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Jamestown, Virginia, USA. Edward Couper's 1909 statue of Captain John Smith depicts an older man, not the twenty-seven year old adventurer in Jamestown. Born of a yeoman farmer in a rural part of England, and having Calvinist beliefs, his life was very different from many of the other settlers, gentry men. Prior to his travels to Jamestown, he went around Europe fighting as a soldier in Netherlands and Hungary. In the later, he was captured, taken to Turkey and sold into slavery in Russia. Killing his owner, he escaped, returned to Hungary to collect his reward and coat-of-arms. Coming back to England, he participated in the settling of Jamestown. During the first year, Jamestown was in disarray and on the brink of collapse. The gentry did not labor as farmers, thus food was scarce. During this year, Smith led exploring expeditions in the region, mapping rivers and establishing good relations with the Indian groups living in the area. Serving on the Council in the first year, Smith was elected governor of Virginia for one year. Though he was arrogant, his physical strength and strong (even ruthless) leadership righted the colony, with all members required to work to produce what was necessary to survive and prosper. After a gunpowder accident, (historians speculate that it was not so accidental), he returned to England and became Virginia's ardent propagandist. The rest is history, as they say.