:21:01,250 --> 00:21:04,550 - Three of the Dutchmen or Germans, 440 00:21:04,550 --> 00:21:06,430 as some people call them, 441 00:21:06,430 --> 00:21:09,910 were sent by Smith to the Indian camp 442 00:21:09,910 --> 00:21:13,940 to help help them erect houses and so forth. 443 00:21:13,940 --> 00:21:16,180 And that some of them apparently conspired 444 00:21:16,180 --> 00:21:18,183 with the Indians against the English. 445 00:21:19,290 --> 00:21:21,500 - Smith had a much lower opinion of the Germans 446 00:21:21,500 --> 00:21:22,770 vis-a-vis the Poles. 447 00:21:22,770 --> 00:21:25,170 He considered the Poles very trustworthy 448 00:21:25,170 --> 00:21:27,520 and certainly was desirous of having 449 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,070 as many there was he could get. 450 00:21:29,930 --> 00:21:33,550 - To stop disorder caused by unruly thieves and the Indians, 451 00:21:33,550 --> 00:21:35,360 the Poles built a stronger blockhouse 452 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:36,633 on the neck of the aisle. 453 00:21:37,857 --> 00:21:40,420 "Before long, new ships arrived, 454 00:21:40,420 --> 00:21:42,370 bringing more of our countrymen. 455 00:21:42,370 --> 00:21:45,020 Our work now moved at a faster pace. 456 00:21:45,020 --> 00:21:48,400 Their arrival made possible for us to rest a little more. 457 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,390 Sadowski, Mata, Stoica, and Zrenica 458 00:21:52,390 --> 00:21:54,960 initiated a ball game played with a bat." 459 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,680 - Smith was near a stream 460 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,070 and was attacked by a local Indian warrior 461 00:22:01,070 --> 00:22:02,730 from the Powhatan tribe. 462 00:22:02,730 --> 00:22:04,180 Smith was in great danger. 463 00:22:04,180 --> 00:22:05,650 He was apparently losing the fight 464 00:22:05,650 --> 00:22:07,390 and there was a number of Poles 465 00:22:07,390 --> 00:22:10,387 happened upon the scene or happened to be nearby. 466 00:22:10,387 --> 00:22:12,480 - [Narrator] "We heard Smith's desperate cry, 467 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,140 'Polonians, Polonians.' 468 00:22:14,140 --> 00:22:16,730 Realizing that our captain was in great danger, 469 00:22:16,730 --> 00:22:18,630 Bogdan and I picked up our daggers, 470 00:22:18,630 --> 00:22:21,150 and we ran as fast as we could toward the river. 471 00:22:21,150 --> 00:22:22,720 But from some distance we could see 472 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,630 that there was only one attacker, a huge man, 473 00:22:25,630 --> 00:22:27,203 the tribal chief himself. 474 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,630 Smith ordered us to kill him, but we refused. 475 00:22:32,630 --> 00:22:35,750 We don't agree with killing a disarmed prisoner of war, 476 00:22:35,750 --> 00:22:38,040 especially when he has tears in his eyes 477 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:39,717 and he's begging for mercy." 478 00:22:42,090 --> 00:22:45,260 It was highly probable that Smith's adventure in Virginia 479 00:22:45,260 --> 00:22:48,440 could have ended there upon the River James. 480 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,410 - And this is interesting because, you know, 481 00:22:50,410 --> 00:22:53,060 a lot of the stories about Jamestown 482 00:22:53,060 --> 00:22:56,010 deal with how Pocahontas, this little Indian girl, 483 00:22:56,010 --> 00:22:57,730 saved John Smith's life. 484 00:22:57,730 --> 00:22:59,700 But according to the records 485 00:22:59,700 --> 00:23:03,590 that these various historians have presented, 486 00:23:03,590 --> 00:23:05,340 one of the Indian at least was stopped 487 00:23:05,340 --> 00:23:08,690 from killing John Smith by these two Poles. 488 00:23:08,690 --> 00:23:12,280 - Smith was writing his memoirs many years later 489 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:13,830 as a much older man, 490 00:23:13,830 --> 00:23:16,133 and he included this story about Pocahontas, 491 00:23:17,390 --> 00:23:20,570 allegedly saving him, falling in love with him in a sense. 492 00:23:20,570 --> 00:23:22,220 This is a theme in Smith's life. 493 00:23:22,220 --> 00:23:23,880 Earlier in his memoirs, 494 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:25,620 he relates a very similar story. 495 00:23:25,620 --> 00:23:27,130 And when he's caught in Turkey, 496 00:23:27,130 --> 00:23:29,080 allegedly about to be done in, 497 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:30,710 but this beautiful Turkish maiden 498 00:23:30,710 --> 00:23:32,850 throws herself on Smith and saves him. 499 00:23:32,850 --> 00:23:36,180 Again, this reflects the Pocahontas story very closely. 500 00:23:36,180 --> 00:23:37,580 We know that he embellished this. 501 00:23:37,580 --> 00:23:39,550 We know that Pocahontas was much too young. 502 00:23:39,550 --> 00:23:41,980 She was perhaps 12 years old at the time. 503 00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:44,830 She never had any romantic interest with Smith, 504 00:23:44,830 --> 00:23:47,380 but she married, of course, another individual, John Rolfe. 505 00:23:47,380 --> 00:23:49,730 Very important consequences came from that marriage, 506 00:23:49,730 --> 00:23:53,513 but it was something that Smith embellished in his memoirs. 507 00:23:55,054 --> 00:23:57,130 He was writing for a popular audience. 508 00:23:57,130 --> 00:23:59,807 - Edward Arber noted in 1884, 509 00:23:59,807 --> 00:24:02,450 "If Smith had died earlier than he did, 510 00:24:02,450 --> 00:24:05,140 the James river settlement must have succumbed." 