40 Fun Facts About Blood on the River

In Blood on the River, what does Captain Smith order Samuel to do on a storm-tossed ship to teach him cooperation?

Stand on one foot is the order, and on a pitching deck Samuel cannot do it. Smith's lesson is that the wilderness is the same: nobody lasts there without other people to lean on.

In Blood on the River, what marks out Captain Christopher Newport, the expedition's leader, when Samuel first sees him?

A missing arm sets the fleet's commander apart on the dock. The real Newport lost his right arm in 1590, long before he sailed three shiploads of settlers to Virginia.

In Blood on the River, what does Captain Smith teach Samuel as a weapon mightier than any sword?

The Algonquian language is the weapon, though Samuel had hoped for a musket. Smith tells him the words will protect him inside the fort as well as outside it.

In Blood on the River, which rule does Captain Smith lay down for everyone, himself included, on becoming president?

Work or go hungry was the rule, and Smith pitched in himself. Sworn in on September 10, 1608, he shared out rations fairly, which made him popular with nearly everyone but a few gentlemen.

In Blood on the River, what contest does young Pocahontas win against Samuel on her first visit to James Town?

A running race, and losing to a little girl stings Samuel's pride. She had stepped out of a canoe loaded with food for the settlers, wearing strings of pearls and copper.

In Blood on the River, which James Town president is arrested for hoarding eggs, meat and wine while sick men die?

Edward Wingfield stays in the finest health while half the settlers sicken and die. Samuel overhears the secret of the hidden stores and breaks a forced oath of silence to report it.

In Blood on the River, what destroys the cabins and storehouse at James Town while a party is away hunting gold?

A fire that starts in one cabin burns nearly everything inside the fort. The settlers get through the winter only because Powhatan's people bring deerskins, bear furs and food.

In Blood on the River, how does Captain Smith stop the gentlemen sailing off on the Discovery with all the food?

Aims cannons at it, then threatens to sink them unless they come ashore. The gentlemen had meant to abandon some twenty-five commoners, and only a windless day kept the vessel in range.

In Blood on the River, to which downriver settlement does Samuel take baby Virginia, where the novel ends in safety?

Point Comfort keeps Samuel, Ann and the baby fed through the winter that devastates James Town. The spot, at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula, is now part of the city of Hampton.

In Blood on the River, which family keepsake does Samuel Collier steal back from a pawn shop in the opening chapter?

A locket lands him in front of a magistrate, at a time when theft could mean the gallows. The pawnbroker and his son catch Samuel asleep, still wearing it.

In Blood on the River, which ship, the largest of the fleet, carries Samuel and Captain Smith across the Atlantic?

Susan Constant was the flagship, rated at 120 tons. Samuel and the other passengers live on the 'tween deck and may go up top only to empty slop buckets or fetch food.

In Blood on the River, which post under Captain Smith takes Samuel Collier from the streets to the New World?

A page is what the real Samuel Collier was too. His name is on the Virginia Company's list of the first settlers, one of only four boys who made the 1607 crossing.

In Blood on the River, where does a sympathetic magistrate send Samuel Collier instead of to the gallows?

An orphanage run by Reverend Hunt takes him in. Samuel brawls with the other boys there until he and one of his rivals are picked to sail for Virginia as servants.

In Blood on the River, who taught Samuel Collier to read, a skill that Captain Smith asks about during the voyage?

His mother taught him, having learned herself from the son of the family's gentleman landlord. That friendship ended when it was discovered and the young noble was sent away.

In Blood on the River, which Roman does Captain Smith say he is imitating by calmly writing while in chains?

Julius Caesar kept his composure as a prisoner, Smith explains, so he does the same. The calm pays off: other passengers start to respect him and to doubt his accusers.

In Blood on the River, which role does Reverend Hunt call too valuable to lose, saving Captain Smith from a gallows?

Translator was the one job nobody else aboard could do. Smith had made sure of it, greeting island traders with words borrowed from another tribe so the gentlemen would think they needed him.

In Blood on the River, which sin does Reverend Hunt preach against on the Sunday Captain Smith sits in chains?

Lying is his target, because the accusation against Smith was invented. Samuel prays that the sermon will save his master, and by lunchtime the reverend is unlocking the shackles.

In Blood on the River, which Caribbean tree does Henry chop into, leaving him covered in painful welts from its sap?

Manchineel is one of the most toxic trees in the world, with a milky sap that blisters skin on contact. Henry was clearing a path so the gentlemen could stroll to the island's baths.

In Blood on the River, what does Reverend Hunt link to the summer sickness that strikes James Town a second time?

Mosquitoes arrive just as the fever does, the reverend notices. A year earlier the dying men had blamed a curse, salty water or the damp, and about half of them never recovered.

In Blood on the River, which president loses office after ordering sick men to build him a large house in the woods?

John Ratcliffe wanted the house while fever had the settlers barely able to walk. The demand cost him the presidency, and the commoner he looked down on, Captain Smith, was chosen instead.

