Explorer, writer, and cartographer John Smith assumed the presidency of the Jamestown settlement on September 10, 1608. The charismatic and controversial Smith was initially excluded from the government of the settlement on grounds he conspired to mutiny en route to Virginia. His comrades' suspicions notwithstanding, Smith became the de facto leader of the colony during the difficult winter of 1607 and 1608, which visited disease, starvation, ...