511 00:24:05,140 --> 00:24:07,550 - Initially, the Indians were obviously somewhat curious 512 00:24:07,550 --> 00:24:09,930 about who these Europeans were there. 513 00:24:09,930 --> 00:24:12,941 Early on, the conflicts began to emerge. 514 00:24:12,941 --> 00:24:16,358 (compelling flute music) 515 00:24:17,700 --> 00:24:20,620 Chief Powhatan at first expected settlers 516 00:24:20,620 --> 00:24:22,510 to die from starvation. 517 00:24:22,510 --> 00:24:24,470 However, if this didn't happen, 518 00:24:24,470 --> 00:24:26,020 he was ready to slaughter them. 519 00:24:26,886 --> 00:24:30,303 (compelling flute music) 520 00:24:43,490 --> 00:24:47,410 - Once the relationship with the local natives, 521 00:24:47,410 --> 00:24:49,190 the Indians, deteriorated, 522 00:24:49,190 --> 00:24:51,720 it was difficult for them to go very far 523 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,270 beyond the boundaries of the settlement. 524 00:24:54,270 --> 00:24:55,930 And we know that Matthew was killed 525 00:24:55,930 --> 00:24:58,441 in a subsequent Indian attack. 526 00:24:58,441 --> 00:25:03,441 (bell ringing, gunshots firing and people screaming) 527 00:25:12,236 --> 00:25:15,653 (compelling flute music) 528 00:25:40,096 --> 00:25:41,770 - The Poles are there at the birth 529 00:25:41,770 --> 00:25:43,830 of this new world economy that's being created. 530 00:25:43,830 --> 00:25:48,830 This new political and social-cultural exchange 531 00:25:48,940 --> 00:25:50,320 that's going on in the Atlantic. 532 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,610 The Poles are really there present at the birth. 533 00:25:53,610 --> 00:25:55,370 The midwives, if you wanna say, 534 00:25:55,370 --> 00:25:57,453 of this new age that's becoming. 535 00:25:59,977 --> 00:26:00,990 - [Narrator] "Whatever happened, 536 00:26:00,990 --> 00:26:04,520 it led to the exchange of angry words amongst our captains 537 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:06,860 resulting in serious quarrels. 538 00:26:06,860 --> 00:26:08,860 No one foresaw anything as vile, 539 00:26:08,860 --> 00:26:11,920 I suppose, perpetrated next by Smith's enemies. 540 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,087 Someone set fire to the gunpowder in Smith's boat." 541 00:26:16,470 --> 00:26:17,800 Captain Smith's tough, 542 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,410 but effective rule suddenly came to an end. 543 00:26:20,410 --> 00:26:21,950 In October, 1609, 544 00:26:21,950 --> 00:26:24,370 Smith was injured by gun powder explosion 545 00:26:24,370 --> 00:26:26,450 and sailed back to England. 546 00:26:26,450 --> 00:26:28,557 Zbigniew Stefanski wrote, 547 00:26:28,557 --> 00:26:30,840 "We, Poles, immediately called a meeting 548 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,350 and agreed that it is also time for us to return. 549 00:26:34,350 --> 00:26:36,027 We left Virginia with Smith." 550 00:26:40,660 --> 00:26:43,270 Last summer we found only misery. 551 00:26:43,270 --> 00:26:46,400 Now, we are leaving with nearly 500 souls. 552 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,890 Among them, about a hundred soldiers. 553 00:26:48,890 --> 00:26:51,930 There were rifles, swords, halberds, 554 00:26:51,930 --> 00:26:55,293 enough of everything for self-defense, 60 buildings. 555 00:26:56,476 --> 00:26:59,893 (compelling flute music) 556 00:27:02,950 --> 00:27:04,700 - There's certainly example evidence 557 00:27:04,700 --> 00:27:07,690 that Poles remained in the Virginia colony 558 00:27:07,690 --> 00:27:09,880 after Smith's departure. 559 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:14,460 We see them referred to now and again in the court records 560 00:27:14,460 --> 00:27:17,607 and in the records of the Virginia Company of London. 561 00:27:17,607 --> 00:27:19,540 (compelling flute music) 562 00:27:19,540 --> 00:27:20,980 - [Narrator] After his departure, 563 00:27:20,980 --> 00:27:23,240 only 60 Of the original settlers survived 564 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,473 the 1609 starving time winter. 565 00:27:28,250 --> 00:27:30,590 - One of the problems the English colonists, 566 00:27:30,590 --> 00:27:33,463 well, all of the colonists ran into it was food. 567 00:27:34,620 --> 00:27:37,480 They went through a particularly difficult winter 568 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,003 during which over half of the colonists perished. 569 00:27:44,870 --> 00:27:45,917 After the starving time 570 00:27:45,917 --> 00:27:49,130 and the deaths of so many of the colonists, 571 00:27:49,130 --> 00:27:51,710 the English were questioning whether 572 00:27:51,710 --> 00:27:55,863 they should even continue the Jamestown experiment or not. 573 00:27:57,307 --> 00:28:00,307 - [Narrator] "Bogdan and I decided to go to the Netherlands, 574 00:28:01,380 --> 00:28:03,210 where at the time we served as helpers 575 00:28:03,210 --> 00:28:04,793 in the shipbuilding yards. 576 00:28:11,930 --> 00:28:15,210 I must note that Bogdan and I were very fortunate. 577 00:28:15,210 --> 00:28:16,700 Soon we were married. 578 00:28:16,700 --> 00:28:18,830 Our wives, Berta and Anna, 579 00:28:18,830 --> 00:28:21,380 were decent, industrious, efficient. 580 00:28:21,380 --> 00:28:25,450 Made us feel that they were selected for us by God himself. 581 00:28:25,450 --> 00:28:27,820 - When John Smith went back to England, 582 00:28:27,820 --> 00:28:32,100 both he and the directors of the Virginia Company 583 00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:34,460 were interested in recruiting more Poles 584 00:28:34,460 --> 00:28:37,980 to come to Jamestown because the initial ones 585 00:28:37,980 --> 00:28:40,703 had proved apparently very effective. 