Jamestown and Virginia P1

Because the Virginia settlers had lived their lives dependent on the bounty of the king, they were unprepared for the hard work necessary to survive in the new lands. ...only 60 survived the winter of 1609, which is called the “Starving Time.” An official in the colony described the moral depths to which they sank:

Having fed upon horses and other beasts as long as they lasted, we were glad to make shift with vermin as dogs, cats, rats, mice etc. and to eat boots, shoes or any other leather…And now famine beginning to look ghastly and pale in every face, that nothing was spared to maintain life and to do those things which seem incredible — as to dig up dead corpses out of graves to eat them; and some have licked up the blood which hath fallen from their weak fellows; and amongst the rest, this was most lamentable that one of our colony murdered his wife, ripped the child out of her womb and threw it into the river, and after chopped the mother in pieces and salted her for his food.

This cannibalism seems unimaginable today, but it was not uncommon among those who were ignorant of, ceased to follow, or rejected God’s Word.

Content sourced from “The American Story the beginnings. By David Barton & Tim Barton”