In Blood on the River, which charge puts Captain Smith in irons two months into the voyage?

Plotting a mutiny, to kill the council and make himself ruler, is the accusation. The real Smith faced the same charge on the 1607 voyage, and Newport planned to execute him for it.

In Blood on the River, why does Reverend Hunt say he is sailing to Virginia, unlike the gentlemen chasing gold?

To spread Christianity among the Virginia natives is his aim, along with finding survivors of the lost Roanoke settlement. His first attempt fails: the listener answers with his own people's creation story.

In Blood on the River, which feeling does Reverend Hunt tell Samuel to base every decision on, rather than fear?

Love is the test the reverend teaches, and at first Samuel objects that he has nobody left to care about. Hunt repeats the advice shortly before he dies, and Samuel thanks him for believing in him.

In Blood on the River, which carpenter carves a wooden chest for Ann Burras and later marries her at James Town?

John Laydon wins the only single woman in a fort full of bachelors, helped by Samuel's tip that she likes flowers. The real couple married in December 1608, about two months after she landed.

In Blood on the River, which English servant boy goes to live with the Powhatans when Namontack comes to James Town?

Thomas Savage was handed over in a goodwill swap soon after he landed. The real boy was about thirteen, and he ended up settling for good on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

In Blood on the River, what has Chief Powhatan done to Captain Smith that makes James Town one of his tribes?

Adopted him, which in the chief's eyes makes every settler his to look after. Namontack explains it to the boys, and Samuel guesses the gentlemen will not enjoy belonging to anyone.

In Blood on the River, which defence, once rejected by the president, do settlers rush to build after a night raid?

A palisade goes up fast, though Samuel notices who does the building. Sailors, soldiers and labourers haul the timber while the gentlemen hang back to keep their velvet clean.

In Blood on the River, what does the Virginia Company forbid settlers to write about the New World in letters home?

Anything bad was off limits in the mail. Later, when shiploads of families with children land, a friend of Samuel's blames that rule for their not knowing the danger.

Blood on the River opens with what, delivered to Chief Powhatan, about a tribe arriving from the Chesapeake Bay?

A prophecy warns that the newcomers will fight Powhatan's people three times, and that after the third battle his kingdom will be gone. The fear of it hangs over every meeting with the English.

In Blood on the River, what does Samuel hurl at Master Archer's head as Captain Smith is dragged away in chains?

A rock flies first, and Samuel charges after it. He trips before he can land a punch, and Reverend Hunt hauls him off to the chapel to pray for a cooler temper.

Which name do historians give the deadly James Town winter that Samuel escapes at the end of Blood on the River?

The Starving Time of 1609 to 1610 began with about 500 people at the fort and left roughly 60 alive. Samuel and his new family sit it out downriver, cut off by ice and unaware.

In Blood on the River, a serious injury to which part of Captain Smith's body sends him home to England for treatment?

His leg is hurt so badly that he has to go, though he promises to come back. In real life gunpowder exploded in Smith's canoe in 1609, and he never returned to Virginia.

In Blood on the River, what parting gift does Captain Smith hand Samuel to trade for food in the coming winter?

Blue glass beads, two strands of them, go into Samuel's buckskin pouch. He has never been allowed to touch the trade goods before, and Smith shakes his hand like an equal when they part.

In Blood on the River, which friend of Samuel, once his rival, sails for England with the injured Captain Smith?

Richard had nursed Reverend Hunt so devotedly in his last days that Smith wanted him along. The two boys, who began by brawling, joke about the misery of sea travel as they say goodbye.

In Blood on the River, with which tribe does Captain Smith leave Samuel for a winter of learning native ways?

Warraskoyack villagers take Samuel in after their chief warns Smith not to trust Powhatan. Samuel is meant to carry word to James Town if the captain never comes back.

In Blood on the River, which village, Chief Powhatan's capital, does Samuel reach by a twelve-mile walk and a canoe?

Werowocomoco greets the visitors with a feast and an hour-long dance that at first sounds like an ambush. Archaeologists identified its likely site, on the York River, in 2003.

In Blood on the River, what is the personal name of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas?

Wahunsonacock was introduced to the English as Powhatan, a name they took to come from his home town near the falls of the James River. Samuel first sees him hung with copper, a sign of his wealth.

In Blood on the River, which native weapon does Samuel master, using it to kill his first rabbit?

Bow and arrow hunting is one of the skills Samuel brings home from a winter in a native village, along with chipping stone into knives. Back in English clothes, he keeps the buckskin knife pouch he made.

How did Elisa Carbone research daily life at Jamestown for Blood on the River, hearing the same insects as Samuel?

Camped out there, she even went without food for a few days to get a small taste of what Samuel faced. She also attended Powhatan pow-wows and interviewed a chief.

Which companion novel to Blood on the River, set at James Town in 1622, follows baby Virginia as a girl?

Poison in the Colony came out in 2019, thirteen years after the first book. Its heroine has second sight, a gift that could save the settlement or get her accused of witchcraft.