586 00:28:44,047 --> 00:28:45,640 - [Narrator] "Because of the high praises 587 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,920 Smith was spreading around about us, 588 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,380 we were being persuaded to return to Virginia immediately. 589 00:28:51,380 --> 00:28:53,940 In fact, we were coerced into it." 590 00:28:53,940 --> 00:28:55,960 - But the British sent more supplies over. 591 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:57,980 They sent more ships over. 592 00:28:57,980 --> 00:29:00,907 And, obviously, the sending of the Poles 593 00:29:00,907 --> 00:29:02,320 and the other foreigners 594 00:29:03,641 --> 00:29:05,573 to remedy some of the lack of skills. 595 00:29:09,317 --> 00:29:10,870 - [Narrator] "When our wives heard the accounts 596 00:29:10,870 --> 00:29:12,890 of our overseas adventures, 597 00:29:12,890 --> 00:29:15,893 both of them expressed the desire to travel to Virginia. 598 00:29:19,620 --> 00:29:22,690 Lord Delaware greeted us sincerely, 599 00:29:22,690 --> 00:29:24,480 an expressed joy that our wives 600 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,859 would join us in this adventure." 601 00:29:26,859 --> 00:29:30,640 (compelling flute music) 602 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,780 - Lord Delaware, who was one of the stockholders, 603 00:29:33,780 --> 00:29:37,420 arrived with additional colonists and supplies, 604 00:29:37,420 --> 00:29:42,135 and pumped new life both figuratively and literally. 605 00:29:42,135 --> 00:29:45,552 (compelling flute music) 606 00:29:49,610 --> 00:29:53,777 (residents speaking indistinctly) 607 00:29:59,550 --> 00:30:00,860 - [Narrator] The chief medical officer 608 00:30:00,860 --> 00:30:02,890 in the colony was Laurence Bohun, 609 00:30:02,890 --> 00:30:05,133 whose ancestors came from Bauer stock. 610 00:30:07,260 --> 00:30:08,590 - As more colonists began to settle, 611 00:30:08,590 --> 00:30:11,260 they expanded beyond the original land. 612 00:30:11,260 --> 00:30:12,780 They had fights with the Indians. 613 00:30:12,780 --> 00:30:14,450 We were able to take over property 614 00:30:14,450 --> 00:30:16,050 that they used for farming. 615 00:30:16,050 --> 00:30:19,170 And one of the big crops that they developed was tobacco. 616 00:30:19,170 --> 00:30:20,660 - [John] Tobacco had been known 617 00:30:20,660 --> 00:30:22,883 to the native Americans for quite some time. 618 00:30:25,550 --> 00:30:28,763 It wasn't smoke as a recreation, it was ceremonial. 619 00:30:30,980 --> 00:30:33,550 - So you have farms being established 620 00:30:33,550 --> 00:30:36,630 and the Indians eventually being forced off. 621 00:30:36,630 --> 00:30:39,950 - [John] Ultimately, John Rolf's introduction of tobacco 622 00:30:39,950 --> 00:30:41,203 that made the difference. 623 00:30:42,980 --> 00:30:44,593 English discover this. 624 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,120 - Which was then introduced into Europe, 625 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:49,740 and it became an important crop. 626 00:30:49,740 --> 00:30:51,240 - [John] The sugar being the most 627 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,080 lucrative Indigo for dyeing clothes, 628 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,860 a lot of these sin products have sugar, 629 00:30:56,860 --> 00:30:59,230 which is also made into rum 630 00:30:59,230 --> 00:31:03,170 and other alcoholic beverages, chocolate. 631 00:31:03,170 --> 00:31:04,620 All of these products in the new world 632 00:31:04,620 --> 00:31:05,950 became immensely popular, 633 00:31:05,950 --> 00:31:08,930 and there's many Europeans back in London 634 00:31:08,930 --> 00:31:10,770 and Krakow and Paris 635 00:31:10,770 --> 00:31:12,620 who have the money to afford these, 636 00:31:12,620 --> 00:31:14,790 and they become very popular. 637 00:31:14,790 --> 00:31:17,190 - Poles kept arriving in the following years. 638 00:31:17,190 --> 00:31:19,470 Among them were members of the Polish gentry, 639 00:31:19,470 --> 00:31:21,840 who besides being of the intellectual class, 640 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:23,780 were well acquainted with the methods of production 641 00:31:23,780 --> 00:31:25,473 needed at the time in Jamestown. 642 00:31:33,740 --> 00:31:35,460 - Initially, the status was, 643 00:31:35,460 --> 00:31:37,760 they were simply a apparently hired craftsmen 644 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,130 and it's not clear that they were accorded 645 00:31:40,130 --> 00:31:41,880 the same rights as the Englishmen. 646 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,180 They were not given the same political rights. 647 00:31:45,180 --> 00:31:47,120 We have to remember that many of these Poles 648 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:48,500 came from the Commonwealth 649 00:31:48,500 --> 00:31:52,950 in which a significant political rights were being granted. 650 00:31:52,950 --> 00:31:54,390 That Poland was a country where Catholics 651 00:31:54,390 --> 00:31:57,040 and Protestants coexisted peacefully, 652 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:58,900 as well as many other religious groups, 653 00:31:58,900 --> 00:32:00,420 which was not the case in England, 654 00:32:00,420 --> 00:32:02,230 not the case in Spain or France. 655 00:32:02,230 --> 00:32:04,550 The arrival of these craftsmen 656 00:32:04,550 --> 00:32:07,380 and their ability to cross borders very easily 657 00:32:07,380 --> 00:32:08,700 says something very important 658 00:32:08,700 --> 00:32:10,840 about the tolerance and freedom 659 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:12,660 that occurred in Poland at the time. 660 00:32:12,660 --> 00:32:16,940 - In 1619, colonists organized elections 661 00:32:16,940 --> 00:32:21,000 to a body of the legislators called the House of Burgesses. 