Captain John Smith's History of Virginia Author:David Freeman Hawke "The next night, being lodged at Kecoughtan, 6 or 7 days the extreme wind, rain, frost and snow caused us to keep Christmas among the savages, where we were never more merry nor fed on more plenty of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowl and good bread...' Capt John Smith — The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, Capt J... more »ohn Smith's longest work and the one that assured his fame as the saviour of Jamestown, was published in 1624. The book was a revised and extended version of Smith's earlier writings on Virginia and New England. The story has been presented for the modern reader largely as Smith wrote it.