They were about to John Smith him but an Indian princess named Pocahontas jumped on him and saved his life. When he came back to the colony almost half of the original 104 were already dead. Things got much worse from before Smith was captured. Soon after he came back though, a shipment of food and supplies came. After the colony started to recover from the hardship of that summer John Smith was severely wounded in a gunpowder explosion. He went back to England to recover.
At the time Smith left there were about 500 people in Jamestown. In the winter of 1609 and 1610 they faced one of the toughest times in their history. That winter they had a serious food shortage and over 400 people died. That was more than 80 percent of the population at that time. During that time a ship that had sailed on the original voyage but were thought to have died made it to Jamestown. That ship had around 100 people. At the end of the winter they got their relief along with a new governor. A ship that carried food and people along with appointed governor of the colony, Lord De La War came. .
The colonist ate and became healthy again. More people arrived in Virginia and the colony started to expand. People from Jamestown created a new home in what they called Hampton. More good new came to the colonists when a man named John Rolfe went to trade with the Indians one day. He got some tobacco and smoked it but didn't like it, he then mixed different seeds to create s tobacco that was very enjoyable to him. He sent his new tobacco to England and it became very popular. The demand for this new tobacco from Virginia was very profitable for the colony and also for the Virginia Company who were beginning to get frustrated with the colonists. More and more land was being used to plant tobacco but the colony was making a huge profit. .
In 1619 a system of self government was created that became the foundation for the government used today in the United States of America.