662 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:22,930 Now, this election was interesting 663 00:32:22,930 --> 00:32:25,280 because the local leaders there, 664 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,760 the English decided not to allow the Poles 665 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,763 to be able to vote for their representatives. 666 00:32:34,247 --> 00:32:35,230 - [Narrator] "The Englishmen, 667 00:32:35,230 --> 00:32:37,600 well known for their untruthfulness, 668 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,420 gave us false assurances 669 00:32:39,420 --> 00:32:42,050 and enacted deceitful ordinances, 670 00:32:42,050 --> 00:32:44,653 which deliberately humiliated the Poles. 671 00:32:46,767 --> 00:32:48,950 - The Poles had stopped work in protest 672 00:32:48,950 --> 00:32:51,230 against a violation of their rights, 673 00:32:51,230 --> 00:32:53,430 that they were not being given the rights 674 00:32:53,430 --> 00:32:54,650 that they felt that they deserve. 675 00:32:54,650 --> 00:32:56,680 And we have to remember that whole out of this time 676 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,710 enjoyed a level of personal freedom. 677 00:32:59,710 --> 00:33:01,910 The Poles would have certainly felt this very keenly. 678 00:33:01,910 --> 00:33:05,400 - Apparently, what happened was the Poles protested 679 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:09,740 an English law which allowed only citizens 680 00:33:09,740 --> 00:33:12,460 of Great Britain to vote and hold office. 681 00:33:12,460 --> 00:33:14,460 - Our contributions were not being recognized. 682 00:33:14,460 --> 00:33:18,180 They were not being given the same rights as the Englishmen. 683 00:33:18,180 --> 00:33:19,100 - [Narrator] The Polish workers 684 00:33:19,100 --> 00:33:21,290 staged the first strike in America, 685 00:33:21,290 --> 00:33:24,090 not for high wages or better working conditions, 686 00:33:24,090 --> 00:33:27,960 but for civil rights and inclusion in the political process. 687 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:29,837 Zbigniew Stefanski wrote, 688 00:33:29,837 --> 00:33:32,070 "In order to give the Englishmen more time 689 00:33:32,070 --> 00:33:34,060 to consider what they were doing, 690 00:33:34,060 --> 00:33:36,280 We, Poles, stopped all our work 691 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,180 until our complaints would be reviewed in London. 692 00:33:39,180 --> 00:33:42,380 - The Poles were so angry 693 00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:45,720 that they were being cheated of the chance to participate. 694 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,080 That they organized a work stoppage. 695 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,110 You might call it a strike. 696 00:33:50,110 --> 00:33:51,680 Not for money, 697 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,260 not for better working conditions, 698 00:33:54,260 --> 00:33:58,130 but for respect as true citizens of this colony. 699 00:33:58,130 --> 00:34:00,890 - [John] Poles arrive in the new world with a sense 700 00:34:00,890 --> 00:34:02,510 that they have some innate dignity. 701 00:34:02,510 --> 00:34:04,760 This is perhaps a bit of a surprise to the English 702 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:08,330 that these craftsmen who are just engaging in some trades 703 00:34:08,330 --> 00:34:10,730 would actually want political rights. 704 00:34:10,730 --> 00:34:12,600 - The court book of the Virginia Company 705 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,917 on July 3, 1619 noted, 706 00:34:14,917 --> 00:34:18,290 "In the dispute with the Polonians residing in Virginia, 707 00:34:18,290 --> 00:34:20,860 we declare that they will have the same voting rights 708 00:34:20,860 --> 00:34:23,150 as other settlers in the colony." 709 00:34:23,150 --> 00:34:24,580 - And in one day, 710 00:34:24,580 --> 00:34:27,720 the leaders of the English colony gave in 711 00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:29,080 and said, "You're right." 712 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,550 And they allowed them to become citizens 713 00:34:31,550 --> 00:34:32,780 of the colony to vote. 714 00:34:32,780 --> 00:34:35,850 - These early Poles were not laborers, 715 00:34:35,850 --> 00:34:37,173 they were artisans. 716 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,630 Producing soap ash, potash, glass, other commodities, 717 00:34:43,630 --> 00:34:45,657 was the work of skilled crafts people. 718 00:34:45,657 --> 00:34:49,750 And they were skills that were passed on in a craft system, 719 00:34:49,750 --> 00:34:52,690 much as a master would pass his knowledge 720 00:34:52,690 --> 00:34:54,010 onto an apprentice. 721 00:34:54,010 --> 00:34:55,820 The Poles are granted their rights, 722 00:34:55,820 --> 00:34:58,830 but they recognize that the polls have very valuable skills 723 00:34:58,830 --> 00:35:00,530 and that these skills need to be passed on 724 00:35:00,530 --> 00:35:02,080 to the young men of the colony. 725 00:35:03,188 --> 00:35:06,605 (compelling flute music) 726 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:11,490 - Their idea of relationships with the natives 727 00:35:11,490 --> 00:35:16,490 is to try to sign treaties with them to purchase land. 728 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:20,200 As the population begins to expand, 729 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,260 they want more and more land. 730 00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:24,840 Eventually, the Indians get the impression 731 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:26,570 that they're not going to be satisfied 732 00:35:26,570 --> 00:35:30,228 until they have all the land, hostilities, breakout. 