Hiram Martin's Journal

Trapped on the streets of Manchester, Hiram Martin accepts Edmund Scarborough's indenture contract hoping to improve his station in life. After a frightening sea voyage to Virginia in 1637, Martin enters a foreign world driven by personal ambition and tobacco profits. Vowing to survive, he slowly makes his way despite hostile Native Americans and rivalries.

Martin witnesses the planters' shift toward the Africans as a possible answer to their ever-present need for labor. He writes of his exp...