Virginia's True Founder: Edward-Maria Wingfield And His Times

When 57-year-old Edward Maria Wingfield first set foot in the soil of the New World, he was already a man who had seen a lot. He had been a lawyer, a commander of troops fighting the Imperial Spanish Army, a POW, and a Member of Parliament. He had become a fortifications expert in Ireland, and finally a businessman, helping to incorporate the first Virginia Company in 1606. But it wasn't until now, standing on the shores of this strange and hostile land in 1607, that the grizzled captain was to have his greatest adventure.

In a time when no English colony had ever succeeded overseas, 13 years before the Mayflower, something unprecedented happened. The newly-formed Jamestown council, selected by the company to run the colony's affairs, actually elected a leader to govern the 105 men, boys and all the land in this part of the world. With the warships of France and Spain patrolling the seas behind, myriad warring native tribes surrounding them, and not enough food to survive, their choice of a leader was critical. The man they chose - their President - was Edward Maria Wingfield. This is his story.

- Appendices include E. M. Wingfield's 1608 Discourse Of Virginia and the 1606 Virginia Company Charter.