733 00:35:30,228 --> 00:35:34,561 (bell rings and protesters screams) 734 00:35:36,770 --> 00:35:38,000 - [Narrator] It happened on the morning 735 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,350 of the 22nd of March, 1622. 736 00:35:41,350 --> 00:35:44,340 The attack came right before dawn. 737 00:35:44,340 --> 00:35:48,310 About 500 native Americans assaulted Jamestown. 738 00:35:48,310 --> 00:35:50,520 It didn't touch the glass works, 739 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,040 but as soon as the battle screen sounded, 740 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:54,903 we immediately ran to the Fort. 741 00:35:56,286 --> 00:35:58,890 (protesters chanting) 742 00:35:58,890 --> 00:36:00,943 And Jamestown was on fire. 743 00:36:02,060 --> 00:36:05,490 Natives were killing everyone without exceptions 744 00:36:05,490 --> 00:36:08,130 as if they were taking revenge for all those years 745 00:36:08,130 --> 00:36:09,970 when they had suffered poverty 746 00:36:09,970 --> 00:36:12,216 and the ignorance from Whites. 747 00:36:12,216 --> 00:36:15,000 (drum rolls playing) 748 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,890 - And over 300 of the colonists were killed by the Indians. 749 00:36:17,890 --> 00:36:19,300 So, by that time, 750 00:36:19,300 --> 00:36:21,980 the Indians had become very much against 751 00:36:21,980 --> 00:36:26,709 and fearful of this constant immigration of these newcomers. 752 00:36:26,709 --> 00:36:30,792 (drum rolls and gunshots firing) 753 00:36:34,570 --> 00:36:37,650 - English settlers eventually beat the attack off 754 00:36:37,650 --> 00:36:40,433 and were successful in sustaining the colony. 755 00:36:42,700 --> 00:36:45,090 - It's a very important moment and it... 756 00:36:45,090 --> 00:36:48,060 While it's very distant from our world, 757 00:36:48,060 --> 00:36:50,756 if we'd gone back in time and live there, 758 00:36:50,756 --> 00:36:53,160 it would have been very difficult, very alien to us. 759 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,280 And yet it, it helps to lay the basis 760 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:56,830 for the world we live in today. 761 00:36:59,087 --> 00:37:01,970 - [Narrator] "In the year of our Lord, 1622, 762 00:37:01,970 --> 00:37:04,650 my wife Berta became homesick for Haarlem. 763 00:37:04,650 --> 00:37:06,810 Her desire to go back to the Netherlands 764 00:37:06,810 --> 00:37:08,730 became so overwhelming 765 00:37:08,730 --> 00:37:11,150 that we boarded the first outgoing ship 766 00:37:11,150 --> 00:37:13,077 and left Virginia forever." 767 00:37:13,950 --> 00:37:18,137 Zbigniew Stefanski who after 13 years left Virginia wrote, 768 00:37:18,137 --> 00:37:20,750 "Bogdan and Anna remained in Virginia. 769 00:37:20,750 --> 00:37:23,040 Also, other Poles did not find any reason 770 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:24,663 to seek livelihood elsewhere. 771 00:37:25,890 --> 00:37:28,470 Bogdan already owned a tobacco plantation, 772 00:37:28,470 --> 00:37:31,080 others established profitable enterprises. 773 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:33,600 A desire to become rich got into their blood. 774 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,113 And for that reason, they decided to remain. 775 00:37:37,780 --> 00:37:40,610 - Poles were not just simply coming there for a ride. 776 00:37:40,610 --> 00:37:42,927 They were not just coming there to have a good time 777 00:37:42,927 --> 00:37:44,340 or try to make a lot of money. 778 00:37:44,340 --> 00:37:47,150 They were there to really contribute their skills 779 00:37:47,150 --> 00:37:48,220 and their talents, 780 00:37:48,220 --> 00:37:50,070 and they really did make a contribution 781 00:37:50,070 --> 00:37:51,930 to the survival of this colony. 782 00:37:51,930 --> 00:37:56,190 - Even in that little nascent hundred people 783 00:37:56,190 --> 00:37:58,080 in the English colonies, 784 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:02,700 and within the first year from 1607 to 1608, 785 00:38:02,700 --> 00:38:04,150 you see the arrival of not only 786 00:38:04,150 --> 00:38:05,610 of just the English colonists, 787 00:38:05,610 --> 00:38:09,540 but Poles, Dutchman, later Germans. 788 00:38:09,540 --> 00:38:13,220 Some have argued they were Italians by the 1620s. 789 00:38:13,220 --> 00:38:17,520 You see people coming from other nations to Jamestown, 790 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,160 most of them brought specifically by the English 791 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,720 for these skills they could contribute 792 00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:25,700 to making Jamestown a success. 793 00:38:25,700 --> 00:38:27,030 And, you know, what do we have today? 794 00:38:27,030 --> 00:38:29,350 We have 300 and some odd million people 795 00:38:29,350 --> 00:38:32,120 from all over the world doing exactly the same thing. 796 00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,010 - Had the colony failed as the first colony failed, 797 00:38:35,010 --> 00:38:37,450 that's quite possible that the settlement 798 00:38:39,278 --> 00:38:42,033 of the Western hemisphere might've been quite different. 799 00:38:44,550 --> 00:38:47,150 - [Narrator] Pilgrims from Plymouth managed to create a myth 800 00:38:47,150 --> 00:38:50,113 about being the pioneers and builders of America. 801 00:38:51,220 --> 00:38:52,623 They get all the credits, 802 00:38:54,860 --> 00:38:57,060 even though they landed on Plymouth Rock 803 00:38:57,060 --> 00:38:59,700 some 15 years after Captain Smith 804 00:38:59,700 --> 00:39:02,213 and his companions had landed in Jamestown. 805 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:09,130 - If Jamestown had failed, 806 00:39:09,130 --> 00:39:11,540 would they have even come to North America? 807 00:39:11,540 --> 00:39:12,980 Yeah. Perhaps not. 808 00:39:12,980 --> 00:39:16,000 If the English had both the Roanoke failure 809 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,120 and the Jamestown failure, 810 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:20,510 would the pilgrims have ever been given a charter? 811 00:39:20,510 --> 00:39:24,270 The pilgrims were given a charter to settle in Virginia. 812 00:39:24,270 --> 00:39:27,510 That was their destination, it wasn't Massachusetts. 813 00:39:27,510 --> 00:39:31,570 And they were apparently blown off course or miscalculated 814 00:39:31,570 --> 00:39:33,353 and ended up in Massachusetts. 815 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,400 - Plymouth settlers and the Massachusetts based settlers 816 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,510 were much better equipped to survive in the new world 817 00:39:41,510 --> 00:39:42,690 because they were farmers. 818 00:39:42,690 --> 00:39:43,980 - If Virginia had failed, 819 00:39:43,980 --> 00:39:46,600 perhaps the pilgrims never would have gotten permission 820 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:48,570 to sail to North America 821 00:39:48,570 --> 00:39:50,120 because there wouldn't have been a Virginia 822 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:51,213 for them to go to. 823 00:39:57,898 --> 00:39:58,900 - Had Jamestown failed, 824 00:39:58,900 --> 00:40:01,690 it's possible that the French and the Spanish 825 00:40:01,690 --> 00:40:04,910 would have split up North America between the two of them 826 00:40:04,910 --> 00:40:07,400 and the English might never have had colonies 827 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:08,470 in North America. 828 00:40:08,470 --> 00:40:10,200 - Of course, it also brought many other, 829 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:11,420 not such good things. 830 00:40:11,420 --> 00:40:14,330 Of course, we have the expansion of slavery 831 00:40:14,330 --> 00:40:17,640 and very brutal conditions that the Indians, 832 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:20,293 the native peoples of the Americas had to endure. 833 00:40:21,147 --> 00:40:24,564 (compelling flute music) 834 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,180 - To see the Jamestown and the way the early colonists 835 00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:43,150 interacted with the Indians and develop their economy, 836 00:40:43,150 --> 00:40:45,980 I had lasting effects up into the 20th 837 00:40:45,980 --> 00:40:47,760 and now the 21st century. 838 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:50,370 - This was the start of, in a sense, a global economy. 839 00:40:50,370 --> 00:40:54,660 This is the beginning of the English world economy, 840 00:40:54,660 --> 00:40:57,850 beginning of English dominance of the Atlantic trade. 841 00:40:57,850 --> 00:40:59,760 The arrival of these Poles 842 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,920 indicates how well integrated Poland was 843 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:05,520 into the European world economic system at the time. 844 00:41:06,377 --> 00:41:09,877 (compelling flute music) 845 00:41:13,410 --> 00:41:16,160 Jamestown, ironically, that the Poles help out with, 846 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,090 symbolizes the British moving away 847 00:41:18,090 --> 00:41:19,760 from that trade with Eastern Europe. 848 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,260 And in beginning of more Atlantic center trade, 849 00:41:22,260 --> 00:41:24,800 it symbolizes a change for Poland as well. 850 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:28,250 But it is the beginning of really a new era 851 00:41:28,250 --> 00:41:29,100 in world history. 852 00:41:30,388 --> 00:41:33,888 (compelling flute music) 853 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:38,170 - The story of Jamestown has been told by various writers 854 00:41:38,170 --> 00:41:42,060 and nowhere do we see any mention by American scholars 855 00:41:42,060 --> 00:41:43,550 of the Poles at Jamestown? 856 00:41:43,550 --> 00:41:45,600 - This was a natural choice for Smith. 857 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:46,647 It was not something that, 858 00:41:46,647 --> 00:41:49,490 "Oh, it's very strange that I'm bringing in Poles." 859 00:41:49,490 --> 00:41:50,860 It was a natural choice. 860 00:41:50,860 --> 00:41:52,520 No one seems to question this. 861 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:54,410 So it shows how important Poland was. 862 00:41:54,410 --> 00:41:57,760 - We see the gradual movement of the Indian frontier 863 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,030 backed first to the Appalachian mountains 864 00:42:00,030 --> 00:42:02,220 and then to the Mississippi river, 865 00:42:02,220 --> 00:42:05,620 and then out to the Great Plains with a whole series 866 00:42:05,620 --> 00:42:08,800 of treaties between the United States and the Indians. 867 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,557 - Virginia's main product becomes tobacco. 868 00:42:11,557 --> 00:42:14,300 And this requires, of course, a great deal of labor. 869 00:42:14,300 --> 00:42:16,620 And initially, bringing over large numbers 870 00:42:16,620 --> 00:42:19,790 of relatively poor Englishmen or Scots or Irish 871 00:42:19,790 --> 00:42:21,070 as the case may be. 872 00:42:21,070 --> 00:42:22,750 And then later on, it was beginning of, 873 00:42:22,750 --> 00:42:27,000 of course, the very sad case of importing African slaves 874 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,920 into Virginia to work in the tobacco plantations. 875 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:31,440 - So we have the beginning of slavery. 876 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,600 They're not such a happy thing to think about, 877 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:37,630 but part of the history of also of this expansion 878 00:42:37,630 --> 00:42:41,213 of this increasingly global international economy. 879 00:42:42,766 --> 00:42:45,099 (sad music) 880 00:42:51,515 --> 00:42:55,265 (bomb blasting and gunshots) 881 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,990 They settled, not only in America, but in Canada. 882 00:43:01,990 --> 00:43:03,760 They settled all throughout Western Europe 883 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,260 and many times made tremendous contributions. 884 00:43:06,260 --> 00:43:08,000 No mention is made any longer 885 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,310 about Kazimierz Pulaski, Casimir Polaski, 886 00:43:11,310 --> 00:43:15,210 a Polish patriot in Poland who lost everything in Poland, 887 00:43:15,210 --> 00:43:18,223 fighting for Poland's freedom, and then who came to America. 888 00:43:20,247 --> 00:43:21,590 - [Narrator] "I expected the Poles 889 00:43:21,590 --> 00:43:25,500 who have the reputation worldwide of being brave warriors 890 00:43:25,500 --> 00:43:28,063 will be a great help to my poor homeland. 891 00:43:29,950 --> 00:43:34,350 In our country, any form of tyranny is met with our disgust. 892 00:43:34,350 --> 00:43:35,890 So if anywhere on the globe 893 00:43:35,890 --> 00:43:38,040 someone is struggling for freedom, 894 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:40,573 it is as if it were our own struggle. 895 00:43:43,530 --> 00:43:46,670 - Offered his services to the American independence cause, 896 00:43:46,670 --> 00:43:48,890 organized the American cavalry, 897 00:43:48,890 --> 00:43:51,210 and gave his life to the United States 898 00:43:51,210 --> 00:43:52,803 at the battle of Savannah. 899 00:43:54,654 --> 00:43:59,487 (gun shots firing and soldiers screaming) 900 00:44:07,070 --> 00:44:10,250 - Glorious death awaited him who loved honor 901 00:44:10,250 --> 00:44:12,283 even more than life itself. 902 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:17,330 The Polish nation extended its helping hand overseas 903 00:44:17,330 --> 00:44:18,893 to light the flame of freedom. 904 00:44:20,380 --> 00:44:22,400 - The same is true of Kosciuszko. 905 00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:25,300 Tadeusz Kosciuszko, another great hero, 906 00:44:25,300 --> 00:44:26,780 an engineer by training, 907 00:44:26,780 --> 00:44:28,830 who helped to build the fortifications 908 00:44:28,830 --> 00:44:31,593 and really was responsible for the fortifications 909 00:44:31,593 --> 00:44:34,450 that the West point on the Hudson river 910 00:44:34,450 --> 00:44:36,240 and contributed to his talents on a number 911 00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:38,170 of American military victories. 912 00:44:38,170 --> 00:44:40,880 - And American troop caught the English camp unawares 913 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,890 with a nighttime attack near Utah Springs. 914 00:44:43,890 --> 00:44:47,070 The surprised Englishmen were not able to defend themselves. 915 00:44:47,070 --> 00:44:50,130 They begged for mercy to spare their lives. 916 00:44:50,130 --> 00:44:52,900 Kosciuszko forbade the killing of those Englishmen 917 00:44:52,900 --> 00:44:55,430 who surrendered on the pain of death. 918 00:44:55,430 --> 00:44:57,060 In this way, he saved the lives 919 00:44:57,060 --> 00:44:59,240 of several dozen English soldiers. 920 00:44:59,240 --> 00:45:02,070 This act was rewarded by George Washington, 921 00:45:02,070 --> 00:45:05,520 who, as a token of his appreciation and respect, 922 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:07,450 gave him his wing. 923 00:45:07,450 --> 00:45:09,440 - A person who was respected enough 924 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,090 that he was made a Brigadier General at the end of the war 925 00:45:12,090 --> 00:45:14,900 by George Washington, and who when he died, 926 00:45:14,900 --> 00:45:19,900 left his American estate to the care of Thomas Jefferson, 927 00:45:20,740 --> 00:45:24,330 for the purpose of buying the freedom of slaves 928 00:45:24,330 --> 00:45:25,770 and educating them. 929 00:45:25,770 --> 00:45:28,030 - The slaves that the English brought in 930 00:45:28,030 --> 00:45:30,670 to work the fields in Virginia, 931 00:45:30,670 --> 00:45:33,520 later become the source of differences 932 00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:35,970 between the Northern and Southern colonies 933 00:45:35,970 --> 00:45:40,163 under British rule at which leads to all kinds of conflicts. 934 00:45:41,530 --> 00:45:44,380 - Slavery became the reason for the divergencies 935 00:45:44,380 --> 00:45:47,220 between the Northern and Southern states 936 00:45:47,220 --> 00:45:49,270 leading to conflicts. 937 00:45:49,270 --> 00:45:54,043 The result was the civil war with over 600,000 killed, 938 00:45:55,140 --> 00:45:58,530 the repercussions of which we still feel today. 939 00:45:58,530 --> 00:46:01,363 (gunshots firing) 940 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,290 Jozef Karge was appointed Brigadier General 941 00:46:06,290 --> 00:46:10,130 in recognition of his bravery and valuable service. 942 00:46:10,130 --> 00:46:12,650 General Karge was convinced that the cause 943 00:46:12,650 --> 00:46:14,800 for which he fought was just, 944 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:18,240 and he thanked God that the hydra of vial slavery 945 00:46:18,240 --> 00:46:20,621 had been finally crushed. 946 00:46:20,621 --> 00:46:25,140 Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski was a vocal opponents of slavery, 947 00:46:25,140 --> 00:46:27,113 and he created the Polish legion. 948 00:46:30,700 --> 00:46:34,553 The American Congress awarded him the rank of General. 949 00:46:34,553 --> 00:46:39,553 (gunshots firing and soldiers screaming) 950 00:46:39,921 --> 00:46:41,790 On the occasion of the repeated burial 951 00:46:41,790 --> 00:46:44,610 of the remains of Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski, 952 00:46:44,610 --> 00:46:48,260 the general of the civil war in the Arlington graveyard, 953 00:46:48,260 --> 00:46:51,517 president Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared, 954 00:46:51,517 --> 00:46:54,280 "It is high privilege to bear witness to the debt 955 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:57,347 which this country owes to men of Polish blood." 956 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:02,030 - In 1876, 957 00:47:02,030 --> 00:47:05,460 President Ford appeared at the national meeting 958 00:47:05,460 --> 00:47:07,760 of the Polish American Congress. 959 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:10,943 And there he praised the Poles of Jamestown. 960 00:47:12,930 --> 00:47:13,763 - [Narrator] Then ingeniousness 961 00:47:13,763 --> 00:47:16,250 that the Polish immigrants presented, 962 00:47:16,250 --> 00:47:20,350 fill all Americans of Polish descent with pride. 963 00:47:20,350 --> 00:47:22,110 These are the very qualities 964 00:47:22,110 --> 00:47:24,263 that made America a great country. 965 00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:28,370 - The Polish national Alliance was celebrating 966 00:47:28,370 --> 00:47:31,633 its one anniversary as an organization. 967 00:47:32,930 --> 00:47:36,517 President Jimmy Carter was the main speaker. 968 00:47:36,517 --> 00:47:38,870 "The spirit of the Jamestown Polonians 969 00:47:38,870 --> 00:47:43,870 is very much alive here in this room and across the ocean. 970 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:46,130 The events of recent weeks in Poland 971 00:47:46,130 --> 00:47:48,470 have inspired the world." 972 00:47:48,470 --> 00:47:50,180 At that time, we have the birth 973 00:47:50,180 --> 00:47:52,760 of the solidarity labor trade union, 974 00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:55,343 which had just been created in Gdansk. 975 00:47:57,217 --> 00:47:59,010 - [Narrator] "The world of bounds with knowledge 976 00:47:59,010 --> 00:48:00,820 accessible to everybody. 977 00:48:00,820 --> 00:48:03,270 Acquiring such knowledge as could be useful 978 00:48:03,270 --> 00:48:05,990 in one service for the good of God and country, 979 00:48:05,990 --> 00:48:08,730 we could share this knowledge with his countrymen, 980 00:48:08,730 --> 00:48:11,240 gaining for Poland greater recognition 981 00:48:11,240 --> 00:48:15,440 and still higher respect of the great nations of the world." 982 00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:16,720 - They contributed. 983 00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:19,290 Even American presidents said they contributed; 984 00:48:19,290 --> 00:48:22,630 Ford, Eisenhower, and Carter, 985 00:48:22,630 --> 00:48:24,910 and no mention by scholars. 986 00:48:24,910 --> 00:48:28,500 This kind of erasing of the Polish contribution 987 00:48:28,500 --> 00:48:30,960 should not be accepted. 988 00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:33,200 - [Narrator] Poles struck for equal rights, 989 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:36,470 giving birth to the multi-ethnic American ideology, 990 00:48:36,470 --> 00:48:39,420 later so well expressed by the United States, 991 00:48:39,420 --> 00:48:44,160 created by the United peoples of America in 1776, 992 00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:45,283 a new nation. 993 00:48:46,690 --> 00:48:49,110 - We should work together to foster 994 00:48:49,110 --> 00:48:53,160 and trade greater knowledge and appreciation of the truth. 995 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:57,180 Of the truth, not exaggerating, simply the truth. 996 00:48:57,180 --> 00:49:00,070 - [Narrator] An example had to be said for the entire globe 997 00:49:00,070 --> 00:49:03,850 to demonstrate the people of all races, nationalities, 998 00:49:03,850 --> 00:49:07,533 and faiths can live in one country together in peace. 999 00:49:08,581 --> 00:49:11,740 (soft suspenseful music) 1000 00:49:11,740 --> 00:49:14,960 - To think of what would have happened had Jamestown failed, 1001 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:18,410 opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, 1002 00:49:18,410 --> 00:49:20,510 including us sitting here talking 1003 00:49:20,510 --> 00:49:23,010 in either French or Spanish today. 1004 00:49:23,010 --> 00:49:25,370 - And the bigger story is the need 1005 00:49:25,370 --> 00:49:29,470 to begin to give more attention to the contributions 1006 00:49:29,470 --> 00:49:32,710 that Poles have made to the United States 1007 00:49:32,710 --> 00:49:35,091 and really even to the world. 1008 00:49:35,091 --> 00:49:39,341 (soft suspenseful music continues)